As a father of five teenagers, it feels like all I do every day is teach my kids lessons. These lessons span a wide range of topics – from “how to treat others,” to “being a team player,” to “exude confidence not cockiness.” It has taken me years to determine the most important lessons pertaining to personal money management, which is one of the most important skills they need to learn.

With all the issues facing teenagers today, why do I say this? Three reasons:

1. Schools teach them absolutely nothing about personal money management.
2. The example set by our society is to spend more than they make (in other words, debt is good).
3. It is one of the most important skills they need to take into adulthood.

It is imperative to set the right example for your children when it comes to money management. In my book, “Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School? 99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By” (www.whydidnttheyteachmethisinschool.com), I discuss these lessons in a simple, memorable manner.

Here are what I consider every parent’s three “must teach” principles:

• Always live below your means. If you want to manage your money successfully, this is one of the most important principles to follow. And, this is where most Americans have gone, and will continue to go, wrong. People want to have everything … now. They just can’t wait until they can afford it. But you must wait until you can afford something before you buy it. If you make a habit of purchasing things you can’t afford, you will quickly begin a downward spiral that will continue until you go bankrupt. Plus, you’ll enjoy your purchase all the more.

If you always live below your means, you will always have extra money to save and invest. Over the years, your money will grow and you will find yourself with significant financial security. Keep in mind that living below your means doesn’t mean living badly. It means you prioritize your spending and focus on what is most important to you. It means “living smartly.”

• Develop a written budget and evaluate it every single month. People think this is painful but it’s actually quite simple. And it must be done. You can’t manage something you’re not tracking. And the concept is clear – more money must come in every month than goes out! I have a simple budgeting process that takes a half-hour every month and allows for the three most important parts to be completed: developing, tracking and analyzing. The analysis part is so important. Where did you spend too much? Where didn’t you spend as much? What else do you need to include next month? What is in your emergency fund? What are your financial goals for the next 12 months? And remember, you will always have tradeoffs!

• Save and invest 50 percent of every salary increase. This is an easy principle that requires a little discipline. Think about it; you were living on your old salary before you got a raise. You can have the best of both worlds. You’re still going to live better, but why not invest some for your future? Most people don’t do this because they get behind in the first place. They start by spending more money than they make in the first place. You just can’t do that. If you employ this principle, you will be shocked at how well you do financially over time.

Ninety-five percent of adults don’t follow these principles because they’ve been told that debt is OK and they’re trying to keep up with the Joneses (who, by the way, are bankrupt)! I’ve told my teenagers (and my nephews who are in their 20’s), if they always follow these three basic principles, they will become extremely adept at personal money management.

Take the time to talk with your children about all the issues that confront them. Especially, take the time to discuss the issue of personal money management. From experience, we all know that it is an issue that has caused much pain to our generation.

    About the author:

Cary Siegel is a retired business executive. After earning his MBA from the University of Chicago, he began his career in brand management with Kraft and went on to lead several companies in marketing and sales. He wrote “Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School? 99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By,” whydidnttheyteachmethisinschool.com for his five teenage children. Following his personal money management principles allowed him to retire at the age of 45. Siegel is a popular speaker on both marketing and personal money management. 

I can’t believe this cute little face is headed off to Kindergarten soon!

If it were up to me I’d probably eat pasta every day. It’s one of the foods that brings back the most food related memories from childhood. I loved when my mom made lasagna (cheese only, no meat!) and Beef Stroganoff. My dad used egg noodles to make his homemade chicken noodle soup in winter. My favorite food using Creamette® Pasta though is homemade mac & cheese. I remember my grandma making it when I went to visit her years ago and thought it was odd that she added tomatoes to this cheesy pasta dish. It’s my favorite way to eat macaroni & cheese now and I can’t imagine it without tomatoes.

Since having a family of my own, quick pasta dishes have become my new comfort food. I still have the memories of pasta without the time consuming task of making the dishes. One of our favorite ways to have noodles now is to add a red spaghetti sauce to them. I make mine with just veggies but Sinisa likes his with a meat sauce. Here is one of his favorite sauces to make called a Bolognese Sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground pork or ground beef
• 1 can of mushrooms (pieces)
• 1 white onion (diced)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• olive oil
• Italian seasonings

Directions:

• Saute the ground meat and use a spatula to break it in tiny pieces
• In a separate pan use a small amount of oil and saute your onion and mushrooms.
• Add meat to the onions and mushrooms
• Simmer for a few minutes over low heat
• Add a can of diced tomatoes (don’t drain them)
• Add seasonings to taste (Sinisa uses garlic, basil, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper)
• Simmer for a few minutes over low heat
• Put a generous spoonful over noodles
• Sprinkle with shredded cheese (optional)

When it comes to sharing good food and good times with family and friends, nothing makes us feel more at home than comfort food. Creamette® Pasta is proud to have been a part of creating comforting family meals for 100 years and – to honor ten decades of warm memories and mealtime moments – the brand is launching its Comfort Food Recipe and Essay contest.

Through May 30th, Creamette Pasta invites families from the Midwest region to share their favorite comfort food recipe made with Creamette Pasta along with an original essay of 100 words or less explaining their family mealtime memory as it relates to the recipe and what makes it so comforting for a chance to win $10,000. In June 2013, ten semifinalists will be chosen to participate in a nationwide online vote.

You can submit your recipe here: Creamette.NewWorldPasta.Com/100thAnniversary

GIVEAWAY:

One winner will win a delicious prize pack including two boxes of Creamette® Pasta, two Creamette® Pasta recipe cards, one colander and one casserole baking dish.

HOW TO ENTER:

Tell me what your favorite comfort dish made with Creamette Pasta is

Additional Entry:

Share this giveaway on a social network

Giveaway ends June 3, 2013 at 11:59pm Central time. Must be a United States resident 18 years of age or older to enter.

Hey, Chicago! Looking for something fun to do on a hot summer day this summer? Visit one of the largest water parks in Illinois! Magic Waters is located just off I-90 near Rockford. Experience the Double Dare Drop 75 ft. Speed Slides, Tsunami Bay Wave Pool, Typhoon Terror Adventure Ride and the thrill a minute Splash Blaster Water Coaster Ride. Enter the dark tunnel of the Abyss for lots of twists and turns or relax on the 1,200 ft. Splash Magic River. Have tons of fun at Tiki Island where a 1,000 gallon pineapple water bucket spills to the delight of guests! Coolers welcome or grab lunch at the new Ocho’s Cantina! Luxury cabanas available. Free Parking. Visit magicwaterswaterpark.com for more information.

Water park opens June 8th 2013. Open Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Mon & Fri 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Special Offers & Events

$12 Buck Bargain Days: Tues, Wed, Thurs during the 2013 season.

Friday Family Fun Nights: June 14 through August 16.

Meet & Greet: Sunday July 14th. Disney band IM5 will be at the park for a Meet and Greet. Go to magicwaterswaterpark.com for details.

Get your season passes now!

This is an exclusive offer brought to you by WindyCityKidsGuide!

After spending a month or so redecorating the boys room, we were really excited to host a small party and show it off. Since the theme of the room was Buzz Lightyear and we had used the Glidden glow-in-the-dark paint I wanted to have a Buzz Lightyear themed party. It was so fun!

Before it started we had to decorate. Here are some pictures of the decor:

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We did a lot of themed activities. Here are some pictures of all the fun we had:

We made Buzz Lightyear themed candy necklaces.

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We painted white t-shirts with glow-in-the-dark puffy paint. Not my best idea ever apparently since all of the children loaded the paint on and I had to keep all of the shirts to dry.

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They played an alien game, grabbing aliens with “the claw” like in Toy Story.

We also painted figurines. I bought a box of Toy Story ones, a box of Disney Princess ones and a box of Disney Cars ones.

Once it started getting darker we had some glow-in-the dark fun. To start, each child got some glow-in-the-dark bracelets. We also had balloons that glowed in the dark. The kids built a tent with a blanket to sit in so that all the items could shine to their fullest in the pitch black.

Of course checking out the walls in Jake and Luke’s room was a must. Since their walls are a light color the glow-in-the-dark paint was kind of camouflaged with the lights on (unless you looked closely) so it was a huge surprise when the lights were turned off. With the lights off, the designs on the walls along with the stars on the ceiling glowed.

I was a little disappointed that the big Buzz Lightyear decal I had bought for the wall didn’t glow but it was still cool to have to add to the theme of the room.

Everyone loved the walls. Every night when their light goes off, Jake still says, “Look mom!”. I’m not sure the novelty will ever go away since every night he seems to be amazed that his walls are glowing.

As for my thoughts on the paint, I thought it added some uniqueness to the room. Sinisa thought the paint went on easily and spread evenly. I’d recommend using a sponge tipped brush if using stencils. We originally tried a small roller and that did not work at all and paintbrushes worked okay but I didn’t think they were the best tool we could have used and some of the paint smeared a bit under the stencil and dripped a bit. For stencils we used a cluster of stars, two planets, and a space shuttle.

When it comes to the paint glowing, it should be noted that it only lasts for a short period of time (like 5 minutes). It’s advertised to have a short glowing period so that time frame was expected but I would have liked for it to last a bit longer. The lights also need to be turned on ahead of time for the paint to glow (I’d recommend half an hour or so). Overall, I was pleased with the paint and would use it again in the future.

I shared earlier in the month about how we were making over the boys’ room. We got the boys bunkbeds, went shopping for room supplies, and this past week started the transformation. We went with a fun theme of “to infinity and beyond”.

We bought Disney Specialty Paint by Glidden at Walmart. The paint is called “Ready, Set, Glow!”. It is a solar-powered, glow in the dark paint finish that can be used on top of a solid wall color to bring wall art to life in the dark. The glow in the dark paint finish only glows for 5 to 10 minutes or so at a time, so it won’t stretch out bedtime!

Check out some of the items we got for the room:

Stencils and stamps to use with our Glow in the Dark Paint

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Buzz Lightyear wall decals will decorate the wall during the day.

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Painted glow in the dark stars, spaceships and planets will make two of the bedroom walls shine at night!

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Even Jacob got in on the fun of making over the room! He loved adding glow in the dark stars to the ceiling over his bed.

 The walls are painted, the bedroom is decorated and now we are ready to host our Buzz Lightyear party to show off the amazing transformation. Stay tuned for all the fun party details and pictures!

Soccer was cancelled the other day due to rain so we headed to Build A Bear to pickup their Autism Awareness Bear. Lucas and Jacob each wanted something different so I got the bear we went for, Lucas got a pink one with a My Little Pony outfit, and Jacob got a white bear in an Iron Man outfit.

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Lucas loves cuddling with his stuffed friends!

(Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post Thoughts are my own.)

My favorite item of clothing {other than yoga pants} are tank tops because I can wear them year round so I wanted to pick up at least a couple while shopping. I wanted to find a dress and a shirt I could pair with black pants for a dressier event at an art gallery and for Friday of the conference. I also needed some cute shirts to pair with jeans. If I found any accessories or a Spring purse that would be amazing, too!

Here are some of the items I chose:

Not one to wear white or horizontal stripes but I just loved this dress!

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Loving the color of this shirt!

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Earrings! These hoops are gorgeous!

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One of two polka dot shirts I bought. I think I’ve owned one other polka dot thing in my life but I just thought these tiny polka dot tops would add a pattern to my otherwise plain wardrobe. This one has little cap sleeves. The other is a tank top like the blue-green one above.

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Everyone needs a little blue in their wardrobe! This top is nice and billowy and looks cute with black pants. With the accents of yellow in the flowers I can even wear my bright yellow flats with it.

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This Derek Lam dress is so fun. You can’t tell in the picture but it kind of bubbles a bit at the bottom. Still undecided on if I’m keeping this one or not because I’m not sure if I like how it looks on me.

I found a lot of great clothes and earned some Kohl’s cash just for shopping. I am going to use my Kohl’s cash to get some jewelry this week.

Need to do some shopping yourself? One lucky winner is going to win a gift card to Kohl’s. Think of all the cute items you can get!

GIVEAWAY:

One winner will win a $100 Kohl’s Gift Card

HOW TO ENTER:

{Do any or all of the following, leave a separate comment for each you do}

1) Tell me what you’d shop for at Kohl’s

2) Share this giveaway on a social network

3) Share a link to an item from the Kohl’s website that you like

4) Subscribe to this blog via email (look in upper right corner)

5) Comment on another blog post

6) Follow @Kohls on Twitter

7) Follow @aliciamarie112 on Twitter

Giveaway ends May 20, 2013 at 11:59pm Central time. US residents, 18 and older only.

(Disclosure: As stated above, I received a gift card from Kohl’s to shop and I am an employee of Collective Bias so I will be attending the conference courtesy of CB. All thoughts are my own.)

]]> http://www.makingtimeformommy.com/2013/04/23/womens-spring-summer-fashions-from-kohls-giveaway/feed/ 540 http://www.makingtimeformommy.com/2013/04/23/matchbox-heroes-wanted-sweepstakes/ http://www.makingtimeformommy.com/2013/04/23/matchbox-heroes-wanted-sweepstakes/#comments Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:30:52 +0000 Alicia Marie http://www.makingtimeformommy.com/?p=17186 [Read On] ]]> (Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored campaign with MomSelect.)

Calling all moms, dads, and grandparents of little ones- I have some exciting news from Matchbox® to share! To commemorate its 60 year anniversary, Matchbox® is honoring heroes-in-training – the children who play with, and inspire, Matchbox®. The campaign includes the Matchbox® Heroes Wanted™ Sweepstakes with a hero-sized $60,000 college scholarship.

The Matchbox® Heroes Wanted™ Sweepstakes calls on parents to celebrate the heroic attributes of their children by submitting a picture and caption of their hero-in-training dressed as their favorite real-life icon. Submissions will be showcased on the Matchbox® Heroes Wanted™ Facebook gallery and are automatically entered to win the grand prize – a $60,000 college scholarship. Parents with children between three and 10 years old can enter the contest now through May 13, 2013. Sixty prize pack giveaways will be awarded weekly consisting of a Matchbox® branded gift box, a personalized photo-frame thank you card and four heroic Matchbox® vehicles. To learn more about the contest and read stories from the heroes that inspired Matchbox® vehicles, visit www.Matchbox.com/Heroes.

Below is a picture of one of my little heroes! Jacob loves pretending to be a construction worker. They are heroes because they build houses to keep people warm! He also loves playing “police officer” and wants to be one when he grows up so he can put the “bad guys” in jail.

To celebrate their 60th anniversary even more, Matchbox® is also releasing a collectible diecast line of 24 vehicles that go back to its roots to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Jacob and Lucas can’t wait to check out the new cars for themselves!

For the hottest in Matchbox® adventures, games, toys and videos, visit www.Matchbox.com.

Monday: Cranberry-Chicken Salad

Tuesday: Chili

Wednesday: Chicken Enchiladas

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Meatloaf Muffins & Mashed Potatoes

Saturday: Salmon and Rice

Sunday: Pizza Rolls