Archives for April 2016

How to Find Good Deals on Kids Sports Equipment

April 27, 2016 | Leave a Comment

So far our daughter has been involved in both soccer and ballet classes. We’re pretty fortunate that neither has been overly expensive but the fact still remains that we’re still at the point of needing new equipment every year because kids grow so fast! Last summer we managed to get away with only needing a soccer ball and outdoor cleats for kiddo and this year was a bit more expensive adding her ballet gear (suit, tight and slippers). Compared to my husband who can spend $50 on a pair of soccer cleats and get a few years out of them, we spend close to $40 for kids cleats and are only able to use them for a few months.

At the end of her soccer year I looked at her cleats and realized they looked brand new. They were literally on her feet for a total of about 15 hours and now, one year later, they don’t come close to fitting her. I figured if she’s in this boat, there has to be other local kids who are too which is how I started my search for less expensive sports equipment.

Facebook groups

This seems to be the best for me locally. There are many (usually private) Facebook groups advertising the sale or swap of all things related to kids. Though they tend to be heavier on baby items there is definitely a good selection of other things. It also gives you an opportunity to reach out to a group of parents with young kids for inquiries about what you’re looking for, if someone in the group doesn’t have any of the equipment that you are looking for they may know someone. I’ve seen many successful transactions in the mommy groups I am a part of.

Online classifieds

I have looked both internationally and locally at different classifieds for stuff that we needed and in there were deals to be found, but in the end we had more luck with Facebook and word of mouth. Still definitely worth checking out.

Local Kids Swap

This is a huge help if you have access to one. Every year one of the huge arenas on town hosts a weekend long kids clothing and ‘’stuff’’ swap. You can attend looking to set up a table and sell or swap your stuff or you can gain admission to buy things that you may need. These tend to be hugely successful and you can find some amazing deals the only downside is that they are usually very busy especially if they’re advertising that they have a ‘’multiples’’ section for twins and triplets (a hot commodity).

Word of Mouth

This is probably my favorite way to find things we need. How successful you are will depend on how connected you are though so it may not work for everyone that well. At my work I see tons of patients every week and I’ve grown to form quite a few relationships with people. When I couldn’t find shin pads that fit kiddo last year I started asking parents whose kids I knew played soccer and in a few days I had a brand new pair sent to me at work from a kid who never used them. It never hurts to ask around! Moms at dance also swap dance gear between kids as new kids start and older kids grow out, though it’s not advertised the receptionist at the studio usually keeps a list of dance gear people have looking to swap if asked.

I feel that it is important to involve children in all kinds of different activities, and while they’re young and have a lot of energy, sports especially. It can be overwhelming when it comes to equipment but don’t let equipment cost alone prevent you from having your kid try a different sport out!

How do you save on your kids sporting activities?

We’re Trying to Raise Independent Kids

April 20, 2016 | Leave a Comment

Before getting pregnant for the first time, my husband and I agreed that we would raise our children to make their own choices, to experience things both good and bad and learn from their mistakes. We feel it is the best way to define yourself as an individual, as it can be just as important to find out what you don’t like in life as it is to discover your passions.

Our daughter has already shown an affinity for dance, sports and all things mechanical. She loves her weekly ballet class and spends the days between showcasing her newly-learned moves to anybody she runs into. She loves soccer, and is looking forward to playing again this summer. On her “team” last year, you can tell which children were into it and wanting to participate, and the ones that were, let’s say, indifferent. She is among the former.

Likely due to the conversations with her Daddy, her love for planes, trains and automobiles (any machine or vehicle, really) shines through. To wit, when it comes to screen time, by far her favourite show is Paw Patrol, featuring puppies operating high-tech rescue vehicles.

As long as she continues to show a passion for these things, we’ll continue to support her. Sports and tech are easy things for us to support, and though dance is a new one for my husband and I, we love how much of a positive impact it has had on her already.

Though my husband and I consider ourselves to be fans of music, neither of us play an instrument. That said, if our daughter came to us wanting to learn an instrument, we’d absolutely do everything we could to support her.

There are some things that we won’t budge on in terms of development. First and foremost, reading is a big part of our daughter’s life. Every night before bed, she gets two books read to her, and at various times throughout the day we’ll read to her. We’ll promote reading once she begins school, and will continue to ensure she develops her communication skills. Good communication skills are crucial as both a person and professional.

Another thing we will not be variable on is time spent outdoors. We grew up camping, playing in the woods and spending time under the stars at the family cottage. Our daughter will spend time doing the same. She won’t be a child that spends all of her time inside. Luckily for us, to this point she’s shown a love for the outdoors, and as she gets older we’re excited about the thought of things like canoe trips, orienteering and other such adventures.

We very much want our daughter, and any other future children, to be their own people. It’s important for them to have unique personalities and to be unafraid to embrace and express their passions in life. We’ll be behind them no matter what, and though we’ll be staunch on communication skills and the outdoors, our children will be able to choose their own path hopefully knowing who they are as a person, and knowing their mom and dad love them and are there for them through it all.

How do you nurture independence in your kids?

The Benefits of Doing Your Own Taxes

April 13, 2016 | Leave a Comment

This post is part of the TaxAct #DIYtaxes blog tour which empowers you to take ownership of your finances by doing your own taxes. TaxAct provides the tools and guidance to help you confidently file your taxes easy and fast. Do your own taxes today at TaxAct.com. You got this.

For many people taxes are a total pain. I get it. Once a year you’ve got to scramble to gather up all of your documents, then sit down and sift through numbers and try to figure out what’s going on. Just the thought of it can stress you out.

However, if you choose to look at doing your own taxes in a different light you’ll see that there really are some major benefits and that filing yourself is not as hard as you may think.

Here are the biggest benefits of doing your own taxes.

You’ll Get a Closer Look at Your Finances

Would you be shocked to learn that only 40% of US adults keep a written budget or track their expenses and almost two-thirds of American families live paycheck to paycheck?

Having a better awareness of your financial situation is the first step in making improvements to your personal finances. Doing your own taxes can help you get a closer look at where you stand.

When you file your own taxes you’ll be taking a good hard look at how much you and your spouse earned last year, the investments you’ve made and any capital gains you’ve earned or lost, how much you’ve paid in interest on your mortgage or student loans and so much more.

You can get a big picture of where you stand in one day by simply doing the work yourself. This is an enormous benefit.

You’ll Learn A Lot and Be More Prepared for Next Year

Tax software these days is pretty great. It walks you through the tax filing process step-by-step all while teaching what you need to know to make the most out of your tax situation. You’ll learn about credits and deductions and will be more prepared when it comes to do your taxes next year.

You’ll also know exactly what you need to file your taxes and will be able to prepare accordingly.

As a bonus most tax software comes with maximum refund guarantees and accuracy guarantees if you’ve entered in all of your information correctly.

You’ll Save Money

Hands down, it’s cheaper to file taxes yourself than to pay an accountant to do it for you. You can save yourself a few hundred dollars by preparing your own taxes. (And who doesn’t like to save money?!)

It’s Easy

Filing taxes yourself is a very simple process thanks to tax software.

With good tax software, like TaxAct, you’ll be given prompts that will tell you exactly what to enter from each of your tax forms. When you’re done you’ll be able to run alerts which will scan through your information and look for any potential problems.

If you’ve got a simple tax situation filing taxes yourself is a very straightforward process. Even if your situation is slightly more complex you can still easily do taxes yourself by following the prompts and answering the questions.

Tips for Getting Started

If you’re ready to started here a few tips to make the filing process go smoothly:

Collect Everything You Need – Before you sit down to do your taxes gather up all of your documents so that they’re right in front of you. This includes things like income documentation, interest and investment tax forms and personal information of any dependents you’ll be claiming.

Choose the Right Software – Look at all options on the tax software you’ll be using and select the one that is most applicable to your situation right from the start. This will save you from having to upgrade half way through the process.

Check Your Numbers and Run Alerts – After you’ve entered all of your information go back through and double check your numbers and then run all alerts. Fix any problem areas and then file.

After that you’ll be done with your taxes and can walk away with a better understanding of your financial situation and the sense of satisfaction that comes from doing something yourself.

Beating the tax deadline doesn’t have to be stressful. With TaxAct, everything you need to confidently prepare and e-file your taxes is right at your fingertips. You got this. File your simple federal and state return FREE today with TaxAct.

What To Do When You Find Our You’re Pregnant

April 13, 2016 | Leave a Comment

Taking a pregnancy test is, without a doubt, one of the most intense moments of any woman’s life. When you do finally see the result as being positive, your mind races, like a million miles per minute in many different directions. Your brain definitely goes into a bit of shock when it does see those two little lines, so if you do find yourself holding a big fat positive in your hand, here’s what to do next:

Tell your loved ones

Obviously if you haven’t already, tell your significant other! Some people have fun ways to tell all pre-planned for when the day comes but I wasn’t that thoughtful with my daughter, I just showed him the test, assuming he’d know what it was or how to read it. I’d also consider telling the ones closest to you (mom, best friend), people who you’d want to know both good and bad news. I’d hold off on telling the rest of the world until you get the clear from your doc (around 12 weeks).

Call your doctor

Your family doctor will likely be the one to order the initial bloodwork. Your first appointment will likely be basic stuff like vitals, possible urine sample and a few questions (like when was your last menstrual period). Some family docs may even follow you through the whole pregnancy and delivery, or choose to set referrals up to have you established with an obstetrician. They will also figure out your due date.

Look into your insurance

You may want to have a peek at your insurance coverage so you know what kind of coverage you have. Some plans cover specialists who you may need to start researching now (like a midwife). It’s also good to know as pregnancy goes on as other professions may come into play like potential physiotherapy, massage therapy or acupuncture.

Start thinking about telling work

I know you just found out but in some jobs it may be advantageous that they know early especially if you have a lot of appointments. Depending on what you do for a job, you may literally need close to nine months to start getting someone else ready to take over for your maternity leave as well. Some employers would appreciate as much notice as possible to fill your vacancy.

BREATH

It’s emotionally overwhelming to see that positive, whether it’s your first or 5^th so do your best to relax and not get too overwhelmed. Nine months is a long gestational period and everything will find a way to work out.

Pregnancy is an exciting and interesting journey. Enjoy it and don’t be afraid to ask for help when needed! I was too stubborn at times and more than once overdid it. It’s amazing how hard easy tasks like grocery shopping can become. Try to not wish the next nine months away and enjoy the whole experience.

What was the first thing you did when you found out you were pregnant?

Three Things That Are Worth The Splurge

April 6, 2016 | Leave a Comment

As much as I love saving money, there are a few things in life that I believe are worth spending money on. Most of the time I’m more than happy to buy generic products or forgo buying something altogether, but when it comes to a few areas in my life, quality services and products are non- negotiable and here’s why.

Skin care products

Since I was a teen I have struggled with various skin issues. Acne as a teen, sever pregnancy-induced rosacea as an adult and still, as a non-pregnant adult, oily acne prone skin is still present. I can’t even begin to tabulate what I’ve spend on internal and external products looking to help me with my skin issues, almost always being dictated by the bottom dollar.

In the last while though I have started paying more attention to quality products instead of just how much they cost and have noticed a huge difference in my skin. I’m not spending hundreds of dollars or anything, but my $40 cream and $25 facewash is about 5x what I was spending on my cheap stuff which I used for years. It didn’t take long to convince me that spending the money is well worth it.

Bedding

Have you ever slept in a bed with crappy bedding? The kind of bedding that can actually keep you awake because it’s rough and scratchy or doesn’t stay on the bed and rolls up around you? It’s incredibly annoying and considering how much time we spend in bed, quality bedding is worth it!

Quality bedding doesn’t have to cost boatloads of money though. Sure you could easily spend $500 on a nice sheet set but when you can buy name brand sets at discount department stores, why would you? Stores like Marshalls and Winners sell name brand bedding at a fraction of the cost. Just this past summer I bought new sheets which originally retailed for $199.00 for the set, I paid $69.00. While I could get cheap generic sheets at Walmart for probably half the price it’s just not worth wasting the money.

Vacations

Vacations and time away are important to our family. We enjoy spending time together and making memories during our new experiences. We make sure we have the funds to enjoy a little time away every year. It doesn’t mean we’re going on international excursions every year though. Some of our best memories have been from quick road trips not far from home. While we’re working on major financial goals (for us right now it’s debt repayment), lavish vacations aren’t an option but we still make sure we have some money in our budget for something, even if it’s a quick weekend away. Vacations as a whole though are an expense we prioritize and when we do plan a getaway (even if it’s a camping trip) we make sure we don’t leave ourselves feeling short and enjoy time away. Here are 7 great tips to save money on vacation.

This list has changed drastically for me over the years. It wasn’t that long ago that I would have included hair cut and color, something I used to do religiously every six to eight weeks. I stopped doing it when funds were short while I was on maternity leave, I found a cheaper haircut option and let my natural color come back, four years later and I still don’t miss spending the money.

We all have different priorities and I try my hardest not to judge how anyone does or doesn’t spend their money what is important to me may not be for another person.

What are areas that you don’t mind spending a little more on?