This is their 4th annual event and they are partnering with National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.  The Baskin Robbins Community Foundation will donate $100,000 to the non-profit organization.  Customers will also be able to donate to their own local community firefighters at each shop.

WHAT: 31 Cent Scoop Night

WHEN: Wednesday April 28th from 5:00-10:00PM

WHERE: Your local Baskin Robbins scoop shop

BillMyParents might just be a combination of both.  It’s a great idea, a way to allow your teens the freedom to shop, without actually giving them your credit card.

Basically, it’s a pretty simple process.  Your child or teen sees something online that they want to purchase.  At the check out, they use BillMyParents. You the parent then get an email notifying you that your child is trying to purchase something online.  You can then approve or decline the transaction. If you decide to approve it, you then enter your credit card information.

The great thing about this service, your child never gets access to your credit card information.  Your information remains confidential and you approve all online purchasing transactions.  There isn’t a membership or monthly fee involved, but you do pay $.50 per transaction.

I also think that BillMyParents might be a little ahead of its time. I searched all over its site but was only able to find one merchant listed by name: Facebook.  I have a feeling other online merchants will get on board once word gets out.  Either way, there’s a lot of potential there and I’m quite interested to see where it goes.

photo: Trisha | The Zest: Cooking Like I Mean It

Did you know that you can actually make your own playdough?

Granted it won’t have that familiar PlayDough scent, but if you make it right, it just might smell good enough to eat!

Oh yeah, it’s actually edible too. Just be sure to store it in an air-tight container and it should last you quite a while.

Basic Homemade Playdough

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cups water
Food coloring

• Put all ingredients in a saucepan and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
• Stir constantly.
• Divide into batches and add food coloring.
• Store in an air-tight container.

Peanut Butter Playdough – this one doesn’t use food coloring, but it’s a fun twist on a fun activity!

Ingredients:

1 c. Smooth Peanut Butter
1/2 c. Honey
2 c. Nonfat Dry Milk

• Mix together the peanut butter and honey first.
• Add half of the dry and mix; then continue to add a little at a time until it feels soft and playful!
• Use less than 2 cups of dry milk if the clay seems to be getting dry.
• Store in an air-tight container.

photo: jimmiehomeschoolmom

Tip for the lactose intolerant: mix together the honey and peanut butter and then slowly add 8 – 12 ounces of corn meal a little at a time until your clay is the desired constancy.

Kool-Aid Playdough - no food coloring needed as it takes on the color of the koolaid.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 pkg unsweetened Kool-aid (just the dry koolaid, don’t mix it into juice)

1 cup boiling water

1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

• In a bowl, mix flour, salt and kool-aid.
• Stir in water and oil.
• Knead with hands for about 5 minutes.
• Store in an air-tight container.

It’s not a surprise. 70% of people die without even a Will. So why in the world should you care about estate planning? You’re young. You’re healthy. You may not even have kids or very much money in the bank.

You should care because you are financially smarter than your parents and you care more about the people you’d leave behind than the 70% who will die this year leaving their loved ones in the lurch.

You may be young (or young at heart), but you likely have more far more wealth than your folks already; you certainly have bigger dreams, and there’s a good chance you have kids.

It’s not your age that matters when it comes to planning. Your vision and your family circumstances determine whether you need to plan and when to start.

Regardless of how much money you have in the bank, if you have kids at home, you want to be the one who decides who would take care of your kids in the short-term and who would raise them for the long-term, if you were in an accident. You definitely don’t want to leave that up to a court to decide.

Choosing who will take care of your kids and legally documenting your decisions is estate planning … if you have kids, you need it.

If you do have money in the bank (here in California more than $100,000) or own any real property, you will want that money to get to your family as easily as possible if anything happens to you. The State has a plan for your money, but it’s one that will make life difficult for your loved ones. Under the State’s plan, your family will have to deal with the Court, not have complete control of your assets for 12-16 months and they’ll pay a load of unnecessary expenses that you could have avoided if you had planned ahead.

You definitely don’t want to leave the people you love with a mess because you didn’t take care of things.

Giving your loved ones easy access to your money if you are in an accident is estate planning … if you have money in the bank or own even one piece of real estate, you need it.

And, if you have a big vision for your future, you want to set up your business in such a way that it can never be taken from you if you get divorced or sued and so that when you die, your family won’t lose half of it to the government. Yes, there are ways to totally protect what you are building and they are a lot easier to put in place when your company isn’t worth much, like when you are just starting out in your 30s.

Showing the Universe you mean business about your business and setting it up so that it grows protected for your family is estate planning … if you have a big vision for your future, you need it.

Last, if you want to pass on much more than just your financial wealth and leave the world a better place, you need to set forth the intention to do that and then take action steps throughout your lifetime to capture the intangible assets that are most often lost when someone dies, like your intellectual, spiritual and human assets. It’s about who you are and what’s important to you.

Creating a structure and plan for passing on your values, insights, stories and experience is estate planning …. If you want to leave the world a better place, you need it.

So, what do the old rich guys know that you should know too?

They know that real deal, make a difference for your loved ones estate planning (what I call Family Wealth Planning) is about far more than documents; it’s about making the very best financial and legal decisions for yourself and the people you love most, so you can leave the world a better place.

Think about the old rich guys …. the guys whose family wealth has grown at each generation –Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Ford to name a few – all had the trusted guidance of personal lawyers advising them and their family after they were gone and long before they amassed their wealth. Because of these relationships, they left long lasting legacies that improve the world. Contrast that with rich guys like Joe Robbie, Powel Crosley, Jr., and Cornelius Vanderbilt who were once the wealthiest men in America and whose fortunes have been almost entirely dissipated to estate taxes, lawsuits, divorces and general affluenza.

So, learn from the old rich guys who did it right. Show the Universe you are serious about your business by getting control of your financial future. Leave your family with a legacy of true family wealth. If you want to leave the world a better place, even on a small scale, now is the time for you to begin planning your estate and for building your own relationship with a personal lawyer.

Alexis Martin Neely makes a relationship with a Personal Family Lawyer™ accessible and affordable to everyone who wants to leave the world a better place. Subscribe to Alexis’ free Family Wealth Secrets online magazine at FamilyWealthMatters.com. Find your own Personal Family Lawyer™ at www.PersonalFamilyLawyer.com.

How prepared are you for an emergency?

It’s no longer just Californians and those living in “Tornado Alley” that need to be prepared.  According to Ready.gov, “preparedness must now account for man-made disasters as well as natural ones.”  Just having an emergency kit isn’t enough. You also need to be informed and know what to do in an emergency.  Always use common sense and available information to determine if there is immediate danger.

Do you have your emergency kit packed?

According to Ready.gov, it should cover the basics such as fresh water, food, clean air and warmth.  For more specifics about what to have ready to go, check out the checklist at Ready.gov – and don’t forget the pets, a change of clothes, a radio and manually powered flashlights. You can purchase ready made kits, or you can head out to your local Army/Navy supply store and create a kit that matches your family’s needs.

In our case, we keep one large kit in the garage with enough food and water for a couple of days along with extra shoes and a change of clothes, and the necessary pet supplies.  In the cars we keep very basic kits – two packets of water, emergency food bars (less salt than standard energy bars), a flashlight with a blinking mode, a whistle, an emergency blanket, etc.  In the house, in an easy to grab backpack, we keep the basics for all of us including the pets along with glow sticks under the mattress on each side of the bed in case we can’t locate the flashlights.

Do you have an emergency communication plan?

Did you know that often times, during an emergency, it’s easier to place an out of state call than to call locally?  Does your family know who they should call if an emergency should strike?  Does everyone have a current phone tree or contact list with cell, work and home numbers of family and friends?

After our recent earthquake, we also learned that while both the cell and regular phones might be out of service, text messages and internet connections were still strong.  So have alternate ways to communicate with your family and friends (you’d be surprised just how much during- and post-earthquake communications were flying about on on Twitter).

Do you know when it might be safer to remain and when it might be safer to evacuate your home or office?

Depending on what happened and what’s going on, you’ll need to make the decision whether it’s safer to stay where you are, or to evacuate.  In either case, make both possibilities a part of your emergency plan.  Designate a meeting place for your family.  Know where you should meet if you need to leave your home or if your family is separated by work or school.

What should you do if you’re in a moving vehicle?

• If there is an explosion or other factor that makes it difficult to control the vehicle, pull over, stop the car and set the parking brake.
• If the emergency could impact the physical stability of the roadway, avoid overpasses, bridges, power lines, signs and other hazards.
• If a power line falls on your car you are at risk of electrical shock, stay inside until a trained person removes the wire.
• Listen to the radio for information and instructions as they become available.

Source: Ready.gov – make a plan

What made you decide to write a cookbook specifically for the toddler?

My husband and I decided on our honeymoon that we wanted to make books. He is a photographer and I was working as a chef and food stylist at the time. That was seven years ago. Our opportunity and idea came when we had our daughter, it seemed like the perfect project for us to explore feeding our child and helping other people to get creative with kids food.

You mention that from ages 2-5 kids go from having “no opinions to having lots of opinions,” what is a parent to do to handle this phase, especially when it comes to finicky palettes?

My philosophy is not to give a lot of attention to the “picky” eater. Always serve what you want them to eat, every night, even if they won’t touch it. Serve a tiny amount, maybe one carrot stick, one cherry tomato, and one small piece of crisp lettuce. Overwhelming them will put a negative spin on the meal from the start. Then after maybe a month of seeing the same food over and over ask them to taste it. Make up a funny story or game about the food. Engage them in the story and they may surprise you.

In today’s rush, rush society, how can families find the time to eat together and interact over meals?

I know it is hard, we all have crazy schedules and time is limited, but it is so important to try to spend time together. Just start with one night of eating together. Start a tradition like talking about your favorite event of the day. Try to eat together, your kids will eat better and be engaged in the process. Make it

You say “This quick and dirty approach, with an emphasis on “dirty,” will help you set up your kids’ positive relationship with food for life.” When is a good time to start cooking with kids?

Your child can be in the kitchen from day one, just getting used to the smells of food cooking is a great way to get them used to food. When my daughter was small I put her in the sling or on my back and, chopped, and stirred with her right there. 2 is a perfect age to start hands on with the kids. Let them add dry ingredients, stir and most importantly, taste!

What advice do you have for handling the power struggles that inevitably take place with toddlers over food? What about when they get stuck in a food rut and only want to eat chicken nuggets or peanut butter or whatever they’ve decided upon?

• When a power struggle arises don’t back down, you are the boss.
• Give your child choices, but limit them. If they will only eat chicken nuggets then give them 2 choices before the nuggets. Something like this, choose 3 bites of fish or 3 bites of beans and then you can have the chicken nuggets. Always try to get the healthful food in first. This will expand their tastes and give them the power of choice.

You suggest that as a parent that you give a “positive response to ANY food you try, even if you don’t love it.” Why is this necessary?

Your experience does not have to be your child’s experience. Your tastes are formed from your childhood and learning from your parents, why limit your kid’s palate just because you hate mustard? (OK, I hate mustard, see what happened to me!) Let them decide what they like and don’t like.

Often times, as a parent, we like to offer our kids choices. You suggest that we “don’t make a habit of asking your child what she wants for dinner; doing so is setting a trap for yourself.” Can you elaborate on this?

Asking your child to make that decision is much more difficult than we could know. Sometimes as adults we don’t even know what we want for dinner. A child will usually chose what they know, so the are likely to choose a familiar dish. By you choosing for them you are in the driver seat. Offer them one familiar item and a new one too.

What are some suggestions for parents to “set the stage” for mealtimes? Should mealtimes follow a schedule, or would something more casual and fun work better?

A routine is best for mealtime, they will know what to expect and how they are expected to behave.

• Give fair warning before the meal so they can prepare to stop playing.
• Have them participate by setting the table or helping plate the food.
• Have conversation or “play” during dinner creatively interact with your kids, engage them, even in clean up.
• Eat at the table.
• A casual dinner once or twice a week is fun too, just explain the difference to them. Give clear boundaries about what is expected from them but make it fun.

Are there any tips or quick and easy recipes you’d care to share with our readers?

One great tip I love is from Stephanie Catt the winner, of our Chronicle Books and Boon Tips and Tricks Contest, The “Eat something” game. If they have potatoes, say, “Eat something that grows in the ground.” Then it’s a race to be the first one to eat the right answer. Mostly, they’re easy riddles, like eat something that’s green, or round, or barks (hot dogs). Now, they like to take turns coming up with their own riddles. It’s fun and takes the stress out of dinnertime.

Another tip that is fun is to wrap up new food items, in parchment or wax paper and place it on the plate as a surprise for them to open.

Here is one of my favorite recipes, beans are a vegetable and have more fiber than any other vegetable, they are the vegetable with more!!

Toddler Truffles

These look like chocolate but they are made of beans! This is like a version of a Chinese sweet bean dessert, but this one’s made from ingredients you might have on hand. If you want to get crafty, you can always substitute authentic Japanese adzuki beans, which come canned. This recipe is very forgiving—you can really go to town, making it taste different every time. This semisweet creation bakes like a cake and scoops into balls. It is so moist and delicious and is packed with fiber. Rest your creative juices; they will need no help eating this.

Makes about 24 balls

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts
1/2 stick (2 ounces) butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of kosher salt
2 eggs
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Spray or butter an 8 by 8-inch pan; set aside.

In a large, deep bowl, combine the beans, sugars, nuts, butter, baking powder, and salt. Using a stick blender or food processor, start to work the ingredients around. When they are fully blended, add the eggs and blend to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until firm and the edges get slightly crisp. Cool and cut into small cubes or take a spoonful and roll into small balls in your palms. Dust with powdered sugar.

Store covered, up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Variations:

• Substitute white beans, pintos, or adzuki beans. They can be found in the ethnic aisle of your store. The texture and color may change, but the idea stays the same—a cake made of beans!
• Add a tablespoon of orange zest, try different kinds of chopped nuts, or add dried currants after blending for a chunkier texture.

How to Enter:

1. Leave a comment with comment with your child’s favorite food. No purchase is necessary. One comment per person, please.
2. You must supply us with a valid email address.
3. The contest starts now and entries must be date stamped by our server no later than Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time to be eligible.
4. The winner will be selected during a random drawing using random.org and will be notified via e-mail to receive the prize.
5. No prize substitutions.
6. You must be 18 years old or older to enter and a resident of the USA.
7. No purchase necessary.
8. Void where prohibited.

Yet again, cancer forced me to look at my future and ask: Am I willing to take the gamble that I will be fertile when I conclude all my cancer treatments at age 37? For some women who regain fertility it can take six months to two years. By then, I will be 39. Is that when I want to start having children at 39? Or will I invest in my future as a biological mom by choosing a sperm donor literally from a catalog and freezing eggs or embryos? The latter option was the last thing I thought I would ever be thinking about this year or any year. With resoluteness, I chose to not let cancer eliminate any possibilities for my future, including that dream I had of being a mom before the age of 39, even if it meant using a surrogate for my frozen embryos.

I scheduled a phone consult with Dr. Wendy Change of the Southern California Reproductive Center (SCRC). Serendipitously when I spoke to Dr. Chang I was on day two of my period. After she explained my risk factors and the process, she informed me I would have to start my hormone injections to stimulate the follicles on my ovaries the next day or not at all given the tight timeframe before my double-mastectomy. At 5 p.m. on a Tuesday, I made yet another monumental decision catalyzed by cancer and called my dear friend Jen for my first of many rides to the fertility clinic.

We arrived for my 7 am ultrasound and blood work. By 10 am I was in the business manager’s office with Jen learning of the enormous costs associated with fertility preservation. While Jen discussed if there was financial aid available for cancer patients, I was on the phone with my American Express card asking for a rather large limit increase. We walked out of the clinic with my first round of hormone injections as well as the significant financial investment in my future as a mommy charged to my AMEX, earning me what I’ve dubbed “fertility miles.”

It took me about a week of hormone injections to decide if I wanted to freeze eggs or embryos. Embryos have a much higher likelihood of producing a child later in life than frozen eggs alone. I was hoping for a ½ and ½ scenario so one day if I do get married, my husband and I can try my eggs first and if I’m lucky, one might fertilize.

Dr. Chang’s staff gave me a package of information for the California Cryobank, an apparently renowned sperm bank. It felt so unnatural and weird, especially the first time you look at the catalog. I had to narrow down my first choices from hundreds of donors which as I was told “change frequently due to supply and demand.” I was so overwhelmed at first, but comforted by the fact the sperm bank only accepted 1% of all applicants. They did more screenings on these donors than a government employee gets when vying for a top secret security clearance.

I first narrowed down donor potentials from a catalog that gave only the basic stats on the donors: height, weight, nationality, basic features, profession and whether or not it was known if the donors’ sperm had produced a child for someone already. (Yes, there is a sibling registry, thank God, so my child one day will hopefully not accidentally marry their sibling.) There are also six different pieces of data that a donor may have provided: a baby picture, audio interview, personality test, a written essay and staff impressions. Every donor is required to fill out a very extensive profile that includes the medical history of extended family on both their mother’s and father’s side of the family.

I started my search with darker skinned donors of ethnic backgrounds that I was naturally attracted to and ruled out those who did not complete all six possible pieces of information. I miraculously narrowed it down to six potential donors. The sperm bank then conducted what is called a photo matching service where I supplied a photo and they sync up your features with the donors; I guess to make sure you aesthetically could create a decent looking child together. They scored each one on attractiveness and how close of a match we were. My six prospects were between 8.5 matching and 7.0. Most people don’t ever score higher than an 8.5 so I began purchasing some of the available reports in order of my preference (yes, every additional report that is not in the catalog is provided for a fee). Cancer costs at this point are out of control.

I first used their written essays to narrow the choices down further. I thought if I could somehow hear their voice in the written word, looking at their handwriting, I may find something intuitively that worked for me. After connecting with two out of the six essays, I then ordered their full package: a $70 investment per donor. It was between a tall Italian or a shorter Spanish, French, Mexican. I didn’t know it was possible to fall in love with DNA but I did. I am in love with the short Spanish, French, Mexican medical student with tall uncles on both sides of the family. Since he was only 5’8” himself, I wanted to make sure there was a chance for some height, given I am only 5’3”. He seemed very smart (high SAT scores!) with the most spotless medical history of any donor I read about. His essay revealed similar values to mine and his responses so fully matched my take on life. In fact, they made me want to meet him, though I knew it wasn’t possible. Turns out he was a competitive baseball player (I was the first girl to play baseball in an all boys league when I was 12) and his younger sister a dancer (I switched from sports to performance dance in college). When choosing someone’s DNA, it became very important to me that athleticism and rhythm ran in the family!

In the end, I literally was so in love with my sperm choice that I wanted to have a baby right away. Of course, that sentiment may have been hormonally induced because there were 31 eggs growing inside of me. My sister said, “You have one egg for every year you’ve been alive!” Sometimes, she notices the funniest things. Up until my scheduled egg retrieval, I loved the process my body was going through. I administered the hormone injections into my belly day and night. The increased hormonal stimulation at first made me very happy, sensual and more womanly than I had ever felt before. I’ve always had a lean physique and before cancer had some typical body image issues. I thought I would hate the “fat” part of getting pregnant. But as my belly expanded from my ovaries growing and the constipation they neglected to tell me about in advance, I could stand sideways and kind of looked pregnant. For the first time, I declared, “I’m going to be so cute pregnant!” (Yeah, clearly the body image issues disappear with cancer.) I could literally feel life force growing inside my body and it brought me great comfort, joy and hope for my future. I could see light coming back to my eyes, the dark cancer window shade lifting up long enough for me to visualize a little girl with long, dark curly hair dancing in the middle of the family room with me, her mommy.

Alice Crisci is the founder and CEO of Beeline Global Inc. (BGI). A burgeoning business consultant, Alice is the youngest of four generations to have been diagnosed with cancer. In the first 30 days of her diagnosis, she launched a foundation, wrote a book, organized her first charity event and harvested eggs to preserve her future as a mom. Alice confronted cancer with the same drive and energy she uses to catalyze growth in business. She is known to her clients as a Visionary and now also to the young breast cancer community. Her foundation, My Vision Foundation, aspires to preserve the future of every young breast cancer patient.

Reprinted from the Huffington Post with the author’s permission.

Yeah, you think I’m kidding, right? Five people (two adults, three kids) eating ACTUAL food – not ketchup sandwiches or tartar sauce packets – on two hundred and fifty bucks a month? I must be joking.

No, I am so completely not kidding you. I know there are those of you who are reading right now saying, “Come on, I eat on less than that. You can do better!” and there are those of you reading this right now saying, “But I spend that much every WEEK for my family!”

Step One: Make a Meal List!

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to making lists of things. If you’ve been here very long at all, I’m sure you’ve seen at least a list or two. I LOVE lists. They keep things organized in such a lovely neat way, and you can cross things off when they’re completed, which creates the most wonderful accomplishment sensations.

So, every month, Troy and I sit down and we make A LIST of what we are going to make for dinners/lunches/breakfasts/snacks for the next 30-odd days. I print off a calendar and we mark it all up from our list, deciding where each meal will fit and where we have days where leftovers is really the best option for a quick dinner.

In order to make a good list, and make it really work, you have to be able to visualize your entire month. You have to know what you’ve got planned already for that period of time – where the kids might be, or what might happen on certain nights that would keep you from being able to make a big dinner. For instance, every Thursday I’m either picking my youngest up or dropping him off, and that’s not a night we do a big family dinner. We eat healthy leftovers that day instead, so whenever I get home (with or without the little guy), I (or we) can still eat something good for us.

(This also keeps me from giving into the fast food temptation and just buying some fries for the drive home.)

Tip: PLAN LEFTOVERS IN YOUR MEAL PLAN!

Because you’re not only reducing waste, you’re actually getting all the use you can out of the food you bought! And planning meals on purpose that are so large you have leftovers is smarter and less work than trying to come up with an entirely new meal every night that’s still cheap to fix.

Step Two: Make a Grocery List!

Now that you have your meal list, you’re not just going to the store with that, right? RIGHT?

No, you need to take your meal plan, and the running list of all the other stuff you ran out of during the past month or so, and make a master grocery list out of it all. EVERYTHING. Don’t leave anything out if you can help it, because it’s always easier to do it all at once. There are always things you can’t necessarily buy in bulk and expect them to last a month (like milk, or fruit), but most of the things you need can be bought in a larger, more efficient quantity. And you save money that way too, usually.

Troy is actually so obsessed with this part that he insists on saving every single grocery list we make, so he can compare them to each other month’s list. It’s so darn cute.

Tip: DON’T FORGET TO BUDGET SNACKS!

Because if you don’t budget them in, you’ll spend money you didn’t mean to later because you were REALLY jonesing for a bag of chips or a chocolate cake. Trust me on this one.

Step Three: Make a Store Plan!

You went to all the trouble of planning a months’ worth of meals. You went to the great lengths of writing down EVERYTHING you need for the month in a grocery list. Now, the worst thing to do would be to just run to the nearest store and get everything there – because, chances are, that’s not the best economical decision for your budget.

What we do is visit, on average, three different grocery stores. Part of this comes with experience: I know which stores have the best prices on dairy, or produce, or frozen goods. But you never know what you’ll find (or what they’ll be unexpectedly out of), so one of the BEST reasons to make your plan and list ahead of time is that you already know what you’re expecting to do this month, and you can make informed decisions to do something else if you happen to not find a turkey breast for $1.15 a pound like usual.

There is a big chain near us (Kroger) that has great manager’s specials on bread and on meat, although the meat is hard to catch (it’s usually on Saturdays). However, I have gotten an average of six to ten loaves of bread at a pop for about $1 to $1.50 a loaf this way, and we freeze whatever we’re not using yet. This way, I can feed my kids healthier wheat bread, which is what I’ve always preferred. Planning ahead lets me feed them what I’d rather, instead of whatever I find at the moment when I’m already strapped for time or cash.

Also, we take advantage of stores like Aldi’s and Save-a-Lot, because their off brands are SO MUCH CHEAPER for dairy, produce, and boxed items than most other larger supermarkets or grocery stores.

Tip: HAVE AT LEAST A HALF DAY TO GROCERY SHOP!

Because it’s worth it, and you don’t need to feel rushed. Remember that once you get your technique down, you won’t have to do a big shopping trip more than once a month.

Step Four: Don’t Spend the Whole Budget at Once!

Maybe this should have been step one, but I’m putting it here because this is the point at which you might have realized you’re spending in line with your budget, and maybe you have room for more snacks – DON’T give in to the temptation to spend it all.

You’re going to need more food during the month than you bought. Maybe you’re having someone over unexpectedly, or your kids drank more milk this week than you thought they would. Maybe you made more grilled cheese sandwiches than normal because nobody was in the mood for anything else. Not only that, but you’re going to run out of dairy and produce anyhow – or it’ll go bad (if you bought to much), so plan on at least one more short store run each week.

Tip: BRING A CALCULATOR!

I love my calculator. It keeps me within budget, it helps me determine whether or not $5.99 for four pounds is a better deal than $1.29 for four one-pound increments (Hint: NO). And most importantly, it puts me in control of the shopping process. No more surprises at the register for me, unless they’re the really nice kind, when something is even cheaper than you thought.

Step Five: Stick To Your Plan!

The easiest way to screw the whole month is to not pay attention to your meal plan, and to totally space out on what meat needs to be defrosted when, or why you shouldn’t eat all the snacks in less than a week.

Be kind to yourself – you went to all this trouble, now follow through by doing what you planned in the first place. And then gloat when you stay within your budget, because DAMMIT, you did A GOOD JOB.

Final Tip: THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM IN THE BUDGET FOR AT LEAST ONE SPECIAL TREAT!

My favorites are gummi bears, Doritos, and sometimes ice cream.

Now go forth and budget!

Rachael is a self-professed geek, coffee lover, and penny pincher, who works from home as a web designer and the occasional tech support. She lives with her husband and three kids in Michigan, where she complains about the weather regularly. You can find out more about her at Antithete, and Caffeinated Design & Hosting.

Did you know that roughly 69% of parents have not documented who would raise and care for their children if they weren’t able? It’s not the most cheerful topic to talk about, some might even consider it depressing, but it’s a conversation we should all have with our spouses, our siblings and our parents.  And if you have children, it’s definitely a necessary topic and one that should be considered from all possibilities and well thought out. This book will walk you through the process and leave you with many valuable plans and tools to help both your children and your family should something go wrong.

If you order your book tomorrow, May 7th, Alexis will throw in thousands of dollars worth of bonus gifts: ebooks, special reports, audio sessions and MP3s, teleseminars, downloads, membership to the parenting toolbox and so much more. This is a great package with tons of information for parents.

We’re also giving away two copies of Wear Clean Underwear to our readers and all you have to do is leave a comment with something your child does that makes you laugh.

How to Enter:

1. Leave a comment with comment with something your child does that makes you laugh. No purchase is necessary. One comment per person, please.

2. You must supply us with a valid email address.

3. The contest starts now and entries must be date stamped by our server no later than Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time to be eligible.

4. The winner will be selected during a random drawing using random.org and will be notified via e-mail to receive the prize.

5. No prize substitutions.

6. You must be 18 years old or older to enter and a resident of the USA.

7. No purchase necessary.

8. Void where prohibited.

My name is Kari Klein and I am the Manager of Global Performance for a technology company in the Boston area. I live in an apartment in Cambridge, with my neighbors Harvard and MIT. My home office is a small room off of our kitchen at the back-end of our apartment. I have a great desk and shelving setup (courtesy of IKEA), of mixed metal and wood. The shelves cover 3 out of the 4 walls, leaving some room for two windows, a closet door and the entryway into my office (no door).

I have an eclectic mix of stuff on my shelving…everything from business books to old magazines and journals that I’m keeping, folders of information that I once thought was important, binders of materials from my recent graduate courses, office supplies, framed photographs and of course, my treasured Red Sox and Celtics keepsakes. Like anyone else who has a home office, I have combined the professional and the personal information into one large blob of stuff that is somewhat organized all over my shelves. Ironically, I usually can locate things in their exact location, so I guess it’s working for me!

Now, on to the more important inhabitants of my office. I am a self-professed technology junkie, but I do strive to use things that help me be more productive in one way or another. I have my personal desktop computer, with the 21 inch flat screen monitor and surround sound speaker system (I work really well to music when I’m not on calls), my work laptop is front and center, my all-in-one office jet printer, my photo-quality color printer, my iPod, my home phone, my cell phone, 3 portable hard drives, my pocket pc and all of that is connected to our high-speed wireless home network.

On top of all of the stuff and electronics that work in here with me, I have my regular home co-workers, Simon and Tiger. Tiger likes to come in and sit right next to my laptop…she is a cat who appreciates the warmth of the laptop fan as much as my petting her. Simon, on the other hand, is a cat who prefers to remind you it’s all about him. He likes to jump up on my desk, walk around the back of my laptop, s-t-r-e-t-c-h down onto my lap for a hug and a pet, and then circle back up on my desk again. I’m never surprised to bring a little fur back with me into my outside office.

I hope that I’ve given you a good, initial picture of my home office and my working environment. I am looking forward to sharing home office tips and stories with all of you over the coming months. With my 8+ years of full-time and part-time home office experience, I hope I can help someone out there think of another way to do something, and maybe even an easier way. If nothing else, I’d love to prove you’re not crazy and you’re not the only one that has a FedEx delivery driver who notoriously always rings for deliveries in the middle of your most important conference calls and web meetings.

For now, I’ll leave with you the anticipation of new ideas and tips to help you successfully work from home, while I hop in the shower and then cook dinner. The hour at the gym this morning, which was sandwiched in between conference calls, was a while ago, and while you can’t see me sitting in my gym clothes, I can and need to move past the workout this morning. Bye for now!

Kari Klein is the Manager of Global Performance with Nuance Communications in the Boston area.