Last chance to take that poll! I know more than nineteen of you must have some thoughts on giving your child an allowance. Results will be discussed tomorrow!

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Money Spent Today: $800. OMG! It is not a good financial day for us today. Our A/C was the original A/C to our house. Our house was built in 1967, so you can imagine the size of this beast and how “energy efficient” it has been running.

We had someone come out and give us a quote for a new heating & air system a few weeks ago. The quote was for OVER $4K. When the guy told us this, I avoided all eye-contact with my husband, for fear that he and I would both start cracking up. You know, that nervous laugh that you get when you are completely floored about something?? They did offer a wonderful finance plan where we could pay on it for ten years at around 14% interest rate….um, no freakin’ way! Another nervous laugh as we exited the kind salesman out the door…immediately followed by laughing until we are crying.

Fortunately, my dad works in heating & air so he was able to find us a dented model for around $760 (that includes tax). He is going to install it for us and we are going to buy him a gift card to take my mom out to dinner as repayment for all that he did for us. Considering he is saving us (at least) a grand, I think it is the least we could do.

We are still on the lookout for a new furnace, but a new A/C is much more important to us with those hot summer months just around the corner.

Luckily, we have been anticipating this little fiasco so we had the money set aside (*patting self on the back*). No surprises (other than that outrageous quote). Always good to be prepared for life’s little emergencies!

How-To Keep Your Kids Busy:

Here are a few things to keep on hand for your children this summer!

Balloons (regular, water)
Balls (play, rubber, super, tennis, Wiffle)
Beach Ball
Bubbles, fancy wands
Bucket, handheld hoe, rake, shovel
Bug catcher, bug keeper container
Cards (playing, Old Maid, Crazy Eights)
Chalk (colored, white)
Clay, cookie cutters, miniature rolling pin
Dominoes
Insects (plastic)
Jacks & ball
Jump rope
Kaleidoscope
Marbles
Kite
Paddle ball (with ball attached)
Pinwheel
Sailboats (plastic)
Sponges
Squirt Guns
Swimmies, raft
Telescope
Word Search Books

Inspirational Reading Material: This site is full of great information on how to plan your next playgroup. Online Playgroup covers everything from snacks to crafts and offers great theme ideas.

MomAdvice Reading Material: Summer Survival

On Our Dinner Table: I am making two Sticky Chickens for dinner. I am serving them with a baked potato & some homemade bread. One of the chickens will be for our dinner tonight and the other will be diced and made into chicken salad sandwiches for another night. These taste just like rotisserie chickens. I am doing them in the oven (because I prefer a crispy skin on my bird), but you can do them in the slow cooker if that doesn’t bother you.

Sticky Chicken
Serves Four

Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 421kcal
Protein 72g (145%)
Total Fat 11g (16%)
Sat. 3g (13%)
Chol. 235mg (78%)
Carb. 5g (2%)
Fiber 1g (5%)
Sugars 2g
Calcium 55mg (5%)
Iron 4mg (20%)

What a Frugal Momma Thinks Debt Means:
Debt is something you do not want to be in. Debt is everything that you are trying to avoid. Debt is a naughty word.

Example: Billy’s mom and dad seem to be having some money issues. They went out and bought themselves a car that they couldn’t afford and now they are really in some serious debt. Well, at least they will look like they have money when they are riding around in that giant SUV. I sure wouldn’t want to pay for the gas on that car.

What Your Kids Think Debt Means:
Debt means no.

Example: Man, my mom is so freakin lame. All I asked for was a hundred dollar pair of Abercrombie jeans and she said no. She gave me some crappy answer about not wanting to go into debt so that I could have one pair of jeans. Billy’s parents bought him a pair AND they got a new car- he’s so lucky!

Maybe you have not been a loyal follower of my little blog? Maybe you are a newbie to saving money? Maybe you are bored and have absolutely nothing to do? Despair no longer! I am bringing back to you an article that I think you should read. Even though it is not Freebie Friday, I am offering to you another look at an oldie (but goodie!). Make sure to read this entry from March (2005) on how to score free magazines, frugal tips from Budget Living Magazine, & how I have overcome my drugstore obsession.

For you frugal folks out there, I have become increasingly disappointed with this magazine. The budgeting factor seems to be missing from it and their money advice is not for the frugal-minded anymore. Despite the magazine going down the tubes (in my humble, but true opinion), this old post is worth a second look!

Join me over at Budget Living Mag post!

Here is the latest (and greatest) money news this week. Feel free to discuss, ya’ll!

Student Loans- A Life Sentence
Forget about getting married and buying a home. This generation is thinking about next month’s payment….Read More

Wal-Mart’s Next Conquest: Organics
It pounded supermarket chains by selling groceries cheaper than anyone else, now the discount leader wants the “naturals” niche….Read More

The Most Expensive Zip Codes
Forbes.com ranks the most expensive ZIP codes across the U.S….Read More

Investing Games for Kids
MsMoney.com suggests great websites to teach children money management & to help them learn the rules of the investing….Read More

7 Ways to Slash Commuting Costs
Changing how you get to your job can create more breathing room in your budget — from gas savings to insurance reductions to reduced wear on the car. Read More….

How Do You Stay on a Budget?
Whether you’re a novice or a pro, these tips from readers will help to keep you on track in your budgeting. Read More….

Yesterday was such a great day for our site and I really appreciate all the great feedback we received. We are still working out the kinks, but we did it! Whoohoo! Thanks to all of our friends & family who continue to support us and brag on us. We couldn’t do it without you.

Speaking of friends, I think they will really get a kick out of today’s picture because of my true obsession with vintage aprons. I absolutely love aprons particularly the ones that are throwbacks to the fifties. I know it is old-fashioned, but I don’t care! My two best girlfriends splurged and got me a super pretty one from Anthropologie for my birthday. No one could have been more excited than me about that purchase. If you are ever looking for a beautiful apron, this site is it! Great styles and just what a girl needs to make cooking more fun! I know the women libbers are really going to love me now, considering my popularity thus far. Oh well! You win some, you lose some. Now moving on to our Tuesday tip…..

Tuesday’s Tip:

Seasoning pasta is important to achieving a good pasta dish. Many people season too soon (causing pitting in their pots) or they forget to season altogether. One way to solve this problem is to add the salt to your opened box of pasta. One tablespoon of salt can be dumped into the opened box and when the water comes to a boil, just dump the salt covered pasta.

Money Spent Today: $121.06. Today was grocery day and boy, did we ever need groceries! It is so bad when you’re out of everything (including meat) thus, the reason I went over budget. I grocery shop once every two weeks so this amount of food should get us easily through the next two weeks. I took Ethan shopping with me and spent $1.06 at Target on a popcorn combo deal. Seriously, that is the best way to keep a child occupied in that store. For $1, you get a huge thing of popcorn & a medium soda. This kept him very busy while mommy tried to find all of her ingredients. Sometimes it pays to pay so momma can get her groceries.

One Way I Save Money: I only go to the ATM once a week unless I am going there to deposit money. Today was my withdrawing day. I pull $160 out for the next two weeks. $100 of this money goes into an envelope for our groceries, $20 goes in my hubby’s pocket for a lunch or two out, $20 goes into my pocket for playgroup expenses and the occasional lunch out, and $20 is family fun money (which usually ends up in my pocket since I have to pay for myself & Ethan). When the money is gone, it is gone. Withdrawing money usually helps me stay under my grocery budget. I had to go a bit over this time, but I will probably be under for next pay period so it’s all good!

Inspirational Reading Material: Organized Home is a great site for, well, um…getting your home organized. I guess that is pretty self-explanatory. The forum is wonderful for learning ways to manage your household tasks and the site is great for a little inspiration when the need to clean and organize strikes.

MomAdvice Reading Material: Going Without Health Insurance

On Our Dinner Table: I decided to invest into an online subscription to Cook’s Illustrated because I had heard so many good things about the site and their recipes. I have been having a blast looking through the picture tutorials and they have neat kitchen tips that really come in handy when you are cooking in the kitchen. We have started eating this dish about once every two weeks because it is so yummy and healthy. Even my picky eaters will eat it (they both eat around the spinach, but who’s looking?) This is easy to throw together with a slice of bread on the side.

Easy Skillet Penne and Sausage Supper
Serves Six

Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 391kcal
Protein 26g (51%)
Total Fat 14g (22%)
Sat. 5g (23%)
Chol. 72mg (24%)
Carb. 40g (13%)
Fiber 2g (9%)
Sugars 5g
Calcium 197mg (20%)
Iron 3mg (17%)

We are up and ready for your vote on CSS Reboot. We are located on the first page and it just takes a second to give us your rating.

Well, it’s official. The newly designed site is up and running. We are so proud! Seriously, it is like giving birth all over again (complete with sleepless nights and me crying!) I wanted to share with you a few words from our designer, just to explain to you what is technically happening & why we are so dang excited about our new look.

With great fanfare, we have launched a brand new design for MomAdvice! We listened to your feedback and now present something faster, cleaner, and hopefully, better. The old site was great and did a lot to get us on the map, however, we have higher aspirations and this is the first step. That said, you’ll need to bear with us as we are in no way complete. Not all of the articles have been converted, some links may be broken, some things look weird, and chaos may ensue. However, do not fret. We have a sweatshop full of underage workers who can’t eat until it’s done.

We’re participating in the May 1st CSS Reboot, which is basically an event where a bunch of sites are launching their new design using the latest web design techniques on the same day. You can show your support and rate our site (we will post that link when it is posted on their site). There’s a lot of talent out there and we’re proud to take part in this wonderful event. The technical details of what we did still boggle my mind and are meaningless to our normal audience here at MomAdvice. However for those “l33t” designers visiting from CSSReboot with mad skillz, here’s some geek pr0n for you:

• Complete overhaul of layout from a tables-laden pile of crap to a beautiful CSS-based design.

• Converted from classic ASP to ASP.Net 2.0, coded with C#.

• sIFR headers. So very pretty. So very unruly.

• A few PNG images with alpha-blending for the pure challenge of it.

For those CSS standards-elitists who are checking if the site validates, the code is a work of art and we’ve avoided any hacks, don’t bother. Stand next to us in awe the darn thing works. Over the next few months we’ll be getting to all those things and more. So, why don’t you sign up for our newsletter, browse the site, and read some articles. You don’t have to be a mom or even female to enjoy our site. Everyone can use a little financial, organizational and cooking advice. We promise you won’t get cooties.

As you check the CSS Reboot site, be sure to note how many minutes we have before you can view and vote! And while you are waiting, take a look around, take our Sunday Poll, and check out our new WAHM Spotlight. We have so much more in store for you all and look forward to your feedback on the new direction we are taking. Share it with your friends, ya’ll!

We would like to congratulate Debra Carter on being chosen as our first Monday WAHM for MomAdvice.com. We wish her much success in her business and with her family.

If you are interested in being featured, we will be selecting a mom for each Monday of my blog. You can read more and apply. Email confirmations are sent to each mom if they are chosen. Please remember to do your own research on these companies. If there are obvious red flags on BBB, I do not post them. Check my scam article to find out more about the potential dangers of work-at-home businesses.

Again, congratulations to Debra!

Name: Debra Carter

City/State: Oconto WI

Name of Company: Scent-Sations Inc.

Website Name: http://www.lovethiscandle.com

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:

Quality Gourmet Candles and Soaps, Income Opportunity or Shop with us Online. Our candles burn cleaner, longer and we have over 95 scents to choose from. We also have a Free Candle Drawing and a Candle of the Month Club!

Two Tips for Moms Trying to Work-At-Home (these tips can be how you stay organized, how to be successful, how to get started- anything that you feel would help someone just starting out):

1. Read as much as you can on your products or business. You will also learn from experience, positive and negative. The more you learn the better your confidence and performance.

2. Don’t spend more than you can afford on products, kits/supplies or advertising.