Okay, maybe I’m a little sick. I think this should be given to you before you leave the hospital with your newborn.

http://www.knockknock.biz/commerce/New/New-Products/Traumatize-Children.html

If you decide to check this out, be sure to visit the rest of the site. Hilarious stuff, they have.  I’m just trying to figure out if these items are for real.

I haven’t been able to get my ball rolling at all lately work wise. I want to apologize for any and all useless ramblings you happen to come across this month.  I want to post daily for the NaBloPoMo challenge, but I am really burnt out with working.  I feel like I don’t want to try to get anything going until January.

So again, I’m sorry for wasting your time. If you’re here to learn about making money online, I promise to get back into the groove as soon as I can get myself going again.

I know - no one wants to face the fact that the holidays will soon be here. I have a terrible tendency to procrastinate till the very last minute, so this year I’d like to share a few of my best tips and resources for holiday shopping.

TIP #1: Save on shipping by ordering early!  

It makes perfect sense, but often this is overlooked by many people.  The closer to Christmas that you order something online, the more you’re going to pay for shipping.  You’re going to want to order early enough to be able to use the standard shipping rate, but make sure you remember that shipping usually takes about a week longer than usual during the holiday season, so make sure you factor that in.  Shipping is the one area where you will spend or save the most money when shopping online for Christmas, so make sure you take the time to figure out what the best deal is, and order early enough to use a less expensive shipping option!

TIP #2: Compare prices from different sites to ensure you get the best deal!

There are websites out there that let you compare prices at various online stores.

http://dealcatcher.pricegrabber.com/

http://www.mysimon.com/

http://www.bizrate.com/

Those are just 3 sites that will help you compare prices and find the best deals on what you’re ordering.  Rather than going from website to website looking for the best deals, let one of those sites do all the work for you!

In an effort to start stashing away some additional money for Christmas, I’ve decided to go back to couponing. I dread this.

Don’t get me wrong. I love coupons.  Clipping them out, sorting them, naming them. But that was PRE-baby.  I am absolutely terrified of again starting up my “coupon habit” with a colicky, fussy, hardly-ever-happy baby.

I was a couponing pro with my son.  He let me clip ‘em till no end.  I was proud of my neatly organized coupon holder and my happy, easy infant son. I saved money and my son got to shop with me.

This time around?  I literally have nightmares about having to shop with my daughter. This weekend I plan to see how it goes.  I really, really want to start putting extra cash away, and using coupons is the easiest way for me to go.

Let’s hope I don’t have a panic attack in the store.

A lot of teens nowadays do not understand the value of earning and spending money. They were not oriented that investing is necessary even if they are still students. As parents, you play a crucial role in this area.

You should be able to teach your kids on how to save money. They should be able to understand the concept of money and investment as early as childhood. This will prepare them to learn money management, as they grow old.

Here are some tips on how you can teach your children how to save money:

1. Your children should be educated of the meaning of money. Once your children have learned how to count, that is the perfect time for you teach them the real meaning of money. You should be consistent and explain to them in simple ways and do this frequently so that they may be able to remember what you taught them.

2. Always explain to them the value of saving money. Make them understand its importance and how it will impact their life. It is important that you entertain questions from them about money and you should be able to answer them right away.

3. When giving them their allowances. You need to give them their allowances in denominations. Then you can encourage them that they should keep a certain bill for the future. You can motivate them to do this by telling them that the money can be saved and they can buy new pair of shoes or the toys they want once they are able to save.

4. You can also teach them to work for money. You can start this at your own home. You can pay them fifty cents to one dollar every time they clean their rooms, do the dishes or feed their pets. This concept of earning little money will make them think that money is something they have worked for and should be spent wisely.

5. You can teach them to save money by giving them piggy banks where they can put coins and wait until they get full. You can also open bank accounts for them and let them deposit money from their allowance. You should always show them how much they have earned to keep them motivated.

Money and saving is not something that is learned by children in one sitting. You should be patient in teaching them and relating the value of money in all of their activities. Children will learn this easily if you are patient and consistent in guiding them and encouraging them in this endeavor.

•       List goods that should always be found in the kitchen. Examples of which are coffee, milk, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, onion, garlic. These goods are necessary, so they are always being bought.

•       Plan your weekly meals ahead of time. This would avoid you overspending on goods invaluable or missing some ingredients that are needed. This would not just clear your worries but it would also save your time.

•       Don’t buy branded goods; instead choose a product that has the same quality of those expensive goods. You’ll get the same benefit without spending more.

•       Buy goods that have dual purpose. A good example of which is mayonnaise. You can use it as a sandwich spread or make macaroni salad instead. In a way, you could enjoy eating both without spending too much.

•       Buy less expensive cuts of meat. List recipes that the cuts won’t matter. At least, you won’t be sacrificing the taste of the food and at the same time you’ll have the chance to buy a larger quantity.

•       Pay in cash. You might be tempted to buy unnecessary goods. This would avoid you from going over your card limit.

•       Try to be inventive and creative at the same time. Leftovers could be precooked in a way that it would look appealing again to your appetite.

•       Bring some snacks whenever you travel. This could be a good reliever for your hunger along the way and chances of being tempted to stop in a mini store; if not be impossible, at least be lessen.

•       Keep a list of prices of goods you always buy. At least, with those products you’re sure of how much you’ll be spending and you could do just a small amount on goods you wish to buy.

•       Shop only once or twice a month. In that way, less time will be spent on going to a grocery store and at the same time, chances of overspending will be minimized.

If you are really at a loss on what to get someone for a gift this holiday season, try this out.

Go to restaurants.com and purchase a local gift certificate.  They have AWESOME prices on their gift cards.  For example, I have purchased two $25 certificates for $5 each!  That’s an ENTIRE $50 meal for just ten bucks!  Seriously, you just can’t beat that.

If you like to save money and search for deals online, here’s a pretty good source to do it.

www.fatwallet.com

Lots of stores are listed and you can get a lot of cash back from your purchases. This site is going into my bookmarks for Christmas.  (Stay tuned for my favorite Christmas shopping tips and online resources - probably posted mid or late November.)

It’s now the beginning of November and I realize that I absolutely NEED to make a solid goal checklist for the month. Otherwise, surprise!, I don’t get much of anything at all done.  For now, a pretty basic list will do (and I’ll probably be adding to it as days go by). Damn, I can’t wait till this colic passes - I have so much more I want to get done.
Anyway, for the month of November, in no particular order:

Business Goals

-  Get new niche websites uploaded, new articles added to them
-  Post to this blog each day, for the entire month of November

-  New blog design for MomRocks (why? I just don’t know)

-  Update current selling info products (carried out till December)
-  Release 5 info products on eBay (10 by the end of December)
-  Start my VRE training

This posting marks my first official attempt to blog every day this month, courtesy of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I really, really need to get myself posting here and this contest will help me tons.

If you blog (or want to start), think about joining yourself. I’m the kind of person who needs something like this to get motivated. You know, something in the form of cool prizes.

It’s hard to decide on a favorite prize. I must admit I am in LOVE with Sarah’s plush creations. (Specifically, Bombo.) There’s actually too many goodies to choose from. I think I’ll be making a sneak purchase or two from the prize page. (Don’t expect me to tell you about it, though. This blog is supposed to be helping me MAKE and SAVE money, not spend it.)

Anyway, I’m hoping this goes well. We’ll see how long I can hold up.