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How do you explain sex and "Free Condoms!" to
your kids

post from Attachment Parenting Blog: Raising Children with Love on 12 May 2008 10:31:00 AM. © Attachment Parenting Blog: Raising Children with Love

free condoms / trojan condoms Rather an amusing situation happened over the weekend: I was in the touristy downtown area of Boulder with G- (8) and K- (4) having a good time wandering around. We'd just stepped out of Ben & Jerry's after enjoying some delicious ice cream and G- spotted someone across the pedestrian mall with a basket and a sign that said

free condoms

It didn't take more than a second or two for him to ask "Daddy, what's a condom?"

Ah, well... Hmm....

Please continue reading How do you explain sex and "Free Condoms!" to your kids? - Tech Support

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http://www.apparenting.com/how_to_explain_sex_free_condoms_to_kids.html

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Budgeting: The ACF Way

post from Littlemummy.Com on 12 May 2008 10:16:00 AM. © Littlemummy.Com

ACF stands for America’s Cheapest Family by the way, it’s a book I bought last year after it was given a positive review at The Simple Dollar. The book covers all aspect of saving money and spending wisely, one of the biggest takeaways though has been their budgeting system.

Like most people (I think?) I used to muddle along and as long as my bank balance was ‘in the black’ I thought I was doing just fine, until of course the car broke down and we hadn’t accounted for the unseen cost of repair, which is where it all starts to get complicated and stressful if you don’t have savings. The ACF budgeting system takes into account these seemingly ‘unseen’ costs and factors them into a budgeting system that is easy to use and provides piece of mind that when something unexpected happens the funds are there to take care of it. Sound good?

I manage my budgeting system in a (very) simple spreadsheet (no formula required! Unless you want to). Along the top I have all the categories in which we spend money, ie insurance, clothing, car, mortgage, food etc.. I take the projected annual cost of each category and divide by 52. The amount left is the amount I must put into that category or ‘account’ each week, we are paid weekly, you may choose to do this part monthly. The projection is easy to figure out if it’s a monthly direct debit I times by 12 then divide by 52. If it’s something more difficult like the car (which includes repair!) I allow for the most expensive car repair we’ve had (£650) and then divide by 52 and hey presto. For household maintenance I allow around 1% annually for the value of our home which is a generally accepted amount ie if my home’s market value is £100,000 then I allow £1000 per year, which sounds about right.

So as we are paid weekly (and this is much easier if you have internet banking), I breakdown the pay into these categories, leftover money is put into a seperate ‘frivolous spending’ account. All bills and spending which is accountable comes out of the first account, I manually minus the money out of the categories each morning. This sounds like a complicated process, but in reality it takes me around five minutes or less each morning.

I’ve been testing this budgeting system for nearly six months and I can honestly say I’ve never worried less about money. I’ve nearly always kept savings for unseen disasters, however, it’s all too easy to spend those savings, not when you’re using this budgeting system, it’s easier to realise that eventually these ‘unseen’ events will happen and that you’re actually just saving up for when they do. Instead of the event being a financial disaster it becomes just another bill, one that you’ve already budgeted for! Now that the routine is in place it’s so simple to manage that I can’t ever see me not doing it now.

How do you manage the household finances?

Read The Full Article:
http://www.littlemummy.com/2008/05/12/budgeting-the-acf-way/

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Should I Give Water to my Baby on Hot Days

post from The Homemade Baby Food Recipes Blog on 12 May 2008 09:02:30 AM. © The Homemade Baby Food Recipes Blog

The days are becoming warmer for many of us at this time of year… which brings us to a common concern for parents of younger babies.Should baby be given water in addition to his milk when the weather is hot?On the whole, experts agree that it is unnecessary - and possibly hazardous - to give [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheHomemadeBabyFoodRecipesBlog/~3/288676742/

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Save up to 40% on Summer Gear at the BabyCenter
Store

post from The Homemade Baby Food Recipes Blog on 12 May 2008 08:51:20 AM. © The Homemade Baby Food Recipes Blog

Yes, the BabyCenter Store has another great offer for you, starting today and ending at 9am (PST) on May 19th.You can currently save up to 40% on summer and outdoor gear for babies and kids - and with many of us now thinking about getting out and about or traveling with our little ones, there [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheHomemadeBabyFoodRecipesBlog/~3/288666376/

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Link Child Locator: A chick ensemble to keep
track of your little one

post from I love my baby on 12 May 2008 08:49:37 AM. © I love my baby

Leenakomarraju: Next time you are in a busy marketplace, an exhibition ground or a crowded airport, you need not worry about the whereabouts of your child. The Link Child Locator is a smart set of electronic gadgetry that can be easily passed off as some stylish...

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Recall of Animal Tracking Explorer Kit (UK)

post from The Homemade Baby Food Recipes Blog on 12 May 2008 08:41:59 AM. © The Homemade Baby Food Recipes Blog

This isn’t a toy that you are likely to have bought for your baby - however, if you have bought the Animal Tracking Explorer Kit for older children then it’s important to be aware that it is being recalled because it contains a dangerous substance.The kits should have contained Plaster of Paris to make casts [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheHomemadeBabyFoodRecipesBlog/~3/288659261/

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Belated HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

post from 21st Century Parenting on 12 May 2008 08:07:15 AM. © 21st Century Parenting

I hope that all of you lovely moms out there had a wonderful day! I know I did!! My beloved took us to check out West Elm (finally!) and a lovely courtyard featuring some Romero Britto art, in Midtown Miami. The Miami Design District & surrounding area has REALLY built up since I left at [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/21stCenturyParenting/~3/291024384/

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How to unload the diswasher with a curious
toddler underfoot

IT CAN BE DONE. From Linda: Here's how I manage to load and unload the dishwasher with a toddler (18 months) who wants to be involved with EVERYTHING I do: while she is sitting in her toddler chair, I give...

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/parenthacks/~3/288637701/how-to-unload-t.html

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Bag clips hold seatbelts during carseat
installation

Here's how Andy and Chris simplified car seat installation: Installing car seats is a whole lot of no fun, particularly if you have seat belts that automatically retract. We figured out a little hack that makes our car seat installation...

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/parenthacks/~3/288624363/bag-clips-hold.html

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Washpod: Snug way to Bathe a Newborn

Atul: The flick above is one of the sweetest Iâ??ve come across in a long-long time, so full marks to the photographer who had the idea to portray it this way. The baby bath tub dubbed the Washpod is a nice way to make your baby feel cozy even whilst...

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