Archives for February 2012

31 to be Exact

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Our “Fake Economy”

We created our own "fake economy", as my hubs likes to call it.

My 3.5 year old goes through phases of responding then not responding to different methods of discipline (ie. spankings, time outs, grounding, etc) and/or rewards (stickers, extra fun snack, candy, etc).

The "fake economy" works like this:

Every time Maggie does her "morning routine" chart all by herself (no begged assistance from mom and dad who are juggling the younger babes) she 'earns' a bread tie. Bread tie? Yep, straight got this from a psych. teacher in college. I've been collecting the for years.
She can also "earn" a bread tie by

  • Doing her chart without being asked
  • Using the potty with DRY/CLEAN panties
  • Listening 1st time (at parents discretion something super important)
  • Staying in her bed at nap and night-time

She places them in her cupcake shaped piggy bank right now. This afternoon she 'earned' a special craft. We'll be making 3 new piggy banks!

  • One for GOD
  • One for SAVING
  • One for SPENDING

This will be a great way to begin teaching her about finances! My hubs and I have created a list of things she can "buy" with her bread  ties. This list will be bought with those ties in the Spending or Saving bank. On Sundays we will count out her ties and each one will be worth a penny. She'll then give the pennies we give her (in exchange for her ties) to our church offering. It's not quite the 10% {tithe} but it will begin to teach her that God has ask us to give back a portion of what He given us. I pray it will also teach her to be generous and that the 10% is a minimal suggestion of what we can give back.

Do you have any good ideas for teaching your child about handling finances? How about a "fake economy" of your own? PLEASE SHARE in the comments below!

 

 

I'm also linked up over at:

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MY Poppy Seed Project {tutorial}

Today I'll be posting the step-by-step progress {literally} of
MY Poppy Seed Project.

Last night I received my long awaited package
in the mail.

1. Order and Anticipate. They took about 7 business days to receive the package after it was shipped. They we very Well packed.

 

This morning I started painting!

2.  Paint frames: I am doing a pattern on the bigger frame that will be layered behind the smaller so it will end up being painted twice. The first coat of paint will be the color of the pattern. The top coat will be the color of the frame. I painted both frames with the Krylon Brushed Metallic Satin "Caramel Latte". I started with the back side {could have just done 1 coat since it won't really be seen but went ahead and did 2 to test how it would look}. Then I put pushpins in the inner part where the backing goes as to not make holes in the back. These allowed me to speed the process up and start painting the front by flip them over without smudging the paint on the back.

This afternoon I created polka dots!

3. Trace where the layered frame will be. I waited until the paint had dried and then centered the smaller frame on top of the larger frame. Then I traced around the smaller one with a pencil and I flipped it over and traced the square on the inside of the smaller one so I'd be able to see how to line it up after painting over the polka dots.

4. Design polka dots pattern. I raced circle using a small medicine bottle onto painters tape and then cut them out. {They are NOT exact} Then I place them semi-randomly around the larger frame.

Some of the polka dots hung over so I trimmed the extra off.

5. Double check design. Then I put the small frame back on top to make sure I liked their placement before I painted over them. I did end up moving some of the dots {GREAT thing about painter's tape}.

When the polka dots where ready I painted the top layer on the large frame!

6. Paint the top coat and remove vinyl. I painted ~3 coats of red to make sure it covered well. I didn't take many pictures of taking the vinyl off because I was fighting off babies but it's really simple. Some of my red smugged a little while I was peeling it off but that just adds to the DIY look ;o)

I then glued the frames together!

7. Glue the frames together. I using Liquid Nails to glue the small frame on top of the big frame. I'm letting the frames sit for several hours with lots of weight on top to help adhere the 2 frames. {I put parchment paper between the books and the frames to make sure the didn't stick/pull off paint when I removed them}

 When the glue was securely dried I places it on my mantel in the living room!

8. Add the frames to home decor. I place my frame on the mantel along with a few other items I already had around the house. LOVE THESE FRAMES! Can't wait until my next project with them!

Keep in mind that this is just 1 example of what YOU can get with the Poppy Seed Project gift card.
Visit their site HERE and Enter the giveaway HERE!

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Preschool Finances

How to you teach your child about budgeting?

Yep, those my friend are more washed out formula cans. Are you ready from some up-cycling? We have begun a new habit in our home. Partly to teach our oldest child (3.5) about prioritizing and budgeting but also just as a different system of reward. I'll tell you more about our "fake economy" later but for now I just want to tell you the 3 basic categories we are teaching her to "budget" her money into. God. Save. Spend. That simple. We give back to God just a simple part of what He's so graciously allowed us to manage. Then we save for bigger things. And we get to spend more frequently on smaller things. Here is how we made her 3 banks:

Like I said, I'm working on a future post about our "reward system" but I will just say it involves bread-ties and then divides them {currently}divides them {she calls it 'organizing' them} Evenly into the 3 categories/banks.

How are starting to teach your littles about finances and how to handle them God's way? I'm always up for new ideas!!!

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McDonald’s Play Place Party

One of the newly remolded McDonald’s near our home has an awesome Play Place! There’s tons of seating near the toy. It includes a toddler area. AND they have a bathroom out there for quick potties without running through the rest of the restaurant. My eldest has been suggesting we go there for her siblings birthday’s since seeing their party room near the toy the 1st time.

We have made the commitment to only do BIG birthday parties for our children’s 1st birthdays and then other big milestone birthdays as to stick to our guns about being frugal. {I LOVE HOSTING PARTIES!}

My middle child just turned 2 and my niece turns 8 the same month so we decided to celebrate both girls birthdays with family by having lunch at the Play Place. We weren’t inviting lots of other children so we didn’t pay to do the party room and chose to bring our own simple decorations and cake. *note: we ask permission form the employee in charge of the party room to make sure it was okay.

The birthday banner my Sis-in-love made me for Christmas last year and the giant cupcake pan was a gift from my mom. Izzie chose a pink {strawberry} cake and I decorated it with white frosting, red sprinkles, spray on frosting coloring, and a valentine cupcake topper.

We ate our lunch,

played a little while,

sang “Happy Birthday” to both girls, ate cake {and shared more than ½ with other children in the Play Place as well as McDonald’s employees}, and opened gifts.

Simple. Fun. Relaxed. Memorable.

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