New Year's Resolutions

Have you set your New Year's Resolutions yet? The holidays are over, kids are back to school and it's time for a "do over". That's what the new year brings us, a chance to start fresh and resolve to do things differently. Whether it be that you want to lose weight, begin an exercise routine, organize your home, live more frugally, or just get a grasp on your budget, now's the time to start!

Here are some of our favorite articles that will help kick start your New Year's Resolutions!

Break Free From Your Sugar Habit
Food Combining
The Key to Serving Sizes
The Scale Is Not Your Friend
Exercises to Get You and Your Kids Awake in the Morning
Get Fit on a Shoestring Budget
The Benefits of Exercise: Weight Control and Beyond
The Key to Losing Fat May Not Be Aerobics Alone
30 Healthier Snack Ideas for Kids
5 Exercises Kids Should Never Do

30 Quick Cleaning Tips for a Tidier Home
Decluttering Your Home Office
How to Streamline Your Morning Routine
10-Hours (or 10-Days) To A Spotless and Organized Kitchen
An Organized Pantry
Developing a Price Book
Organized Dinner Planning and Grocery Shopping
13 Tips To Help Get Your Kids Organized

10 Steps to Improve Your Financial Situation
After Bankruptcy Blues
Budgeting for the New Year
Five Money Issues Couples Must Never Fight Over

You can find a large selection of helpful articles in the following categories on our website.

Finance
Frugal Living
Organizing
Cleaning
Fitness
Dieting

Teaching Kids About Money

Simple fact: Kids who are taught about money grow up to be adults who manage their money well. But for those of us who feel intimidated by the subject and don't really know where or how to start, take heart. Start with these steps and get your kids on the road to financial freedom. They won't realize the importance of this now but they will thank you later.

Start with allowance
Kids respond to concrete examples so decide on a weekly amount and begin the process of understanding how the world of finance works: take them to the bank and open a savings account. Let them use their money for all discretionary spending, thereby teaching them about the concept of saving for large purchases. They want something but don't have the cash? They can't afford to buy it. That is a valuable lesson, start the teaching early!

Read more ideas on starting and maintaining an allowance for kids.

Risk vs. reward
Introduce the idea of working for things that you want with extra chores. A house cannot run efficiently unless everyone does their part, and there's usually no money changing hands for that. However, you may choose to assign a dollar value to additional household chores outside of their normal responsibilities and let kids work for the money. Also, talk to them about not just things they want now, but planning for the future (college tuition, vacations, etc).

Balancing a budget
Talk to your kids about what a budget represents: freedom to be in charge of yourself and your life. Start to teach them that part of every person's life is work (which they will now understand because they have chores) and what "living within your means" means. Draw up a budget and see what they can afford and consider using your family budget as an illustration: you don't have to go over every purchase with them, just give them the broad sense of what your monthly budget looks like.

Giving back
Teach social responsibility early by including charity in your conversation you're your kids about money. Help them find a worthy cause and start donating to it! Consider volunteering for the organization if they have that opportunity for kids and make it something they will embrace for their entire lives because when you give to charity, you are really giving to yourself.

You might also want to read about how to make saving fun for your child. Armed with the right information, you can teach your children their financial ABCs.

10 Steps to Conquering Back to School Spending

As the summer sun warms the thick August air, the real heat for parents of school age children is coming from back to school spending. With the price of everyday necessities burning a hole in your wallet, you will be relieved to know that there are many effective ways to cut the cost of those expensive school purchases. From sneakers to scissors, these 10 steps will help you stretch your school supply budget and still send your kids off to school in style:

1. Make a complete list. Include clothing and school supplies such as scissors, notebooks, backpacks, lunchboxes and all the other specific items each child will need. If you already have a supply list from your child's teacher, use this list when making the master list. If you do not already have a supply list, ask the school to provide a generic list of items that children in the relevant grades will need. Many retailers offer these lists in their stores. Call ahead to see if your local Wal-mart or Staples has the list for your child's school and grade.

2. Take inventory. Include both new and used items you already have in the house. You will be surprised at how many supplies you can check off your list just by going from room to room. Items like scissors, backpacks and rulers may not need to be purchased again for this school year. You can also use items you already have to spruce up inexpensive supplies. For example, if your child wants the expensive decorated folders but the plain ones are on sale for 5 cents, he/she can decorate the inexpensive ones with stickers or stencils you already have at home.

To see all the great money saving tips for back to school spending click here

10 Tips to Help You Save on Gasoline

Gas prices continue to be near all time highs meaning that car travel is taking a larger portion out of each of your paychecks. AAA estimates that the cost of driving a car including all direct and indirect costs has surpassed 50 cents a gallon with that price expected to rise.

Reducing the cost of driving your car can be done fairly easy simply by paying a bit more attention to your car. Here are 10 easy ways to cut the amount of gas your car uses:

1. Purchase your gasoline when it's coolest outside such as in the early morning or at night. Gas becomes denser in cooler temperatures. Since gas pumps only measure the volume of fuel - and not the density - you'll get better overall gas mileage for your money by purchasing fuel when it's cool outside rather than in the heat of the day.

2. Religiously check your car's tire pressure each month (make sure to purchase a good-quality dial-type gauge for yourself -- pencil-style gauges and the ones mounted on the air hose are unreliable according to federal government surveys). Under inflated tires reduce fuel efficiency by 2% for every pound they are under inflated. Under inflation also causes premature tire wear giving your tires a shorter use life.

3. Slow down and drive at the speed limit. Cars use about 20% more fuel driving at 70 miles per hour than they do at 55 miles per hour.

4. Avoid using air conditioning whenever possible. Air conditioning reduces fuel economy by 10% to 20%. Use the air ventilation system instead.

To see the rest of these 10 Tips to Help You Save on Gasoline visit FamilyCorner.com