1) Breakfast in bed – doesn’t matter if this has been done a million times, it still pleases.
2) Make a video – ask each of her children what they love about her on DVD.
3) Frame a picture - choose a picture of you and her or better yet, of her grandchildren.
4) Memory jar – write a dozen of your favorite memories of your Mom on slips of paper. This works best if you can get siblings to contribute.
5) Help in the garden/around the house – do a few hours of work that she might not be able to do herself anymore, or just doesn’t want to do!
6) Make her dinner – have fun with it by creating a special menu and table setting.
7) Talent show – if you have a big family that lives nearby, enlist their help to perform short skits for your Mom. The skits don’t have to be about her or her life because the act of everyone working hard to entertain her will be a fabulous gift.
Personalized tote – purchase a blank tote and decorate it yourself (or have her grandchildren do the honors). Fill the tote with gifts.
9) A Small Indulgence – Erin at About.com’s Frugal Living blog suggests finding “out what your Mom has been denying herself, and then buy it for her.” Perhaps it is a particular beauty product, type of chocolate or magazine.
10) Print coupons - go online and sift through recent newspapers for coupons you know your Mom uses.
11) Picnic lunch – pack a lunch and take her on a hike, to the beach, or to a park.
12) Write a letter - tell your mom what you appreciate about her. Bonus points for special stationary or a hand-decorated envelope.
I don’t have kids but I do know that a lot of families are looking for cheap ways to keep their children occupied this summer. Here are a few suggestions:
Form a co-op
Take turns babysitting with another parent. This has worked well for a reader named Carrie, who writes NaturalMomsTalkRadio.com. “We’re doing a babysitting co-op – 3 days a week we take care of each other’s children for several hours so we can get work done,” Carrie said.
Host an au pair
If you have room, host a foreigner who provides childcare and light housework in exchange for room and board. There are many organizations that connect au pairs with families, including Cultural Care, AuPair.com, International Au Pair Association, and Au Pair in America.
Enroll in a Parks and Recreation program
Most large cities have low-cost activities for kids. In LA, the Parks and Rec department has more than a dozen programs. Reader Salima said she enrolled her boys for Palms Child Care in Los Angeles, which charges $130 for 15 hours of care per week, or about $180 for 35 hours a week. Search online for programs at your city’s parks and rec department.
Sign up for vacation bible school
A reader named Lisa said vacation bible school is a “cheap alternative to day camps – gets the kids out of the house for a few hours (and gives me time to work too since I work p/t from home). The best part about VBS is that it’s so inexpensive – most churches only charge $40-$75 a week and put on an entire week of fun all tied back to good old-fashioned values.” To find a VBS near you, Google “vacation bible school + 91367″ or whatever your zip code may be.
Rely on friends and family
A reader named Chris taps “every available family/friend resource we have and set a schedule that usually has the kids visiting different family/friends once a week. We also change our work schedule, opting to work on Saturdays (when my mother is available to watch the kids) then having a different day (such as Friday) off with the kids. I also am able to work from home one of the days, which really helps when this option is available.”
Hire a student
Post a note on the job board at your local university or college. Many students who stay in town for the summer need work. Students can be cheaper than commercial childcare centers, while still providing quality care. If possible, share a student nanny with another family and really cut your spending.
Ask for a lower rate at your regular day care
Your go-to source of childcare would probably prefer to cut you a small discount than lose you all together. Call and ask if they have any flexibility with the pricing. Explain your situation and ask them to work with you.
Check for public school programs
In Las Vegas a program called Safe Key is very popular, says reader Charlene, who runs MaxBizMom.com. It is a basic day care program run by the local school district in conjunction with the parks and rec department. “It really has been a godsend,” Charlene said. Safe Key charges about $75 per week with care from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. each weekday.
Enroll in low-cost day camp
While traditional day care can be pricey, there are cheap alternatives. Call around and compare rates.
Baby and kids gear is on sale at the Santa Clarita Valley Kids Consignment sale this weekend from April 24 to 26. Some 250 families are selling 30,000 items, including clothes, toys, shoes, outdoor items, books, videos, bikes, maternity clothes, baby gear and equipment.
Buying used clothes is a great way to save money and is also earth-friendly.
Hours are Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Most items are 50% off Sunday.
The sale is located at 24911 Avenue Stanford in Valencia.
If you have money to spend on a mother’s day gift and need present ideas, I like Surprise.com. The site lets you search for gifts by personality type, including many that are relevant for Moms:
Crossword Puzzler
Career Woman
Organic Only
Soccer Mom
Loves Their Pet
Environmentally Friendly
Foreign Culture Buff
Browse all their categories here, or go straight to Mother’s Day Gifts.
A reader named Susan emailed me with an intriguing way to reign in troublesome spending.
One lifestyle change that has really made a significant impact is the Gift Moratorium. Years ago my 4 sisters and brother used to exchange little “gifties” – you know, the tchotchkey stuff you see and think, “oh my sister would love this!” The truth was, we all came to the conclusion that we could live without most of those little things.
One year my sister bravely called a moratorium on gift giving. She let everyone know that she did not have the money to buy us all gifts, and that her kids already had too much stuff. Since then, we have stopped exchanging gifts among our siblings. For Christmas and birthdays, I send a check to each of my nieces and nephews for $5.00. The little ones are thrilled to get any amount. When they turn 13 I kick it up to $25.
I have extended this gift moratorium to all my friends as well. For close friends I give the gift of my time – hours of free babysitting, petsitting, garage organizing, you get the idea. When I invite people to my home, I include on the invitation NO GIFTS. I tell the ones who can’t imaging not getting me a gift that I really want something I can’t buy myself, like photos of the kids or their artwork.
Recently I watched a friend go through a catalog, excitedly picking out $35 and $50 gifts for friends and family. This same friend can’t sleep because her financial situation is so tight. She is living on the edge, and has cut back on everything, even food. Yet she still wants to give expensive gifts – which may end up on someone’s re-gifting shelf.
I ‘d like to start a national campaign – “Just Say No” to gifts!
I love the idea of giving time and receiving childrens’ artwork or framed photos as gifts. I think of my nephews every time I see their paintings in my office. I love to pause in the hallway and look at family pictures.
I know my family would understand if I went on a gift moratorium, but I think it would be harder to explain to all my friends. Sure, my “real friends” would understand, but it would still be awkward to explain my decision. I suppose that is the first part of the challenge – figuring out a way to talk about money as if it were the weather.
Would you go on a gift moratorium? If yes, how would you tell your family and friends. If no, why not?
Get 40% off the list price of one regular-priced item at Borders today through Saturday, March 28, 2009. Good in stores but not online. One per customer. Join their free membership program to use the coupon if you have not already. Print the coupon here.
Caveats: cannot be combined with any other offer or discounts, excludes previous purchases, non-stock special orders, gift cards, newspapers, magazines, comics, coupon books, eBooks, digital downloads, vinyl LPs, self-publishing programs, Smartbox products, Rosetta Stone® software, shipping, and all electronics, including but not limited to the Sony® Reader and the Zune™.
Find a Borders near you.
A blog called Frugal Dad has an interesting post today about the pros and cons of giving teenagers a credit card. “One could make the argument that normalizing the use of plastic too early could be dangerous,” he writes.
“Call me old-fashioned. I just don’t think kids are able to fully grasp the transactional differences in swiping plastic and watching that $20 leave their hand and receiving $0.70 in change back.”
On the other hand, if your teenager first encounters credit under your eye you are more able to teach them how to use it properly. Frugal Dad resolved the situation by giving his kids a credit card only to be used for fueling up the car.
If my teenager were mature enough, I would let them apply for their own credit card their senior year in high school. They probably would not qualify if they did not have a job. But if they were earning their own wages and paying the credit card bill themselves, the relationship between earning and spending would be mighty clear. I know I watched every penny I earned in high school very carefully to save up for the things I wanted.
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Get $5 off a photo order of $15 or more at Walgreens with coupon code HIGH5. You can use it five times per account. Expires March 21, 2009. Some caveats.
Order 50 or more 4″ x 6″ prints through Snapfish and pay $.10 a print when you pick them up at Walgreens. Use coupon code WAL4X6. Expires March 29, 2009.
Get the first 10 pages of a 20+ page photo book for free at MyPublisher through March 23, 2009. That equals $10 off for a classic photo book or $30 off for a deluxe photobook. Use coupon code MPFREE when checking out.
Get a buy one get one free coupon for a photo book from MyPublisher when you share your email and download their latest photo sharing software. New customers only. Must be for two copies of the same book. Read all the rules here.
Thanks, Marie-Helene!
UPDATE: April 4 and 5, 2009 are the last free dates. Stay tuned to see if they extend this deal.
PREVIOUSLY: Here is one fabulous reason to have an account with Bank of America. On the first weekend of every month – including the upcoming one – you can get into more than 70 museums across 18 states for free.
The deal includes museums in AZ, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NJ, NY, PA, RI, TX, and WA. Click on your state to see the list of participating museums.
Show your Bank of America card to gain entry. Probably not a bad idea to print out this page as a friendly reminder for the museum.
Caveats: excludes ticketed shows and special events.
Thanks, Dave!
CityMommy owner Dayna recently interviewed me about why I’m addicted to blogging, what I do in my spare time, and how I make money off Bargain Babe. Check it out!
CityMommy is a family-focused site where you can ask questions, share info, and chat with other moms. They have more than two dozen sites for cities in AL, CA, FL, GA, IL, KS, ME, MS, NH, NJ, NY, OR, PA, TX and UT. I love to read CityMommy even though I don’t have kids!
My sister points out a fabulous way to save money on cell phone service: get your family and friends on the same cell phone carrier and buy a family plan. The potential perks are many:
Some cell phone carriers do not charge you when you call someone on the same carrier. AT&T does this, for instance.
Other carriers let you call a certain number of people for free, like T-mobile, which lets you chose five “faves.”
But the best way to save is to have multiple phones on a family plan. Adding an additional line can be as little as $10 a month. Bump up the minutes if you need to and split the cost.
Remember to talk about how many minutes each person typically uses before you join forces. If you use your cell strictly for emergencies, you won’t be happy with a chatterbox on your plan. Everyone on the family plan does not have to live at the same address, but make sure your add-on friends will pay you.
One place to compare family plans is LetsTalk.com. They listed a Sprint Everything Messaging plan that has 3,000 minutes and unlimited texts. The plan is $150 for two lines. Additional lines are $10. Get four people on the plan and it’s $42 per person. Not bad for 750 minutes each. Thanks, Kate!
