If you have young children, you know how expensive child care is. Even teenagers in my area charge about $5 per child, per hour. So if my husband and I want to go on a date, we would owe the sitter $30 for three hours in addition to any money we spent while on our date. For a family on a budget, this is hard to justify. As a result, my husband and I only go on dates when relatives are visiting and can stay with our kids. This equals about once every three months which is not enough in my opinion.
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I promised to let my readers know whenever I find a great deal or potential for free stuff. So I feel compelled to share a chance to win a FREE Raleigh Getaway. I can speak from experience that Raleigh, North Carolina offers many exciting activities and is a great choice for a Fall Getaway. We took a long roadtrip a couple of years ago all through the Smoky Mountains, in Tennessee, and throughout North Carolina and visited many memorable places. » continue reading

Credit reports are one of those unavoidable annoyances we all have to live with. In my opinion, it is unfair that companies can collect all kinds of information on us and report their findings to other companies. If that wasn't bad enough, we must periodically check to make sure nothing is misreported. If so, we must go through the painstaking process of having items fixed or removed from the reports.
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Sometimes it is difficult to persuade a bank to finance your business idea. You have to "sell" them on the idea and prove that you will make money. An easier way would be to borrow from a more specialized finance source who has experience in the area you are planning to start a business.

For example, someone opening a new restaurant can get Restaurant Financing from ARF (Advanced Restaurant Finance) who specializes in small business and particularly restaurant loans.» continue reading

Living in a tourism-based economy has many downsides, but I have discovered one major perk. Since there are so many hotels, restaurants, and public locations with public wi-fi access, many residents of my town don't even have to pay for residential internet service.

The signal tends to be pretty strong, so you can just charge up your laptop and sit outside a location offering wi-fi to access the internet at high speeds. I know many locals who get online access this way and are very happy with it. If my husband didn't work online so much and we only needed to check email and a few websites daily, we would probably take advantage of public wi-fi as well.
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Whether you rent or own your place, house insurance is a necessity. Most mortgage companies require a home owner's insurance policy be in place before the house closing. Banks know how important it is to insure your dwelling as well as your belongings in the event of theft or natural disaster.
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I have mentioned that in addition to my part-time job at the public library, I have also started substitute teaching at the elementary school. I was surprised to get five and a half days already in the last two weeks, and that was all in the pre-K class! With cold season coming up, I'm sure I will be even more busy in upcoming weeks.
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At my son's birthday party last weekend, some of the guests were commenting on how clean and uncluttered our house is. Although I try to keep excess belongings in check, I can't take all the credit. The fact that we have lots of cabinets and closet space in our house helps tremendously when it comes to keeping things organized. I'll admit, if there are a few things left on the counter before a party, I have been known to just stick them in a wall cabinet to keep the kitchen visually clear of clutter.
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