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Our Halloween Bash – Part 2 of 3

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Halloween Bash

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

With the arrival of Halloween week, I need to finalize the plans for our Halloween Bash.

Last week, I began this short series with preparing 2 weeks prior to the party with the menu and invitations.

During party week, I focus on the itinerary for our Halloween Bash.

Part 2: Finalizing the week of the Halloween Bash

The week of the party is when I work on all the details of the meal, games, and prizes. The goal is in sight as we prepare our house for our celebratory Halloween Bash.

Our Halloween Bash Itinerary

  • Greet each guest and allow the children to play in the living room
  • Serve dinner: lasagna, salad, and bread
  • Create crafts with the children
  • Choose teams and play Bounce the Ball into the Pumpkin – Set a plastic pumpkin in the middle. Give each team the same number of ping pong balls. By bouncing or tossing the balls, the teams race to see who can get all their balls in before the other team.
  • Play Mummy Wrap – Using toilet paper and a person, each team races to see who can wrap their person using the entire roll of toilet paper the quickest.
  • Serve Dessert
  • Play Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin – the Classic Pin the Tail on the Donkey Halloween-style.
  • Play with toys and prizes from the games

With the itinerary set, the details fall into place. My home is decorated, prizes purchased, grocery shopping done, and the game pieces gathered.

By this step in the process, I am ready to execute the itinerary on the evening of our Halloween Bash. In using time wisely, I just need to follow the plan. Happy planning!

Question: How do you set your itinerary?

How to Make Cleaning Fun for Children – Part 1a of 3

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How to Make cleaning fun for Children

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

I am not great at delegating. Whew . . . I said it. When it comes to working with children, I am learning how to teach my children while delegating responsibilities to them.

Sometimes allowing them to help is more work than just doing it myself, but I need to teach them to contribute.

In my family, the key is to make cleaning fun. From my many experiments, I will share in this series some strategies that work in my household.

Please share in the comments what you have found to work in yours as I’m learning and love the extra help.

How to Make Cleaning Fun for Children

  • Create a Game – Part 1a and 1b
  • Provide a Tool – Part 2
  • Give Non-monetary Rewards – Part 3

Part 1: Create a Game

My children love to play games. From matching to Candy Land to Sorry!, my children thrive on the goal of reaching the finish line. Moving this natural desire for accomplishment from a board to our house not only shows them how to apply their knowledge in one area to another, but also how to confidently take on new tasks.

Though any task can convert to a game, we play the following games while keeping our house organized and cleaned up:

Who Makes the Most Points?

With our top-loading washing machine, I love the extra help adding clothes to the washer. With the open washer acting as a basketball goal and backboard, my son and older daughter see how many items they can accurately “shoot” into the washing machine.

Though the tasks takes a bit longer than if I just loaded the clothes, those moments are filled with laughter, giggling, and “scores.”

A benefit for me is letting my children exert their energy while I monitor the process. They have a blast and enjoy helping. As they discover that household tasks are fun, they want to help more. 🙂

For a variation, allow children to pickup their dirty clothes and another clothes or towels around the house and “shoot” them into the laundry hamper or basket.

Where’s the Match?

My older daughter loves patterns, games, and puzzles. She sees patterns in everyday life, and I enjoy finding ways to encourage her and strengthen her desire to learn. A game she loves to play is matching the socks. When the basket of clean laundry arrives via Dad, brother, or Mom, she runs to find the socks.

At the beginning, I had her put them all in a pile. I then checked that all the socks were inside-out, then she began matching them. As she has grown, she is beginning to correct the socks before matching. This game has become her own in our house because “how dare anyone take her socks.” 🙂

In using time wisely, games like Who makes the most points? and Where’s the match? help to make cleaning fun for children. Empowered with the rules and the goal, they can seize the task and accomplish it while having fun.

In next week’s installment, I will share two additional games my children enjoy which helps me save energy and time. Happy playing while accomplishing!

Question: What tasks do your children find fun?

Retirement Plan Documents Overview

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Overview of File Box 3

Social Security documents

After a Quick Tip Week’s post and a credit report update, our commercial break is over and back to our regularly scheduled post. 🙂

As a recap, we have organized our important documents in File Box 1 and File Box 2. In File Box 3, our system has been organized into 5 categories. We have completed the first category, social security documents. Today, we begin one of my favorite sections: retirement plan documents.

Though I will share the choices Paul and I have made, these decisions may not work for you. I am not a financial planner and am not giving you financial advice. I will share what I have learned along the way. If you have specific financial planning questions, I highly recommend researching your options.

Retirement Resources

In researching our options, I read numerous financial books of which The Road to Wealthby Suze Orman and Personal Finance For Dummiesby Eric Tyson are my favorites.

Upon narrowing down the information to our situation, I selected a few options. Then I took those options to my uncle who is a Chief Financial Officer. He then added some additional information to point us in the right direction.

Empowered with knowledge, Paul and I acted on the information we had. Most of these decisions were made the first year of our marriage. Now, 14 years later, we have evaluated our choices and found them working how we envisioned.

Retirement Research

With this category, I will do my best to give you the big picture and explain the options available. I realize how confusing stocks, bonds, 401K, load vs. no-load, IRAs, and numerous other terms scare people. I was there. I had no idea what these terms meant, so I educated myself.

I read and re-read until I understood how it works. My brain naturally thinks in an organized manner. With financial and legal systems working in an exact order, I understand these systems and enjoy them.

If you care not and just get confused, then let me break it down for you. Ignoring these items will not solve the problem. Retirement is coming and planning now is using time wisely.

Retirement Plan Documents

  • Defining the Types of Accounts
  • Allocating Your Money within an Account
  • Selecting Beneficiary Designations
  • Transferring Accounts
  • Investing in Multiple Plans

In the coming weeks, I will explain the individual parts for the first 4 weeks, and then pull it all together in week 5, including a list the items I have filed in my File Box 3.

Weekly Project: Starting finding all your retirement documents.

You may not have many of these items or you may have many more. Whatever your situation, let’s get these documents organized to assist in using time wisely. Happy organizing!

Question: Do you enjoy figuring out the different retirement options, or do you run from the topic?

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Vacation Savings: Science Membership – Part 3 of 5

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Vacation Savings

Photograph Credit: Fotolia

In stretching our dollars to fund our 2+ week family vacation within a $1,000 budget, we combined savings strategies with patience.

In Part 1 of this series, I posted the cost breakdown of our vacation. The reasons and price tag of our zoo membership comprised Part 2. Today, I will share our most versatile annual pass, our science membership.

Part 3: Science Membership – $35

Researching the Information

Our local science museum does not offer much, but the membership is worth the money for the reciprocal benefits. Unlike the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the Association of Science-Technology Centers compiles one list of all the approved science centers.

When you purchase an annual membership with one of the centers on the list, then your annual family membership gives you free admission to all the other centers on the list. Wow . . .what a money saver!

Evaluating the Information

In looking over the science centers on the list, our family has limited options in South Carolina. However, there are a number of science centers in Florida. With our membership, our family could enjoy all the listed science centers paying the one price of $35 for the year. Each of the other centers in Florida offered family memberships starting at $99.

Choosing an Option

Though our family has no plans to visit our local science museum, purchasing this annual family membership is worth every penny. This $35 price is a discount through my husband’s work and does not drop any lower in cost with discounts or daily deal sites, so we purchased our family membership and received two membership cards.

Using our Membership

While we were in Florida, our family attended a multi-building and multi-floored science center as well as a Children’s museum. Other options available were an air museum and an aquatic center which we did not see. My children enjoyed the Children’s museum so much that we visited two different days.

Among the tree house, farm area, large sand box made from bits of rubber – not sand, the fire station, clay creations, grocery store, pizzeria, golf, cafeteria, veterinarian office, and many more areas, my kids had a ball. The best part, our admission was free in Florida because we purchased our science membership in South Carolina prior to our visit.

Vacation savings - science membership

In researching, evaluating, choosing, and using our science membership, our family enjoyed multiple venues while on vacation and can repeat these activities within the year. In using time wisely to plan for our vacation, we purchased an annual science membership in South Carolina accepted at two additional centers in Florida.

As you plan for your next vacation, spend time researching your science center options. In using time wisely, you might find a science membership your ticket to stretching your dollars. Happy savings!

Question: How often does your family visit a science museum?