Tips

I am tired of coming home at night and taking 5 minutes to go through the mail and half of it is just junk mail. At least daily I get offers from credit card companies offering me a new card. Here is the problem, I don’t want anymore credit cards. In fact, I’m trying to cut down my credit cards from 3 to 2. I was told about OptOutPrescreen.com , which will allow you to either Opt Out of pre-approved credit cards for either 5 years or permanently.

I filled out the form today for the 5 year opt out, I did not however provide my social security number. Hopefully this will not only reduce the number of offers that I get, but also help save me a few minutes everyday throwing away junk mail.

Read more

I keep reading all of these posts online about Happy Tax Day! What exactly is so happy about it? Granted, this year, we are getting a refund, so it will be a good day, once we get the money. But there again, we filed our paperwork weeks before the deadline and we have to wait 8 – 10 weeks at a minimum before the money is sent to us. Meaning that the Government gets to keep earning interest on it for that period of time.

So Happy Tax Day to you and yours and as you raise your children, help them understand the importance of how they file their taxes, what they should declare for what they are claiming, etc. Because, I for one would like to make sure that I am close to breaking even every year, instead of getting a big refund 3 months after I file my taxes.

And if you do get a refund back this year, if you have debt, pay that down first, but put some away for a rainy day.

Happy Tax Day

Read more

How long does it take for your identity to be stolen? Most would think that it would take a while, but in reality, it takes seconds. Now, if it takes only a few seconds for someone to steal your identity, how long would you think that it would take to regain control and fix your credit? The reality, is that it takes a long time and in most cases, years.  So, today I made the decision to protect my families identity by purchasing a year of Equifax to safe guard my families identity and credit.

Years ago, I had my identity stolen, well, they made a good attempt, but I was able to stop it before too many accounts were opened. And this past week, we received both a state and Federal tax return from someone that was not either my wife or myself. For $29.95 a month, it was worth the peace and mind of not having to worry about watching our credit every month.  And the great thing with this new Equifax family plan, is that I am not only able to watch my credit, but also my wifes and my two sons.

$29.95 is well worth the peace and mind.

Read more

My wife and I have been very blessed when it comes to our boys sleep patterns. For the first 3 months, they slept for 2 hours at a time, had a bottle, would sleep for 2 more hours and so forth. At our 3 month Doctor visit, I asked the Doctor how long before they would sleep through the night. He laughed and told me that we had a while. I guess a week was a while, because the following week, both boys on the same night, started sleeping 6 – 8 hours at a time. Oh, what a beautiful thing.

Then it happened.  At 10 months old, Baby A started waking up at 11:30pm on the dot every night, screaming. So what changed? Was he teething? Was he growing? He wasn’t talking and telling us what was wrong, so we were left to guess. Everyone told us to let him cry it out. Normally, that would be ok. But we live in a townhouse and the next door neighbor likes to beat on the wall when he starts crying. So, that really didn’t help the situation at all. We called our Pediatrician and asked for advice, they too said to let him cry it out, but they also suggested to give him extra food before he goes to bed. That night, we moved Baby A downstairs into our living room, setup the pack and play, put on some classical music, feed him, gave him extra food, kissed him on the head and off we went. 7:00am the next morning, I go downstairs, there he is, sitting up smiling. This goes on for 2 more weeks. A full night sleep.

Then it happened again. Now, we are at 11 months old and he started waking up at 11:30 pm. So for almost a week, every night he would wake up. What changed? He was still downstairs. He was still listening to classical music. He now had 2 more teeth to come through. So what was it? What changed? Well, before calling the Pediatrician, I did some Google searches to see if this was a common issue or not and it was – Read about it here on Baby Center . Was he hitting a milestone? He did just start to walk. There might be a few more teeth coming in. It does look like he is growing. Wait, that might be it. If he is growing, could that mean that he is waking up at 11:30pm, which is 4 hours after he last ate, which is about the time in between his bottles during the day, was he hungry? That night, I gave him 4 oz. of formula and what do you know, he slept through the night.

I am not saying that this will work for you if your child is crying. I’m not a Pediatrician, so always ask them first, which is what we did. But, so far so good. We have given him the extra formula and we are all able to sleep through the night again. Let’s just hope that this continues.

Sleep, it is a wonderful thing.

Read more

We are only a few months past Christmas for this year and we are already talking about the next Christmas. Why? Well, for many reasons.

1) staying at home instead of running around
2) planning meals around feedings
3) first year, go less on presents
4) start buying gifts early and throughout the year to save money

Staying at home instead of running around
This past year, we spent the holidays with family. But next year, we have decided that since the boys will have more of an idea of what Christmas is about, that we will be staying home. It is important to us to establish traditions as a family. So, family will be invited to come over next year, instead of us going to visit everyone.

Planning meals around feedings
The boys feedings last year were different last year, but this year will be different.  Now that there feedings have changed, only 3 bottles a day, we will be able to plan our family meals better.

First year, go less on presents
We only purchased a few gifts for the boys this past year.  We will more than likely continue this again this year, primarily because the boys still really will not need a lot.

Start Buying Gifts Early
We have already started buying gifts for family members now. By spreading out the gifts, we are not scrambling to find gifts for family and friends in December right before Christmas. It spreads out the cost throughout the year and not just in 1 month.

These are just a few things that we are looking at for Christmas 2012.

Read more

At the boys 9 months Doctor visit, he suggested that we start introducing new foods to the boys.  Our pediatrician recommending starting off with soft foods such as peas, eggs, breads (wheat bread), potatoes (sweet potatoes), etc. The boys had started pushing away the spoons as we feed them and enjoyed eating their puffs, so this was just a great transition.

In the first weekend, we’ve been able to get the boys to eat eggs, peas, and potatoes. We have started slowly introducing new foods to the boys, but only 1 thing at a time, just in case they are allergic to any of the foods.  The boys have really seemed to enjoy trying the new foods and have thus far, had no breakouts. We are trying to feed them these new foods, instead of their pureed food at night and they seem to enjoy feeding themselves too.

The first time introducing new foods for your children might be met with resistance, but keep trying.  The more that we give them, the more they seem to enjoy feeding themselves. But talk with your pediatrician first, as they might have more insight and suggestions about the foods that you give your child.

Read more

I was asked yesterday by a co-worker what types of gifts for twins that she could get her friend, who is a single mom. So here were 2 that quickly came to mind:

1) Diapers & Formula – you can never get too much of that.
2) In 3 months, take her to dinner. By then, the kids should hopefully be getting into a routine and she will need a night out with adults.

Most people immediate think of buying clothes, picture frames, and other things that are great, but maybe not practical.  Think not just today when buying gifts for babies, but think 3 months from now. Everyone is buying gifts for today, do something original, be different. And I promise, a night out, might be the best gift ever. I know that when my wife and I went out for our first night alone, we sat in silence, because really didn’t have anything to talk about, but the kids. But, it was great just to get out, if even for only an hour.

Read more

As important as it is to be home and spend time with my family, I find it equally important to occasional meet up friends for a guys night out. If nothing else, it is a break and a chance to hang out with the guys, have a beverage, some wings and just laugh, talk about sports, life, politics, etc. Being a dad is hard work, but also a lot of fun. But, you also need a little down time too.

So find a good group of guys, hit up your favorite eatery, my buddies and I are fans of Buffalo Wild Wings.  Great food, great atmosphere and a great place to just hang out.

Read more

Guys, it is time to accept certain facts, we are getting older. We usually do not go to the Dr unless we are on our death bed or our wives nag us enough. But look at it from a different point of view: your child’s. What would their life be like if you aren’t here?  And I don’t want to scare anyone that they will get bad news from going to the Doctor for their annual physical, but what if there is something wrong that they are able to diagnose and treat and ultimately save your life.  And let’s be honest, your annual physical takes about an hour, then there is blood work, but that short amount of time is well worth it for the long term benefits.

I for one, hate going to the Doctor. My blood pressure shoots up every time that I even make an appointment, but last week I went for my annual physical. Overall, the visit went well. I was told that I needed to lose weight, which I knew, but when I heard the dangers of not making a change in my life, I realized for the first time, that my kids could grow up without me if I don’t make some changes. Here were some of the dangers that the Doctor explained that could happen if I didn’t get my weight down and kept it down:

Now, in saying that, I’m about 20 pounds over weight. But, it is enough that if I don’t make some serious changes to my life, that I could really be in trouble. So, what am I doing? I am looking at this at a 2 phased approach:

Phase I – Make the initial changes
This will probably take me a few weeks & this should get me down 5 – 10 pounds.

  • Cut down on eating carbs and starches
  • Breakfast now consists of  1/2 cup of egg beaters, 100 calorie bread, 1 container of greek yogurt
  • Snacks now consists of almonds and sometimes adding dried cranberries
  • Limit alcohol intake – and for the next few weeks, I am basically cutting out alcohol altogether
  • Eat more chicken and meats that are higher protein
  • Eat more salads
  • Exercise more

Phase II – Maintain
This will be the for the rest of my life.

  • Limit Carbs and starches
  • Maintain the same breakfast combination
  • Maintain snacks & introduce fruits into the mix
  • Continue to limit my alcohol intake, but occasionally have a glass of wine  or a beer.
  • Continue to eat chicken and meats
  • Continue to eat salads at least 2 -3 times a week
  • Step up my exercise routine by adding in a daily walk of at least 1 mile, if not more, focusing on at least 30 minutes of cardio a day.

These are just a few of the things that I am doing, as I want to make sure that my boys grow up with me being around and more importantly, I want to be able to set a good example for them by showing them the importance of getting their annual physical and the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

So guys, do the responsible thing, get your annual physical and more importantly, set a good example for your children.

Read more

When it comes to taxes, I like to leave it up to the professionals. But, he sent me an email the other night with two links to look at as it pertains to Child and Dependent Care Credit and these both are from the IRS website:

With twins, we need all the help that we can get and since we have two kids, we can claim $6,000 for the Child and Dependent Care Credit. But make sure that you talk with your CPA or a tax specialist if you have any questions about using this deduction.

Read more