529 College Account

I just discovered Michigan’s FREE and easy 529 college accounts for children! Visit http://bit.ly/1UbkbIG to open yours today!

It's as easy as knowing your child's birth date and social security number. Worried that you do not have a lumps some, or hundreds to deposit? That's A-OK! Open it up with as little as $25 and deposit as much as you want, and as many times as you want until they start college. Worried that your kids might not go to college? That's A-OK too! The funds can always be transferred to support education for yourself, a friend, or other family members. It's never too early to start saving, but don't let it get too late!

Introducing Solid Foods

Here is a month to month schedule to live by on introducing solids at just 6 months old.  http://bit.ly/1rpVj4U

This article gives endless options! I cannot stress enough that every baby is different. From there likes and dislikes, and their dependence of motor skills. My daughter was 3 months old, we began feeding her rice and oatmeal cereal from a spoon. Unfortunately, she was not for it! So, after reading and listening to all of my sources, we waited for her to be able to sit up. She was 6 months old when we decided to reintroduce the solid texture to her.

At first, she would not keep down the cereal. My next thought was to go directly to solid foods. They say to try veggies before fruits, because once they eat fruits, they never go back. Makes sense, right!? So that we did, and fortunately after reintroducing and reintroducing, that was short lived before she would not take many orange or green veggies. The reason that I like this article is because it gives you endless options of solid foods that are good to introduce at specific stages in baby's first year, whether you are making your own food or not. After introducing and introducing different foods to Olivia, her favorites were prunes, pears, apples, bananas, peas, and carrots. 

As Olivia is getting older and becoming a very independent 10 month old, she wants to feed herself. I began taking her favorites and either steam them or give them to her in itty bits so that she can eat them as finger foods and give her the same nutrients. Her and I both enjoy feeding time now rather than stressing both of us out with the battle of the spoon!

I hope you find this article useful by Maya Cohen.

This is exactly how I feel sometimes!

Financially Plan For Baby

Here are 29 ways how. http://bit.ly/1qFGSJ7

When I first learned I was pregnant, I was 20 years old. It was Veterans day on November 11, 2014 at Buffalo Wild Wings with my Mom. I was scared, nervous, upset, happy, ecstatic, and excited. Any emotion you can think of, that was me! I was working full-time as a bank teller and part-time as a waitress, trying to make ends meet to pay the bills at my condo and have the time of my life. My boyfriend had just begun working out of state as a tower climber a week before. Could you even imagine? The emotions kept flowing! But the most important question was, how are we going to financially be okay? So I began brainstorming... and here is what I did....

I applied for Medicaid insurance so all of my doctors appointments as well as my delivery was 100% covered. I applied for WIC to help with the access food when baby arrived. I contacted my work to find out more information on maternity leave, what was paid and what wasn't. I came up with a goal on how long we could financially plan for both of us to be off work (mind you, his work is out of state). I started making a list and phone calls for home cares (they are always more reasonably priced and taxable if licensed). Who in the family is willing to help watch little one? Fortunately, my mother was willing to a few days a week. I attended mom to mom sales and baby fairs (they're always giving away FREE stuff). We created a baby registry for my baby shower and had a diaper raffle, which takes little effort for such a huge cost. My daughter is 10 months old and is still living off diapers from my shower! After, we bought only the essentials. I have recently started a 529 college fund, which is only $25 to start up and you can add to it whenever you have access funds. What's your excuse?

I hope you find these 29 ways how to financially plan for baby helpful like I did!