What is the family budget again? It is a pro-active, hands-on approach, focused, technical and disciplined strategy to getting a handle on the current financial situation in the home and family,

It concerns setting realistic, SMART financial goals for the household, sticking to it, celebrating successes, learning from failures and trying again if you do not succeed or get it right the first time round .It is about shifting focus completely from a mainly spending to a savings orientation. Cash and money-management 101 for everyone!

We have laid out what a family budget is, does and affects. A brief mention of what constitutes as good family budget and the elements that it contains as well as its appearance, format and functional role follows.

All of us have a wish list of new things that we want. There is always things we would find and places to spend our money. Take the time to make a list of these things. Let everyone who shares cost in your home to have input into making and finalizing this list.   Write down what you want most. Beside the goal,  write how much it will cost. Split it into goals with ongoing costs and the cost per month, and goals with a one-time cost and list the actual total cost (including all hidden fees, taxes, shipping and or other charges that might apply. Now,  next to these columns, start to prioritize these goals.

You can check out more personal finance, smart usage of credit cards and money savvy tips at parenting headquarters.

What’s For Dinner? Menu Planning Tips for Busy Moms

Dinner is the last meal of the day and a time when families can get together and discuss their day. It is also a hectic meal for busy moms who are just getting off of work or who have been busy with other activities all day. If you are a busy mom or you know a busy mom, here are some menu planning tips to help make dinner meals easy and even fun.

1.    Schedule your meals a week in advance.  This is one of the most important planning tips for meals. Knowing what you are going to eat throughout the week means less chance that you will stop off at the closest fast food joint for a convenient, but unhealthy meal. Decide on the last day of the previous week (let’s say Saturday for the sake of argument) what the menu will be for the following week. Create your shopping list from the list of ingredients to avoid buying what you don’t need at the grocery store.

2.    Look for bargains. Clip coupons, read advertising circulars and the like to decide where the best grocery to shop is for your menu items. If one ingredient is a common denominator in many meals, consider buying in bulk to save money. Common staples like milk, eggs, bread and sugar can be bought in bulk as well. Some stores will have double or triple coupon days when you can save even more.

3.    Search online. After a while your family will get tired of chicken and rice every Thursday. You can get into a menu rut sometimes. Use the Internet to search for new and exciting recipes. Learn to put a twist on old recipes for a new taste.

4.    Have a leftover night. After preparing meals for five or six days, there is bound to be some food left over. Designate one night to be leftover night and let everyone mix and match for dinner. It saves mom from having to throw away any food.

5.    Cook your meals in advance. After deciding on a menu plan for the week, go ahead and fix as many meals as you can. Choose a day when the entire family can help like Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon. Each person can take one meal and fix it for the following week. Once everything has cooled, store it in sealed containers or casserole dishes to be frozen until the night it is needed.

6.    Do prep work in advance. All of the meals can’t be cooked at once. Some foods just taste better freshly prepared. For them, so as much prep work in advance as you can. Enlist your kids to help chop (give them thekitchen shears instead) vegetables, dice cooked meat and mix together dry ingredients. The night of the meal, all that is needed is to add the wet ingredients and bake.

Meal time doesn’t have to be all on mom. The entire family can help with dinner so it is a relaxing meal for everyone.

Check out more recipes ideas and how to be raise healthy kids tips at parenting headquarters

There are many great love quotes about funny love, cute love and heart break. Here are 10 love quotes to make you listen to your heart for once and forget mind.
10 Love Quotes For you!

10. “To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.”- Lao Tzu

9. “The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.” – Peter S. Buck

8. “With love and patience, nothing is impossible”- Daisaku Ikeda

7. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” -Helen Keller

6. “If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.” -Alfred Lord Tennyson

5. “Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.”
-Alexander Smith

4. “If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don’t have it, no matter what else there is, it’s not enough.” -Ann Landers

3. “You know you’re in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” -Dr. Seuss

2. “I love you, not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you.” -Roy Croft

1.My favorite and #1 quote for love is;
“People were created to be loved;
Things were created to be used;
The reason why world seems to be in CHAOS,
is because things are being loved;
and people are being used.”

Check out more motivational Quotes and Moral stories at Parenting Headquarters

There are people who are worried about social skills and social aspects of homeschooling as they tend to believe that child and parent stuck in a room learning all day and student will not have enough time to make friends and create skills. Again and again, I am asked about this and this is really myth.

As a homeschooler, child will get plenty of social interaction during park days, field trip and play group. Homeschool kids gets to take physical education classes, music lessons, cooking lesson, horse riding and so on and there is plenty of opportunity to socially interact with other kids and adults alike, just like we do it real life.

Children who learn at home are more aware of the implications and
the purpose of their learning. They will ask intelligent questions
and make accurate observations. Children begin their life by
imitating their parents. Homeschooled children therefore pick
up the sterling qualities they see in their parents. On the other
hand, they are protected from the detrimental influences of their
peers.

for more information check out homeschooling curriculum ideas on parenting headquarters.

Little babies are precious, very first thing they need when you leave the hospital is infant car seat. We have picked the best and safest infant car seat to choose for your little precious.




1. Chico Keyfit 30 Infant Car Seat and BaseThis is a great infant car seat. As stated in the description, you’re able to keep your baby in a much safer rear-facing position for a longer period of time. In the event of a crash, what this means is that your baby’s body won’t take the brunt of the impact, the seat will do most of the work.

Originally, I was considering more flashy and expensive European car seats, but then I spoke with my neighbor. Part of her responsibilities in working for our local police force involves helping parents properly install their car seats. She let me know that many of the infant car seats on the market aren’t worth the hype, but she highly recommended the Chicco Keyfit 30 for the reasons I stated in the paragraph above.

Indeed she was right. Not only is this clearly very well constructed, including neat details such as bubble levels on the base, but it’s also stylish and functional as well. Most importantly, it’s a snap to install… PROPERLY! And that’s a feature not many other car seats can boast.

• The easiest infant car seat to install
• No.1 rated infant car seat in America
• 5-point harness adjusts with one hand
• Full body inserts for newborns 4-11 pounds to protect smaller babies
• Seat interior lined with EPS energy absorbing foam for increased impact protection

For more information top 5 infant car seats and other gift ideas for parents and kids alike.