Jiving January Cash Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to the following blogs for participating this month:

Money Savvy Michelle

Crunchy
Frugalista

Deals
from MS Do

Foogan

Rantings of a Mom

Stacy's
Savings & Other Stuff

Meg's
Moxie

Nickel-and-Diming with Nikki

Diary of a Working Mom

Savings is Free

The Content Proverbs 31 Woman

The Tampa Bay Saver

Pagan
Homeschool

Kwerky Kats

Valentine's Day Celebration Giveaway!

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up I want to show my love for my readers by hosting a giveaway! I'm offering a $50 Gift Card from Pottery Barn to the lucky winner! 

Enter using the Rafflecopter below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Contest ends 12:01 a.m. EST on 2/6/2011.

*Winner has 72 hours to claim prize.

*Winner’s List

Good luck everyone!

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. In order to comply with the latest Facebook Promotion Guidelines (revised 5/11/11), the following statements are true:

* Giveaway participants release Facebook from any responsibility whatsoever.
* Giveaways on this blog are in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
* Giveaway participants are providing information to this blog and giveaway sponsors only; not to Facebook.

A Great Tool to Teach Kids About Money

One thing I always promised myself I would do is teach my son how to manage money.  My father owned a business and as I grew up I heard my parents discussing every aspect of the business every day.  They taught me everything they knew about business, finances, investing, and saving.  This enabled me to make good financial decisions in my life.  It has been one of the most valuable gifts and one that I want to give to my son.

Ha has read books, started a savings and investment account, and had a small business all by 11 years old.  One great tool that I’ve used to teach him how to manage finances is a game called Cashflow For Kids by Robert Kiyosaki, the author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad.”

Cashflow is really fun which is the most important part.  A kid’s not going to learn as much if playing is a horrible chore they have to endure.  My son begs me to play and his friends love to play when they come over.  The game board is made up of two main parts: an income statement and a balance sheet.  The income statement is made up of salary, passive income, and expenses.  The balance sheet is divided into assets and liabilities.  The assets are then divided into securities, real estate, and businesses.  Liabilities are made up of borrowed money, credit cards, and mortgages.  These are all mostly pictures and include definitions so are easy to understand.  The whole point of the game is to eventually get more passive income than expenses so your money is working for you instead of you working for your money.

It’s amazing how quickly my 11 year old caught on and now uses these business terms in everyday conversation.  This game is also one of the reasons he decided he wanted to save $500 to start a Scottrade investment account so he could begin to earn passive income by investing in dividend stocks.

I’m pretty proud of all my son has taken away from the game but I have to admit it also reinforces everything I learned from my parents and business school.  I remember I should be making my money work for me instead of working for money just so i can blow it on things that don’t matter.

The best part of this whole learning experience?  My son now understands when he wants something and I say my money would be better used on something else.  He agrees with me and tells me to invest it!

Holiday Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Gianna, the winner of the Less Than Perfect Parents Holiday Giveaway.  Gianna will receive (1) $50 Toys R Us Gift Card to use for her holiday shopping.  Thank you to everyone that entered!  This giveaway went so well that I’m just dying to do another one so keep your eyes peeled!

Holiday Giveaway!

Now that Halloween is over it's time to focus on the holidays!  To celebrate this holiday season I want to give a gift to my readers to show how much I appreciate you all! This is my favorite time of year and I want to spread the joy of giving that marks this season!  I am going to award a $50 Toys R Us Gift Card to one of my followers to help with your holiday shopping!

To enter:

1. Follow Less Than Perfect Parents one of the following ways:
• Google Friend Connect
• Networked Blogs
• Email Subscription-You will receive an email with a confirmation link (Make sure you check your spam folder). You must confirm to be eligible.
2. Leave a comment below that includes your email address and how you followed.

You can sign up until noon EST on 11/7/2011. I’ll send the winner an email within 24 hours.

*Open to U.S. residents 18 and older

*Judging: Less Than Perfect Parents will choose a winner based on a random drawing of comments below.

*Winner has 72 hours to claim prize.

Good luck everyone!

Learning Link Review and Giveaway

I truly believe things come into your life exactly when you need them and I feel it is true with this review.  My son has vision problems and we have been through endless testing and treatments.  One of the treatments he needed was eye therapy.  This therapy was not only for his eyes but also helped his brain function better through brain retraining.  His doctor felt his brain did not function normally due to the problems with his eyes.  Now this therapy was not covered by insurance and cost $250 for a half an hour once per week.  I took the option of sharing the thirty minute therapy session with another child and only had to pay $125 per week.  This added up to $6,500 for one year of sessions.  That’s a lot on a preschool teacher’s salary but I noticed such a difference in not only his academics but his behavior as well.  My credit cards were maxed out and I had existed on peanut butter and jelly for a year but what mom wouldn’t sacrifice for her child especially when she sees such great results?

Fast forward three years and I’m a stay at home mom.  I love being home but there is no extra money.  The bills are still getting paid but I have every penny accounted for every week.  Imagine my shock and horror when my son’s doctor tells me he needs to do another year of eye therapy.  Where was I going to get that kind of money, especially in this economy? 

This is where the miracle happens.  I get an email from Judy Hanning asking me if I’d like to review a product that would help my son excel in school.  Hmmm, a review for my blog that lets me use a product for free that will help my son excel in school?  Um YES!  I accepted and looked at some information on the learning institute website.  One thing that made me fall in love with the product right away was when I came across their page on learning difference.  This is something that I think so many kids struggle with in our school systems today and it breaks my heart.  These are the kids that excelled in my preschool class because I was a firm believer in teaching that would benefit every different kind of learner.  I have parents who come up to me who’s kids are in middle school and tell me that their child learned more in my class than any other.  It’s a great compliment but at the same time it’s sad that a child who is a tactile learner will most likely struggle throughout his school career.

Then I opened the product and started using it with my son.  Imagine my surprise when I found that most of the exercises were the ones he did in his eye/ brain therapy that cost me $125 per week and cost most parents $250 per week!   This program is only $600 for a 12 month online program and only $840 for a year of videos.  You can help your child retrain their brain for a savings of $5,660 to $5,900!  I have been happily working with my son for approximately three hours a week.  I am doing this over the summer and can’t wait to report the results when he goes back to school!

For any parent who has a struggling learner please go check out this website: http://www.learning-aids.com/

Here is the best part that I am so excited to share with you!  They have offered to generously donate one year of online access to their learning program as a giveaway (value $600)!  All you have to do is follow the instructions below:

Mandatory Entry Instructions:

1.       You must follow Less Than Perfect Parents blog

2.       You must go to the one of the following learning link website pages and leave a comment below about one thing you learned there.  There’s a lot of interesting information!

     Learning difference

     Mixed dominance

     Brain Retraining

3.       Make sure you leave your email address in your comment because that’s how I’ll be contacting you!

For extra entries (optional):

1.       Go to www.facebook.com/LearningLink, “like” the page with your personal profile and leave a comment.

2.       Go to www.facebook.com/LessThanPerfectParents, like the page with your personal profile and leave a comment.

3.       Tweet (once per day): I just entered a giveaway to help my child excel in school! http://goo.gl/mxpp9 Hosted by @HarpInstitute @LTPParents and @JudyHanning 

For every extra entry make sure you leave a comment below!  The more comments the better your chances of winning.

You can sign up until noon EST on 7/26/2011.  I’ll send the winner an email within 24 hours.

*Judging: Less Than Perfect Parents will choose a winner based on a random drawing of comments below.

*Winner has 72 hours to claim prize.

Good luck everyone!

Newborn Clothes

When my son outgrew his clothes I meticulously put away the few of his baby and toddler clothes that he hadn’t destroyed.  He is about as boyish as a boy can get and would run outside and immediately throw himself in the mud and stain his clothes.  He would get grass stains, blood stains, mud stains, and rips in all of his clothes.  I still have a few things in the attic just to keep as a memory but I just donated the rest of them about a month ago.  I was hoping I’d have another child and would be able to use them again but now that my son is eleven I’ve given up on a second child.  HOWEVER everyone tells me that now that I’ve given his baby clothes away I’m certain to get pregnant!  I don’t know if I believe those old wives tales but I’ll keep you posted. 

What have you guys done with your baby clothes?  I've heard of people doing all kinds of crafty stuff like make a baby blanket, stuff a pillow, and make curtains.  I'd love to hear some new ideas!




I've written this for a chance to win a ticket to Blissdom '12.  Happy Mama Gifts is the sponsor so stop over there for baby shower gifts and the chance to win this prize.  The winner will be announced on Labor Day, 2011.  So head on over there to enter to win tickets yourself or just browse her online shop for some great gifts for your next baby shower!

“It was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into.”
--Terri Guillemets  

  

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Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Lyudmila Sizova who is the winner of the Less Than Perfect Parents Valentine's Day Giveaway!  I wish  I could have given everyone a prize because some of you left such sweet comments and every mom deserves a little something special!

I appreciate everyone who entered and I'll be having another similar giveaway in May for Mother's Day so stay tuned!

Valentine's Day Giveaway!

To celebrate Valentine’s Day I want to give a gift to my readers to show my love and appreciation!  Since I can’t buy everyone a gift (but believe me I would if I could) I am going to give a $25 Pottery Barn Kids Gift Certificate to one of my followers! 

To enter:

1. Follow Less Than Perfect Parents one of the following ways:
• Google Friend Connect
• Networked Blogs
• Email Subscription-You will receive an email with a confirmation link (Make sure you check your spam folder).  You must confirm to be eligible. 
2. Leave a comment below

You can sign up until noon EST on Valentine’s Day 2/14/2011.  I’ll send the winner an email within 24 hours.

*Judging: Less Than Perfect Parents will choose a winner based on a random drawing of comments below.

*Winner has 72 hours to claim prize.

Good luck everyone!

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