We downloaded a game on our kids’ iPad, and two days later had a $200 bill show up in our checking account. We immediately thought “fraud,” cancelled the number, requested a new card, did all the usual things. Eventually we found out that our 7year-old had “bought” a bunch of things from the app. Like most of the stories, he didn’t know it was “real money.”

We talked to Apple, and they easily and quickly refunded the money. Problem solved. Some parents haven’t been so lucky. Here’s what we learned:

1. If they hadn’t voluntarily refunded the money, we would have had to eat the expense. It wasn’t Apple’s fault.

2. We turned off in-app purchases. Problem solved.

3. We changed our settings to require the App Store to request the password immediately – every time. Default settings don’t require the password again for 15 minutes after you’ve entered it once.

What’s the bottom line? Know your device before you hand it over to your kids. A little bit of research can save you a lot of money.

http://www.tyndalerewards.com/

We had a plan. This is not it. Our “baby” was 2, and we could officially say we were out of the baby phase. We were moving on to middle school, baseball, potty training (for the last time), ballet recitals – we completely changed gears mentally.

So what’s the first thing we did? Purged all our baby stuff, of course. Changing table? We wouldn’t need that anymore. Baby swing? Nope, get rid of it. What about the stroller? Well, once our Little Princess was walking, she refused to sit in the stroller at all, so we got rid of that, too. It felt good to have a lot of extra space, and it was like we were admitting to ourselves, and to the world, that we were done with the baby thing.

I think God likes it when we make plans. He likes to show us that our plans are basically meaningless. Back in late October, we found out we were expecting Baby #6. (We found out this week it’s a baby boy!) That put us into a roller coaster of emotions. Reluctant, stunned, then (slowly) excited – but mostly nervous!

Where is the baby going to sleep?

What car seat will the baby use?

Can we fit 6 kids in our current vehicle?

What about baby clothes?

According to womenshealth.gov, half of pregnancies are unplanned, so we are definitely not alone. While there are obviously many facets of a new baby to explore, the one I’m concerned with here is the financial implications.

Since we’re not new to the baby game, I know there three major categories of “baby spending:”

Medical (for mom)

Medical (for baby)

“Baby needs” (cribs, car seats, etc.)

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be researching different ways to cut down on these costs, and include things that we’re doing to minimize costs.

Leave your story – or any advice, tips or tricks – in the comments!

My 11 year-old son calls it “addicting,” “always different,” and says it can change from easier to more difficult very quickly.

The app itself with gauge your proficiency in certain areas, and become more and more challenging as you progress. If you need help on subtraction, those are the problems you’re given; multiplication, you get those.

I have received a promo code for the game, and would like to do a giveaway! Post a comment, and you’ll automatically be entered. I’ll draw a random name on February 28.

See here for contest rules.

One guaranteed way to save money that I’ve found recently: make your kitchen a place to enjoy being.

I’m a lazy person. I’ll admit that straight away. I’ve put off cleaning and organizing the kitchen for a long time. Since it was dirty and cluttered, I didn’t want to be in it. It was hard to move around, hard to find things, and it made cooking a pain. If cooking was hard, do you think I wanted to do it? No way. That means I was putting off dinner til the last minute, and then giving in and ordering a pizza. Or Mexican. Or whatever.

The last two weeks I’ve done three things that have totally turned that around.

1. Plan to Eat*

Plan to Eat is a website that lets you input your week’s recipes and automatically generates your shopping list. The integrated calendar allows you to schedule meals, add notes, and move things around as needed. I’ve tried several different meal planning websites, but this is the most flexible, and best-suited to our current needs.

Through today, you can get a years’ subscription for $19.50 – that’s 50% off!

2. Making the Kitchen Fun*

I’m a gadget lover – always have been. This week, with some of my Christmas budget, I bought a new blender/mixer for the kitchen. I’ve needed one for a while, and have been putting it off. After buying this little gadget, I immediately went home and started chopping onions and other vegetables! When I have tools that make my job easier, I enjoy doing it more.

3. Making the Kitchen Easy

After putting it off for years (literally), I buckled down yesterday and reorganized the kitchen. Thinking logically about how things should flow, I put all of the “mixing” (chopping, stirring, blending, etc.) stuff together, all of the pots, pans, and bakeware in one area, and all of the serving dishes in another. This has made moving around the kitchen so much more enjoyable!

These three things combined ended up in a very profitable weekend that saved our family lots of money and time. I cooked and prepped all of our week’s meals, and they are in the freezer ready to go.

Bagged and Ready to go in the Crockpot

This Cheesy Ham & Potatoes Recipe was super easy to put together the night before and put in the crockpot in the morning. Enjoy!

(Note about freezing the night before: I put the potatoes in a gallon-sized ziploc bag, and added just enough water to cover them so they wouldn’t turn brown in the refrigerator overnight.)

*Affiliate link – see our Technical Stuff for details.

Thank You, Netflix. And No, That’s Not Sarcasm. | Control Your Cash: Making Money Make SensePeople are never satisfied. 2-year old Netflix replaced standard movie rentals by mail with its famed subscription model in 1999. The model worked almost the same way that it does now: you paid $ x a month to rent as many movies as you wanted, but no more than three simultaneously.

via Controlyourcash

If you’re interested in further reading…

Here is Netflix’s 3rd quarter earnings report, which touts “more than 29 million streaming members in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Nordics…”

and

Here is a synopsis of that report.

So, let me know – are you a Netflix subscriber? Physical DVDs or streaming only?

Don’t get sick!

I’ve been sick this week, so haven’t been able to post about my sweet kiddos’ birthday party (and my frugal and fun cake win!!), but I did want to share with you guys an interesting link I came across about financial fasting.

The author and her husband, once a year, go on a financial fast. They don’t stop ALL spending (food, bills, etc. are still taken care of), but they commit to not spending anything extra: using up excess food in the pantry & fridge, fixing or doing without broken items, that sort of thing.

I hope you’ll head over to Money Saving Mom and read the article.

Here’s what my kids finally decided on for Halloween. And the best part? We only spent $3!

CBBC on Sandy

TUAW has a post this morning letting people know how to donate to the Red Cross for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Here’s the link that will open the iTunes Store and let you donate:

Open in iTunes