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• Book of the Week: Dream Destinations

  Given the recession, you've probably put that Icelandic vacation on hold for a while. But if you're content to be an armchair traveler, you'll get a lot of mileage out of Life Magazine's new book, Dream Destinations: 100 of the World's Best Vacations. You may have flipped through a coffee table book like this as a kid visiting your grandparents -- and although they've since gone out of vogue, the big beautiful photos of exotic locales still appeal to children. Compare Wyoming's snake river, glowing orange at sunset, to the clear blue waters of Cook's Bay in Moorea, or imagine life in the sheep-scattered hills of Snowdonia. Even if you're as broke as we are at the moment, it doesn't hurt to dream -- or to help your kids realize there's a world outside their hometown. -- Gwynne Watkins Dream Destinations (Life) is available for $19.77 on Amazon. Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that. Posted Jul 11 2008, 12:30 PM by editors with | with no comments Filed under: children's books, books, Life Magazine, book of the week, recession, dream destinations

• The New Homeless Middle Class

  Even though we don't know the full back story on this, it just doesn't look very good.  Santa Barbara resident Barbara Harvey is homeless for the first time in her life.  Though she has three grown children, she lives in her car with her dogs. She must have made them eat one too many servings of Spinach when they were growing up... Either that, or the recent wave of foreclosures is hitting more and more middle class families...   Read More... Posted May 27 2008, 02:31 PM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: cost of living, foreclosure, economy, recession, foreclosure rates, middle class and homeless, homeless mom, safety net, homelessness, losing houses

• Check's in the Mail? When You'll Get Your Rebate

  Tired of waiting for a little fiscal stimulation? If you had the good sense to get your tax refund deposited directly in your bank account, then you only have a few more days to wait for the controversial, possibly too-little-too-late, hand-out not a hand-up federal government stimulus package rebate checks.  When, exactly, can you expect the money?   Read More... Posted May 07 2008, 05:01 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: gas prices, economy, republicans, recession, rebate checks, stimulus package, economists

• Family Auctions $103,000 in Debt on Ebay

  This is one way to handle the housing/food/gas crunch non-recession of 2008. One woman is attempting to auction off the entirety of her family's debt = $103K or so. She even itemizes it for you...   Read More... Posted Apr 27 2008, 11:02 AM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: poverty, ebay, recession, struggling families, $4 gas

• Sheltering Kids from Economic Stresses

  With the fire sale of Bear Stearns this week, and growing acknowledgement we are heading toward if not already in a recession, lots of us are feeling anxious about our family's financial future. And day-to-day finances aren’t any easier. Gas, food and health care all cost more than they did even a year ago while home prices are falling Even families who are still doing well are not immune to the anxieties inherent in a slowing economy, and more and more people are looking at their prospects and deciding a little belt-tightening might be a good idea. Most of us have the luxury of sheltering our kids from that to some degree, as long as there is still dinner on the table and a roof over their heads. Read More... Posted Mar 20 2008, 06:18 PM by AmyinMotown with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: the juggle, economy, recession, layoffs, anxious kids

• America's Cities of Misery or Opportunities for Change?

  Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? Okay, we'll take the bad news first: ten American cities have been named "most miserable" by Forbes.com. Sucks, eh? They rated cities by unemployment, personal tax rates, commute times, weather, crime and the amount of nearby toxic waste. Uh...so what's the good news? It's that every city has its good points as well as its bad ones. And every city has within it a viable community, if you only know where to look.   But first let's go back to the Misery List, shall we?   Read More... Posted Feb 13 2008, 01:02 PM by Karen Murphy with | with no comments Filed under: new york city, sweet juniper, crime, families, chicago, cities, Detroit, recession, Modesto, Stockton, community

• Free Money!

  Congressional leaders and the White House hammered out an agreement for a plan to send cold, hard cash to millions of American families sometime this year. The free money, which amounts to billions of dollars, is an effort to stimulate the economy and get American taxpayers to start shopping again.  Some details: Read More... Posted Jan 24 2008, 06:28 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: help for parents, government, happy families, help, tax dollars, economy, 2008 election, recession, tax rebate, congress, rebate checks

• Fun Birthdays Despite Recession

  In all this talk about economic downturns and recessions or "recessions" and whatnot, politicians are overlooking one very important thing when calculating rebates and tax cuts and interest rates freezes and economic stimulation: what the hell is a parent to do about birthday parties? Listen, party-planning expert Lisa Kothari, author of Dear Peppers and Pollywogs...What Parents Want to Know About Planning Their Kids' Parties knows your pain and she wants to help out with her three-part series on recession-proof children's birthday parties. Thank God, because I was worried we'd have to leave it up to our kids this year to create their own fun.   Read More... Posted Jan 24 2008, 05:36 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: parties, birthday parties, birthdays without pressure, peanut butter, birthdays, party planning, baby cake, cake, party, Birththdays without Pressure, birthday party, party hat, birthday, cake decorations, recession, angel food cake

• Strollerderby Playdate: The Inexpensive, Cheap Parent Edition

  You know what? I'm cheap. I don't even use the term "frugal" because that's just a needlessly expensive word that sounds defensive. Not that cheap is my badge of honor, but I'm not trying to hide anything either. Don't worry, I'm not so cheap that it's embarassing. I am not tempted to call supermarket sampling "lunch." But I am just cheap enough that my family will manage this coming recession without much drama. We won't have to adjust and cut back too much since we ride it pretty close to the line anyway. Still, miserly-ness loves company ... Read More... Posted Jan 23 2008, 07:36 AM by Madeline Holler with | with no comments Filed under: money, finances, bloggers, strollerderby playdate, financial planning, Money Camp, financial management, recession

• Recession On the Way?

  Not to step on the toes of our delightful and witty Political Nanny, but hey, there's a primary in my state today (well, on my side of the ticket it's more a "primary" with sarcastic finger quotes, but that's another post).   It's coming amid increasing worries about the national economy – see, according to people who know a hell of a lot more about this than I do, there is a recession looming based on debt. In just the last seven years there has been a 75 percent increase in the amount of household debt. And before you start ranting, it's not all materialism. Here's what has happened to plenty of responsible people I know: Read More... Posted Jan 15 2008, 10:19 AM by AmyinMotown with | with no comments Filed under: money, debt, recession, housing bubble