Manage My Budget

Should there be trust between a blogger and their readers? Should a blogger have to tell the truth or should they be able to lie without disclosure? This question raises a lot of emotions and brings to attention whether or not readers have a right to demand disclosure from a blog they read regularly. It’s important for a blogger to be honest about the content they provide to their readers. There should be a line of trust between the blogger and reader in order to maintain a great relationship online.

You are reading a blog about a mom going through struggles with raising a special needs child. You feel a connection with her and what she’s dealing with, her daily ups and downs. You decide to link to her, sending your readers to her site to give her support and you have even left comments on her blog to help raise awareness and support her endeavours. You have since then discovered she has lied about her hardships. This doesn’t bold well for your blog or other blogs linked to hers. How would you feel about it?

There would be a range of emotions after discovering a blogger has lied on their blog. Bloggers I think should be required to blog with Integrity, never be misleading to their readers in any way, shape or form. When a reader has invested their own emotions and time and energy on a cause that was misleading in nature, and has put their own reputations as a blogger and person on the line by supporting that blog, it can become difficult to build a relationship online. It can destroy that bloggers character if linked to such a site.

Changing names to protect privacy is okay when blogging. Just make sure your posts and topics you are sharing are truthful and not made up. Every advertiser who paid to be listed on the blog can get hurt. Affiliates who have worked with the blog, backing them and promoting them through social networks will have their reputation damaged if the blogger creates falsehoods purposely within the posts.

So if you are building your brand and wanting to build a solid relationship with others, remember that lying about what you write is not the way to go. You can always change names or do things to protect privacy. Just make sure your posts and topics you are sharing are truthful and not made up. That’s the best way to have blog success.

Loving a Child with Mild Cerebral Palsy Children with Mild Cerebral Palsy

Planning a weekly menu has saved you both time and money. However, not all weeks run as smoothly as we would like. That stop after work to check on your insurance bill took a lot longer than expected. Now you’re running behind picking the kids up from school, and come to find out you need to stop at the hardware store because your little one needs a paint brush to complete the project that you didn’t think was due until next week.

If you had gotten home on time, as planned, you would have started the Chicken Parmesan, as planned, and had dinner ready at 6:00 p.m., as planned. Well, the plan has been derailed, and now you don’t even have enough time to swing through the grocery store and pick up something quick for dinner. So, it’s the drive-thru tonight. Not exactly frugal or nutritious. Your carefully structured menu is just a vague, happy memory.

Your best-laid plans are an ideal. Certainly, you hope that nothing interferes with these plans, but something always does. Planning for a disruption isn’t something we very often do successfully. The Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” may be your solution to this problem. When the inevitable happens and your menu plan is messed up, you need to have a back-up plan prepared and ready to put into play.

Creating a back-up plan for meal-time isn’t as difficult as you might think. Start by using some of your favorite “go to” recipes, you know the ones… they’re always quick, easy, and delicious. That way, when you end up running late and there just isn’t enough time to get the chicken in the oven, you’ve got an alternate route to take, and we’re not talking about the route through the fast food place! We all want our families to eat a good, hot dinner; a dinner that’s nutritious as well as quick and easy. By using the recipes you’ve routinely turned to in the past, you can create a type of index of recipes that you can grab and go. We’re going to help you create that back-up meal plan in 3 steps.

FIRST STEP: Sort through your best quick and easy recipes that use the fewest ingredients. Choose the recipes that are also nutritious so you won’t be slipping too far from your ideal menu plan. Narrow your choices down to seven so you can make it at least a week just in case. Do you have a selection of recipes in front of you that your family always asks you to make? Okay, then you’re on the right track. Copy these seven recipes each on some index cards.

SECOND STEP: Pick a cupboard or pantry door in your kitchen, and attach some peel-and-stick bulletin board cork squares inside and pin your recipes to the cork board. If you don’t want to attach cork board inside your cupboards, tape an envelope to the back of a cupboard door and place your recipe cards inside the envelope. Your favorite go-to recipes are now all set when you need to use your back-up plan. Another advantage to having these recipes ready, is you can now call on your family to start some of the prep work if they can just grab the recipe card and begin.

THIRD STEP: A grocery list that is specifically made for your new back-up recipe plan is essential for this method to work. This is a list that you keep in your purse or car. You will create this by first writing your seven recipes down, then list the ingredients needed next to each recipe title. Be sure to simplify the list by eliminating the items that you have on hand all the time, like salt, pepper, butter, etc. When you pick the list out of your purse, you’ll choose your recipe, then go quickly through the grocery store picking out just the ingredients you need. When you get home, just pull your recipe out of the envelope, and dinner will be ready in no time. You won’t have to stop and think when you start down the grocery store aisles. The decisions have already been made, courtesy of your back-up plan.

A back-up menu plan may seem, at first, to be a little extreme. After all, you’ve already got your menu planned for the week. But, as we all know best laid plans often go awry. This will take a bit of organizing in the beginning, but it is worth the effort. You’ll appreciate your own back-up menu plan when you can’t think what to do for dinner now that you’re menu plan has gone off course. Your fabulous meal that was planned for tonight may have to wait until tomorrow, but at least your family won’t have to eat soggy pizza or greasy hamburgers.

So, who needs a back-up plan? We all do. Won’t it be great to look at your watch when you’re running behind for dinner and think, “oops… Plan B” instead of “EEEEK! Now What”? You’ll enjoy your drive home, you’ll enjoy your time with the family, and you’ll enjoy your own favorite meals… even if they are Plan B!

Routinely Eating Out At Restaurants Is Wasting Money when you’re trying to watch every penny. Plan meals at home for a week or more at a time, stick to your plan, and you’ll soon have extra money in your wallet. This is just one of the many Frugal Spending Ideas And Tips that can help save your budget.