by Libby Balke | I Am So Cheap, Kid-Friendly
Recently, I went on a bit of a rant regarding how much some of my friends and neighbors pay a babysitter to watch their children. After asking around to discover the “going rate” in town, I learned that sitters were charging $10, $15, even $20 an hour to...
by Libby Balke | I Am So Cheap, Kid-Friendly
It’s a rite of passage for teenage girls: working as a babysitter. I did it, my mother did it, my aunts did it, and some day, my daughter will do it, too. When I was a teen, the going rate around town was $5/hour, per kid. So if you had two kids and were going...
by Libby Balke | Kid-Friendly, Travel
About a year and a half ago – after my family’s first trip to Walt Disney World – I wrote about the pros and cons of becoming Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members. Ultimately, the initial buy-in (at the time, roughly the price of a new, small sedan)...
by Libby Balke | Kid-Friendly
I went too far. As I stood in my front yard – which my husband and I had spray painted to resemble a miniature football field – and observed the 68 people swarming my 1/4-acre lot, I realized that perhaps I’d overdone my daughter’s birthday...
by Libby Balke | Kid-Friendly, Money Relationships
“Daddy!” my three-year-old daughter screamed as she rushed to greet her father at the back door as he arrived home from work one day last week. “Daddy, I’m rich!” she announced, proudly thrusting a handful of loose change in his direction. My daughter adheres to the...
by Libby Balke | Kid-Friendly
“$32 for a sweater?” I nearly shouted during my last shopping excursion to the local mall. Sure, the sweater was cute: a bright green and yellow flower adorned the equally bold hot pink fabric, while white flower-shaped buttons topped it off. If the...