Paying for your Child's College Education Written by Cindy Morus
This is probably most intensive short-term cash drain on any family's finances. Unlike most other big- ticket items, such as homes or automobiles, that can be paid off in monthly installments, college tuition must be paid out over a relatively short period of time. With tuition at staggeringly high levels throughout nation, a family's commitment to provide higher education for children can be overwhelming.Ideally, a long-term plan for college education was initiated from birth date of your college-bound student. There is no better way to ensure a child's education that a systematic savings plan. But this is not an ideal world, many of us must finance part of college education out of monthly family budget. Before selecting a college, parents need to: Determine how much funding can be available from conventional sources such as savings, income from family budget, trusts, and part-time jobs, if more money is needed. Explore availability of scholarships, low-interest student and parent loans, second mortgages, and conventional loans.
| | Decorating a Child's Room - 8 Simple Strategies to Make You Both Happy!Written by Michael Holland
When it comes to decorating a child's room, your approach should be much different from decorating an adult bedroom.That's because a child's bedroom should reflect his or her personality and not yours. For kids, their bedroom is where they play games, read, listen to music, day-dream, or just go to be alone sometimes. So use these eight strategies to help create a space that will make you both happy: 1. Talk to your child. Find out what activities and fantasies he or she enjoys; what their favorite color is; and what's unique about their personality that a theme could be built around. 2. Allow your child to help. Let them have a say about colors, fabrics, and how they want to display theircollectibles. 3. Make room multi-functional. Since children use their room for many activities besides sleeping, it should have several different zones, such as a play area, reading area, and entertainment area. 4. Make storage a priority. Try shelving, large decorative wicker baskets, plastic see-through containers, and closets that contain plenty of shelving and racks. 5. Keep window treatments simple. Avoid long draperies. Shades, blinds, and shorter curtains are safer choices. The fabric should be versatile, and patterns should be repeated in other items in room, such as in pillows, quilts, lampshades, bed ruffles, etc.
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