Teaming up with other parents can help ensure a fun and healthy break
By Oregon Partnership

Many area kids are counting the days until Spring Break. Excitement reigns. For parents, however, the reaction can be mixed.

Maybe Spring break means a reprieve from the typical busy week of homework and shuttling between school and activities, but for parents who will clock in at work during Spring Break, kids’ time off can present challenges. How can you ensure a fun and safe Spring Break for your kids amid your busy workweek?
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By Jennifer Adams

We protect our children from any number of dangers: strangers, traffic, household chemicals – the list goes on and on. But recent news reports have highlighted a new hazard – medical radiation.

So what is radiation, and how can we protect our kids from unnecessary exposure?
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By Emily Moser

Imagine you’re fixing dinner and you hear a television news story about a product recall. You take action, making sure the product isn’t in your home and talking with your children so they stay safe.

Those same simple, effective steps – getting informed, sharing what you know and guiding your kids – also apply to alcohol and other drug trends. Even if your children are very young, it’s never too early to prepare.
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Our January issue contains several articles loaded with advice on how to get control of your family’s finances. The following online articles offer additional financial advice from local parents with suggestions on creative (and fun!) ways to stay within your family’s budget.

• Do-It-Yourself and Save
• It’s New to You (buying used)
• Readers’ Best Budget Saving Tips

By Julia Silverman

After the umpteenth jar of home-made tomato sauce, Olivia Bucks’s husband cried “Uncle!”

“No more,” he pleaded, overwhelmed by the tomatoes-by-the-ton stacked every which way around their Arbor Lodge home, not to mention the late nights his wife was keeping canning, pickling and preserving.

Bucks finally gave in, but not before she’d filled the shelves in her pantry with jewel-toned salsas and sauces, pickled green tomatoes, tomato paste and more.
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By Julia Silverman

This past year, with money still tight all over town, Andrea Davey and her husband were able to pay down a significant amount of principal on their mortgage, beyond their regular monthly payments.

How did they do it? Davey says it was all thanks to her baby daughter’s insatiable need for stuff: new toys, new clothes, new books, an exersaucer and more. Instead of buying thousands of dollars worth of baby gear, Davey got creative. She founded the St. Johns Swap and Play, a place where, for a small monthly fee, members can play together and swap the toys, books, clothes and gear their kids no longer use.
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We asked our Facebook fans this question: What’s the one thing you’ve done that has had the biggest impact on reducing your family’s expenses?

Here’s what some of them had to say:
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