Filed under: Money & work, Chores Like most parents, Annette Kiesow now thinks twice before she buys her six-year-old son, Josh, a new toy. "We talk about what things cost, and compare the prices of things when we're at the store," says the Merrimack, N.H. mom. "We talk about the things he has a...

So I can get an entire hour of work done with my kids if I give Turkey Butt the computer to play with and let Little Man watch the Wiggles. My BIL would croak!  Am I a bad parent or a smart parent getting things done? Bad parenting or smart use of time?  Let us know what you think. Tags: chores, k...

I used to really love writing lists. Then I wrote so many of them about so many things that they started to feel strangulating. And the tool became the point. Luckily, I was able to go on a Time Manager......

I suppose it’s a good thing that my apartment is barely recognizable. I’m seeing more floor space and more gleaming surfaces than I have in a long time. I make no excuses for it, but being busy and lazy tends to make one less concerned about tidying up. It’s funny to realize that m...

After "retarding" all night in the fridge, they have definitely risen quite a bit - but definitely not as much as you'd think after 16 hours! Bagels boiling: It seems to work, all right. Here's a tray of topped bagels: Bagels cooked: The other 6. Check out that misfit at top left! That's what happen...

I just spent about two hours baking cookies. A few things I found out: Splenda doesn't really work for sugar cookies very well. The dough is crumbly and difficult to roll. It breaks apart very, very easily. It's easier to form flattened little balls of dough rather than try to roll it and cut shapes...

*** Monthly Feature Column *** Positively Speaking Building Assets in your Kids by Kelly Curtis, M.S., author of Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things. ‘Tis the season to set resolutions. I have a few and you probably do as well. Your kids might even get in on the goa...

ChoresFilter: My fiancee and I are living together and both happy as clams - except we both HATE doing the dishes. They keep piling up, and even though I cook, I always keep putting them off. How do you manage chores like this, especially ones that both of you hate doing? I know the simple answer to...

As I get further into middle-age, I’m sure I’m not the only one who questions now and then how good my memory still is. At one point today, while doing laundry, it occurred to me how many details we remember about something as simple as laundry, with all the clothing items we own and the...

You know those days when you don’t get enough sleep and it’s Tuesday or Wednesday or some other day not a weekend and you wake up late and you have to rush the kids through breakfast and getting dressed and they seem just a little grumpier than usual and you really don’t want them ...