Keeping Up With Allowances

My boys get a minimal amount of allowance every week in exchange for help with specific chores.  They are also required to extra things from time to time without "being paid" for it and they know it is because there are somethings we do because we are all part of a family.  

Sometimes I have a hard time remembering who has what. Sometimes William wants me to hold on to his allowance because he is saving it for something or Jonathan might see something while we are out and will want to use only part of his allowance to get it.  Sometimes the hubby will pay the boys for an extra difficult chore outside and tell me "they each earned $2" and I have to remember it.  See what I mean?

Today I came across a wonderful {free} iPhone app called "Kiddy Bank".  It is amazingly simple and is exactly what I need and since I ♥ my iPhone, it will always be near me to add (and subtract!)  allowance when the opportunity arises.

 

 

You have a screen that allows you to add the names of your children and set up their "accounts".  Under Weekly Allowance, you add how much money they get every week and the app automatically adds it to their account.  Tap the "credit" button if you want to add extra money to their account or debit if they used some of their allowance or if you "fined" them for whatever reason.

I know for older children they are usually just given their allowance to keep up with and to spend and save as they want.  My 9 year old could probably do that but prefers for me to keep up with it.  My youngest?  Well, I found his birthday check from his PawPaw and Jammie in the hallway last week so I took it and think I will continue to keep up with his money!

It works for me!  For more Works For Me Wednesday tips, be sure to visit We Are THAT Family.

An All Around Blog Post

Have I said lately how much I love PaperBackSwap.com?  I love to read but most books, with the exception of just a few, I don't read more than once.  When other members request and receive a book that I have posted, then I get a credit to pick a book from the thousands that are listed on their site.  I've received several books lately that I have been interested in reading but didn't necessarily want to buy; and let's face it, who wants to pay $15 to $20 for a book and then really hate it?  This book (to your right) came in the mail today.  Jonathan is waiting a half semester before beginning cursive and I have been looking for something for him to do in the meantime.  He doesn't love writing at all but I think this fun little workbook will help.

The Diet Saga - I call it a saga because it just goes on and on.  What should I do?  How much should I do? - You know the drill.  The main thing I do know that whatever program, diet or way of eating that I choose, it has to be one that I can stick with for life.  If I don't, whatever progress I make will not stick with me either.  I have decided to go with a simple calorie-controlled diet.  Whether the food is low fat or low carb I can still eat what I choose as long as I count the calories.  Of course I have a iPhone app to help me count the calories and I love it.  It logs my foods, counts my calories, keeps up with my exercise and graphs all manner of reports relating to it all - geeky heaven!

Today I received a copy of Ted Dekker's latest book, Immanuel's Veins.  I can't wait to get started, it looks so good!  The people at Thomas Nelson (publicity managers for his book) have given me the opportunity to give away a t-shirt that says "Spread The Love" on my book blog.  Be sure to watch that blog for more details.  I will write my review of his book soon and answer the question that Ted will be reflecting on also in an upcoming blog post of his own, "What is Sacrificial Love?"  I'll let you know here when the giveaway will begin.

Thumbs Up For Netflix

We've been Netflix members for some time I like the ability to pick and choose what movies we want to see and have them delivered to our front door. If we ever wondered if we were getting our moneys worth, that question was answered with a resounding "yes" shortly after we discovered the ability to stream their instant movies on our TV through the Wii. It has done away with our need to visit Redbox, the Blockbuster kiosk or other DVD rentals.

Today, Netflix made the deal even sweeter by coming releasing an iPhone app for members. Now, I can watch any movie on my instant queue on my phone! I doubt I will do that very often but just having the ability to do so makes me smile!

HomeRoutines iPhone App

In my last post about household notebooks, I wrote about how I was using Google Tasks to keep up with my daily routines after trying other apps that didn't have the features that I wanted.

How quickly things change  After more searching online, I found the HomeRoutines app and it is only the second app that I have actually paid money for.  HomeRoutines is based around FlyLady's Control Journal system but it can also be adapted to any system that works for you.

APPlesauce has written a great review of HomeRoutines that you should check out.  Also take a look at HomeRoutines website and blog.

Household Notebooks

I love them!  As a matter of fact, I am sure that I have made no less than five of them in my time!  I love paper and I love organizing and I love compartmentalizing!  Today I was reading a guest post at Organizing Junkie's blog titled "Making A Household Notebook Work For You" and found it quite helpful in more ways than one.

First of all, her guest blogger, Jessica from Life As MOM, posted some really great printable forms and we all know how much I love forms.  The forms helped me realize how I wanted to reorganize my daily, weekly, etc. routines.

Secondly, her overall topic on how to make it work for you is what really drew me and got me to thinking.  Like I mentioned, I like paper and organizing and things and everything contained therein but we also know that I love my iPhone, my apps and all things technical.  The binders weren't working for me simply because I couldn't carry it around with me everywhere I go - my iPhone, I can.

Mostly I like having a checklist for my daily and weekly routines and after researching several "to do list" apps, I decided that my tasks in Google would work the best.  With Google Tasks I am able to make several lists and, as I have posted before, I can access my list on my phone, easily found by adding a link to my homescreen.So far I have added daily and weekly chores as well as chore lists for both of my boys.  I can check them off as I do them and start all over the next day.

As far as a calendar for weekly, monthly and yearly reminders, I use the calendar that came with my phone and I love it.  Again it syncs with my online Google calendar and anything I type in either calendar appears in the other (make sense?)!

I love ZipList for grocery shopping (online and on my phone).  I can text or email my list to myself or print it from my computer.  One of my favorite functions is that I can put in my recipes or choose some of theirs and if I can add the ingredients to my grocery list with one click.  My hubby likes to see what we are eating for the week so I still print or write that out and put it on the fridge.

What I need an actual binder for the most is a place to keep those endless pieces of paper that come across your desk, kitchen counter, mailbox, etc.  If I print out a recipe, I put it in the binder.  If I get instructions on how to program the coffee maker, in the binder it goes.  I rarely print out "cute stories" but if I did, it would also go in the binder.

So, like Jessica's article encouraged, make your notebook system work for YOU - whether it be a binder, 3x5 cards or your iPhone.

Google and iPhone Make a Good Team

Recently I was at Vanderbilt for some tests and the nurse asked me if I was taking any blood pressure medication.  I told her yes but couldn't remember the name of it.  Every doctor at Vanderbilt has access to my medication list through their computer system but for some reason my blood pressure meds were not on the list.

And I did not have a list of my current meds in my purse (like my mom has encouraged me to do)!

That got me to thinking.  I use my iPhone for numerous tasks, why couldn't I keep a list of my medications on there!?  Google comes to the rescue!!

I uploaded my medication list from my computer (pdf) to Google Documents from my PC and then pointed my iPhone browser to the Google Doc site.  I added Google Docs to my home screen and now all my docs are available at a touch of a button.  This will come in handy when we are at Friday School and another mom is wondering who is on the schedule for the next month - the list is already there!

My Gmail is routed through my phones email program and so are my Gmail calendars (handy!!).  I've been wanting a simple to do app with a check list for my daily things I have to do.  There are plenty of those apps available but it would be so much handier to be able to sync it on my computer without having to open a dozen apps to do so.

Again, Gmail comes to the rescue.  Gmail has a built in task list and by doing the same thing as I did above (iphone browser and adding tasks to my home screen) I now have a task list that can be added to and checked off by either my phone or computer.  Right now I have 3 different task lists:  General, Vacation and Grocery.  Now I wouldn't put my entire grocery list on my task list (I have another computer program for that!) but it comes in handy for quick trips to the store for a few items.

How do you use Google on your iPhone?

Free Texting On Your iPhone

Texting has been around for awhile but I have not been a big fan until my (not so recent now) last hospital stay.  Vanderbilt had email in the rooms on the television system via wireless keyboards but it was extremely slow and frustrating to use it to send a message.  Thankfully I had my new iPhone, that was only a few weeks old at the time, to keep me connected to my friends and family.

Unfortunately, I do not have an unlimited texting plan and don't plan to buy one.  Currently I have 200 texts a month for $5 - which is not bad for someone who doesn't text a lot but it doesn't hold water for those who have entire conversations through texting!

There are several free iPhone texting apps available in the app store.  I have been recently using the Textfree Unlimited app.  My biggest concern in using an app instead of iPhone's built in texting was whether or not my friends would know the text was from me.  I sent a test text to my husband's phone to check it out and it appeared as from me.  Textfree gives you your own local phone number to send these texts.

Of course since the app is free, there is going to be some adds showing while you are using it (see example screen shot).  I have not found the ads to be annoying at all.  You have the option to purchase a one year free ad version for $5.99 - still an excellent price for free texting.

If you are not using the app, you will still get notifications of incoming texts.  You also have the option to receive email notifications of new texts.

The word is you'll be able to make and receive phone calls with Text Free also.  Right now if someone tries to call your Text Free number you will get a "missed call" notification in Textfree with their caller ID number!

Any questions?