Anybody know how to invest?

My brother is a whiz at investing and he always seems to have money.  I'm not but I want to learn.  I bought a bunch of penny stock years ago and didn't know what to do with it after I bought it!  I had no clue what I was doing.  I wasted that investment.

I just bought a book on investing (a "simple" type book so the big words don't throw me off, ha ha). With the problems in the economy right now and on the market, I want to find stocks that I won't lose big on.  I am thinking medical might not be a bad investment - - always needed, always improving.  I am going to research the best medical penny stocks and see what I come up with.

It'd just be nice to have a little extra money to play with.  I knew when I married 15 years ago, money would be tight.  Thinking about it and living it are entirely different things though.

Anybody have any good investing tips on how to get started? I really have no clue what I'm doing.

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Identity Theft

This is one of those subjects you think will never happen to you.  I did.  Then two years ago, my bank card number was stolen and used to buy Coach purses, hotels, and taxi service in the UK and a charitable donation in the United States (making themselves feel better for draining my account I guess).  It was stressful, aggravating, and beyond maddening to have no money left.  I became real friendly with my bank at that point...spent a lot of time there getting things figured out.

I never thought about identity theft protection prior to that.  I didn't leave my credit cards laying out; they weren't physically stolen.  I thought I had to be careless for identity fraud to happen to me.  Then my bank debit card was used to provide a bit of fun for somebody else.  It was enough to make me cry.  We have six kids - we couldn't afford to have our money tied up in an identity fraud investigation!

If you're worried about it happening to you, there is a company called IdentityHawk that can help stop fraud before you become a victim of it.  In this economy, who can afford to have their identity stolen and credit rating affected? Identity fraud can happen to you.  It happened to this small-town soccer mom!

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Inexpensive Vacations?

I've been thinking about inexpensive ways to have a family vacation.  Other than the one trip to my stepkids' state for her graduation, we couldn't afford to go anywhere else.  It was kind of a bummer.  I miss the Smoky Mountains! My sister picked up an uber inexpensive RV they got lucky and came across.  Does anybody know if motorhome repair and maintenance is similar to a car?  If we didn't have hotel costs and kennel fees to worry about, we'd be able to go on vacation more often.

My grandmother passed away a couple weeks ago and her memorial is in mid-September.  We can't afford to go to it (and if we could...it also falls during homecoming weekend - game, parade, dance and my freshman daughter would be a part of all three).  It is in another state and after our trip to the stepkids' state, two visits from them this summer, and a visit from my mother a couple weeks ago, our funds are totally depleted. We really need a more cost-effective way to travel.

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Weekend With Stepkids Went GREAT!!

My stepkids have come and gone.  They unexpectedly wanted to come in for a long weekend which was a surprise, but it went well.  My husband was himself this time.  My stepson wasn't grabbing my much loved guitar to play and bang into things.  When a PG-13 movie was going in, hubby sent the little ones out of that room to do something else.  He didn't exclude me from anything or do anything against the rules we have for our own kids.  We had a lot of fun.  This is the way it was supposed to be the last time and wasn't.

We even had a water balloon fight.  For $2.50, I bought a couple hundred water balloons and we had a blast! Hubby and my stepdaughter soaked me.  I got them both back with balloons on the head.  The kids took turns getting everybody with the hose in between filling balloons. We chased my stepson across our property, onto the neighbors and to the next road with water balloons. I was the only one who actually got him and then, it was only the bottom of his shorts so he won the water balloon fights.  I paid for it the next day - what was I thinking running that fast and far when running isn't something I've done in years. I hurt for three days after but it was fun.

Nothing was discussed about my stepdaughter's college books that I am aware of.  I don't know where she got the idea that we could afford to help her pay for her college books - - must've been a conversation she had with her dad because it wasn't with me.  He doesn't know either (she mentioned it to him and he never said yes or no - silence gives consent I guess) but I guess we'll see if she sends us any bills.  We'll tackle that issue if money is requested.  It's too bad it's not as easy as it is with our six-year-old - - find some scholastic coupons and buy inexpensive books! LOL.

They've gone back to their mom's house and I am getting our own kids ready for school to start in a week.  I'm in massive money saving mode to afford clothes and supplies for our four kids. Without the work hours, it's a stretch but I'm finding great deals and using coupons for all that I can.  The other day, I found our middle daughter a pair of Nike high tops for $15 (regularly in the $60's).  That's less than I'd pay at Payless so I grabbed them for her.  My freshman daughter and middle school son will need the most since they don't get hand-me-downs and being older, they don't want Walmart stuff anymore (can't blame them but oy the pocketbook is groaning).

I loved having the summer with them but am excited about the start of the school year too!  I am also very happy that this time, we had a good time with my stepkids and were "together" as parents instead of tense and not talking.

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Math Help for Kids

I have just ordered all the Danica Kellar math books for my kids for math this year.  With my junior high son in an advanced math class and my high school daughter a year ahead in math as well, with a mom who SUCKS at math, I am going to need all the help I can get.  Last year, I helped my son on a worksheet and he got all of them wrong.  Boy I was a lot of help, eh?  I don't want a repeat of that again!  So I ordered these:




















Here's to hoping I do better this year if they need help.  Since they are both a year ahead in math than their grade levels, I think these books will help.  I've heard a lot of good things about Danica Kellar's math books.  My 5th grade daughter has even started reading one of them cover to cover!

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