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A Meaningful Activity for You & Your Animal Companion
Whether “you” means you-on-your-own, you and your partner, you and your friend, or you and the kids, the increasing understanding of the healing power of dogs (and other animal companions) offers a unique opportunity for an enriching activity. ...
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A complete guide for parents to choose the best toys for their children.
Do you remember how it was when you where a child? What was your main activity? Was it working? Of course not. Your main activity was playing. You had no concerns. You needed toys and your parents where supposed to provide you with them. They had...
What I dislike about the new stay at home fad!
With kids going wild and shooting up schools much criticism has been brought up about both parents working outside the home. It emphasizes on parents being too busy to pay attention to their children. In turn many women are making a conscious...
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The Laid Back Parents Guide To Teaching Your Child To Read
At first I thought of titling this article "The Lazy Parent's Guide" but then I realized that most parents aren't lazy, but they may have a slightly different philosophy about children and learning.
If you're a big reader yourself or...
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College Savings Reward Plans - Making Them Work for You
You are probably well aware that college costs are soaring and that the need for parents to build college savings has never been greater. You may also be aware of various loyalty reward programs (such as Upromise and BabyMint) that pledge to help build your college savings by paying back a small percentage of the amount you spend using their credit card and/or buying certain products. Companies offer these programs because, in the aggregate, they know they will lead to higher spending on their products or services. Smart consumers learn to maximize earned rewards without altering their spending habits.
Reward programs can help build college savings. That's the good news. The bad news is that these programs have grown in number and become very complex. It is very difficult for parents to take time to fully understand, compare and select the program best suited for them. This article aims to cut through the morass and lay out a clear strategy for parents to follow to get the most from college reward programs.
The Basics
The various college savings reward programs fall into two broad categories: credit card rewards and savings clubs. The distinction gets blurry because many of the "savings club" programs also sponsor a credit card under the same name. Nonetheless, you can
better understand and optimize your use of the programs if you categorize them in this manner:
A college savings reward credit card is a regular MasterCard or Visa card that - in lieu of frequent flier miles or cash back bonuses - makes a 1% or 2% contribution to a college savings account based on purchases made with the card.
A savings club (or loyalty program), on the other hand, is a membership club through which a network of merchants offers members special rebates for buying their products or services. Rebates are directed to the member's college savings account. Some savings clubs have membership fees or require that you have their affiliated credit card to be a member. Others are free and permit the use of non-affiliated credit cards.
College Rewards Credit Card
Associated Savings Club
BabyMint College Credit Card
Baby mint
Baby Center Credit Card
Baby Center Savings Program
Being Developed
edexpress
Fidelity/MBNA College Rewards
NONE
futuretrust Credit Card
futuretrust
Savingforcollege Credit Card
NONE
The Education Plan Credit Card
The Education Plan
Citi Upromise Card
Upromise
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