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Cutting Grocery Costs without Cutting Nutrition

Simple, healthy, and affordable ways to weather the rising price of food

by Karen Collins, R.D., American Institute of Cancer Research

Grocery prices are projected to increase again in 2008 – that’s following 2007’s highest annual increase in 17 years. But surviving these tough economic times doesn’t have to mean sacrificing good nutrition. Some simple strategies can help you cut food costs and eat more healthfully, too.

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Madlynn is Kid of the Month

Some things should never be said...

by Kristyn Kusek Lewis

What Not to Say About Someone's Appearance
Don’t say: “You look good for your age.”
Why: Anything with a caveat like this is rude. It's saying, "You look great―compared with other old people. It's amazing you have all your own teeth."
Instead say: “You look great.”

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7 love rules you need to break

‘Cosmopolitan’ magazine lists nonconventional tips for happier relationships

These relationship secrets go against conventional wisdom, but “Cosmo” believes in shaking things up. Colleen Rush shares seven new rules for today's relationships:



Just because you’ve always done something one way doesn’t mean it’s the right way. Remember how much your life improved when you finally gave up super-low-rise jeans, dating only bad boys, and dial-up modems? Relationship experts say that ditching the following seven love rules can be just as liberating — maybe more.

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Holding Her Head High

Actress Janine Turner Inspires Single Mothers
New Book Uncovers Moving Stories of Single Mothers Throughout History

by Janine Turner

Nashville, TN – History yields to all types of mothers. Helena Augusta, abandoned single mother of Constantine, helped forever change Christianity. Widowed single mother Belva Lockwood would become the first female presidential candidate in 1884. And Harriet Jacobs, a slave, chose to live in a small airless attic for 7 years so her children could have freedom while diligently fighting for her own freedom and her children's safety.

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Single Mom Dating Tips from Ms. Single Mama

I have been a dating single mom for over two years now.

And the first thing I can tell you is this - it's not easy. First you have to get past your divorce, the heartbreak, the anger and the tears. And then, once you are finally ready to get back out there, you have to factor in the kids and their feelings.

Here are a few of my single mom dating advice articles that are a good base. Start here and then come back to my blog every day, because as you'll soon see - I'm learning as I go!

Ms. Single Mama advises on How to meet men as a single mom and date them, The good stuff: falling in love as a single mom, The not-so-good stuff: breaking up as a single mom.

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Consumer: womens news
 

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Single Moms - find here resources on financial aid, scholarships, help with basic needs, food, prescription drugs, health care, housing, legal info, and much more...

 

Story of Nicole, Norfolk, Virginia

 

I would like to send in an entry for September 2005.

 

This is the first time I've visited this site and I sit here crying, I'm not the only single parent struggling to give my kids a decent life. Anyways, here's my story.

 

My name is Nicole and I have 4 beautiful boys, Joe-8 years, Gage-6 years, Jack-2 years and Brendon-11 months. I'm 24 years old and I'm in the Navy stationed at HM-14 in Norfolk, Virginia. I met my children's' father while we were in boot camp 4 years ago, and we dated through boot camp and A-School, and we eventually both got stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. I became pregnant with our first son after we got to Virginia and we moved in together, along with his 2 children from his first marriage.

 

The pregnancy was hard because the majority of the guys at my squadron didn't like having a pregnant female working on the helicopter engines with them. I worked up until the day before my son was born, sometimes on 2 and 3 hours of sleep. 4 months later, I became pregnant with my second son. At the same time, post-partum depression had hit me really hard.

 

The kids' dad was always gone, I was working 15 hour days and I never got to spend time with my kids. The Navy didn't care that I had to pay for child care and find babysitters at the last minute, and work straight through the weekends most of the time. I had no family, no one to love my baby as much as I did, no one to help me adjust to my boyfriend's kids. He barely called and most of our emails and letters went unanswered.

 

As I struggled to get used to our new baby and being a mother to the 2 older boys, I had to go through another pregnancy and my boyfriend's being deployed for months at a time. It was like he was trying to forget about us. When my second son was born, I felt so alone and at the end of my rope. Life had worn me out, and I barely felt human anymore. I was like this machine that did what everyone else wanted and needed, with no emotional support and no one to care about what I needed. There wasn't a single person in the world who understood how much I loved the kids and wanted more time with them.

 

The military barely paid me enough to buy diapers and formula and put food on the table, and sent the kids' father away for months at a time. I would sit at home alone every night and cry for hours, wishing he was there to help me with the kids and wishing there was someone who could understand how hard I worked. No one at work understands what it's like to take care of 4 kids by yourself, and to have been thrust into the role so suddenly.

 

As I struggled at home to make ends meet and to keep up a happy face at work, I found out that the children's father had become engaged to another woman while he was on deployment in Japan. I was so shattered and miserable and alone, I felt like nothing I did was good enough for the kids and no one would ever care about us or know how wonderful our little family was.

 

I got a letter from their father 3 months after our second son was born saying it wasn't going to work, and asking me to take care of his 2 oldest children from his first marriage. We didn't hear from him for 6 months, and he has since agreed to give me legal custody of our children, as well as his first 2 children. Up until now it's taken every bit of strength I have to get through this alone.

 

My family lives in California, and I haven't seen them in over 2 years because the military hasn't let me take leave to take my kids home. I have felt so used and alone for a long time now, it wasn't until I ran across this website that I realized I'm not the only single mother struggling to live day-by-day.

 

Just knowing you're not alone is enough to help you get through sometimes, and gives us the strength to smile for our kids and tell them that things are okay. Through all of this I've also realized that you may not be able to buy your kids a tenth of what you want for them, but as long as you can keep your head up and keep smiles on their beautiful faces, and always let them know there's someone who loves and cherishes them, that's the most important thing you can ever give your kids.

 

We would like to hear from you! Write to us at Contact Us Page

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Top 8 Tips for Reducing Kids Screen Time This Summer

Reducing time spent in front of televisions and computers is one of the easiest ways to improve your family's health. Here are eight simple ways to limit screen time so you can help crank up your kids’ energy, re-charge their minds, and improve their health.

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What would you change?

Weekly Column, by Annette Bridges

Change -- some people dread it, and others can’t get enough. It may be much like the idiom, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” When it comes to what we would alter or why we would make a modification, the answers vary because we all have different things we value, want, need and consider important.

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Being a Role Model

by Laurie Cesario-Overton

If I had to choose one sentence that would best describe what I feel parents need to learn, it would be this: Be your child's BEST ROLE MODEL in all the ways that truly count. Be your child's HERO. Whatever you do, do it for all the right reasons.

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How to Find the Best Car Loans for Single Moms

Financial Advice for Single Moms

The best car loans for single mothers might be just around the corner at your local car lot.

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3 Money Rules for Stay-at-Home Moms

As we all know, life is unpredictable. We lose jobs, get divorced and even become widowed...
Here are three steps stay-at-home parents should take to better manage their own and the family’s finances.

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You May Have Too Much Debt But You Also Have Options

How Life Works

If you feel like you're in over your head with personal debt, you're not alone. Millions of Americans have become overextended, many as a result of easy credit and the recessions. Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans and raising interest rates do not make a good financial mix.

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Could fat babies mean fat toddlers?

A new study from Harvard Medical School found that babies who gained weight quickly had a sharply higher risk of obesity. The study followed close to 600 babies and found those in the top quarter of weight for their length at 6 months had a 40 percent higher risk of obesity by age 3 than smaller babies.

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Crystal Bowersox - A Single Mom And A Real American Idol

Read how the amazing Crystal Bowersox. the runner-up of American Idol Season 9, handles fame and life as a single mom, raising her 17 month old son.

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5 Ways for Single Moms to Save Money

Single moms are always looking for ways to save money, and for good reason... It’s important to find ways to cut corners on the little things that perhaps you don’t think about too often, because those are usually where your biggest money drains are.

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Suze Orman's Recession Rescue Plan - helps you survive in times of financial crisis

OPRAH.com

Do you know what your family would do if you lost your job - or worse, your home? Financial expert Suze Orman is ready to help you devise a recession rescue plan to survive - and possibly thrive - during this deepening financial crisis...

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Your Just-in-Case Emergency Plan

by RealSimple

Who do you call if you can't make it home in time to meet the kids' bus? Who do you trust to take in your mail when you're on vacation? Who do you trust with the extra set of keys to your house?

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How to save $10,000

By Liz Pulliam Weston

If you were hoping for a list of small tweaks you could make in your spending to save $10,000 a year, sorry. The reality is that $10,000 is a lot of money. And saving big money usually means making big changes in the areas where we spend the most, such as: Housing, Transportation, Food.

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The Super, Sexy, Single Mom on a Budget

by Renee Rayles

A quick reference guide designed for the busy, single mom who has

little time to read while running the mom taxi, cooking dinner, helping with homework, and trying to fit in a date night every now and then.

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Single Mothers &
Male Role-Models / Mentors

Single mothers carry an enormous load of responsibility, especially those having sole and/or primary custody of minor children. They nourish, they nurture, they teach, they discipline, they shelter, they protect, and they provide… all without the assistance of another equally-invested adult.

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Mom's Obesity Raises Newborn's Heart Risk

from the National Institute of Health

The more obese a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the likelihood that her newborn baby will have a congenital heart defect, a new study suggests. The finding raises concerns because 1 in 5 women are obese at the start of pregnancy in the United States.

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The 10-Ingredient Shopping Trip

By Tara Parker-Pope and Mark Bittman

... In his latest “How to Cook Everything” segment on the Today Show, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman makes it surprisingly easy to cook a week’s worth of dinners with just a 10-ingredient shopping trip.

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Your 5-minute guide to protecting your identity

20 steps to protect yourself from identity theft, and seven ways to clean up things if you become a victim.

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TheOnlineMom.com offers parents and consumers a guide to the top-rated, age-appropriate, kid-tested and parent-approved tech toys and gifts.

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Single Moms in the News

6 Best Celebrity Single Moms
Read about Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Kimora Lee Simmons, Mary-Louise Parker... read more

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

by Jeff Kinney

For those wondering why tween boys don’t read very much, the answer is that more books aren’t like this...

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Get more self-confidence

Psychiatrist Gail Saltz and body language expert Janine Driver discuss ways to gain more confidence.

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Teens Report Parental Inattention to Their Important "Rites of Passage" has high price tag

by Amanda Bach

Almost half of America’s high school teens report parental inattention to what they consider to be key transitions during their adolescence, according to a SAAD.org study released. The study suggests that this lack of timely parental involvement in important “rites of passage” comes with a high price tag: the potential for dangerous behaviors that can lead to illness, injury, or death as teens seek alternative milestones to demonstrate growing maturity and independence.

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HowToDoThings.com

Is resource with a multitude of "How-To" topics. For instance, single moms can find helpful information about family life with informative articles on the topic of "Building a Family". HowToDoThings.com presents expert-contributed information on a wide variety of family-related topics, including adoption, pregnancy & birth, parenting, and celebrating family events. Some of our most popular articles are on subjects like "How to Understand a Fetal Monitor", "How to Prepare for Breast Feeding while Pregnant", "How to Set Up an Inflatable Birthing Pool", "How to Choose Nanny Agencies", and "How to Buy Infant or Baby Cribs".

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