Got Sleep?

may help the next time you’re on the road.

1. Bring your own pillow. A familiar smell and squish can trick your brain into thinking you’re home.

2. Find a hotel with rooms that look like your bedroom. (Good luck with this one!)

3. Invest in a sleep mask or earplugs to block out light and noise.

4. Download smartphone apps that generate white noise or other calming sounds.

5. Take a warm shower right before bed or try reading a few pages of your favorite book to unwind.

Bug Off—Naturally!

Keeping The Kiddos Safe

Time spent outdoors is a given during the summer months, with days stretching well into the evening hours. Another given is mosquitoes. Protect the kids with this all-natural bug repellent.

Aquick browse through Google and Pinterest yields plenty of useful tips to rid yourself of an irritating pest issue. Some of our favorites are below. Of course, they’re not guaranteed but certainly worth a try.

SPIDERS: Vinegar is your friend. Mix this with water, and it should e ectively repel any spider that dares to come into your house. It can be sprayed on any type of openings throughout your house as well.

ANTS: Co ee isn’t just necessary to get you through that long Monday; it can be sprinkled around your windows and doors to prevent ants from crawling their way inside uninvited.

MOSQUITOES: Garlic not only scares o vampires but mosquitoes as well. Crush a couple cloves of garlic, and boil in water. Pour this into a spray bottle and squirt it around the problem areas outside your home.

ROACHES: Attention all beer lovers! Pouring beer onto a plate and leaving it near entry points will apparently keep these 6-legged creatures away (or floating in the free booze).

Into The Oils?

Fill an 8-ounce spray bottle 1/2 full with distilled or boiled water. › Add witch hazel to fill almost to the top. › Add 1/2 tsp vegetable glycerin (optional). › Add 30-50 drops of essential oils to desired scent. Keep in mind that the more drops you use, the stronger your spray will be.

The Wellness Mama’s (wellnessmama.com) personal favorite mix is: rosemary, clove, cajeput, lavender, cinnamon and eucalyptus. She says it works great and smells good, too!

Here are 10 fabulous essential oils that naturally repel insects: CITRONELLA: Mosquitoes

LEMON

EUCALYPTUS: Mosquitoes

GERANIUM: Mosquitoes, flies

LAVENDER: Mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, fleas, flies

LEMONGRASS: Mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, fleas, flies

PATCHOULI: Gnats

PEPPERMINT: Spiders, ants

ROSEMARY: Fleas, ticks

TEA TREE: Mosquitoes, ants

THYME: Mosquitoes, flies

EXTRA TIP: When using essential oils, remember to mix 2 ½ teaspoons of oil with 1 cup of grain alcohol in a spray bottle. Mist throughout home or yard.

After all, who doesn’t want to be a little more environmentally conscious these days? Sources:

Kids & Cash

It is crucial to teach children early on that money doesn’t grow on trees and you can’t just “swipe” a credit card whenever you want. Experts say children as young as 3 can grasp financial concepts such as saving and spending, and a report by the University of Cambridge revealed money habits are formed by age 7.

Knowing this, the sooner parents take an active role in teaching kids financial basics, the better. Parents are, after all, the biggest influence on decisions a child makes later in life— financial decisions included. Here are some ways to make even a trip to the grocery store a teachable moment.

Encourage your kids to ask questions about money. What’s a check? How does a debit card work? How much candy can I buy with $2?

Next time you go to the bank, take your kids with you! Explain the different accounts your money is put into and what the teller is doing. (They might even get a lollipop!)

Give your child some money while grocery shopping and let him or her make the decisions about what to buy. It’s important to understand what can be purchased with said amount of money.

Talk to your child while shopping about how you decide what to buy. Discuss practical choices like whether something is a need versus a want.

Save It, Don’t Spend It

Here are a few tips to encourage your kids to save money.

USING ENVELOPES : Have your kids draw pictures (or cut and paste catalog pictures) of toys they want on di erent envelopes. This will help them understand that some things take longer to save for.

SAVINGS GOAL CHART : Make a chart of how many weeks it will take your child to save up for something. They will be excited to save in order to reach their goal.

REWARDS FOR SAVING MONEY : If your kid saves their money for a while, reward them with an extra half hour of TV or video games or a trip to the park to continue to motivate them.

SET A GOOD EXAMPLE : If your child sees you putting money into a savings jar, they will want to do the same. Saving money will start to become more normal to them (and hopefully to you, too).

MATCH THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS : Matching your kids’ savings is a good way to encourage them to save a little more. A quarter for a quarter, a dollar for a dollar.

LET KIDS MAKE PURCHASING MISTAKES: Even if you think they’re wasting their money on something, you should let them buy it anyway. They will soon stop wanting to buy toys that they only play with once or twice.

Sources: moneycrashers.com, moneysmart.gov.au, parents.com, money.usnews.com, windgatewealthmanagement.com, forbes.com