| IN THIS ISSUE:
Message from Kim | Announcements | Calendar
MBF in the News | Tax Tips | Ask the Expert
Organizing Tips | MBF Superstars | What Clients are Saying
Serving the Community  Seasons Greetings
No doubt you are beginning to make plans for the holidays and you may be thinking about how to cut back your spending with an eye on current economic conditions. It may be the perfect opportunity to simplify. My favorite gifts are always those which are homemade and carry with them the time and thoughtfulness of the gift-giver. Some school policies do not allow individual gifts for teachers unless they are homemade, thus, an opportunity to get creative and make something special for their teachers. One idea is to take your children to the dollar store so that they can spend their own money and buy something on their own for their siblings. Most adults could not name specific gifts they received as readily as they could recall special memories, family rituals or traditions that were meaningful. Make a list of fun holiday events that you would like to do in the month of December. Rides through Dallas in horse drawn carriages are available. A tour of the Christmas lights in the area is always fun. Traditional caroling is a favorite.  Make these family events simple and less financially burdensome by changing catered dinners to potlucks and substituting department store gifts with homemade goodies! And don’t forget that we, at Mom’s Best Friend, have wonderfully creative “holiday elf” nannies that can help you with gift wrapping, shopping, party planning /serving/cooking, individual family childcare for parties or special events on-site childcare, and much more!
Happy Holidays from our family to yours,
Kim Winblood, Owner
Need Ideas on how to recognize your nanny over the holidays?
There's no time like the holidays to show your nanny how much you appreciate him/her all year long. Let us show you some great ideas on ways to do just that! Mom's Best Friend Opens An Office in Colorado!
The office opened their doors on November 5th to families in need of caregivers in the Vail/Beaver Creek area.  If we can assist you there if you plan to vacation (or have a secondary home) in the Vail Valley, please contact Jill Smirl at 970.467.5437 or email jill.smirl@mbfagency.com. This is the first MBF franchise to open outside of Texas. Holiday Elves are Back!
There aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done for the holidays! Our Holiday Elves help with gift wrapping, shopping for gifts, decorating the house, addressing and assembling holiday cards, shipping gifts, and so much more! We’ve even provided a handy To Do List to help you manage their time. You can get a step ahead this holiday season and finally enjoy a stress-free December! Elves are only $12/hr with an agency fee of $25 for 6 hours or less ($40 for more than 6 hours). Fill out this form to book your elf!
Please note the below dates, including school holidays and Mom's Best Friend closures. Book your sitters accordingly: - November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break-Wylie ISD, Dallas ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Lancaster ISD, Lake Dallas ISD, McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Allen ISD, Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD, Crowley ISD, Northwest ISD, Ft. Worth ISD
- November 25: Early Dismissal- Garland ISD, Lewisville ISD
- November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break-Plano ISD, Richardson ISD, Garland ISD, Lewisville ISD, Rockwall ISD, Sunnyvale ISD, Mesquite ISD, Duncanville ISD
- November 27-28: MBF office CLOSED
- December 19: Early Dismissal- Garland ISD, Lancaster ISD, Mesquite ISD
- December 22-January 2: Winter Break-Plano ISD, Wylie ISD, Richardson ISD, Garland ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Lancaster ISD, Lake Dallas ISD, McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Allen ISD, Lewisville ISD, Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD, Sunnyvale ISD, Mesquite ISD, Duncanville ISD, Crowley ISD, Northwest ISD, Ft. Worth ISD
- December 24-26: MBF office CLOSED
- December 22-January 5: Winter Break- Dallas ISDDecember 22-January 7: Winter Break- Rockwall ISD
- December 31: MBF office open half-day from 8am to 12pm
- January 1: MBF office CLOSED
Real Life Nannies Share Their Thoughts Mom’s Best Friend was mentioned in Dallas Child in the Nanny Confidential section. Following is an excerpt, “Finding and maintaining a successful nanny-employer relationship boils down to honest communication, according to Kim Winblood, COO of Mom’s Best Friend (MBF) Agency in Dallas. ‘That’s our first question (when clients come to us for advice with caregiver problems): ‘Have you talked to her about it?’ she queries. But that’s easier said than done if you’re afraid your nanny will become offended and quit or possibly take out her disgruntlement on your child.”
Dallas Child, November 11, 2008 Mom's Best Friend Sets up Shop in Colorado
November 5, 2008
Mom’s Best Friend, an Austin-based household staffing and nanny service, is opening up a Colorado office in its first move outside of Texas. Read the full Austin Business Journal article.
November 5, 2008 Press Release: Mom's Best Friend Expands to Vail / Beaver Creek, Colorado Area
Mom’s Best Friend, Texas' largest and most established sitter service and nanny agency, announces that they are opening a franchise office in Vail/Beaver Creek on November 5, 2008. This will be the first Colorado office for Mom’s Best Friend, who currently has existing Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio Texas locations.
November 4, 2008
Q: My nanny needs my help to qualify for a loan. What should I do? 
A: The recent meltdown of the financial industry has radically altered the credit qualification process for all types of consumer loans. Banks and other companies that provide loans or payment terms to consumers are mandating extensive paperwork to prove income (i.e. paystubs, Form W-2, personal income tax returns, etc. – usually for an extended period of time). They want assurance that the borrower will be able to repay the loan. In the past few years, many lenders had become very loose with their income verification standards. Not anymore.
Helping her qualify for the loan is simply a matter of making sure she is paid in a legal, professional manner. That means setting up household employer tax IDs, withholding the proper amount of taxes from her pay, remitting those taxes quarterly and then preparing year-end tax documents. If you’re currently meeting the state and federal requirements, she should have all the documentation creditors require. If not, she’ll have trouble qualifying for any kind of loan because creditors will view her as very high risk. However, please know that it’s a fairly easy fix. Services like ours can handle all the calculations, paperwork and filings on your behalf for a small quarterly fee.  In a matter of days, your employee can have all the detailed employment paperwork required to become creditworthy. As a bonus, by paying legally, you’ll be entitled to receive significant tax breaks on these childcare expenses.
Founded in 1992 — by household employers for household employers — Breedlove & Associates has served more than 13,000 clients and processed more than $1.25 billion in household payroll. By focusing on the unique needs of household employers, Breedlove & Associates’ expertise and efficiency has been recognized in The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s, Business Week and SmartMoney.com. For more information or a free phone consultation compliments of MBF Agency, call 1-888-273-3356 or visit www.breedlove-online.com.
Q: In this economy, money is tight and I am looking for some ways to cut back without sacrificing my ability to have in-home care. Do you have any suggestions? A: I understand your dilemma and want to offer some concrete, creative suggestions for ways to streamline your childcare expenses without having to seek alternative care. In order to ensure that you have looked at all the different possibilities and opportunities around this important issue, here are 5 options to consider. Nanny with a Child: Many wonderful, professional, highly experienced nannies eventually have their own children but still need to generate some income for their families. They do not want to have to arrange (or pay) for care for their child but need to work. These nannies can often be persuaded to work for less than they would typically demand if they do not have to cover the cost of their own childcare and can bring their child on the job. Families with 1-2 children may enjoy the social interaction with another child and not mind the sacrifice of shared attention if they can save some on cost. Maximizing Advantages: In times like these, our client families want to make sure that every hour they pay to have help is an hour well spent. If you are like me, there are never enough hours in the day to get done what is needed. You can make sure that you are spending your time in ways that are most advantageous for your family by ensuring that your caregiver is an extension of you while you are away. Talk with her about taking on additional responsibilities, which may be outside of the realm of her immediate job description, to help your family (thus helping to solidify her job security as well).  Scaling Back Nanny Hours: Some employers have transitioned to options such as 4 day work weeks, working from home, and/or flex time. If you and your spouse can stagger your schedules a bit, you may find some ways to cut back on the hours needed for care. If you have an infant and can come home right as he/she is going down for a 3 hour nap and work 3 hours from home, you may realize some significant savings. This is particularly a cost-savings when you are paying your nanny for overtime (more than 40 hours per week) as you will be cutting down on those hours paid at 1.5 times her normal rate.
Tax Credits/Work Benefits: Are you currently taking advantage of the child care tax credit, as well as any child care flexible spending reimbursement programs you or your spouse may have as a part of their benefits package? Are you taking advantage of any corporate emergency backup child care programs that exist in either of your benefits’ plans which would require only a small co-pay (usually about $4 per hour) for care needed to fill in when your regular childcare arrangements are not available, school holidays, etc? Sharing a Nanny: Have you considered sharing a nanny with a neighbor, friend or associate? You may discover that someone you know is also struggling with covering the cost of in-home care and may be willing to pool resources and share a caregiver. The ratios typically still fall well under those of the average daycare, and thus you could still reap the benefits of more one-on-one time and attention, familiar home environment, extra household help, less commute time, less illness, etc. At Mom’s Best Friend, we recognize the need to offer additional options in today’s economy and have implemented options to help ease the burden for our client families, such as an installment plan for placement fees. Please ask your placement counselor how we can help you! Kim Winblood , Owner
Get Organized by Recalibrating Your “Enough” Meter! “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” - Melodie Beattie, author of Choices and The Language of Letting Go When we are grateful we are more in touch with what “Enough” means. I mean Enough with a capital “E”… the sense of being abundant, satisfied, happy, peaceful, and content in all areas of your life. Enough means you know when to stop buying, eating, doing, and accumulating. Did you know that Americans can choose from over 25,000 supermarket items, 200 kinds of cereal and 11,092 magazines? And you should see the array of salsa choices if you live in Texas! Even at times when we perceive our economy as down, we have an almost embarrassing abundance of riches. We have 24-hour stores and when we buy something we are urged to “supersize” and “collect all four.” We have on average much larger homes than ever before, but one out of eleven of us still rents a self-storage unit to hold our overflow of stuff. Given this abundance, having a clear sense of Enough is crucial to getting control of both physical and mental clutter in your life. Sometimes I have worked with people whose “Enough meter” clearly needs to be recalibrated. They have too many toys for their children, too many clothes (many unworn with the tags still on them), too much food in the pantry, too many cosmetics, more books and magazines than could possibly ever be read, scattered unfinished projects of various kinds, rented storage units, too many activities and responsibilities, and a collection of other unused belongings that continues to accumulate despite the excess. Many times people with a faulty “Enough meter” have a body weight problem as well. Gratitude is the first step to a cure… and is one of the best ways to recalibrate your “Enough meter.” Oprah and so many others have encouraged us to keep a Gratitude Journal, and for good reason. It really works! Writing down what you are grateful for each day (most experts suggest five things) is a way to focus your mind on what you have and get your mind off what you don’t have.  A spirit of gratitude will help you as you consider additional purchases for your home. On our website we have free Clutter Prevention Wallet Reminder Sleeves that you can use to hold your credit cards and remind you of the five important questions you should ask before purchasing something ( www.clutterdiet.com/wallet). One of those questions is “WHY do I want to buy this?” If you’re buying something to fill the empty space or to feel better, or if you are actually out of touch with why, that is a signal that you may not be clear on what Enough means to you.
In our Clutter Diet program we talk about how getting organized is very much like losing weight, and in just the same way that you should push your plate away when you’re full, you can stop acquiring “stuff” and prevent clutter from getting in the door. Remember…you do Enough, you have Enough, and you are Enough. Happy Thanksgiving. Lorie Marrero, www.clutterdiet.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | Jessica Robinson is an exceptional nanny who was placed with an MBF family 9 months ago. Her family had these wonderful things to say about her: "We are so glad that Jessica is our nanny and we would have never found her without the assistance of Mom's Best Friend. Jessica has been such a blessing and we are so fortunate to have her. There really aren't enough words to describe what she means to us. She's such a great person and we can't thank her enough for all that she does on a daily basis." They also described her as loving, selfless, and dedicated. Keep up the incredible work, Jessica! | | Karen has been with our agency since February of 2008. She is just great with our families and their children. There is never enough of her to go around! She is great with multiples, infants, toddlers, and older children. Clients rave about Karen after having her in their home. Her sweet, bubbly personality, makes her joy to work with! Thanks for all you do Karen! | | Mollye has been with our agency since October of 2007. She is great at working special events, church jobs, corporate jobs and for our Mom's Best Friend families. Clients always provide positive feedback after having Mollye and request to have her back. Mollye, thanks for the great way you represent Mom's Best Friend! |
MBF is a lifesaver for families with “no family” in the area. Many, many thanks for all that you do!! --Kim Neil, Sitter Service Client  I was really pleased with MBF! I really appreciated how quickly you always got back to me. I just wanted to let you know that you guys are wonderful and I have recommended the agency to a lot of people. Thank you for everything!
--Kristen Lambert, Nanny Mom's Best Friend worked hard to meet my needs in a time crunch. The customer service was high quality - this is a rarity nowadays. Every staff member was friendly, professional and knowledgeable. --Patsy Snider, Nanny Client
Mom's Best Friend GIves You Another Charity to Choose From! 
Children's Miracle Network is the alliance of premier children's hospitals. Every year, Children's Miracle Network hospitals treat 17 million children for every disease and injury imaginable. Children's Miracle Network hospitals impact the lives of more children than any other children's organization in the world. Children's hospitals provide state-of-the-art care, life-saving research and preventative education for children 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There is a Children's Miracle Network hospital dedicated to serving children in every community across the United States and Canada. These hospitals are committed to providing the best care for children when they need it. We are thrilled to be able to give back to this wonderful charity program.
|