Fort Worth

IN THIS ISSUE:
Message from Kim| Announcements | Calendar
MBF in the News | Client Corner | The Counselor's Column
Tax Tips From Breedlove and Assoicates | Ask the Expert
Living Order | MBF Superstars | What Clients are Saying

A Message From Kim
Welcome to our winter newsletter! Getting into the thick of the holiday season, it appears, as usual, the real craziness is set to begin. It’s never supposed to be this way. You vow at the beginning of each new year that you’re going to do things differently—you’ll finish your Christmas shopping by June, have holiday cards stamped and sealed in their envelopes by August, make this year’s Thanksgiving dinner a 30-minute meal. You may have done everything right coming into the season. So why are you still feeling its stress?

I know first hand that no matter how proactive one tries to be about the holidays, it's very hard to make sure everything is taken care of in advance. I suggest, however, we all take a breath. While most of us are careful to avoid being self-focused during the holidays, we may also end up erring on the other side, losing the joy of the season by putting way too much on our shoulders. We can all learn to ask for help more often, especially in busy times like these.

MBF is here to help you find space and sanity to really savor this holiday season with your family. We offer chefs and on-site childcare for parties, temporary nannies to care for your children while you take care of last-minute shopping and holiday elves to help you with all your cards, gifts and other seasonal demands.

No matter the pressures, we are here to help you find delight in the season. Let us know how we can support you.

Happy Holidays!
Kim Winblood, Owner

Book your Holiday Elf to help with shopping, gift wrapping, shipping, decorating and more!
A Holiday Elf is your solution for a stress-free Christmas!  We at Mom’s Best Friend understand there is so much to do and so little time. You can use the extra set of hands!  Our temporary services team is ready to send you support for shopping and gift wrapping, decorating your house, shipping packages, addressing and sending cards and more!  Our handy to do list will keep track of the tasks and needs between you and your elf.  Let Mom’s Best Friend help you experience a more cheerful Holiday season this year!

2008 Pricing Changes
Mom's Best Friend will be making several pricing changes for 2008. Please view the price list for all details, but a few notable items are (1) in order to continue attracting our fabulous temporary nannies (sitters), we will be changing the caregiver pay structure to begin increasing by $1 per hour after 1 chid rather than after 2, and (2) we will be changing our sitter agency fees to a convenient flat pricing structure.

"Book a Best Friend" Reminder Email
In order to have the most consistency and to be as successful as possible in booking you a sitter for date nights, meetings, social commitments, sporting events, etc., we recommend booking your sitter in the beginning of the week. If you'd like to opt in for a Monday reminder email, please email courtney.coker@momsbestfriend.com with the subject line REMINDER.

Don't get caught without a sitter for your Holiday Functions!
Office and holiday party season is upon us, and New Years Eve is just around the corner!  Don’t get caught last minute without childcare when you need it the most.  Be prepared ahead of time by contacting your Placement Counselor to book a sitter now for your many functions. Save yourself last minute stress by booking early!

December 21-January 7: School holidays -- book your sitters accordingly

December 31: New Year's Eve -- book your sitter early! (Holiday pricing applies)

January 1: 2008 Pricing goes into effect

Press Release: Mom's Best Friend Adopts BabbleSoft Software
October 15, 2007

Baby Insights, a superior alternative to pen and paper, can help ease the mind of a new parent leaving their baby in the care of a nanny. The goal of Baby insights is to help make better informed decisions for the infant through the maintained recorded information. 

Baby Say Cheese is an online photo album with milestones and a family tree. The ‘first crawl, first smile, and first word’ can easily be documented and the application is perfect for busy parents who don't have time to organize their baby's first year album pictures. The software applications are essentially a journal of the infant’s life with inputs by the family and the nanny.

Please take a full look at the BabbleSoft website for further information.

We often envision the holidays as the perfect time for families. But parents often say that this is the time their kids tantrum, act aggressively, or become obsessed with wanting toys. What's going on? Please take a look at the full article for a thorough explanation of how to simplify the holidays.

Q

A: No, MBF’s FEIN will not work.  To get your tax break, you need your own FEIN.  Here’s how it works.

A: I may have to revoke my “expert” status on this question since I’m not sure anyone can be a holiday expert. We all just do our best to take care of the people we love and care for while trying not to lose sight of the true meaning of the season. However, I do understand that having a few old tricks up your sleeve may help alleviate the season’s demands, and in my own experience I have found a couple of things to be useful.

Of course, do your best to be prepared with shopping, cards and any other holiday tasks as much as you can before Thanksgiving. I know many of you out there start buying gifts for next year the day after Christmas, and I certainly buy gifts year round, especially when I run across something I know someone special to me would like. I keep an appointed gift closet in my house to store presents for holidays—as well as for birthdays, weddings, graduations and so on—throughout the year.

I also make a comprehensive, evolving list of all the people to whom I’ll be giving gifts, taking special care not to forget my children’s teachers, the mailwoman, the newspaper delivery person and all the other very important—though too often unsung—people that we rely on. And since I do my best to purchase gifts that people actually want and need, I use this list to solicit gift suggestions and websites where I can find them directly from the gifts’ recipients.

I suggest getting children involved in the holiday as much as possible as well, not only to have extra helpers but also to instill the thoughtfulness toward others that is really at the heart of the season.

Enjoy the holidays!
Kim Winblood, Owner

The first step is to educate yourself about which toys are being recalled. There is a complete list with photographs of each item to help with identification. Even if your children are older, please do look at this list and attend to any items you may have, because you may donate your toys later to a charity who may then accidentally give the dangerous toys to another child.

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the recall list, you can begin your organizing process. Sort the toys into like categories, such as dolls, doll clothes, race cars, building blocks, and others. As you find recalled toys during your process, put them aside into a disposable container such as a box or bag.

Each recall announcement’s instructions usually say that you should return the toy to the store where it was purchased. However, if you don’t know or remember where the toy was purchased, you should dispose of it properly at a hazardous waste facility since lead can seep into the groundwater.

Once you have organized your toys into categories, you can find the best containers for them. As professional organizers, one of the mistakes we commonly see is people trying to store the toys in their original packaging. The packaging is typically designed for shipping and selling the product, not for storing it long-term. A better choice is something durable and easy to handle, like a clear container. You can also cut out a picture of the toy from the original box and tape it on the container to aid your child in staying organized.

Make it a point each year at this time to repeat the process and get ready for the new items the holiday will bring. If you need help, give us a call!

Lorie Marrero, 512.301.2426, www.livingorder.com