10 Ways to Get Free Books for Kids
Last week, we wrote about children’s books that teach kids about money. This week, we’re highlighting an article about how to get free books for kids. Reading to younger children is super important. Simply reading 20 minutes a day can help you child perform at the 90% percentile once they are in school. While reading is a free activity, the books you read your children are not free. So unless you want to read your children the back of the cereal box for 20 minutes a day, you’ll need a strategy to find books cheaply.
Reading is so important for kids. I grew up in a “reader” family and I still love reading. We don’t have a TV in our house so we spend a lot of time reading. I’m used to this since we didn’t have one growing up either and so we spent a lot of time reading.
In this article, A Dime Saved highlights 10 different ways to obtain free books for kids. Number one on the list is the library (could it be anything else‽). Public libraries are a great source to get lots of free books, and public libraries are so important in building healthy communities. Even if you can’t make it to the library because of COVID-19, you can still get free books through the Libby app. Beyond the library the article presents two ways to get free books through the mail through different organizations. This was extremely rare information and I was completely unaware of these organizations. If you have kids, it is definitely worth checking out this article to learn how you can obtain these free books.
Financial Abuse: Understanding it and Overcoming it
Some personal finance topics have been covered ad-naseum on the internet. How many articles have you read about cutting cable TV to save money? Or about how your latte is costing you billions of dollars in retirement savings? I’m sure you’ve also read articles about the best bank accounts, best mutual funds, and best budgeting apps (might we recommend CountAbout?). However, some serious topics, like financial abuse, rarely get mentioned.
I’m writing this post to shine light on a very real issue- a form of abuse that isn’t discussed as much because it leaves no physical scars. But the results can have long reaching implications on someone’s financial wellbeing.~Partners in FIRE
In this article, Melanie from Partners in Fire openly talks about her experience in a relationship where she dealt with financial abuse. In doing so, she highlights what financial abuse looks like and why it’s a topic that is rarely talked about. Financial abuse can cover a range of practices, but it involves one person in a relationship taking control of the other person’s finances or stealing from the other person. This is often frequently combined with gaslighting, (i.e. “Are you sure you didn’t spend that money at the grocery store?”). In many cases the abuser tries to flip the tables and make the abused feel at fault for their own feelings. And it’s not just people in a romantic relationship that are at risk; elderly people are often financial abused by caretakers or other people in their lives that they trust. The article does a great job of weaving Melanie’s own story in and out of factual information about financial abuse.
Productivity and Pressure
We have reached the 6 month mark of the pandemic in the United States. Many of us have spent most of this time in some level of quarantine or lock-down. Each of us are facing unique challenges- single people are incredibly isolated, parents of young children are feeling incredibly suffocated. At the same time, we’ve had to adapt our lives overnight. Any job that could be performed remotely has switched to nearly 100% telework overnight. Other people in service and other industries have lost their jobs as people were no longer able or wanted to go to restaurants. The pandemic has caused everyone to experience a lot more pressure than they were at the beginning of 2020.
With the world on lockdown and the majority of the population at home, the idea of taking advantage of the extra time is something I have seen almost on every social media platform. For anyone that needs to hear this; YOU DESERVE TIME OFF. ~Evolv with David
At the same time, there are many voices on the internet stating that the pandemic and lockdown represent a great opportunity for productivity. There’s a famous Tweet that has been circulating that states if you haven’t started a business or learned a new skill during the pandemic it proves that you never lacked time to achieve your goals during your life, but instead lacked motivation. In this article David from Evolv with David examines this tension between productivity and pressure during the coronavirus pandemic. David strongly advocates for self care. It’s okay to take a break from your work and do an activity that helps you feel better, whether that’s taking a bath or mindlessly organizing your apartment. If you’re looking for a few low stress activities to relax, check out the article.