The new year is upon us and for many of us this means thinking about what we want to do to improve the quality of our lives. Below I took the top 5 New Year’s Resolutions and offered you a mindset twist on how to attain each of them.

1. Lose 10+ lbs. Focus on health versus weight. Tell yourself, “When I’m exercising and eating healthy I feel better, look better, and have more energy.”

2. Drink Less. Focus on healthy alternatives and how good you’ll feel from making a healthy choice. For example when you drink more water you’ll lose more weight, have nicer hair, better skin and nails. Read the rest.

Clever Parents just loves a good parentrepreneur story.

Last year, Clever Parents featured Monkey Toes and their adorable animal and insect themed footwear line by single mom of two, Jenny Chism. (See the review.)

When Oprah interviewed Tom Cruise in the now infamous Telluride visit, the first part of the program showed Oprah walking into his home, picking up a cute pair of mini-fashionista Suri’s ladybug mary janes and saying how adorable they are. As you can imagine, Monkey Toes jumped into the limelight and sales soared as people flocked to find Suri’s ladybug shoes on Oprah. Hooray for Jenny!

If you missed the show, you can see it tomorrow - December 12th (look here for local listings). Use code OSURI08 and receive $5 off your purchase. Happy shopping.

What do you look for in a kid’s backpack?

How often when you pick out a backpack (or lunch box) for your child do you both like the same one?

If you’re like most, you’re lucky to find some combination of function and style - either a style you like or one your child does - and that’s about it.

Then, adding insult to injury, the bag ends up getting dragged around, straps flailing, and by the time the holidays hit that ‘back-to-school’ backpack is ready to be replaced. Read the rest »

Note: If the video does not appear below, click here to watch it on Disney’s site.

It’s amazing how many people we give gifts to during the holidays. If only we had unlimited funds and we could give generously to everyone on our list. 

But, unfortunately, that is not the case for most of us. In these harsh financial times, I know very few people who can comfortably give as much as they would like this year.

The fabulous news is that you can still give meaningful and appreciated gifts to all the people on your list and do it on a reasonable budget.  Frugal giving is the way to go this year and so is staying out of debt. Read the rest »