familymoney

Putting sunscreen on a squirmy kid is no day at the beach. Add some water wings and the call of the surf or pool and I've seen moms work faster than a pit crew at the Indy 500. It's a thankless, but important task. SkinCancer.org reports more than 90% of all skin cancers are caused by sun...

I'm in Orlando for the grand opening of Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure theme park. There's a heat wave on in Central Florida, and it's an oppressively humid 95 degrees, but you wouldn't know it from the snow on the roof at Hogsmeade. The new theme park addition...

There's a new price tag on parenthood and it ain't cheap -- but of course, that comes as no surprise to America's moms and dads. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the cost of raising a child has skyrocketed 22% since 1960, and now rings up at a whopping $11,650 to $13,530 per...

Move over Webkinz, Pokemon cards and Kooky Klicker pens ... there's a new playground darling scooping up the allowance money. SillyBandz, simple, jelly-like silicone bracelets in a rainbow of colors die-molded into cookie-cutter shapes of everything from zoo animals and princess silhouettes to rock...

What do you do when you and your spouse can't agree on how to spend your money? The best answer, of course, is that you talk about it until you do agree. But is that what you really do? As Bethany Palmer, who, with husband Scott, wrote First Comes Love, Then Comes Money: A Couple's Guide to...

WalletPop was given rare access to Walt Disney Imagineering, the Los Angeles-area think tank where creative and technical geniuses invent new gizmos for the Disney theme park and cruise ship empire. Almost no non-Disney people are admitted. There's a strict no-camera policy, and all guests are...

High schools with bank branches, ATMs and tellers to help students withdraw money? Can we trust teenagers with these just down the hall from chem lab? I gave it some thought last week when I went to pick up my cousin Cate, who I blogged about recently regarding her pondering the merits of public...

Since the dawn of time children have been driving their parents crazy, and once kids reach the teen years, they are driving their parents' cars as well. So naturally parents want to know, "What's going to save our sanity once junior starts to drive?" We quip: A one-seater ... but OK, we have some...

Most parents with young children rely on DVDs and videos to cook dinner in peace, talk on the phone uninterrupted for five minutes, or to take a much-needed shower. In fact, ask any parent with tots: a good Sesame Beginnings or Baby Galileo DVD is money well spent. But are these movies good or...

If you plan on visiting any theme park more than once this year, you'll probably save money buying a season pass. That's because the major parks, in an effort pack their parks full of souvenir-buying, fried dough-scarfing hordes all year long, have adjusted their pricing so that a one-day ticket...