Organizing Thursday: Campsite Organizer
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I don’t camp, but if I did, this campsite organizer would be awesome!
This portable organizer has three shelves for camp gear like kitchen supplies, grilling supplies, and other gear. It collapses to a flat four inches and includes a storage case. The hard top also doubles as a table.
In addition to camping, some reviewers have used it in their vans, RVs, and cabins. I could even see using it if you’re spending an entire day at the beach or a park.
L.L.Bean’s Campsite Organizer is $129.
Sales of note for 12.10
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Beauty deals on skincare (ends 12/14) including La Mer, Kate Somerville, Dior, Sunday Riley, Dyson, and gift sets — the deals include reader favorite lip balms Dior Addict, NARS Afterglow, and Clinique’s Black Honey, as well as Too Faced mascara and Sunday Riley’s Good Genes.
- Ann Taylor – 40% off your purchase, up to 50% off outerwear
- Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off all sale + extra 25% off 2+ items
- J.Crew – Up to 60% off everything, with 40% off their newest styles
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off everything + extra 25% off when you buy 3+ styles
- Macy’s – 15% off beauty, including Tarte, Clinique, Dior and gift sets
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off, plus free shipping on everything (and 20% off your first order)
- Talbots – 50% off everything + extra 25% off when you buy 3+ styles
The thread yesterday on messy eaters (and the resulting clean up tasks) got me thinking. How do you handle chores for elementary aged kids? My oldest is 6. He’s like a stereotype of a dad- he loves projects and helping in big things, but does the minimum around the house day to day. Anything we tell him to do requires lots of follow through on our end (he has adhd, so I’m not sure how much is related to that) but I don’t want to be a lazy parent about this and just not give him tasks…or give more to his younger sister who is much more responsive to tasks (assigned tasks or even small “can you grab me xyz” tasks). Do you have charts? Write a list? Same things weekly? They clear the table after dinner but what else should I assign – preferably easy to follow up on/concrete. He has been VERY motivated by bribes of sweets, but I’m not sure I want that to become our regular approach.
Ever wise hive, any recommendations/tips etc for our upcoming trip to Hilton Head? It’s our first time there. We’re going with another family, kids are 4, 6, 7 and 9. Obviously beach, but I know my kids and they will need some alternatives.
Due to reasons, we withheld the max for dependent care spending account that we do not need for childcare, which is what we historically used it on. Le sigh.
Can someone explain to me in layman’s terms how to figure out what summer camps qualify for reimbursement? That’s the only think I can think of using it on this year. DD is 6 and not in full time care this summer as we have family help but if we put her in, say, 9-3 gymnastic camp for a week, or half days, does that count? Is it only things that are like the Y – so more very full time 9-5 care? Searching online is clear as mud. How else can we use this? Is there any way to amend the withdrawals mid year with a life event?
Jumping off the post above, how do you allocate your 529 money? We have the NY Saves plan for our oldest two kids, and all the money is in target date funds. Returns are good, though looking at them now they may be underperforming the market (13-14% annualized return over 5 years, 21-22% over the last year).
I’m wondering if I should be splitting new contributions between target date and an S&P index fund — or other ideas?
We also still have to open ones for our two youngest kids (one in utero, so it’s not like we’ve just ignored them lol), and now that we live in CT I’m inclined to go with CHET, unless anyone has input one way or another.
LL Bean is having a 10% off sale if anyone is interested in this.
Unrelated – how would you plan a 10 day trip to Portugal with 7 year old kids in late summer? I know a number of people have been. Lisbon and what else? How many days in each? Anywhere you like to stay? How do you get around between locations? Flying in and out of Lisbon? It’s been a while since we travelled internationally and my skills are rusty and I feel overwhelmed.
For those of you with preschool-age kids and younger, are you saving for college through a 529? I have no idea what higher ed will look like in 2038, but I think it is a bubble that’s about to burst soon, and universities will have to lower costs by offering more virtual classes, etc. We’ll have to start contributing $1000 to a 529 each month in order to have tuition fully covered by the time he turns 18. We can probably swing that but I don’t want to have a ton of money tied up in a 529 if tuition rates will drop significantly before then. But if they don’t, then a 529 seems like it would yield a much better return than any other investment option. Btw we live in Michigan.
I think I’d start making it my “preference” to handle easy, straightforward chores like wiping down a counter instead of dealing with the difficulties of child bath and bedtime. It’s absolutely not fair to “prefer” the easy chores if that preference becomes the routine rather than an equal trade off. Dumping the kids with grandma would also bug me for sure but idk what to do about it. Sounds like she enables it.
We have 2 young kids and live in the same city as my in-laws and a long plane ride away from my parents.
Whenever my husband is in charge of the kids he takes them to his parents’ house and has his mom watch them. Usually with him there but sometimes without.
I’m annoyed and can’t tell if I need to just let it go (he’s handling it how he wants to handle it, it’s his family dynamics, my MIL is lovely and I have 0 qualms about the kids spending time with her) or if it’s something worth fighting (he needs to be able to take care of both kids solo and not just shuck work off to the women in his life).
Otherwise is an engaged parent. We’ve discussed his preference for other chores compared to childcare (so will clean up after dinner rather than give the kids a bath unless the kids expressly ask for him etc).
What do you all think?
Tell me about hiring a nanny. I’m due with #2 in December, and my older child will be in kindergarten then. I’m thinking of switching to a nanny from our previous daycare situation. I expect it will be way more expensive, but we can swing it. And we’d definitely want to hire a service to handle the taxes/legal issues. Should we start with an agency, or go through care.com, or something else? We’re in the DC suburbs (MD) if that matters. Thanks!