Your college student probably won’t know WHAT she needs until she cracks open the dorm room for the first time.

Only then will she discover that the space is half the size of her room at home, with a fraction of the closet space, and cinder block walls that won’t hold the pictures she brought.

I remember it well–each “my half of the room” creating it’s own set of challenges year after year. Invariably the organizers I bought the year before didn’t quite work in the new space. And off I’d go to shop for replacements. I didn’t mind setting up the new pad, but I did mind spending my precious few dollars on stuff I might not need the next year.

Gift Idea for College-bound Kids

If you have a college-bound kid in your life, send him packing with a gift card to Target, Walmart, or The Container Store and deliver it with a roll of quarters and a jug of laundry soap (if he’s driving off to school) or a box of dryer sheets (if he’s flying). Funny how gifts change when you’re on your own for the first time.

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• Walmart Gift Card
  Buy Now at
  Walmart.com
• Laundry Hamper
  Buy Now at
  Walmart.com
• Laundry Detergent
  Buy Now at
  Walmart.com

More College Savings

Save 30-80% on College Storage Gear at Target.com
Smart Savings on College Essentials at Walmart.com!
College Must Haves at The Container Store

Do you shop JC Penney or Kohl’s? If so, click over to GiftCardRescue.com and buy gift cards for personal shopping.

3 Reasons to Buy Gift Cards for Youself?

If you shop these stores anyway, might as well get 16% savings before you even head into the store. Here are 3 reasons to buy gift cards now for future purchases:

• Back to School Shopping – Ease the budget crunch that happens at the start of each school year. Both stores have great Back to School sales. So buy the gift card now and combine the 16% savings with in-store offers and you can save a bundle.
• Cheap summer clothes – We just went through the kids drawers and all are in need of shorts and t-shirts for the summer. With a 16% savings at either store, I can get what we need for less.
• Graduation or Wedding gift – Give the gift card as the gift or use the 16% savings to buy a traditional gift at either of these stores. They have everything from clothes to furnishings.

Break it up!

Wanna know a trick? You can buy a gift card with a gift card–which allows you to get a gift card that looks like new or break up the dollar amount into smaller gift card denominations. For example, get a $100 gift card at GiftCardRescue.com for $84. When the used gift card arrives in the mail, go to JC Penney and buy two $50 gift cards that look new and are ready to gift. (Plus, that’s an easy way to ensure the gift card is valid.

The saying goes, “People come in to your life for a reason or for a season.” My dear friend, Suzanne, came to me for both. Though we were face-to-face friends for less than a year, she made a lasting impact. Now, constrained by distance, but enabled by technology, we share laughs and heartfelt talks whenever we can.

Take Comfort Mom--and Take Credit.

A Bird Flies Out of the Nest

Last week, she took her oldest boy to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah where he will begin serving a two-year mission for our church. After a couple months of training, he’ll be headed to Russia. At just 19 years old, this boy’s freckle-filled-boyish face belies a wise, old man who says things you’d expect to hear from someone who’s lived four times his little lifetime. He’s amazing. He can’t wait to serve. But everytime I compliment my friend on raising such a fine boy, she replies, “I can’t take the credit. He came that way.” To which I say, “Then take credit for not messing him up.”

A Token of Comfort for Mom

If we lived closer, I would have been waiting on Suzanne’s doorstep when she got back from the big drop to give her a hug and feed her some chocolate. Because we both know that her boy is gonna do great, but it can be hard for the mamma bird to let even the most well-trained bird fly away.

Since I can’t be there in person, I sent Suzanne an electronic gift card to Deseret Book so she can buy something to uplift her on days that she’s missing him the most. He is in good hands. So is Suzanne.

Celebrate Moms at Graduation Time

This experience has me thinking about graduation time. We always celebrate the graduate for his or her accomplishments and rightly so. But perhaps we need to start celebrating the parents who devoted womb and room to raising these kids. It seems a harsh reward to think that after you’ve exhausted yourself giving your child the tools necessary to survive on his own—he has the nerve to actually do it.

For graduation this season, think about the moms who are being left behind. What gift card would you give to a mom who is about to say goodbye to one of her chicks?

Why did it take me so long to do this?

Can you believe we’ve never taken a formal family picture? I’ve got a million snapshots (some of which include everybody), but no perfectly posed, matching outfits, five smiling faces photos. I have two excuses–one valid and the other just lazy.

The not-so-good reason we’ve never taken a family picture is because I dread moments where my children are expected to be, “on.” I know from too many days in the motherhood trenches that it is nearly impossible to make everybody happy at the same time. I can barely put a dinner on the table that meets with total approval much less get the entire clan dressed in clothes I pick out. Plus I have recurring flashbacks of the family picture I ruined as a kid because I had to stand while my brother and sister got to sit on a lap. (A total injustice for which I still remember the tantrum I threw. Sorry Mom.) So reason number one for not taking a family photo: justifiable fear.

Reason number two: We are on a tight budget and I always figured the cost of getting a formal sitting would be even greater than the emotional toll. But that’s where I was wrong. In a quick hour, Barry Zundel made us look like the family we strive to be. And rather than obligate us to buy expensive prints from him, he gave us a CD of digital photos I can print whenever and wherever I want. That will save me a bundle and has me thinking what a great idea it would be to give the gift of pictures. Here are a few of my thoughts:

• Photography: Get a gift card to a studio or a gift certificate from a local photographer. It doesn’t have to be plastic to be legit. If you know someone who takes pictures, pay in advance and deliver the gift certificate so there is no excuse for not capturing the moment.
• Prints: Get a gift card for photo development from a store or from one of the many online services such as Shutterfly or my favorite, blurb.
• Fashion: I did spend more hours than I wanted to looking for clothes we could all wear. With a gift card, I might have been able to get the job done faster because I would have focused more on the “look” and less on the price.
• Frames: Sometimes the frame costs more than the actual picture. With a gift card to the frame store, the recipient can turn a nice photo into a piece of art at a fraction of the cost.

Though I’m thinking right now about family photos, these gift card ideas would be great for graduation, new baby, wedding, or even a significant birthday. Come to think of it, do you need a good reason to take a picture at any time of year? Not really. All I needed was the right photographer and a little courage. I’m so glad we finally did this.

No child's scrapbook left behind.

My mom made a scrapbook for all seven of us kids. So when I had my first child, I too embarked on the memory making journey. Within six months, Ally’s book was so full of photos and quotes, I had to buy her a second scrapbook. (You know where this is headed.) Baby number two has half a book. Baby number three has a box. No book.

Blurb.com Saved Me

As the pile of unscrapped photos, school papers, and artwork increases, so does my guilt. I swear (swear, SWEAR), one day I’ll get those scrapbooks caught up. Until then, I’ve been saved by Blurb.com.

With Blurb’s Booksmart software, every month I add pictures and stories to a family memory book. The pages are not as “pretty” as scrapbooked pages, but they aren’t as time-consuming either. And at year’s end, I order a copy of the family book for each child.

I do have a long range goal to give each child an individual scrapbook of their first years, but for now Blurb.com is helping me avoid the feeling that these precious days are flying by unrecorded.

Save Someone Else

Blurb.com also offers gift cards. If you know a mom suffering from scrapbook anxiety, why not give her this time-saving gift as well? A gift card to Blurb.com or any photo book service (e.g. Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc.) would also be great for New Baby, Wedding, Graduation, and other life events where you know photos taken are likely to end up in a pile after the party is over.

I think of changing the oil in my car the same way I think about going to the dentist or cleaning the furnace vent. I know it’s important, but is certainly nothing I look forward to doing. And honestly, not my first choice in how I spend my money.

But a good friend of mine posted a comment on her blog that reminded me why practical gift cards like Jiffy Lube are sometimes even better than the fanciful ones. If I’m trying to save money, I can opt not to buy something I want but don’t really need (like a new tennis skirt). Putting off maintenance tasks (like taking care of the car), however, could end up costing me more later if I avoid them now in an effort to be frugal.

The Jiffy Lube gift card we’re giving away, inspired me to take better care of my car. With the Signature Service, I got a needed oil change plus a variety of fluid levels topped off. I also got the tire pressure checked which is something I’d been worrying about lately. And they vacuumed every last Cheerio out of the car. With three kids nesting in the back of that minivan, the vacuum service alone would have been worth the trip.

Coming out of the shop, I felt great. It’s truly a gift to take care of something that needs to be done without having to pay for it. So don’t feel bad about getting someone a gift card instead of a “real gift.” Chances are you’ll be giving them exactly what they need.

Don’t forget to enter the Jiffy Lube Gift Card Contest.