Thinking about finances can be intimidating, but having tips and information laid out in simple, tangible terms can help enormously. Today, the producers of My Money Matters contribute to our online birthday party by providing 5 winners with a copy of the My Money Matters kit. Written by financial advisor Galia Gichon, this stylish kit offers constructive tips to help you get financially organized, get out of debt, and save for retirement. Simply check out the rules after the jump and leave a comment on this product to enter to win.

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winners Trisha, Charline, Jenny, Aimee, & Connie!
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Rules:

Include your name and email in the appropriate fields so we can contact you if you win (your name but NOT your email will be published with your comment. Including just first name or first name + last initial is OK.)

One comment permitted per person; US entrants welcome.

Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be discarded.

Entry period closes tonight at midnight EST, Friday, July 11, 2008.

For the past year we’ve been sharing in our neighbor’s slow and lazy composting method, but we now want to move to a more contained, easy to rotate system. I immediately e-mailed my friend Braden, who has urban composted everywhere from NYC to Tokyo. She writes, “I love that when you think of rotting food you think of me! We use the EnviroCycle Composter [available at Planet Natural and Amazon], a rotating composting bin with a fairly small footprint. Indoor composting or vermiculture are other urban options but I really cannot imagine most urbanites taking up that challenge.”

And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:

Weekend reading: Car & Caboodle highlights a feature on learning to improve your gas economy. Clever Parents encourages readers to support Ella’s Miracle Fund, and/or attend the Ella’s Miracle Fundraising Event in Raleigh, NC. Coochicoos reports that the Beaba Babycook has hit the US market, but is not BPA-free.

Goods & giveaways: One Chic Mama reports that the Schick Quattro gives you a perfect summer shave. And you could win: a $150 Shopping Spree at BeanNewYork.com from MomFinds, the Microsoft Zune 30GB bundle at Moms’ Buzz, and a Retro Stripe diaper bag from The Nest Baby.

Formal heat advisory or not, it’s important to keep cool and hydrated during this incredibly hot weather. Aside from installing air conditioning units or fans in your home, here’s a roundup of simple, inexpensive activities to keep the whole family cool:

Backyard fun. If you have yard space, kiddie pools and sprinklers are a popular, easy way to cool down. But if you’d like to conserve water, and/or not have to worry about dumping out or cleaning floaties out of a kiddie pool, consider getting a water play table with a cover.

Spray away. Inexpensive household spray bottles offer relief for the whole family. April’s daughter loves spraying her mom and dad – and being chased and sprayed herself - while everyone hangs out under a ceiling fan.

Tea party water play. Bring water play indoors with a cooking/tea party. For easy clean up, set your kid up on towels on the kitchen floor. Fill a dishpan with cold water and various household toys: measuring cups, drinking cups, funnels, rubber spatulas, tiny colanders, etc. Add ice cubes to the water if your child is past mouthing (i.e., choking hazard). In advance, you also can freeze a couple of smaller toys in a small block of ice; as your child plays, the ice will melt and free the toy.

Play clean. Give your child cold wet washcloths to “clean” their or your arms, face, legs, as well as plastic toys.

Tubby time. Suz’s son loves play time in the tub with bubbles, finger paints, and music (the latter changes the atmosphere from a regular bath). Keep the water cooler like a pool. If you’re lucky, by the end of the water play, your kid will also be sufficiently cleaned up so you don’t have to worry about a bath later.

Make popsicles. Check out our popsicle feature from last year, for information on sugar content in commercial popsicles and ideas for making your own.

Cool ride. Sara loves taking the T with her kids; the air-conditioned cars are refreshing and will take you to the city’s many terrific museums.

Indoor fun. See our Fun Indoors archive for cool retreats in the form of libraries, art studios, museums, and indoor play spaces. Note that at libraries, you often can pick up free passes to area museums.

Public water play. If you’re looking to submerge yourself in something more expansive than the backyard kiddie pool, check out our previous post on local water play spots. Also, Sara’s favorites include: Soldier’s Field Road (for older kids say 5 years and up), Fillipello Park in Watertown, and Hancock Street playground (for younger kids up to 5 years) in Central Square.

Will bring lunch for pool. If you have friends who have a pool, ask whether they’d be up for a casual pool gathering. In exchange, offer to bring in lunch and popsicles for your and their families.

And of course, drink plenty of water, and apply sunscreen.

Image credit: FreeFoto.com

And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:

One Chic Mama features the affordable and eco-friendly household products by Charlie’s Soaps. Clever Parents offers guidance on “green” decorating and remodeling. Moms’ Buzz reviews content from April and May. The Nest Baby wants you to weigh in on a report of a grandma trying to breastfeed her grandson. And you could win: a $75 gift certificate to Vincent Shoes at Modern Mom, a Homedics Shiatsu Massaging Cushion for Dad from MomFinds, and a copy of the Sex and the City: The Movie book from We Covet.

Given Laurel and my needs to post (her artwork, my notes-to-self), it’s not uncommon to find sticky tape shards on walls and doors throughout our home. Thankfully though, now there’s a stylish, tape-free way to exponentially increase your household display surfaces. Mayfair Lane offers clippers, photo frames, and notepads in a chic variety of graphic designs, all backed with an amazing material that grips non-porous surfaces such as stainless steel refrigerators, glass, and even wood, in addition to magnetic surfaces. I’m feeling far more affectionate towards our (drafty in winter) windows, now seeing them in a new, display-friendly light.

Want to win $50 worth of Happeez products*? Here’s how:

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Leslie D.!
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Visit the Mayfair Lane collection, then email contests@bostonmamas.com (with ‘Mayfair Lane’ in the subject), and name a Mayfair Lane product you’d love to try.

One entry permitted per person; US entrants only.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, Thursday, May 15, 2008.

*The winner will receive a $50 gift card to use on their choice of Happeez products.

Although I always will carry my bridesmaid memories with me, I plan on finding use for all of my attendant dresses at least by the turn of the next decade.

Laurel loves playing dress up at school, so yesterday I decided to put some of my bridesmaid pieces to work after a collective decade of dormancy. While the colors, fabrics, and silhouettes of a couple of the dresses do, in fact, offer Project Runway inspired recycling potential, the dated bolero jacket from one dress was ready to go, as was another dress that was beyond recycling. I cut the latter off at the hips to accommodate its new owner and attached a tie to the remaining skirt piece to make a shiny, red cape. The recycled garments were a huge hit, and now I can mentally move the money I had planned on spending on dress up clothes towards some fabulous spring fashion to fill my empty hangers. Ah, crafty parenting...

Here’s a great tip from my fellow eco-mama Kate. For elegant, earth-friendly bags and reusable bottles, check out ReusableBags.com. Among their lunch bag collection is Kate’s eco chic Mimi the Sardine bag (shown, Modern Berries; $19.95). This machine washable cloth bag is 100% lead-free, made of eco-friendly, safety tested acrylic coated fabrics, and is insulated.

Ah, the weekend. Perhaps you had the forethought to arrange a sitter. But if that was as far as you got, and you still don’t know where you and your love monkey are heading to, check out OpenTable online reservations. This online reservation system serves restaurants across the US and internationally; plug in your search neighborhood (e.g., Back Bay) and scope out reservation availability (and descriptions, reviews, ratings, and menus where available) for multiple restaurants at a time. No more individual phone calls!