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Picking up and moving to a foreign country can not only be stressful, it can be scary. With a variety of supportive resources, especially if living on base, Heather Sweeney says it can be far too easy to hide in the fishbowl in hopes of replicating life in America. A Navy wife and mother of two, Sweeney experienced her own hesitation while stationed with her husband in Japan.
“The language was too hard to learn, I’d be way too far away from family, and there was no way a 5′ 7″ blonde female could possibly blend in. I would stand out like, well, an American in Japan,” she writes in SpouseBUZZ.
Fortunately, Sweeney overcame the culture shock to make the best of the overseas tour. Here’s how you can too.
April is the month of the military child, and we at Military Spouse Central can’t help but be excited. After all, there’s very few opportunities to honor our military children.
These kids face countless challenges, and it’s hard to not be amazed at their ability to adapt and soldier on, through thick and thin. Their resiliency and strength makes them pretty super in our eyes, and we’re guessing you feel the same way too. See More
Depending on how much of a neat freak you are, spring cleaning may be your most or least favorite part of the coming season. Whether you love it or hate it, every home can benefit from a deep cleaning. But what if you’re looking for that deep clean look and feel without the smell of harsh chemicals or the expensive solutions? See More
There are certain household items that help us to live life better: laundry detergents, soaps, cleaning products and more.
With all those, it’s easy to forget the simpler things that make life easy. These five natural items have been in use for generations and it benefits households to have them handy.
Washing machines can be hidden dangers to children.
When parents think of household dangers to children, most would probably cite coffee spills, hot stoves, sharp objects and bathtubs as examples of things that commonly cause harm to children. But what about the rest of the house? It might come as a surprise that certain objects such as washing machines and televisions can pose a risk to kids.
In order to keep your home as safe as possible for your children, here are a few hidden household dangers to look out for.
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According to the Department of Labor, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was enacted to help “balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families.” Anyone who has attempted to juggle the demands of being a parent or spouse with being an employee knows how difficult this task can be.
The additional stress of being a parent or spouse in the military community can make finding and keeping a job even harder. For this reason, the military community has been a primary focus for FMLA legislation over the past 20 years. Recent changes to FMLA specifically address issues faced by the military community.
Calling all DIY lovers and frugal fans — here’s a chance to turn some regular stuff into cleaning dynamos. Put those harsh chemical cleaners and expensive body lotions back on the shelf and look around your home for easy, green alternatives. Use vinegar to put the shine back on your pots and pots, aluminum foil to sharpen your scissors and charcoal to rid old furniture of mustiness.
Check out these unexpected superstars in your cupboard.
A lot of focus is placed on the difficulty associated with military families transferring schools during a PCS or deployment, but the military community faces problems with school bureaucracy at other times as well. Not every school district is lax with rules and regulations, and spending time with a parent they don’t often see because of deployment can make their grades suffer.
A new bill proposed in Texas is hoping to relax the rules a bit for the unique situations military families experience. Will it work?
Imagine your child turns 18 and can’t wait to open their first credit card. They want to take that huge leap toward adulthood, but the bank rejects their application, citing 10 years’ worth of bad credit, including a delinquent mortgage, a repossessed car and other financial problems. How is that even possible? How did identity thieves get their hands on your child’s personal information?
Minors are often more vulnerable to identity theft—especially Social Security number-related theft—because parents don’t expect their children to be victimized. And since creditors cannot verify age of the applicant based on a Social Security number, thieves can simply provide a fake name and a fake age to go with the number and start on a clean slate.
So what’s a parent to do?
According to the monthly review of food costs by the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, an average American family of 4 spends about $237 a week on food eating at home. This number doesn’t even begin to factor in families who eat out on a regular basis.
With the cost of eating at home costing over $1,000 a month for a typical family, it’s no surprise that many families are getting into the couponing game to save money on their grocery bill. If you’re looking to keep a few extra bucks in your pocket after your next visit to the grocery store, check out these five great places to start saving with coupons.
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