You must look out for warning signs of Dry Drowning after water play, including:

1. Difficulty breathing
2. Extreme fatigue
3. Change in behavior or motor functions

Please watch the video for more information about a little boy who died from this condition and advice from an NYU physician on how to spot this situation in your own children.

1. Recognize a fire alarm
2. Know what action they should take
3. Know the best routes to get safely out of your house
4. Know how to check and react if their room door is blocked by fire
5. Know how to stop, drop and roll if their clothes or hair catch on fire
6. Know where they should assemble to meet up with other family members and who they can go to for help in the neighborhood

Coupon Cabin

Best Online Coupons

Here’s to saving a little extra this month!

Six Weeks

• Sign the lease or make a bid to purchase your new home
• Make any travel arrangements to take you to your new home
• Secure a moving company or reserve a moving truck
• Tip: Make sure you have the mover come to your house to do a detailed inventory and ask for a “Not to Exceed” bid. This protects you from a big budget busting surprise at the end of your move.
• Resist the urge to buy things for your new home. You’ll just have to pay to move them, and you’ll have plenty of time to splurge once you’ve unpacked and see what you still need.

Five Weeks

• Order packing supplies
• Decide what you are not planning to take with you
• Note: climate changes are not as severe as you think! You may still need a winter coat in Los Angeles or Fort Lauderdale, just not often. Don’t give everything away!
• Plan a garage sale or post on Craig’s List
• Pack all of your seldomly used breakables (unless the movers are packing these), your off season clothes, as many of your books as possible and half of your toys

Four Weeks

• Contact your child(ren)’s current school(s) and inform them of your impending move
• Contact your child(ren)’s new school(s) and enroll - Note: you will probably need to finish this once you have utility bills from your new home
• Pack another quarter of your toys, your seldom used kitchen equipment, picture frames, and knick knacks
• Sort through your files and discard anything you haven’t had to read in over a year. Keep only vital information about each of your accounts - how to access them online, the last year of statements and important information about the account. Discard extra brochures, prospectuses, envelopes, and other junk you never needed in the first place.
• Shred anything with your personal information on it.

Three Weeks

• Have your garage sale
• Make sure all of the items you are not taking have found a new home
• Have any left over items taken to a charity
• Goodwill
• The Salvation Army
• St. Vincent de Paul Society

Two Weeks

• Call all of your service providers for your existing home and cancel your services as of the day after your moving out date.
• Call all of the service providers for your new home and have them turn on services at your new home the day before or day of your move in date.
• Send out change of address cards or emails to your friends and family

One Week

• Have your mailing address changed to your new address.
• Finish all of your laundry and pack it away
• Finish packing anything you are not leaving for movers to pack. If you are moving yourself, this means everything you don’t need on an absolutely daily basis.
• Visit all of your favorite places in your old town and take pictures
• Say good-bye to friends
• Change the billing and shipping addresses on your:
• Bank account
• Credit card accounts
• Frequently used websites

Day Before

• Throw your last belongings into a suitcase (should be just your toothbrush, coffee cup and teddy bear!)
• Make sure you have coffee, water, beer, soda, and the phone number for the pizza place handy
• Create a work station with extra tape, markers, Band-aids, an Exacto knife, keys to the house and all the extra doors, sheds, garages, storage areas, etc.
• Withdraw enough cash to cover your expenses for the day - figure that the movers will expect to share about 10% of the value of the move as a cash tip, with a little more going to the supervisor/driver
• Get your valuables out of your safety deposit box and shut down the account
• Put your feet up - it’s going to be a long day

Moving Day

• Make a big pot of coffee
• Have lots of water on hand
• Order pizza and plenty of beer
• Stay out of the way of other movers
• Thank everyone profusely
• Give big tips to the movers
• Take pictures of your home
• Let yourself feel sad and anxious and excited at the same time
• Leave the keys with a trusted neighbor or real estate agent

Moving In Day

• Arrange to pick up the keys from a trusted neighbor, landlord or real estate agent
• Pick up a big box of coffee from a local store
• Have lots of water on hand
• Order pizza and plenty of beer
• Stay out of the way of other movers
• Thank everyone profusely
• Give big tips to the movers
• Take pictures of your home
• Let yourself feel sad and anxious and excited at the same time
• If others are moving the stuff into the house, unpack boxes as they arrive in their proper home - you might find you are almost half done by the end of the day

One month later

• You aren’t still unpacking are you? We won’t tell.

And if you’d like to promote a service you’ve used and loved, just drop us a comment.

I’ve pulled together some great sites to help you find great deals and special items for your new home. You’ll find things for the kids, pets, and just for you. There are resources for starting to live green, to prepare for a new baby and to create incredible kid’s rooms.

Start shopping today by clicking the Shopping tab.

Let us know if you have a great online shop you’d like featured too.

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Cool Savings

Cool Savings offers a free website chock full of special offers, coupons and free samples in several budget-friendly categories, including Home & Garden, Baby and Kids, Fashion, Health & Beauty and more. I highly recommend checking it out.

Upromise - Save money for college.


I’ve been an active member of UPromise for about 4 years now and have successfully accumulated thousands of dollars for my son’s college funds simply by shopping at UPromise affiliated merchants. It is a fun (I was going to say painless, but it is way better than that) way to let your pennies add up as you make your normal purchases. Earned funds can be automatically transferred to a linked 529 account (offered through a UPromise partner) and can be allocated to more than one child. You can shop through links on their website or by using a Upromise toolbar. Your pocketbook will thank me in a few years!

RedPlum.com

You may have noticed Red Plum’s fresh new look on the weekly circulars that arrive in your mailbox with local savings, supermarket deals and offers from tons of companies. Well, they’ve recently launched a fantastic website full of the same saving goodness, only this time with less papercuts! You can save your coupons and print them out all at once for a neater, more convenient approach to savings. Check out Red Plum and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Moving Mom

Transportation

A long drive with your pet can come with car sickness, boredom and fatigue. Make sure you take frequent stops for excercise, water and food. Flying or taking a train with pets will depend on the requirements of the transportation company. Please check their website or call customer service to make special arrangements well in advance so that you are not scrambling right before your trip.

Rental requirements

Check with your real estate agent or landlord about pet requirements when looking at rentals. Often there are strict requirements and potentially prohibitions of certain types of pets depending on the individual landlord’s preference and general market conditions. In tight rental markets, this can really limit your possibilities. If pets are allowed, generally a pet deposit is requested and can be $250-$1,000 for the year to protect the home from pet related damages.

Getting used to a new space

Pets may be as disoriented as children in their new home and they may feel a bit down for a while until they get acclimated. New sounds in the environment, including other pets, different doorbells, smells and visitors can take their toll. Take your pet on a tour of your new home and neighborhood to get used to things. A new toy and familiar bedding will help break in your new digs.

Veterinarian

Don’t forget to collect your pet’s veterinary records before you leave and find a reliable vet and urgent care center in your new location. You will probably need these records to register your pet as well as towns generally require proof of vaccinations.

Pet sitters/walkers

Finding help to watch your pet while you are engrossed in your move may be easier in your current community. Perhaps a neighbor or family member can help out while you are moving. With doors wide open and strangers coming in and out of your home, it would be wise to crate or have someone watch your pet outside of your home on moving day. At your new home, you may consider finding a new pet sitter by looking in the local paper classifieds, notices at the supermarket or asking for referrals from other pet owners. With the rise of professional pet care businesses, you are bound to find a reliable pet sitter quickly.

Change in weather

It may be your pooch’s first snowy winter or 100+ degree heatwave. Keep that in mind as you prepare your home for your new pet. Make sure to keep it’s habitat in an area of your home or yard that has plenty of shade, access to water, and keep indoor temperatures from rising or falling to extremes.