Petsitter

Dear MamaJo

I'm going out of town with my kids for 4 days later in the summer. I want to pay one of son’s friends, who is 14, to come feed the cats, take in the papers, etc. How much should I pay him and what all should I ask him to do? We NEVER travel so this is new to me.

I confess it. I am offically cheap. When we went out of town last weekend for a single night, my husband paid the twelve year old girl across the street $15 for taking care of our dog. I was outraged! But, as I have researched your question it turns out that $15 to $20 a night is pretty standard for a professional petsitter. That said, I still think it is too much to pay a kid. I found a couple of teens running pet sitting businesses and they seemed to be charging $7 to $12 per night, the price depending on the difficulty of the job. That sounds better to me. For a teen friend who lived down the street, I would be tempted to ask if there was anything he wanted from where we were going and leave it at that, but as I said before, I'm cheap.

Food And Diapers

Dear MamaJo,

I would like to know how I'm supposed to buy much needed food and diapers with no money?

This question was asked me tongue in cheek but I am going to take it seriously. Here are some of the options I am familiar with.

1) Check with your local community for food banks. Don't forget to call churches as many run their own programs. Google can be your friend here.

2) Angel Food Ministries is a great source for low cost, high quality food. This website will help you find one local to you. http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

3) Start a food bank at your own church. This way you can help yourself and others. Don't forget to call the local grocery stores and volunteer to pick up thier out of date bread and meat.

4) Call your local crisis pregnancy centers and see if they can help you on the diaper front. They may have some or some coupons.

5) Here is a website with a free pattern for making cloth diapers. Maybe you could find the materials at a thrift store. http://www.diaperjungle.com/sewing-cloth-diapers.html

I am certain there are way more resources and ideas than I know about. Maybe people will post them in the comments.