It’s summer time again which means that the sun is shining, the flowers are in full bloom, and your kids are home from school for the summer. While there are many activities that can be done in summer, like going to the pool or making a trip to an amusement park, budget and time prevents them from being a daily outing which means that most of the time your kids are at home, with you, complaining about how there is nothing to do. Save your sanity and cut off that endless chorus of how bored your children are by providing them with one of these projects to keep them entertained and out of your hair.

1.) Bead Bonanza Kits
Offer your children hours of activity with this beading kit. It contains hundreds of beads, different cords, and other materials to have your kids creating dozens of jewelry masterpieces all summer long.

2.) Origami and Kirigami Kits
Your children can create colorful paper designs using the unique art forms of Japanese paper folding and cutting with this 78 piece kit that includes a variety of paper sizes and colors. As a bonus, origami is often a time consuming craft, keeping your kids out of your hair for hours on end.

3.) Art Sets
This 86 piece set includes a dozen each of markers, colored pencils, crayons, and oil pastels as well as water color paints, scissors, paper clips, glue, and eraser. With these many art supplies to play and create with, your kids should be occupied for hours.

4.) Pretzel Molding Kit
For a cheap and tasty activity to keep your kids busy on a lazy summer afternoon, this pretzel molding kit is just the ticket. It includes the molds, white chocolate, light cocoa chocolate, and even treat bags so all the tools you need are right here, just add pretzels!

5.) Playing Cards
With the investment of just an hour to teach them a few games and a pack of playing cards, you can keep your kids entertained for hours playing card games. Give them each a pile of pennies and they’ll be running their own junior Vegas in no time.

6.) 10 Piece Color Sponge/Scrubbers
In all else fails and your efforts to keep your kids busy and entertained don’t work, then you can always result to a tried and true method of keeping your kids from pestering you over their summer break. If they come to you with complaints of boredom, put them to work! Hand them a sponge and have them go to town. If your kids get bored enough, you could have a sparkling clean home just in time for school to start back up or, at the very least, your children will find their own ways of keeping busy to avoid more cleaning.

It’s no longer satisfactory to simply have your business represented online by a lone website. In the age of social networking and quickly-spreading online trends, every business needs to be considering a presence on site like Twitter and Facebook. These websites present great opportunities for brand awareness, promotion and even hype. So, how is it done and what do you need to know before you experiment with social media?

Twitter

As the worldwide leader in so called “microblogging,” Twitter is a must-have social networking account for any small business that is trying to reach out to a wider audience. That’s because the site allows these simple, 140-character messages to go viral simply by the act of “retweeting.” When someone retweets, your original message is displayed on their profile page. Their friends can then read your tweet and spread it themselves.

Twitter is an excellent way to promote things like sales or special offers. And if you’ve got a new product, Twitter offers a way to talk about it that is short, to the point, and draws attention. You can even do a series of tweets that focus on each unique aspect of a new or existing product, encouraging users to retweet if they agree.

Furthermore, Twitter encourages customer interaction with your brand. If they have a question about your business or product offerings, they can simply address it to you in a tweet. When you respond, they’ll feel as if they got the kind of personal attention that they deserve, and they’ll spread the world with a favorable tweet about your business. Twitter is increasingly the method of choice for small businesses that wish to reach a larger audience in an interactive and fun way.

Facebook

Small business owners who desire a more robust set of communication tools need look no further than Facebook, which offers businesses the ability to create “pages” in its social networking ecosystem. The advantage to these business or fan pages, over traditional profile pages, is that they are uniquely and deeply customizable. Rather than have a simple list of sections like “wall” or “info” or “photos,” brands can set up product pages that detail their offerings. They can make a promotions page that lists their ongoing special deals. And just about any other type of page is relatively easy to construct.

Facebook also gives businesses more robust communication options. Each of these business pages comes standard with the Facebook “wall.” That means users can posts questions or comments, interact with business owners and employees, and engage with the product.

It also means that the Facebook page owner can post status updates that appear on everyone of their fans’ walls. Because these status updates have a much higher character limit than those on Twitter, the information can be more robust and include videos, photos, and links to your website or other places that relate to your offerings.

Social networking is an indispensable tool for small business owners that can help them grow their business and engage with their customers in exciting new ways. The massive popularity of these sites makes it nearly a requirement for a serious business to have a serious — but fun and engaging — online social media presence.

In these uncertain economic times, many small business owners are looking for ways to cut back on their expenses and make sure they’re in a sound financial position — just in case the worst-case scenario becomes a reality. There are several great ways to reign in your small business’ spending and ensure your financial integrity for the long haul.

Consider VoIP or Virtual Phone Services

The days of paying a landline telephone operator huge sums of money for multiple telephone lines are long over. Sure, they still offer this service and have recently come down on the price they charge their business clients for the privilege of multiple lines, but their methods are increasingly outmoded by virtual phone services and VoIP service providers.

VoIP uses your business’ existing broadband internet connection to route calls over the internet, rather than over the old-fashioned copper wires maintained by the traditional landline phone company in your area. Because these companies have no lines to maintain and no wire poles to erect, they are able to offer telephone services — even on multiple lines — at discounts that can reach as high as 80% cheaper than the traditional telephone company’s best offering.

Best of all, it eliminates a utility bill entirely and gives your business a bit of convergence: internet and telephone, all centrally located and routed through the same provider. That also means that technical problems will be easier to address and more simple to diagnose.

Pay Bills Online

Banks don’t just give out checks — they’re a costly investment for every small business. And for every check that needs to be written, a stamp must be purchased. Those costs add up over the course of a year, but can be quickly solved by switching to online bill payment. There are generally no fees associated with this type of service, and it will save your business on costly checks and the postage fees that slowly add up over time.

Go Open-Source for Productivity Needs

Microsoft Office is an expensive productivity software suit that most people feel is essential, but the company is increasingly dealing with open-source and free competitors that offer the same product without charging so much as a dime. So it is with Office’s nearest competitor, OpenOffice. The software suite is open-source software, meaning it’s actively developed by a community of programmers and distributed free of charge to anyone who wishes to download it.

Another option is the excellent Google Docs service that places all of your documents and productivity applications online, within reach of any internet-connected computer. That has the added benefit of making your documents universally accessible and shareable, too — which is increasingly important as everything becomes digital and collaborative among small and large businesses alike.

Office equipment — everything from computers and smartphones to printers and faxes — can be purchased refurbished from any number of vendors. The savings on these items is oftentimes significant, with customers saving between 20% and 50% on factory refurbished office items. It all adds up to more equipment for less money, and a great value for the budget-conscious business owner.

Welcoming a new puppy into your home can be a fun event for both children and adults alike, but pets require a lot of responsibility and certain supplies to keep them happy, healthy, and safe. Here is a list of six items to have on hand before you bring your new family member home.

1.) Puppy Food
The first thing you will need for your new puppy is good food to help him grow big and strong. Sunshine Premium Formula Puppy Food assists with muscle development with essential nutrients for healthy bones and joints and comes in convenient portioned pouches to make sure you feed your new pet just the right amount of food.

2.) Training Pads
One of the very first things you will need to teach your new puppy is when and where to “do his business”. This process can take a bit of time and, while your puppy is still learning, you will want to protect your floors and furniture from any accidents. These puppy pads can be laid over the floors in a small room to give your puppy a place to go while you are in the process of house training him.

3.) Leashes
Part of the process of house training your new puppy will involve going on many walks. It’s also a great way to give your rambunctious puppy a productive outlet for his energy that doesn’t include chewing on your best dress shoes. Purchasing a good leash for these walks is vital to make sure your new puppy is kept safe while you show him around his new neighborhood.

4.) Pet Beds
After all that walking, your new companion is going to need a place to take a nap. If you don’t want him sleeping on your sofa, then you need to give him a designated spot to rest. A roomy and soft pet bed will give your pet somewhere comfortable to sleep and hopefully keep him off of your furniture.

5.) Pet Brushes
If your new puppy is a long haired breed of dog, you will need to brush him daily to keep his fur from matting and to reduce the collection of hair and pet dander in your home. Brushing is even enjoyable for shorter haired breeds as it can calm and relax even the most high strung dog.

6.) Pet Shampoo
Any dog that spends time outdoors, even if just a short walk every day, needs regular bathing to keep him clean and healthy. Oils that collect in your dogs fur can mat his hair and create painful tangles that can take time and money to remove. While some dogs are reluctant to bathe, many enjoy a warm bath and getting scrubbed by their owner. A clean puppy is often a happy, playful puppy.

Marc Joseph, CEO/President and Founder of DollarDays International Inc. has been featured for an article in the Huffington Post.

Be sure to check it out and also vote on Facebook.

There’s no longer any debate as to the pros and cons of taking a business online: it’s simply a requirement for any serious business to have a website and a serious online presence that engages current and potential customers. But many business owners simply don’t know where to get started when taking their business digital. There are a few key concepts and options to consider when beginning this process.

Get a Domain Name

Before anything else, you must secure a domain name for your business. Due to the way search engines discover and rank these domain names, it is most beneficial to secure a “.com” domain name rather than the lesser-used “.net” or “.org” options that are available. Remember that a website is first and foremost about recognition in a new marketplace, so there is really very little room to make compromises on this most basic of elements.

Secure Web Hosting

Next, it’s time to start shopping for web hosting plans that fit your business’ needs. If you don’t plan to engage in e-commerce, and are instead simply looking to set up a site that explains your business, shows customers how to contact you, and is more basic in nature, you can get a consumer-grade hosting plan that will cost as little as $3 per month to maintain.

More ambitious online businesspeople will be interested in high-level hosting plans or dedicated servers that are capable of handling the large amount of work and traffic needed to operate a business that engages in e-commerce. For those plans, it may be best to speak with a prospective hosting company via phone or online support to make sure that their features fit your company’s needs.

Hire a Web Designer

A basic website will communicate a lack of interest in serving customers online, and they’ll simply find a competitor who does a better job at presenting themselves in a web browser. The easiest way to prevent your business from falling victim to his perception is to a hire a web designer who specializes in taking offline brands and turning them into online successes.

Be sure to communicate exactly what you want in your website: what it should do, the colors it should use, the message it should convey, and the best way to keep it updated in the long-term. Designers can provide the aesthetics to make your online venture a success, but you must still provide the heart and soul of your business for this new medium.

Communicate Your New Presence

If your business has an extensive offline client list, it’s time to start letting them know that you’ve officially opened the online extension of your business. If you have a list of client emails, send them a friendly message via email letting them know what they can do with this new website and how it benefits them going forward. Otherwise, send postcards or letters and inform customers about this change.

Remember that developing a website for your business is a good thing — a step in the right direction. Customers want to hear about it, and they’ll reward you (with their business) for having taken the time to go digital.

Enter your school to win $500 in school supplies from DollarDays.com! Budgets are tight. Finding it hard to get the supplies you need for your students? DollarDays.com is here to help! Enter your school to win by nominating them for the prize. Then the voting begins! The school with the most votes wins the giveaway…it’s that easy!

In the United States, the average wedding can cost anywhere from $18,000 to $30,000, yet, for many couples, throwing a more frugal wedding is a necessity. Listed below are five items that you can purchase to help shave money off your wedding budget.

1.) Wedding Cake Topper
For a professionally decorated wedding cake, expect to shell out over $500 or even more depending on where you intend to throw your wedding. You can save a lot of money if you can find an amateur cake decorator to create your wedding confection and you buy your own wedding cake topper. While many see the wedding cake as the center of the wedding reception, in many cases a great tasting cake with a simpler motif can be just as eye-popping as an extravagant cake.

2.) Wedding Favor Boxes
Instead of pricy pre-made favors that often don’t even make it out of the reception hall intact, why not try a simpler favor? These heart-shaped pink favor boxes with acetate windows can be filed with tasty candies for an elegant and understated favor that will please your guests without breaking the bank.

3.) Sand Pouring Ceremony
In many weddings, the lighting of a unity candle is a cornerstone of the ceremony. Instead of going with the same old traditional cliché, why not try something different and unique? A sand pouring ceremony functions in much the same way as the unity candle, but instead of using candles, the bride and groom pour sand from two separate containers into one, symbolizing the joining of their lives. You can personalize the ceremony by using different containers and sand colors.

4.) Disposable Wedding Cameras
To shoot a wedding and reception, professional photographers will charge anywhere from $1500 to over $7000. While you will definitely want a professional to take your wedding portraits, leaving disposable cameras on your reception tables for the guests to take pictures is a fun and frugal way to get memorable photos of your big day. A photographer might work alone or with an assistant, limiting the number of moments they can capture, especially at a large reception. By giving your guests the ability to document the day, you not only get a plethora of pictures, but they can sometimes catch things that would have been missed otherwise.

5.) Wedding Bubbles
Rice has been the traditional choice to shower the wedding couple with as they leave the ceremony for their honeymoon, but in recent years more and more people have furnished bubbles to their guests. While not cheaper than rice, the bubbles are more environmentally friendly and offer an adorably whimsical back drop as you are making your exit from the reception.

The best thing a small business can have is a website. With a website, people have the chance to find a new, small business on the Internet, which is where they are most likely to begin their search for a new product or service. A small business can benefit from this fact by investing in a website that represents their brick and mortar stores.

The creation of a website does not have to be a difficult thing. Companies make it easy for small business owners to design their own websites. Business owners do not have to know anything about HTML or computer software; these companies have templates that small business owners can choose from to create the look that they most desire.

After small business owners have chosen the right template, they can add all the images and text that they like. The images would most likely be the products that they have to offer, and the text could be the prices charged for these items. These are the facts that people are looking for when they search for things online. They like to know something about the product before they make the commitment to go to the store to purchase it. It also helps if they know how much they will need to be prepared to spend on it.

Small business owners that have an online store will need to engage in keyword research. Keywords and keyword phrases are what the person searching for products or services will type into a search engine’s box. These are the words that will determine what the domain name will be for a website. The domain name is the URL that customers will type into a search engine in order to find the small business’s website, and it is a highly important thing to consider.

When people search for things on the Internet, most of them will not look beyond the first page of the results. Sometimes, a search can bring up millions of results, but the millions after the first page, most likely, will never be seen. For this reason, small businesses need to compete with the other businesses that are currently on the first page. Generally, what business owners will find is businesses that have the keyword that the customer searched for in their URLs will be one of the first results; this is why keyword research is so important for choosing a small business’s domain name.

Small business owners do not have to feel overwhelmed, because they do not know anything about keyword research and domain names. Companies have experts in keyword research who do all the research for their clients. They will advise that a small business concentrate on their niche products, because this is the areas where they will be able to compete; more popular keywords and keyword phrases such as “iPhones” would be extremely difficult for a small business to take command of. The small business does not have the budget of large corporations, and those are the ones who will, generally, own the most well-known keywords and keyword phrases.

What would you do if disaster struck your home and family? Would you know where to find a flashlight, your important documents, or vital medications? Don’t let an emergency catch you unprepared. By creating an emergency preparedness kit out of the following items, you can be ready for any event.

1.) Tool and Lantern Kits
In many natural disasters, the first thing to go is your electricity. In a true emergency, you might not have time or ability to scour the house trying to look for a flashlight. This kit comes with two lanterns and a small toolkit that can come in handy for any small repairs or to dismantle furniture or items that block exit routes. It is small enough to fit in your emergency kit without being too heavy or bulky.

2.) Weather Alert Radios
A weather alert radio is absolutely vital in a weather emergency. For most disasters, from tornadoes to hurricanes, you need to take cover, so sitting in front of the television to keep updated about changing weather conditions isn’t an option. With this radio, you can keep informed while also keeping safe.

3.) Fleece Blankets
The most obvious use of a blanket would appear to help keep warm, but in an emergency kit, a blanket can serve many important functions. In addition to helping you keep warm, a blanket can also be torn into strips for emergency bandages as well as be used to bundle up other items for easier carrying, Fleece is a warm, but durable material that should hold up well in an emergency. This blanket will roll up to fit snugly in your emergency kit.

4.) First Aid Kits
A first aid kit is a necessity in an emergency situation. While major injuries require professional assistance, minor scrapes and cuts can easily become infected without proper care and often the resources of the medical community are allocated to those who are severely injured in an emergency. A first aid kit with supplies to treat minor injuries as well as medications to treat upset stomach and pain is an important component of your emergency kit.

5.) Granola Bars
Food is another necessity for any emergency kit, but you have to be sure to chose a food that is not only nutritious, but portable and long-lasting. It also helps if it tastes good, too! Granola bars are a great choice because they are compact, easy to carry, and contain a balance of fiber and protein to keep you full on smaller amounts so you can carry less food. Granola bars also have a long shelf life so they can sit in your kit for a long time without fear that they will spoil.