The Gerber Life Parenting Blog

Spring is a time for warmer weather, outdoor family fun and fl…fl…fl…[ah-CHOO!] flowers to bloom. It’s also a time to nip pesky allergies in the bud.

Getting your family through allergy season requires a watchful eye and staying in control. Here are some tips for how to stop allergy symptoms in your home:

Turn your home into an allergy-free castle – Curtains, carpets, upholstery, bedspreads, pillows, mattresses and soft toys are magnets for allergy-triggering dust mites. Frequent vacuuming and regular washing can help reduce dust. So can covering mattresses and pillows with zippered allergy covers. Keep an eye on local weather reports, too. When pollen or mold counts are high, keep windows and doors shut. Mold can hide on houseplants and show up on shower curtains, so check the plants and wash the curtains often. A dehumidifier can help lower moisture levels in your home and control mold, but remember to change the filters often.

To save money in the household budget, it seems that our grandparents were right in many ways when they said, “Open the windows, turn on a fan, wear a light jacket if you’re chilly, and let your clothes air dry.” Their advice was good for the planet and their wallets, and it is practical advice for families today for the same reasons.

Here are a few energy saving tips to help keep more hard-earned money in your wallet this spring instead of having it go out the window:

A qualified education savings account usually offers federal tax advantages to participants. The key factors are “how much” and “how they work” for investors. While you can use any savings or investment account to plan for college, qualified college investment funds offer tax advantages that standard accounts do not.

For example, a Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA) offers tax-free earnings increases, if the parent qualifies. If the parent (or child) has “modified adjusted gross income” less than $110,000 (or $220,000 for joint tax returns), and your child is under 18, you qualify for these college savings accounts. If you only withdraw funds for your child’s education expenses each year, these withdrawals are also tax-free.

We live in a day and age where alternative energy solutions seem to be cropping up all the time. If this isn’t encouraging enough, it gets even better. Many of the alternative energy solutions we’re hearing about aren’t just vague notions being cooked up in some science lab by great minds, not to be seen or implemented for decades – they’re actually available to us here and now, and are capable not only of saving energy but also of benefiting our bank accounts in a big way.

One meaningful change that you can make in your home today is installing a solar water heater. But before you go throwing your arms up in the air declaring that you “don’t have that kind of money,” let’s take a closer look at what it’ll actually cost to get you set up with this environmentally beneficial home appliance, as well as the energy savings you’ll see.

Everyone likes a good guarantee in life, right? Guaranteed life insurance, sometimes called guaranteed acceptance life insurance, carries no financial risks.

If you have put off purchasing life insurance until after the age of 50, you may think it’s too late. But that’s not the case.  A life insurance company, such as Gerber Life, will insure you with a guaranteed whole life insurance policy between $3,000 and $15,000 if you are between the ages of 50 and 75..