Links Around the Blogosphere – Baby Please Come Home Edition

As I wrote yesterday, several dates have passed where we were told we could bring our son home.  Today marks another date passed.  That's neither here nor there.  Many of my thoughts are on parenting lately, and of getting this small but beautiful home ready for them. 

My interest in articles this encompasses anything to do with finance, inspiration and minimalism. 

Space is a concern here and not being one to will my ways on anyone else, I take it upon myself to try to move towards a more minimalist lifestyle, trading my space consumption for the babies. 

I also work to master my finances because formula alone looks to run us over $500 a month for the three of them and that's just based on their consumption when they first come home.

Diapers, we haven't even priced yet, but we are still wrestling with the cloth versus huggies debate.  Every parent that we've spoken to has kind of dissuaded us from the cloth diapers due to having three babies. 

In any event, here's a small list of several great articles I've read this week that I would like to share with you readers.

Looking down the road a bit, I often wonder how parents handle the subject of Allowance.  I know that I got one as a child and was allowed to decide what to do with it as I wish.  This is one way to do things.  Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar has outlined his own plan for his soon-to-be four year old.  And thanks to the wonderful discussion in the comments, you have a few dozen parents' own perspective on it.  Check out The Beginning of the Allowance.

New blogger, the Everyday Mininalist, has written some nice articles on minimalism from a different perspective.  I quite like her definition of it and this one may make it more palatable to the general public.  She has a nice story too, so please check it out.  What does Minimalism really mean?

Anastasiya wrote a beautiful article about her mountain cabin vacation and how the trip gave her perspective and balanced her life.  This article shows how the power of mother nature in helping center us.  Our trend towards technology and away from nature is unnatural.  Balance Your Life in Two Days.

In How to be Childlike, Leo Babauta talks about how to retain that child-like curiousity and presence that is the core of creativity.  This is a beautiful article for me to hold onto as my babies grow. 

And finally, JD over at Get Rich Slowly has out together a nice article about what to save for retirement.  I think a lot of parents, including myself fall into the trap of sacrificing dollars for our own retirement to help pay for our children's schooling.  This is a reminder to me, about how it's a better gift to my children to make sure that my wife and I are set in retirement and do not become a burden to them, then it is for me to pay their way through college.  How Much Should you Save for Retirement?

That's all for today.  I'll have new articles available on Monday.