General Mills has announced a commitment to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain.

Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children´s diets.

Other cereal benefits:

• Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children´s diets.
• Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child´s diet today.
• More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.

Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office.

For more information about kids and cereals, please visit Cereal Health and Wellness.

General Mills cereal are already a staple at our house. I can never go wrong with Cheerios, but I was pleasantly surprised when General Mills made the announcement for plans on reducing the sugar in cereals that are targeted towards children. I was thrilled when MyBlogSpark gave me the opportunity to share a coupon for a free box of cereal for four lucky readers of The Crafty Dollar.

To enter, leave a comment. Please be certain that your email address is either in your blogger profile or provided in your comment to win one of the four coupons. The giveaway will end January 28th 2010 at 11:59 PM CST and will be announced January 29th 2010. The winner will have 48 hours to respond via email.

All information and free cereal coupons were provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark. The views expressed are my own. I have received no compensation from General Mills or MyBlogSpark.

My son is four years old now and we’re having his birthday party today. I am getting pretty good at planning parties now. I keep a list of things I will need for a typical party, and then I add to the list any additional items that might be needed. We’re having brisket sandwiches from a local barbecue place, and I am making homemade potato salad and baked beans to go along with it.

The great thing about the potato salad and baked beans is that the ingredients are relatively inexpensive, but will feed a lot of people. I didn’t think about this fact until I was preparing the potato salad and thinking about the price of the ingredients. I used potatoes, eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, butter, mustard, relish, salt, and pepper. The price for about ten cups of potato salad cost me well under $5.00 to make and would have cost considerably more if I had purchased this pre-made at the store or from the barbecue place. It was really easy to make, and can be made the day before which was a plus for me since I’ll be doing other things before the party.

The rest of the party is simple, cake and ice cream. I made the cake the day before so that it would be ready and my daughters decorated it for me. They were able to free hand decorate with colored sugar, which we colored with food dye. I have gift bags for all the kids and filled it with things that I’ve purchased either free or next to nothing throughout the year.

I attended the The Home Depot Do It Herself workshop for bathroom updates on Thursday night and was surprised at the turnout for the presentation. There were about twenty people there, including some husbands who tagged along with their wives to view the seminar. The presentation was given in three portions to cover faucet installation, tile installation, and repairing a toilet. As always, the presentations were presented well, and provided detailed information about the repairs, what tools would be required, and how to do it.

I’m not sure that all of the workshops are conducted in the same manner, but the workshop I attended also had snacks, drinks, and door prizes. Every person that attended received a door prize, including the husbands. I was a little shocked when the last two door prizes they gave out were a vanity a a new toilet. I walked away with a new caulk gun, tile spacers, and a sponge for grout and tile clean-up.

Not only does The Home Depot offer women’s workshops several times throughout the year, but they also offer other do-it-yourself classes on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. Check your local Home Depot for classes that will be offered near you. Stay tuned for more workshops being offered at The Home Depot and when warmer weather arrives they also offer workshops for gardening and lawn care.

I remember when I was attending college that it seemed like some of the textbooks required for my course were just as expensive as the course itself. I found it frustrating that it seemed like the majority of textbooks were always new, with very few used copies to choose from. My mom recently began attending college to become a Registered Nurse (RN), and was taken aback by the prices for college textbooks. We were able to find some of her textbooks online at Amazon for between twenty and fifty percent less than what she would have paid at the bookstore.

Some tips on purchasing online:

• Check the bookstore early to find out what books you need
• Buy the books early once you determine what book you need. Books are usually shipped parcel post, the cheapest form of shipping, which is also the slowest shipping method.
• Verify that you are purchasing the correct edition
• Check for any additional manuals or supporting software that are required for the course which may not be available to purchase online, and only available in the bookstore. Check with your bookstore about purchasing these additional items separately since some bookstores require that they purchased as a package.
• Always save receipts in case you need to make a return.