So the fall months (the “Fall Mix” set of oranges and browns) were already complete, and I’d done a few simple blinkies for May through August, but it’s now safe to say that there are blinkies available for all months of the year, some with different new style options as well.

Here are the latest additions to the set…

Spring Months:(”Green Mix”)

Summer Months: (”Red Mix”)

Winter Months:

The whole set of Baby Month-by-Month blinkies can be found here (a new page! the other 2 “old style” batches have been moved to their own pages). The matching Due Date Month-by-Month blinkies can be found here.

In other KStar Design news, please note that I’m not currently taking any new graphic/web design clients or starting new projects in that area OR accepting any blinkie requests (I just haven’t been able to keep up with anything lately and don’t want to add more to the pile!).

However, I do still have Hand-crafted Cards and Baby Birth Plaques up for sale on the site and will be adding new cards soon. I’ve updated the index page of the site to reflect the change in focus of the company, which may or may not be continuing on as an official entity after this calendar year.

All for now, so enjoy the blinkies and stay tuned for more coming soon! I have 2 different batches to add to the site and then blog about, so hopefully I can squeeze those in sometime soon in between the cards and other projects I’m posting about.

I’m surprised it’s taken until now to realize how useful sharing these budgets on the Young Mommies site would be, but better late than never! One thing I hear often from young women who are just finding out they are pregnant is “How much will this baby cost exactly?“.

I realize the cost of living has changed since 1998! but a lot of the general estimates are still roughly the same. Especially with baby gear – you can always spend as much as you want on that stuff and there are options ranging from “free” to “$500″ for almost each thing, whether it’s a crib or dresser or travel system, etc.

So what I did was update and transfer over 2 of my old budgets…

One from when I was a young single mom of a new baby, and one from when I was a young single mom and full-time student. Both budgets can be found on this page, which also includes a little box with rough estimates on the cost of baby gear. If anyone finds that my calculations are off or out-of-date, please feel free to send me your own budget or baby gear shopping research so that I can update the budgets and/or add different ones!

There are 3 copies of a blank budget that anyone can download (for free!) and fill in as they’d like before printing it out. Two of the versions (Excel and Open Office) have spreadsheets that automatically calculate your yearly amounts based on your month amounts entered in and it will calculate how much you are over budget if your income is less than your expenses. The other version (.pdf) can be filled in (either on the computer or by hand if printed first) but the calculations aren’t active.

I hope there’s at least one young mom or two (or more!) out there who will find the info and freebies helpful… and really it’s not just for young mothers, any mom can benefit from having a good budget plan!

… file it away for next year’s “tax time”!

This year was the first year that I filled my taxes as a small business owner. And I really wish I’d not been so overwhelmed by the idea before! I feel the advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages and it was easier than I thought.

There are many things you can claim if you are self-employed, including:

* a portion of your home space
* a portion of the costs of running your home (keep those electricity, water, and heating bills handy!)
* a portion of your internet and phone line costs

If there are things you need to buy to run your business, keep the receipts (and/or run them through a flatbed scanner) because you can claim those against your income as well. I actually wish I’d saved *more* of my receipts because I only managed to chip away a few hundred dollars off my income. Still did not need to pay any taxes, but I could’ve taken a larger chunk out of the amount of my income that went towards reducing my spouse’s taxes.

These business expenses can be things like office supplies (paper, folders, writing supplies, printer ink, labels, etc.) or things that you use to create your products (cardstock and ribbon, photo splits, etc.). And of course any membership or registration costs (such as the first-time business registration I paid last year to make KStar Design an official little company) count as well.

I don’t think I’ve ever remembered to post a picture of my home office, even though I took one a long time ago! Here’s my new little spot in our upstairs “4th bedroom”:

It still needs a lot of setting up (and I think may actually be messier now than in the picture, taken 1 month after we moved in last summer), but it’s coming along well and everything I need very often is at my fingertips. It’s a huge step up from our old office basement and I really feel very motivated when I’m in there to get as much work done as I can in the short times I’m able to attempt to do all those magical things that used to come so easily when I was able-bodied (sit up, focus, have a decent posture, not be distracted by pain, etc). I still have some hope when it comes to making my online work count for something, one way or another.

Signing off for now, your small-business-savvy “mompreneur”!