At Thanksgiving, we stop and say thank you for all the people and things we are grateful for. It’s a time to remember how fortunate we are to be healthy, to have a warm home and to never go to bed hungry. However, being grateful should not be an annual obligation, but rather a way of life. Let this season be the beginning of a new more thankful you for the entire year.

Simple ways to say, “Thank you”:

• Thank you notes are nice but it can be really fun to make a handmade note. Be creative and decorate it anyway that shows off your personality.
• How about a fun treat for someone you appreciate? Bake a giant cookie and write “You’re Sweet” with icing.
• Design a certificate for the “World’s Best Teacher” to say how much you value what they do for you.
• Do a chore around the house without even being asked. Your parents will be thrilled and it lets them know you don’t take them for granted.
• Even if you just say thank you to a stranger for an ordinary act such as holding the door, look that person in the eye and speak loud enough to be heard so they know you genuinely appreciate their thoughtfulness.
• Volunteer to collect items for the needy or sort cans at a food bank. Anytime you give or time to help your community, you are showing gratitude for what you have that others may not.
• Perform a random act of kindness. Need some inspiration? Check out what other kids are doing at TKO Helping Hands.

"Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking." ~ J.C. Watts

Did you ever have a chance to cheat on a test, but chose not to? Perhaps when no one was looking, you picked up the pencil your teacher dropped and put it back on the desk for her. Maybe instead of spending all your birthday money like your parents think you did, you actually put some of it in the collection box at church when they weren’t looking. We don’t make these decisions and take these actions for praise and rewards. We do them just because it's the right thing to do.

That being said, it sure does feel great when someone notices you being good! I was recently honored to receive a Community Leadership Excellence in Mentoring Award for doing what I love most – helping kids. I got dressed up, flew to New York City and went to a fancy dinner where a large group of professional people thanked me for teaching kids about money and for motivating children to change their world through volunteering. Sure it felt good to get all this attention, but the best part of the award was a large donation check that was given to my favorite charity, TKO Helping Hands.

I would coach kids and teach children and volunteer to pick up trash and more even if no one knew I was doing it, because I know it is right. You should be proud of yourself for doing all the good things you do when nobody’s looking. You may not know it yet, but you are making us adults very proud of you, too!

Wow! What a Work- shop!

Last month I held my first Kids Finance Coach Workshop at my home and it was a blast! We invited kids and their parents to my house for an afternoon of fun activities to learn about money. We talked about things like allowance and spending, and even why and how to start saving money. Of course we couldn’t talk about money without learning about charitable giving. Money really can be used to help improve the lives of others.

Parents, interested in having Coach Brett visit your community or starting a League of your own? Contact Denise Villanueva.

I know people save money, but how can companies save money so they don't go broke?
When your parents feel that the family is spending too much money, how do they cut back? Maybe they don’t go out to eat as often. Maybe they use more supermarket coupons. Perhaps they decide to cut the grass and do the yard work themselves instead of hiring a service.

Well, companies also have to find ways to reduce their costs, especially during difficult economic times like we’re experiencing now. When times are tough, companies often experience a decrease in sales revenue. When sales go down, and costs stay the same, the company is less profitable, so they have to find a way to maintain profitability by reducing costs. Let’s take look at how this works.

If a company has sales of $100 and costs of $60, then they make a profit of $40. If sales go down to $90 and costs stay the same, the profit is reduced to $30. But if they can reduce their costs to $50, then they still make a profit of $40.

Here are some of the things that companies can do to reduce costs:

1. Supplies and materials - sometimes companies can negotiate with their suppliers to pay less for the materials they use to make their products, or for the supplies they use in their offices.


2. Freight - manufacturing companies spend a lot of money shipping their products to market. Shipping specialists can often help companies find ways to reduce their freight costs.


3. Electricity - Power is usually a large percentage of the costs of a manufacturing operation, especially when they are charged based on their highest level of demand in a given month. By installing monitoring equipment, they can ensure that lights and other equipment are shut off when they approach peak demand, which helps reduce the hourly rate that the company pays for power. (It’s not too different from your parents reminding you to turn off the light when you leave a room.)


4. Staffing - One of the main things that companies do to reduce costs is to decrease the size of their workforce by letting some employees go. This is known as “layoffs”. Most companies try to do everything possible to cut costs in other ways before laying off employees.

What have you done lately to help out in your community? You may have heard on the news or from your parents that our economy is not doing too well lately. That means more people than ever are struggling to pay bills and even provide food for their family.

No matter how old you are, there are many creative and inexpensive ways to help others this summer.

Take a Stand With Sunkist
Kids ages 7 to 12 can register at http://www.sunkist.com/ and submit their "Take a Stand" pledge and receive a free Sunkist lemonade stand, while supplies last. Then sell glasses of homemade to raise money for a charity.

Angels in Action
Students ages 8 to 18, will be recognized and rewarded for exemplary acts of service to benefit their community, a charity or cause. Visit http://www.angelsoft.com/ to get great ideas for creative projects by reading about last year's winners on the Angel Soft site.

Stamp out Hunger
It is easy to help local hunger organizations at a very low cost by donating coupon bargains.
Students can use the Grocery Deals by State page on The Savings Mom Web site, www.savingsmom.com, which lists grocery coupon deals in most states.

Clip coupons and buy several items to donate yourself. Or make a flyer asking neighbors to stick a few canned items in a sack and leave the sacks on their front porch on a designated day. Then go around collecting the bags to be delivered to a local food pantry.

Start a Great American Bake Sale
Sponsored by Domino Sugar and C&H Sugar, kids can sign up to receive a Participant Kit which includes everything you’ll need to get baking and starting selling your treats. Donate the money you earn to an area homeless shelter.

Need Cash? Get to Work!
It's not always easy for kids to find a job. But here are some things kids can do to earn a little extra cash over the summer.

• Babysitting of course. Check your local hospitals to see if they offer a babysitting class, or learn more about babysitting and earn a babysitting certificate here.


• Get your lemonade! Not only is a lemonade stand fun, but you can shake things up and offer home-made cookies too. Don't forget to pay Mom and Dad back if they help with supplies.
  Walk dogs/care for pets. Lots of people are too busy over summer to take care of their pets. Start your own pet care, dog walking business. Those long-haired dogs might need brushing, too.


• Yard work and gardening is another good idea. Offer to cut grass, weed gardens and do general yard work for people. Seniors especially can use the help in the summer.


• Hold a car wash! Get a group of friends together and with parents’ permission start your own car wash.


• Have a yard sale. Clean out your closets, toy chests and basements of all the toys/books you no longer use. You'd be surprised how much stuff you no longer use.


• Teens can visit here to learn how to find a job, where to get working papers, where teens can work, what to wear for an interview, and how to obtain references.

There are laws about kids working so you have to be creative when you are young to earn money. Get your parents involved too, they may have some good ideas. They may even be more encouraged to help you out if they see you trying to make your own cash instead of just holding out your hand.

Learning the “Real” Value of Money through Giving

I have always believed that a necessary part of learning about money is learning how to value what you have and sharing with people who do not have as much as you. In an effort to teach these lessons to my own children, my wife and I helped our sons Keanu and Tristen establish their own non-profit organization call Turn Kindness On (TKO) Helping Hands. TKO Helping Hands motivates children of all ages to change their world through volunteering, harnessing their uniquely empathetic energy and empowering them to build a lifelong relationship with community service.

During a recent family vacation to Africa, our family did what we always do when we travel. We took money and supplies collected through the efforts of TKO and local students and delivered them to children’s organizations in the communities where we visited.

Click here to watch and see what a difference you can make when you understand the “real” value of money.