SAVE with discount tix to the Israeli Children's Museum!

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Awesome Discount Deal!

Here's a discount for the Israeli Children's Museum in Holon! Get your tickets for 54 NIS! (Regular price is 68 NIS)
Voucher is good for 60 days from date of purchase, but you must pre-register your visit after you purchase the voucher.

Click here to go to GROO to buy this deal!

Don't forget to follow my page on Facebook and join my Facebook Deals group or my Whatsapp Deals group! Thanks!

Babush in Tel Aviv (Tots play place)!

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Here's a discount deal for Bubush, a play-place for tots up to age 4, in Tel Aviv. 2 tickets for 39 NIS! (There's also an option that includes a mini personal pizza... But I don't know if it's kosher)

Click here to go to Groo to buy this deal for Bubush!

Discount admission at Babush (playplace for Tots in Tel Aviv)!

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you click on a link and make a purchase! Thank you for helping keep this site up and running!

Here's a discount deal for Bubush, a play-place for tots up to age 4, in Tel Aviv. 2 tickets for 39 NIS!

Click here to go to Groo to buy this deal for Bubush!

Deal: Children's Theater: "Tiras Cham" (Jerusalem or Nahariya)!

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Check out this Groo deal for an Israeli classic!

Take your kids to this classic Israeli show - "Tiras Cham" for 55 nis per person. Choose the show in Nahariya on Jan 9th, or the show in Jerusalem on Feb 3rd!

Groo deals often sell out quickly, so be sure to order before the deal ends to get this great price!

May Savings on Curriculum - Ends TODAY

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Today is the LAST DAY for Homeschool Buyer's Co-op's May Promo - no Service Fees on your purchase! Join the Co-op and buy your summer enrichment or other curriculum packages today!

There are digital deals as well as print deals - most printed deals can only be delivered in the USA. (Just so you know!)

We've gotten some really great packages via the Co-op during our 10 years of homeschooling. I highly recommend checking it out.

Click here to join the Co-op and see all available deals!

For more educational savings, be sure to check out this post!

Bituach Leumi's New Savings Plan for children

Bituach Leumi recently announced that the new Savings Plan for children will be implemented in the next few weeks. Here's a quick summary of how it works:

1. Basic Plan: Bituach Leumi will deposit 50NIS per month into a savings or investment account on behalf of minor children who are eligible for kitzbat yeladim (the Child Stipend). There are a number of different options for savings and investment accounts, more information appears below.

2. Matching Fund Plan - parents can choose to match the 50NIS by choosing to direct 50NIS of the Child Stipend, every month, to the child's savings or investment account.

In order to choose what type of savings account/investment acccount your child will receive, and to choose to match the deposit, you must fill out a form online. Find this form here. (It's in Hebrew. If you need help, please ask a friend or relative who speaks Hebrew to help you. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to fill out!)

You can review all the options on Bituach Leumi's information site that they've put up about this specific program. Check out the different funds and banks and terms as they apply to your children!

Each child's account will be funded on the 20th of each month. They will be funded with retroactive payments of 50 shekels per month for the period covering May 2015 - December 2016 (total 1,000 NIS). The retroactive payments will be made in "tashlumim" - the first one will be in January 2017, in the amount of 100 shekels. The second one will be 400 NIS, in February 2017. The others will be announced later.

If your child turned 18 after May 2015 but before January 2017, an account WILL be funded in their name. Your now-adult child should receive a letter addressed to him/her explaining what s/he needs to do. 

Upon the child's 18th birthday, the account will be funded with a 500 NIS bonus. If s/he does not withdraw the money before his/her 21st birthday,  a 500 NIS bonus will be deposited upon his/her 21st birthday. 

There is an option to turn the account into a tax-exempt retirement plan that will be disbursed in monthly amounts after retirement. I am not sure how many people will actually do that, but the option is there!

The deadline for filling out this form is June 1, 2017 (note corrected date!). If you don't fill it out by then, Bituach Leumi will choose a default option for you.

Please note - any fees associated with these savings/investment accounts will be covered by Bituach Leumi until your child turns 21 (note corrected age!). At that point, fees will be deducted from the account as allowed by law.

Points to consider:

1. Bank accounts are very safe, and the returns are pretty predictable (you will get to choose between fixed rate and variable rate accounts, and accounts that are linked to the consumer index...). Kupot Gemel are investments (i.e. stocks and other higher risk investments). You can make more money with them, but you can also lose money with them. It's a risk. Weigh your own willingness to take risks before choosing!

2. If your children are US citizens, there may be some sort of tax penalty if you choose one of the "kupat gemel" investment fund options - BUT it is far too soon to know for sure. It may eat up some of the gains, but it is possible that it will still be worthwhile. (But don't make any decisions because of what I wrote. I am just expressing my personal view. Please make your own decision about how you want to approach this particular risk as well!)

3. If you choose a bank option, you may not later choose to switch to an investment fund option. If you choose an investment fund, there will be designated times when you can change tracks within the investment options IF you choose the option with "tachanot yetziah".

4. There are many people talking about the different investment options. Word on the street is that Altschuler-Schacham and Psagot have yielded better returns in the last 5 years than the others. Of course that does not in any way guarantee future positive returns. Just something to think about.

This post is for information purposes only, and my personal opinions may be expressed. This post should not be taken as advice or instructions regarding investments in any way.

Amazing Reading Resource!

I know so many English speakers in Israel struggle to find reading material for their kids. Many of us live in out of the way towns with small libraries and tiny English language sections (I really should take a picture of the 4 tiny shelves of kids books in English we have in our library!).

And downloading Kindle books can get really expensive.

Lucky for all of you out there, and anyone, really, who wants access to more childrens books, I just found this amazing resource, Farfaria, that people are calling the "Netflix of kids' books"! And it's available right now for $19.99 (regular price is $39.99, you'll save 50%!), and works on both Android and iOS.

It's great for when you want to encourage your child to develop their English reading fluency! There is a "read to me" option, or a read alone option, and this program has some really great features. Generally, the age range is 2-9, so the books are for beginning readers.

I'm sure you're going to love it!

But hurry! This deal ends soon!

Free kids' digital magazines (summer promo!)

We love the Cricket family of magazines. 

Not only are they ad-free, they are high quality, interesting, engaging, and all around perfect for my curious kids who love to read! There are so many of them - each with a different focus and on various reading levels.

 
This year, we bought 5 subscriptions and the kids were thrilled with the digital versions! They read and reread them. They discuss and debate them. They enter contests and send in comments.

And one of my kids is so proud that his note was published in one of the editions! 
(Look in the picture - he marked his submission! I guess those are his 15 seconds...)


I recently found out that they have made their summer editions available for free, for anyone to try.

To sign up for your free editions, check out Cricket's summer reading page.

Enjoy!

Here's more info about which magazines are available on various devices:

 

Shilav coupons (Israel Printable coupons)

Looking for baby gear, and the occasional kids' book or game?

Shilav (a chain of baby stores in Israel) has a new batch of printable coupons available!
Print the page and take it with you to Shilav.

Here's what you'll find there:

Cloth diapers
Sippy cup
Baby bath seat
Tiny Love baby toys
Pacifiers
Baby Feeding Bottles
Wooden Graggers (Ra'ashanim)
Baby Books (Classi-Kaletet)
Kids' Trivia Game

Coupon Offer (Israel)

Superherb will email you a coupon for their Sambokid product, if you fill out their form!

You'll get a coupon for 5 shekels off your Sambokid Syrup purchase.

Tuesday Night, March 15, 2011

Sorry for not posting for a couple of days. Life got in the way. My computer has been turned into the telephone - it's they way we communicate with friends and family overseas - webcam and magicjack - and it's hard to find time to just write. It's been especially busy the last couple of days...

In addition, I have been feeling seriously burned out. Not just cooking burnout, just plain burnout. Sometimes life gets like that. Trying to figure out ways to recharge without actually abandoning my children...

:-)

Anyhow, here's the supper plan for tonight:

Pitot with vegetarian taco filling
Cucumbers
Potato Bourekas (working on the freezer cleanout)
Artichokes (that's what happens when my younger 3 children accompany me to the store. they see artichokes and start dancing. isn't that nuts? not exactly frugal but they were a lot less expensive than last time I saw them - only 8NIS/kilo - so I bought them. at least they weren't begging for candy!)

A bit of a hodge-podge menu, I admit, but everyone ate happily, which was the goal. When my hubby gets back from his trip, I'll have to re-start the "organized" menus...

Have a good day!