Name Change Advice

Looking for name change advice or some tips for newlywed life? The MissNowMrs experts have created state-specific name change articles and checklists for you. We’ve chronicled our recommendations for how to travel while changing your name AND how to handle voting during the transition.

We’ve also compiled our best guidance for how to handle difficult sister in laws, holidays as newlyweds, the ever-annoying baby questions, and much more. Why? Because, while we are name change experts, we’re also newlywed wives, moms, and sisters.

We hope our name change advice articles help smooth your transition to your new name, and a whole new phase of life. Congratulations and best wishes from the entire MissNowMrs team!

Snuggle Up to our December Giveaway: A Sleep Number® Create Your Perfect Comforter!

Now that you’re happily married and the stress of wedding planning is out of the way, there is nothing better than curling up next to the one you love…that is unless you and your sleep partner disagree on the best bedroom sleeping temperature. If that’s the case, the Sleep Number Create Your Perfect Comforter is a great solution for you because each side of the comforter can be customized to your warmth preference. Sleep Number has teamed up with MissNowMrs.com to offer one of our newlywed blog readers the chance to win a completely customized Create Your Perfect Comforter (A $280 value)!

Temperature Preferences – While the ideal bedroom temperature is in the mid-sixties, individual preferences can lead to conflict and disturbed sleep. To make you both as comfortable as possible, purchase bedding that accommodates you both – such as a dual-weight comforter that allows you to personalize each side to your warmth preference. One side is heavier to keep you warm and the other side lightweight to keep your partner cool.

The Sleep Number Create your Perfect Comforter is the ideal solution for couples who disagree on bedroom temperature as each side of the comforter can be customized. A soft Damask-stripe cover, in 300-thread-count cotton, offers breathable protection for your inner fill inserts. L-shaped zippers on both sides allow you to easily place inserts and ties keep them secure.

Choose Your Fill – Personalize your comfort with an insert on each side. Choose from the finest down for high-loft softness, or a premium down alternative, which mimics the comfort of down in a hypoallergenic 100% polyester fill.

Customize Your Warmth – Once you’ve chosen your favorite fill, select your ideal warmth level: choose lightweight if you are always warm, to extra weight if you are often cold.

Ready to win our cozy December giveaway? Leave a comment on this, or any of our Newlywed Bed Posts on Mondays this month and you’ll be automatically entered to win. Tell us all about why you and your spouse should win this custom comforter. We’d love to know what lengths you’ve gone to to solve your temperature differences.

The randomly selected contest winner will be announced on December 31st!! If we don’t hear back from the winner within 2 weeks, we will randomly select a new winner to make sure someone ends up with this great goodie!

**If you tweet this giveaway by clicking the green retweet button below, you’ll receive an additional contest entry!**

One Day Left For Our Newlywed Art.com Giveaway!

Ready to win our newlywed Art.com giveaway? Can you believe that Thanksgiving is over and December is almost here?! Before you start (or continue) your holiday shopping be sure to enter our November giveaway. Who wouldn’t want a fantastic canvas or framed photo for themselves or to use as a gift for their parents/in-laws?

Art.com is giving one of our newlywed blog readers the chance win an 18×24 printed canvas image (or 25×31 framed image) valued at $150 to hang in their home! The Photos to Art feature on Art.com will allow our winner to upload an image of her choice (be it wedding, honeymoon or even a favorite family photo) and translate it onto high-quality photographic paper or artist-grade stretched canvas. The result? A high-quality, large-scale, beautifully-finished and ready-to-hang wall art.

Ready to win our awesome November art giveaway? This is the last day to leave a comment on this, or any of our Newlywed Art Posts from Mondays this month and you’ll be automatically entered to win. Tell us all about the photos from your wedding and honeymoon. We’d love to know what image you’d want to have printed and where you plan to hang it. The randomly selected contest winner will be announced on November 30th!! If we don’t hear back from the winner within 2 weeks, we will randomly select a new winner to make sure someone ends up with this great goodie!

**If you tweet this giveaway by clicking the green retweet button below, you’ll receive an additional newlywed Art.com giveaway entry!**

Thankful Newlywed Thoughts

Are you struggling to find thankful newlywed thoughts? As a newlywed, it is easy to get caught up in the holiday rush and the aspects of how to juggle whose family to do what with, when. My advice to you: take a moment and realize how fortunate you are.

If you can keep the things that you are thankful for in the forefront of your mind, you’re guaranteed not to miss the reasons for the seasons that are upon us.

Ideas for Thankful Newlywed Thoughts:

Your Spouse – Not only have you met the person of your dreams…you married them! I can’t think of too many other things that are as amazing as being married and madly in love.

Security – You now have someone to have and hold in sickness and in health till death do you part. Just knowing that someone is going to be by your side for long haul is incredibly comforting.

Friends – There are people in the world that know all of your flaws and faults (some since childhood) and still love you. How great is that?

Family – Whether you’re working on making your own or thinking about your parents, family is a gift to be treasured. These are the people who have loved you before they even met you and want only the best for you.

The Holidays – While they may be stressful, holidays are the times we get to spend with all of the people we are thankful for. When you look at them this way, it’s much easier to stretch a bit to make sure you see everyone and celebrate together.

What are you thankful for this holiday season? Do you have a creative way to see all of your family members while remaining sane? We’d love to hear about it!

Planning for Life Emergencies

Are you planning for life emergencies as a married couple? After the honeymoon and your return from worry-free wedded bliss, it’s time to start thinking of other matters. That doesn’t mean returning to the real world is the end of the fairy tale – quite the contrary. Handling specific emergency money matters early on will help to ensure that the fairy tale lasts as long as it possibly can.

No one likes to think about the “what ifs” and the “what might happen” aspects of life. It’s uncomfortable. But planning for emergencies is important. Things do happen, so having everything prepared beforehand can make life a lot easier afterwards. After all, even with a great career, something might happen within the company that leaves you jobless. Or that person on the highway was on his cell phone and you find yourselves looking for a new car.

Since we all know money doesn’t grow on trees, it’s important to stow some away for the unexpected, should it ever occur. So how much should you hide under the mattress (actually, it’s better that you hide it in a bank with good interest rates)?

The best approach is to have at least 3 to 6 months worth of living expenses waiting in the wings. Put the money into a money market account because these typically have higher interest rates than a basic savings account. You could put some of the money into a CD for an even higher interest rate, but it is important to remember that CDs are meant to last for a specific amount of time (anywhere from 3 months to 24 months) and removing money early could result in a penalty. So if something should happen (heaven forbid) during the time your CD is accruing interest, you would actually lose money in the deal.

Knowing that you have money available for emergency use will help give you peace of mind. That way you won’t suddenly find yourselves living paycheck to paycheck or worrying about losing your home, filing for bankruptcy, or any other seriously stressing issues. You’ll feel a lot lighter and with the added interest on your deposited money, you will be gaining a little extra cushioning each time.
If you have questions about the best possible way to save your money, head off to a bank with a good rating, good interest rates, and talk to someone about your goals. They can help you find the best solution to saving money for emergencies. Just remember to read all the fine print with anything you decide to do!

How are you planning for life emergencies? Hopefully you have one or this post prompted you to put one together!

Newlywed Love, Life and Family

Newlywed love, life and family… it’s so much to think about! You’ve said yes, you’ve said I Do, so what’s next on your life agenda? For some of us, it’s a promotion, a new job, a new home, or a dog, or maybe; dare I say it, becoming parents?! Whatever the case may be, we all have things on our list of “to-do’s” and we as women create a pretty picture in our minds of how things are going to be as we get older.

Falling in love, getting engaged, your wedding day, your marriage, being a wife, becoming a mother, and the list goes on! Obviously we all know that things don’t always work out just as we have planned, and that’s just life. If you think about it, it wouldn’t be half as interesting if things in life worked out ‘by-the-book’!

Having a few friends in the same boat as myself now, where we’ve now been married a few years, we’re finding that the number one topic of conversation is starting a family. Other popular topics of conversation also include: moving to a different location, purchasing a bigger home, trips that we want to take with our spouses, and so on!

So now we’re looking at our list of “to-do’s”, deciding what we would really like to accomplish before having kids, and re-structuring the remaining items based on finances and a more realistic time frame. In my opinion, it is most important to be on the same page as your spouse when planning to start a family. Make sure it is something you are both ready for in your life and that you have taken time for yourselves, to build on your relationship as a married couple!

Please share your thoughts with us! We would love to hear how your handling newlywed love life and family.