Storage solutions for every age

Text provided by Jan Soults Walker, HouseLogic.com

From babies who adore you to teens who ignore you, kids change — and so do their storage needs. Here’s how to organize kids’ rooms from cradle to college.

Cradle Crawlers

Transformer cribs. An ordinary crib accommodates baby for two to three years — until he learns how to escape over the rail. Boost storage with a convertible crib with storage drawers ($145 to $350) that’ll convert and adapt to your toddler’s needs and beyond. Some convertible cribs change into toddler beds, daybeds, or full-size headboards, giving you options as your youngster gets older. If you can’t find a crib with storage below, use the space between the legs for stowing bins or baskets for diapers, toys, and more. Pimping the closet. Remove the door on the nursery closet for easy access, and install a variety of cool storage features. Drawers, bins, and shelves can round up onesies, booties, baby towels, diapers, and toiletries. A simple wire rack storage system is $90 to $350 at home improvement centers. Install lower rods so baby, as he grows, can easily latch onto duds (and maybe even hang them up). Expandable hangers ($14 for a 3-pack) fit tiny baby clothes but open up to accommodate larger sizes when needed.

Text provided by Edward Jones

As an investor, your main goals will change at different times in your life. During your working years, you need to grow as many resources as possible for retirement. Once you retire, however, you will likely need to focus more on getting income from your investments. But what are your options?

Text by Claire Baiz

“Can you at least wait until I die?”

My mother was only half joking.

I wasn’t about to succumb to guilt. Most people move away from home when they’re kids—I’m almost sixty. “Tell you what, Mom,” I sighed. “Why don’t we wait until after I die?”

As I write this autumn letter, Central Montana is enjoying a cool spell – a respite of sorts from the dog days of summer. I love to think of autumn as the most civilized season, when the violent storms subside and the mercury relaxes to a cozy warm during the day and a welcomed chill at night. The days wane, the nights close in and the brilliance of autumn pours over the landscape in orange, red, yellow, gold and all the hues in-between. Subtle notes of caramel, apple, pumpkin and wood smoke permeate the air. Stewards of the earth celebrate the bounty of the harvest while birds begin their migration to warmer climates and animals gather food in preparation of winter. Football kicks off and seasonal treats make their debut —and there is nothing that screams fall more than breaking the seal on a fresh bag of Brach’s candy corn. Yum!

Smelter Avenue Financial Hub

Text by Clair Baiz • Photography by Daphne Wade

Montana Federal Credit Union, 1540 Smelter Ave. NE

“The north office? It’s a close-knit group,” says Becky Timmons, vice president of marketing for Montana Federal Credit Union. The building got a facelift this spring, but it remains their most intimate location.

Along with loan officers, tellers, drive- thru lanes and an ATM, there’s a popular “no fee” coin machine, affectionately dubbed ‘the piggy bank drop’. “It’s fun to watch kids drop in their dimes, quarters and pennies.”

A big draw for their Smelter Avenue location is Kari Grassman, a loan officer who’s been there “since day one,” Timmons says. “Kari generates a lot of loyalty.”

On the Friday before Thanksgiving, doors open early to offer personal loans at very low interest rates, which go up through the day. “We’re busy. There’s lots of traffic on that side of town,” says Timmons.