How to Live Frugally, Part 2

Last week, Dina-Marie shared 20 tips on how to live frugally. She has 22 more….

1. Do not window shop in front of the refrigerator – Determine what you want to remove ahead of time to avoid unnecessary time spent with the fridge door open.
2. Wash your clothes when they are dirty – This may be after one wearing, but then again, maybe not until several wearings.
3. Hang your clothes out to dry – Save energy and get that fresh, line-dry smell in the summer.  In the winter, use a drying rack inside to help humidify your house, which is healthier and feels warmer!
4. Make your own laundry detergent – Homemade laundry detergent is easy and economical.
5. Use cloth diapers instead of disposable – They are both economical and “green.” Read more

How To Live Frugally

Since our family’s move from the “secure” life in Alabama (job with a monthly paycheck) to the “exciting” life in west Texas to start a vineyard (no paycheck at all !), I have learned even more ways to be frugal.

I have always tended toward frugality, but watching our savings dwindle as we have payed for land, vines, trellising and other vineyard related items, and the rest going quickly for living expenses, I have had to take a crash course in frugality. Each of these actions individually may seem insignificant, but their cumulative effect over time has added up to big savings. Read more

How to Be a Role Model for Our Kids

If you are on our subscriber list, you already heard me get on my soapbox last week about how important it is to support each other as Mom Entrepreneurs. More and more women and moms are making the leap to pursuing their life’s passions. And we want you to know that in this regard again, you are not alone!!!

“It’s so important to go for what you want in life.” ~ Kim Gellman

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How to Manage Your Money

Tips on Purchasing Life Insurance
Provided By: (Scott S Niekamp CLU), Northwestern Mutual Financial Network

In terms of personal pleasures, buying life insurance doesn’t usually fall in the same category as buying a new car or a new wardrobe. However, despite its lack of glamour and prestige, the decision to buy life insurance can be infinitely more important to a family and its future financial security.

Before you begin your search for a life insurance policy, it is important to give some thoughtful consideration to your financial goals. For most individuals, it’s hard to imagine how life would be without them in it. But this is the first step in determining what financial resources you need to leave your family so they can maintain the lifestyle you would want for them in case you die. Read more

How to Save on Back to School Shopping

It’s time to get your kids geared up for school. It’s time for squeaky clean shoes, shiny new lunch boxes and backpacks… er, maybe not. Everyone is watching their wallets so don’t think that your tikes will be the only ones using the same backpacks and lunch boxes they had last year!

What are some ways that you can save on shopping for school clothes, gear and supplies? Here are my tips! Read more

Twitter

Thanks again for attending the LinkedIn/Twitter workshop in STL on July 8. Here are the 2 handouts I promised you. Click the links to download. Both are Word documents with hyperlinks to relevant web pages!

Twitter_Articles

Twitter_Resources

How Much Does It Cost to Have A Kid?

These days, everyone seems to be asking “How much?” I read somewhere recently that the current economic climate is making people postpone having babies. Maybe they would reconsider if they read this post on Soapbox Mama titled, The Price of Children.

At first, it seems to be the usual waah, waah, waah… lamenting the fact that the average cost of raising a child for a middle income American family is $160,000, not including college tuition. But then JB goes on to break that down to it’s daily equivalent of $24.24. What do you get for $24/day? I was so moved by JB’s perspective. She says…

You never have to grow up. You get to:
• finger-paint,
• carve pumpkins,
• play hide-and-seek,
• catch lightning bugs,
• never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh. You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof.

For all of us who are feeling squeezed by financial pressures, it’s such a great reminder to focus on the 98% of things that are going right in our parenting lives. Thanks, JB!

Read the rest of her post. It’s fabulous! It’s just what I needed to hear when a couple of snow days and trips to doctors and vets throw my work schedule off kilter. Yes, I got to PLAY in the snow and watch my kids and dogs frolic! I also got to engage in a serious discussion about whether there is a tooth fairy for every child or one for everyone.

What about you? What did you GET TO do with your kids today?

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Practical Mommy is Ria Sharon. Click the links for Practical Mommy’s recommendations for travel car seats, affordable and fun diaper bags (skip hop bag), and the best-selling crib brand, Da Vinci Crib.

How to Not Go Insane

Ever read this? “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.” I can’t remember who said this but I have heard it many times. Three separate times this week alone in fact, from three very different sources. You better believe my ears perked up. You don’t have to hit me over the head, or at least more than three times, to get my attention.

Insanity, now there’s a topic we all know a little bit about if we’re going to be really honest with each other. There is just something about the combination of sudden weight gain, postnatal hormones, sleep deprivation and being introduced to the toughest most rewarding job on the planet…parenthood…that can make a girl go a little mad.

Examining Our Lives

So maybe as moms and as women facing a large number of challenges in our lives, seemingly all at the same time in our life, maybe, just maybe we can glean something from these words of wisdom. I know for me this week, these words have helped me examine what my ways of “doing” and “being” are bringing.

Here’s a perfect example. I am a led foot driver. Most passengers in my car would attest to this. I realized even my kids had noticed when one day as I was driving on the highway and another car passed us, my kids yelled “Go FASTER mom, go FASTER!” Not only that, but I’m not a very good rule follower in general when it comes to driving. I have perfected the St. Louis roll…nearly stopping but not quite when I encounter a stop sign. You get the idea. And I never get tickets. But this week it all changed for me. This week I got not one but two tickets. One for parking in an area I KNEW I wasn’t supposed to park in because I wanted to run in and out of a shop; busted; the other for pulling one of my famous rolling stops, apparently less than legal.

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How to Get What You Want

Let’s play a game and see if we can make this happen by the time you are done reading this article. It’s a fill in the blank type game. Read the following question and answer it off the top of your head. Be as specific as you can and really do write this down:

If I could have just one thing I REALLY WANT right now, it would be:

(Fill in the blank here!)

Awesome. Now think for a moment why you want this. Will it bring you peace, joy or happiness? Usually yes, it would help bring some form of one of these three words. Which one of these is it for you? Or is there something else that has you wanting this besides peace, joy and happiness? Think about this for a minute and when you have it boiled down to one word or a short phrase, answer the following:

If I get what I REALLY WANT (line one), I will feel/be:

(Fill in the blank here!)

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