Master your money. Get organized. Take back your time.
Do you look around in a daze by noon wondering where on earth your day has gone?
So much of having a productive morning is about setting yourself up for success the night before. Hit the ground running each day by incorporating these eight practices into your nighttime routine: [Read more…]
I didn’t get laser eye surgery to save money . . . I chose to spend almost $4,000 on a surgery I didn’t really need to enhance the quality of my life, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Still, I kept my Penny Hoarding wits about me. Here are six ways I saved on the procedure . . .
Read the rest of my recently-published blog post on The Penny Hoarder, the world’s largest personal finance blog with more than 8 million readers!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
If you are a planner person, then you don’t need to be convinced. Like me, your planner is probably one of the things you’d grab if your house were burning down around you.
If you’ve never used a planner — or if you’ve used the wrong planner — then you might be amazed by how much organization it can bring to your life.
I used to be a non-planner person. I thought planners were just portable calendars for business people with millions of meetings.
However, I eventually realized that I needed a planner so I could have a single, centralized method of organizing my time and making plans to reach my goals . . . and it worked. [Read more…]
You now have a comprehensive list of what you need to do, what you want to do, and estimates for each activity. You’ve also got documentation on your where your time currently goes. It’s time to put it all together!
Enter the time map.
Some people refer to this same tool as a time budget, drawing a nice analogy between planning your time and planning your spending. Either way, the concept is the same — you plan out your day or week by creating a personalized schedule for yourself. Here’s the process: [Read more…]
The mommy blogs are silently judging me.
I feel their condemnation every time I scan through pictures of the cool moms’ color-coordinated lives, perpetually clean children, and hyper-organized homes.
There are some things that are just part of motherhood, according to these blogs, and no one bats an eye to question that. No more! I’m not ashamed to admit that I fail to meet these ten “basic” requirements for life as a mom . . .
Read the rest of my recently-published blog post on Parent Co!
Clutter is the enemy of an organized home. It manifests itself in piles of mystery stuff that grow and spread, but the impact doesn’t end there. The physical refuse of your life also costs you time, money, fun, and sanity.
Consider these eight reasons to lose the clutter that’s choking your space and your life:
How much time have you spent trying to find your keys, your kid’s permission slip, that shampoo you could swear you just purchased, your left shoe, or any number of other things? Clutter is not just an organizational annoyance but a major time suck as well. You have plenty you want to accomplish with your time. Going on a frantic scavenger hunt for your belongings probably isn’t on the list. [Read more…]
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
Granola makes for a delicious breakfast, a great snack, and an excellent and crunchy topping to yogurt. However, it is seriously pricey to buy (and sometimes the store-bought stuff is still tragically dry and crumbly). Making your own fresh, amazing granola is easier than you think and insanely inexpensive. Here’s the cost breakdown:
Cost comparison of granola:
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
Just as there can be easily-forgotten activities that suck up our time, there are some expenses that are frequently overlooked but can really add up. Sometimes we neglect them because they’re infrequent and sometimes because they’re small costs that we pay mindlessly over and over.
Have you remembered to include these 21 expense items in your budget? [Read more…]