Blog Take Two

My first post was lame, but I can't figure out how to fix it!

I like the idea of sharing ideas of making it happen, so we will stick with that! Before I move on, I want to make a few things straight, I am not super in anyway nor do I intend to portray that. I am not a fabulous witty writer either. Remember I am sharing ideas and tips or whatever that has worked for me, not all of my ideas will work for you.

Here is the thought of the day. To stay ot home with your kids or not?

I often ask myself this question, why, might you ask? Well, am I damaging my kids by how often I might yell at them or just plain be irritated. I feel like I am a talented person, that I could be successful at whatever I do. However, I have not received any promotions since I entered into this career as motherhood. So why do I do it? Do I do it because Dr Laura said I should, that my religious views say I should, that my mom did it so I should? If all of these things say I should than it probably is important right?

Here is the bottom line, it is important, no matter how mad I get at my kids, noone will love them like I do. I had them, I should be the one to care for them. Not all mothers can stay with their children for such and such reasons, I get it. However, if you can, just do it! You may not want to and things may happen, for example: I will sometimes get lost in motherhood and stop taking care of myself, stop eating right, stop exercising or making personal goals. It is a conscious and serious effort to make sure I am mentally able to take on the daily tasks that seem soooooo monotonous some days. Some days are good, some are bad. I don't love it everyday, but I do love my children and they need me now, not after we get our dream house.

How can we as mothers do this and stay above water financially?
Here are my tips, from personal experience...
1) If you don't have kids, but you have two incomes, live off of one and save the other. Do not go out and buy a ton of stuff you can't afford and then become slaves to debt making it very hard to stay home.
2) Staying at home needs to be a plan made by you and your spouse, you need to be on the same page so that when it comes time to say bye, bye to that money you are both on board.
3) If you have not done the above things listed then you need to seriously down size, house, cars, gym memberships, mall trips, hair cuts, presents, stop all of it. This can be done slowly, but it needs to be done. I love to brag about purchases from DI! My kids are not spoiled because I don't max out credit cards from Christmas.
4) When you do have kids and you still need income, get creative...
a) Care for another child along with yours
b) Create your own business. I had a Chocolate Fountain Business that was enough work to keep us busy, but did not need to leave my daughter.
c) There are a lot of things you can do at home that can make you money, data entry, sales... Be careful though, if your child is needy or too young, you might find yourself going crazy and they don't get the attention they need. I know this from personal experience and it was a very crazy, hard decision that I made. Maybe I will share that later on!
5) Budget!!! Plan and know where all of your money goes, if you don't have enough, re-evaluate needs/wants. Go over your stuff monthly, there are great programs that are free to help you track your spending.
6) Get creative!!! Read Dave Ramsey "Total Money Make Over"
7) Make sure family and friends are on board with you as well, if your friends want to do dinner, activities that are way out of budget, find new friends or suggest things you can do more economically.
8) Have Fun with your kids! I for one am not a home body, getting out of the house is a must for me and my kids. We do field trips regardless of weather and have soooo much fun!
9) Every time you need a pick me up and validation that what you are doing is the right thing listen to Dr Laura, she always helps me feel good about the choices I have made!