family Archives - Page 3 of 3 - the frugal millionaire

5 Ways to manage being a work-from-home mom

Happy Friday!! I don’t know about you, but this week definitely flew by!! My husband had the first few days off of work which was SO NICE. I cannot express how nice it is having an extra set of hands around here so I can get ahead on work.

Since he works for himself, he does have times that he’s slower and it’s not by choice. We’ve been very fortunate since moving to NC and he’s been booked pretty solid two weeks to a month in advance. That ended this past week and he had nothing on the books set in stone. While normally I would have been panicking, I’m much more confident in both him and our financial situation. We save for times like this and I have full faith in my husband that he will find more work. Sure enough, he got work for Thursday, Friday and Saturday…plus has the next few weeks booked up. Now when he’s randomly off, we take advantage of extra time with our family, we run errands and get caught up on doctor’s appointments and we cook more!

So, in some other exciting news – we’ve decided to get the girls enrolled in a part-time daycare program. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I really want to grow a business while being a mom, I need some help. I’m currently able to do what I do with them home, but since I’m looking to increase my workload it just makes sense that I get them enrolled in a program. I’m excited for new opportunities with work and I’m happy my girls will get some fun socialization a few days a week in a loving environment!

Speaking of working from home, today I’m over at Wealth Gospel discussing 5 Ways to manage being a work-from-home mom. If you work from home with kids, or even are just at home with kids, I have some good tips that I’ve been using for the past 2 1/2 years to help me stay organized and get things done!

Happy Friday, everyone! I have some great posts lined up for next week and can’t wait to share them!

5 Reasons day trips can be better than vacations

John and I have been fans of day trips since we started dating, but our love of them has only accelerated since having kids. But isn’t it hard having kids in the car for that long? Um, nope! Sure, they scream at times and I may or may not have spent an hour massaging my one-year-old’s feet yesterday on our trip to Myrtle Beach, but they are contained and they are usually content. This gives John and I a chance to chat, listen to music and enjoy the open road! To us, life is all about experiencing as much as we can and we feel our best when we’re on the road. Who knows, maybe one day this will lead to a cross-country adventure in an RV 🙂

The expense of having babies

As many of you know, I am a mom to two sweet little girls. My oldest is 2 1/2 and my youngest is 16 months. While life is busy, it’s very full. Not a moment goes by where I have nothing to do, and I love that feeling (though it can definitely be stressful at times).

Before having my first, I was very worried about how adding a new baby was going to affect our finances. At the time, John was working for himself and I was planning on quitting my stable 9-5 so I could stay home with our daughter. We didn’t have much in savings and without me working, we knew it was going to be tough to add to our savings.

But, we survived (in fact, we thrived). Even though we went from two full-time incomes to one and added a new baby to the mix, John and I did just fine. You see…having a baby wasn’t as expensive as I thought.

Check out the rest of my article, including a breakdown of how much it costs to have two kids, over here on See Debt Run.

How to stop stressing about money

So, first things first. I typed up a nice long post this afternoon recapping my parents visit and saying how much we spend when guests from out of town visit and then… The post got deleted when I clicked “Save draft.” That’s never happened before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

So, onto another topic on how to stop stressing about money. I don’t know about you, but I am ALWAYS stressed when it comes to finances. No matter how much we save each month, how much we cut back or how much we make, I’m stressed. It’s seriously like a sickness and it’s GOT to stop.

Big house versus small house – my thoughts

I will admit I’ve been bit by the big-house bug. Living in Charlotte, the brick homes are just so gorgeous and resemble my dream home to a T – huge decks, crown molding throughout, tons of space . The big homes in the fancy neighborhoods were calling my name. I just had to live in one of those homes!!

One of the things I’ve noticed about Charlotte is that a lot of the homes in good school districts are big and fancy (hence, another reason for wanting a large house). There are tons of nice houses in not-so-great school districts too, but most of those kids attend private schools. It seems like there isn’t too much out there that is moderate-sized, in a good school district and had all my dream qualities. Plus, wouldn’t it be fun to live in a massive house?!

So…we viewed a rental that met my requirements…

What we’re spending on Thanksgiving

Happy Monday! So, I had a goal this weekend of getting a few posts done in advance that way I could focus on the holidays. That unfortunately did not happen as I ended up getting sick on Saturday evening and it lasted until Sunday evening (not bad, I know). I had a sore throat, fever and headache. Gah – to me there is nothing worse than a sore throat!!! I would much rather be throwing up than have a throat ache. Anyone else with me on that?!

Anyways, yesterday evening after I was feeling better we headed to Walmart to purchase our ingredients for Thanksgiving. I thought it would be interesting to share what we’re making and how much we spent.

How to live like you’re on vacation

One of the reasons we wanted to move to North Carolina was for the change of pace and change of scenery. In Arizona, we always felt very busy and rushed. Frequently, we would head up north for the day to the town of Flagstaff to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life in Phoenix. Flagstaff is a quaint college town with a fun downtown area, hip restaurants, beautiful trees, parks and historic homes. To us, it was the perfect escape from our busy life in Phoenix.

When we imagined moving to North Carolina, we envisioned how we felt in Flagstaff – calm, at peace, relaxed and just soaking in life. While life in North Carolina is busy, too, it definitely has a more “vacation” feel to it (and it’s not just because we’ve only been here a few months!). The key is to be intentional.

Money versus quality of life (a rant)

I’ve put myself into quite the dilemma that has got me thinking about money versus quality of life. You see, we moved to NC blindly, including renting an apartment based on online photos alone. Probably not the best idea, but that’s what we did. The apartment is fine – it’s nothing special, but it’s totally livable. We signed a 10-month lease that will be up at the end of June. So what’s the dilemma, you ask?

How to be productive when working from home with kids

My girls are wonderful, and I love them more than anything, but at ages 2 and 1 they are a handful and a half! From the moment I wake up until they take naps, it’s chaos. I get an hour or so of peace during nap time, then it’s chaos again until bedtime.

So, how do I still manage to bring in $1500 a month (on average) without the help of daycare or family? I’m glad you asked…

I wake up early. Usually, haha, my husband would probably argue otherwise. The girls normally wake between 7:30 and 8:00, so I try to get up by 7:00 at the latest to have coffee, read blogs and relax before the chaos ensues. Sometimes, I’ll get up at 6:00 and start working, other times I stay in bed until the girls wake up. That’s one of the joys of working from home 🙂

Nap time is a MUST. Anyone with little kids knows just how precious nap time is. I couldn’t get through my days without it! That being said, I try to do an activity with the girls in the morning to tire them out for the afternoon. This morning, for example, we went to the library, walked down to a local coffee shop and stopped by the grocery store. We were only gone about two hours, but the girls are both sleeping peacefully right now.

I write lists each day. I’m a list-maker and a goal-setter by nature. If it’s on my list, the task is going to get accomplished that day no matter what. I leave no room for error, BUT…

I ALWAYS work ahead. If an assignment is due on the 10th, I complete it by the 8th. If invoices are due on the 20th, mine’s in by the 18th. THIS is how I leave room for error. If an emergency comes up and an article on my to-do list doesn’t get done, I still have a few days to complete it without panicking. (I will say, though, that this has never happened. Talk about type A personality.)

I work everyday. I know, I KNOW. This sucks, and is actually something I’m trying to get better at. How I see it, though, is if on Saturday afternoon my girls are napping and my husband is watching football, my time is best spent busting out an assignment. That gets me ahead even further and allows extra time with my girls during the week when my husband is at work. It’s really hard not to think like this. If I have the time, I’m going to be working. Having two kids allows for plenty of “unwinding time” – park trips, play dates, walks around the neighborhood, playing with toys, baking together, etc.

When I’m working, I’m incredibly focused. Whether I’m writing an article, answering emails or editing, I stay focused on the task at hand. The internet is definitely a huge time-suck, so I don’t allow myself to log onto Facebook or read my favorite blogs until I’ve completed the assignment at hand. This method not only keeps me from getting distracted and prolonging the length of time to get an article done, it also motivates me to complete it so I can goof off, haha.

I like what I do. And finally, the best reason I’m able to stay productive is because I really enjoy what I do. The fact that I can provide some extra income for my family without having to put the girls in daycare or leave the house is a blessing. I love writing and I’m excited to see where this journey takes me!

How do you stay productive?? I would love to know your secrets!!