Summer Lessons from a Busy Mompreneur

Let me tell you, I am completely and utterly exhausted. School has started and though is has been less than a week, it feels like it has been three months. I made some mistakes in my back to school prep and in my summer itinerary. You don't have to make the same mistakes, especially those of you who still have some time left before school starts. Here is what I learned and what I intend to improve upon.

Shop Leisurely

Firstly, do not wait until tax free weekend to do all your shopping; this is just my advice. You can do what you will, but for me it was not a nice experience. Everyone and I do mean everyone was out. The lines, the heat, and the jostling crowds all resulted in an unpleasant experience. There are sales throughout the year. Pay attention and stock up on items. End of season sales also provide opportunities for huge discounts. To wait just until tax free weekend was just too much for me.

Have Some Lazy Summer Days

Secondly, back to school would have been better if my summer was more relaxing. I traveled. I entertained. I had various home improvement projects. I worked, etc. etc. Buddha says "Do nothing, life is too precious to waste." While I am a practicing Christian, I can appreciate this philosophy. More lazy days of summer would have been good for my soul. It helps one to rejuvenate and focus on what is really important: family, friends, spirituality, health and wellness.

Pursue my Interests

Thirdly, read, sleep and play more. Yes these three. I know they seem unrelated but in fact they feed on each other. Rather than engaging in organized activities and events, I would strive to pursue my interests. Read in areas related to my passion; learn a new indoor game that my family and I can play together. Catch up on some rest. Studies abound regarding the positive social, emotional, educational, and health benefits of these activities.

Summer is fleeting; I feel extra tired at the start of this school year because I did it all wrong. Next summer, Gods spares, I will shop leisurely, relax, read, sleep and play more. For those of you who are still enjoying the last remnants of summer rays, let me know what simple strategies you are implementing to make it enjoyable and peaceful so that the start of the school year is full of excitement and vigor for you and your family.

3 Simple Ways to Get Things Done and to Stop Complaining

I have come to a point in my life where complaining is no longer a viable or valid option. It gets me no where. It just frustrates me even more and imbues negative feelings in my spirit. Instead, I have replaced the desire to complain with Being...Giving...Sharing. By Recalling theses three words each and every time I feel the need to complain, I get a lot more done.

Be

For me, to be is simply to be in the now. When we are in the now we do not dwell on the fears of the future nor the regrets of the past. Instead we learn to appreciate where we are, what we have and what we are doing. I am constantly reminded by my kids to pay them some attention. This Memorial Day we spent the day together. First we took a nice long walk in the morning. The outside air was so crisp and we were able to talk about life in general. Then we shopped and took advantage of the Memorial Day Sales. After that we went to Brewsters and the Movies. It was just wonderful spending the day with them. There was total bliss because I focused completely on my girls.

Give

In addition to just being in the now giving of your time or talents helps one avoid the act of complaining. The old saying "a rolling stone gathers no moss" applies here. Giving is an act of doing, so who has time to complain when one is busy giving to others. You will feel so much better about life and about yourself.

Share

If you have enough for you, you may just have enough to share. My cousin once told my kids sharing is caring. How can you share with others and still complain about the situation you are in? Trust me, you won't have time for that.

Ultimately, being, doing, and sharing puts me in a state of mind where complaining is improbable.

I have created a simple habit of when I feel like complaining focusing instead in the present moment and making changes to improve the situation and if I can't then doing what little I can to share my time and talents with someone who is in need.

We all can do this. What do you do to avoid the complaining modus operandi? Let us know by commenting below. Be blessed. Life is Good:)

Happy Mother's Day Mompreneurs

Happy Happy Happy Mother's Day Mompreneurs! It is your day to rest, relax and bask in the pleasure of being a Mom. Leave the work alone. It can wait another day. You are so deserving of all the love and attention you are getting today.

Here are 5 things I am grateful for this Mother's Day as a Mompreneur.

1. Wonderful, loving, God fearing kids.
2. A supportive, hardworking, magnificent husband.
3. The opportunity to pursue something I am passionate about in good health and peace of mind.
4. The opportunity to share my Mompreneur love with all of you.
5. The Love of God, family, and friends.

What about you? What are you grateful for this Mother's Day? No pressure, nor need to share, just bask in your gratitude as you celebrate this day with your loved ones.

Life is Good :)

Failure: It is a Good Thing

Hey, we all have failed. When test time comes, I am famous for telling my kids tests are a win-win. If you do well, you have gotten an opportunity to show off what you know and if you do poorly, you have an opportunity to discover what you did not know, so that you can improve. It's all good.

Failure and success are like Yin and Yang, two sides of the same coin with the whole being change. Without change, life as we know it comes to an end. When we embrace our failures and learn from them and at the same time continue to celebrate our successes, our life continues on its proper trajectory.

At times, if we don't learn from failures we keep repeating the same mistakes. A mistake in and of itself is not necessarily tragic. Life becomes tragic however when we keep making the same mistakes; when we make the same old nonsensical choices and then cry over the fact that things aren't the way we want them to be.

Embrace mistakes. It is ok to make them. It is not, however, ok to keep repeating them. Instead, learn from them and make better choices; we all should learn from mistakes whether in business or in our personal lives. If we do this, then no matter how dire things may seem at present, we have grown because of the mistake we have made.

Think of a tree that must be pruned in order to sprout new leaves and become an even bigger source of beauty, nourishment, shade or whatever the case may be. We are like that tree and at times our mistakes are part of the pruning process.

Embrace them. Learn from them. Do not repeat them. Life is Good.

GoodBudget: A Recommended App for Mompreneurs

I found this cool app for budgeting that I highly recommend. I encourage you to do your due diligence. Though I have used several budgeting apps/software programs such as MSN Money (no longer available) Quicken, Mint, Excel, etc, I really like this one simply because it is easy to use, particularly if you also adhere to the Dave Ramsey Envelope System.

GoodBudget provides a way to budget and organize ones finances based on the envelope system. I first heard about this system 3 or 4 years ago when I attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at a local Church. Ramsey says that the system is based on the old fashioned envelope system that our grandmother's used. You place budgeted cash amounts in envelopes, each with its own category and you only spend what you have available and no more. After trying this system, I found that I would lose receipts and would inevitably go back to spending on my debit and credit cards in order for me to have a valid paper trail. I also found that though I didn't spend above my total budgeted amount for the month, I would at times spend above the amount budgeted per category.

But then, GoodBudget came to my rescue. This app integrates the benefits of the envelope system with the necessity of maintaining order with minimal effort. One can sync accounts in order to know how much money is on hand in all active accounts. One can also know the amount of money in each envelope at any given time, just as if cash was being used, except it is an App on ones smart phone. Also, one can easily transfer money between envelopes. Though this is usually a no no for Dave Ramsey enthusiasts; but it is practical for me. Sometimes I may overspend in groceries but find that I haven't used much of my dining out budget. So, I just transfer from one to the other.

GoodBudget has been an awesome blessing for me. I have been able to stay within my overall budget amount monthly and I have been able to save.

If you try GoodBudget, let me know what you think. If you have a budgeting app that you are happy with, share it below. We are all in this together and if yours is super beneficial, then it may work for someone else better than the one I have recommended herein.

All in all, it goes without saying that budgeting works. It doesn't matter how much money you have on hand, which app you use or whether or not you decide to just use plain old paper and pencil. Budgeting will get you well on the way of winning your own financial race.