Families: Low Income Survival Strategies

We often equate our self-worth with the amount of money we have. What does that mean for families with low incomes? Money doesn’t have to define us if we know how to use it properly. Here are some strategies for saving money when you don’t have much to work with.

The economy has led to a lot of families taking big hits. Lost jobs, changing to lower-paying jobs and other factors have led to loss of income in this country. But, you can battle back if you are in this situation. It takes a little time in the beginning but you’ll get the hang of it soon.

Here are the strategies that might help you to save money.

* Create a budget – This is a tool to help you to know where you are right now and which direction you need to move in for the future. If the low income is a new situation, this is needed to know how short you will be on current bills. You can look at options for ways to cut costs.

* Talk to utility companies – Most utility companies have programs that allow you to pay the same amount each month based on your average monthly usage. This can help you to balance your books each month with no surprises.

* Investigate ways to lower energy costs – Try setting your thermostat at a lower temperature. If you are cold, use blankets. In the summer, use ceiling fans or wall fans to get the air moving. In the evening, open the windows for some natural breeze. Switching to CFL light bulbs will save money on lighting. Try other handy tips for lowering fuel bills. Over a year, it will pay for itself.

* Go grocery shopping – Eating out can be expensive, especially for a family. Buy meats and dry foods in bulk. Fix meals and freeze leftovers to be eaten at another time. Use coupons from the Sunday newspaper to lower food bills. Try a butcher shop for a better price on meats.

* Brown bag your lunch – Taking lunch to work and school saves about twenty dollars or more a week per person. You can invest in reusable lunch bags and water bottles.

* Hold a yard sale – There are sure to be items in your home that you don’t use and are gathering dust. Someone else may want them. A yard sale cleans out the clutter and also puts more money in your savings account.

* Revamp entertainment – With money pressures, take a look at your entertainment expenses. You can check out movies, CDs and books at your local library. Buy movies from Wal-Mart when they are on sale so the family can watch for movie night. Cancel book clubs, movie memberships and gym memberships to save money.

When the money is slim, you can still make ends meet with a few strategies. It doesn’t mean that you have to live without fun, just new ways to have your laughs.

Work at Home as a Home-Based Business Entrepreneur

Being an entrepreneur is very appealing but not everyone can become one. One of the quickest and easiest ways to become a successful entrepreneur is by working at home through a home-based entrepreneur business.

Firstly, you need to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. After the evaluation, you can now determine if you can manage your own online business. Aside from the evaluation process, you must know how to plan, organize, staff, and control. These are your responsibilities as an entrepreneur. You should be able to work alone because now you're the boss and all business decisions will be made by you.

Some say that online businesses can be run without many problems. Well, they are very wrong because even with an online business, you have to deal with certain business problems and risks. You can't eliminate such risks because that goes hand in hand with any business undertaking, both for online and offline businesses. However, you can reduce the risks that you're bound to deal with in the future by choosing the best home-based entrepreneur business that will work for you.

Entrepreneurs are known to be self-starters. Organizing your time is a difficult task but if you want to run a home-based online business, you should be able to do it. Remember, you don’t have a boss that you can rely on. This is your business and you have to be responsible for it at all times.

Running your own business would also mean that you have to deal with different kinds of persons. You will surely encounter demanding customers, moody vendors, and an unreliable staff. To become a successful home-based business entrepreneur, you should know how to deal with them individually. You should know the quirks of every person that you encounter so that you can address them and the situation correctly.

Running an online business is all about your attitude and character. According to some experts who conducted researches about the characteristics of entrepreneurs, there are certain traits that an entrepreneur should possess. As mentioned earlier, entrepreneurs are risk-takers, self-starters, and know how to deal with different kinds of people.

Those traits and characteristics are not enough. You have to have more than that. Another trait that you should possess is being an excellent decision maker. Since you're the boss, you should be able to make quick yet effective decisions. Some situations are filled with pressures but despite the pressures, you still need to make an informed and wise decision. As owner of your online business, you have no one else to rely on when it comes to business related decisions.

To be an effective online business entrepreneur, you must have lots of energy and superior work ethic. Owning an online business may mean working even on late hours and on the weekends. However, you must not be pressured of your tasks. View them as challenges and strive even harder. Your efforts will be rewarded once you see the profits rolling in.

If you already know the responsibilities of an entrepreneur, then you can assess if you can become successful in an online business. Working at home through a home-based entrepreneur business requires dedication and hard work. You must be able to monitor your finances, tasks, inventory, work schedules, and many others. Good luck and may your chosen home-based business become a success.

Clean Your House in Record Time

Are you expecting company at the last minute? Maybe you are just tired of the mess and want to clean your house, but it seems overwhelming. Sometimes, people put off cleaning their homes because they think it will take tons of hours - and who has that kind of time? Luckily, it does not have to take an entire weekend or even an entire day to clean your house. There are tips and tricks to make the job go faster. Here are some of them.

1. Pick a spot

Sometimes, that overwhelmed feeling begins when you look at the big picture. Breaking the task up into small bits that you can manage is key. Don't even look at a whole room - pick a corner or an area of the room. A messy bookshelf, a pile of boxes or paper, or a cluttered corner are examples.

One trick I use is to look through my camera at one area. If you are focused on that one particular small area, you will see more of what needs to be done. By limiting your view you will be able to concentrate on one small task at a time.

The point of this exercise is, getting that small area clean will help ease your mind and be done so quickly that you'll be motivated to do some more. Don't be tempted to "call it a day" after doing this small portion of the cleaning - otherwise, by the time you've cleaned the whole house, that first corner will be messy again!

2. Schedule it

If you were being paid to clean your home, and you were paid more for less time, wouldn't you do a good, fast job? Schedule your housecleaning time as you would a paying job, and take it just as seriously. This will also help prevent that tendency we all have to simply wait until we have time...someday.

3. Make it fun

You can at least make it bearable by playing favorite CDs, turning on a movie or TV show in the room where you're cleaning, or playing a book on tape or CD. The time will go by a lot faster with something going in the background to entertain you. Take care it doesn't distract you, though - if you want to clean your house in record time, you need to keep going once you start.

4. Keep things within reach

Keep cleaning tools all together in a special bin or container, or in a particular corner of a closet or storage space. That prevents you having to go all over the house gathering up cleaning supplies before beginning. Rags, mops, sponges, a broom, vacuum cleaner, etc. should all be in one spot.

5. A place for everything

If you're in a hurry, you may not have a place for all the magazines, books, papers, and various sundries lying around. Toss these things into baskets if possible - baskets look nice on shelves and on top of furniture. Also consider putting items temporarily in a plastic bin or box with a note to go through them later and find a real place for them. Otherwise, they will find their way onto the middle of the floor again!

Need Loving Reminders And Lots Of Support?

Check out FlyLady ! She has helped me and many other wonderful people like YOU get their homes in order 5, 7 or even 15 minutes at a time!

Black Bean Quesadillas

Black Bean Quesadillas
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed
½ cup shredded cheese (preferably Monterey Jack)
½ cup salsa
4 (8") tortillas (ideally whole-wheat)
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced

Instructions:
In a bowl, mix together the beans, cheese and half of the salsa. Place the tortillas flat on a work surface and spread with ½ cup of the bean/cheese filling. Then fold the tortilla in half and gently press down to spread out the mixture evenly.

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil and cook the tortillas on each side until lightly browned, about 2 minutes each side. Serve with the remaining salsa and the cut up avocado and a tossed salad.

Getting My Priorities Straight

I love being a work from home mom. However, it has it's challenges. One of the hardest I've faced so far is balancing my family life and my business. It is easy for one to butt into the time of the other.

It's a bit easier while the children are in school. The Man works nights now, so in the morning the kids leave the house by six a.m., then The Man goes to bed by 8 a.m. and all that is left is peace and quiet until my DD20 and my DS5 get up to start their day. And, honestly, even then it's pretty easy. They are both able to occupy themselves while I work and the others don't get up / home from school until 4 p.m. That is the time I use to work on my business and also my home.

Now, here's where the issue comes in. I tend to be drawn back into my work even later in the day and into the evening. I have let it become more of a priority than my family since it encroaches into 'family time'. And I need to put that to an end. So, I will be setting regularly scheduled 'business hours' for myself. If there is something I need to get done during the evening hours, it will be scheduled so that everyone knows that I will be working at that time instead of thinking I am ignoring them.

When I worked full time outside of the home I certainly didn't bring it back to the house to interfere with my family life, so why would I do it to myself now that I am my own boss? Just not gonna happen here. And I'm not going to worry about the loss of time spent on my home business. Because I believe that I will be blessed because of putting my family first, where they belong!

How do you balance your family life and your home business? I'd love to know!

Bored Teens? Keep Them Organized This Summer!

I'm BORED!

If your teen is anything like mine, you hear this all the time. That whining two-word sentence that makes you want to run your fingers down a chalkboard just to show them what it sounds like to you when they utter it! By the end of the summer, you may be ready to send them off to school by shooting them out of a rocket!

Kids (even older ones), have a short attention span and need constant stimulation to keep them interested. It can be quite a challenge to keep them occupied during the summer, especially if you view those months as a time of relaxation.

In an attempt to keep the teenage boredom away, here are some ideas to help you avoid hearing those words this summer:

* Have a talk with your teen. Find out what they are interested in and what they would rather chew off their own hand than do during the summer. What kind of hobbies do they have or would they like to start? This will at least give you a starting point in order to find some acceptable activities that they will be happy participating in during the summer months. Make a list of things that you and your child feel that they would enjoy doing.

* Make sure you set some boundaries! My DD14 would stay up all night raiding the fridge and watching questionable cable television shows and then sleep until 3:00 pm if I would let her. (Trust me, I actually did let her for about a week when I had the flu.)
Let your child know that they will not be spending the summer sitting on the couch, watching t.v. or playing video games all summer. Give them a minimum of activities to choose from the list you created during your talk. Now they will stay occupied all summer with some scheduled downtime.

* Volunteering is an excellent way for your child to stay occupied during the summer months. Most high schools require a certain amount of volunteer hours in order to graduate anyway, so why not use the summer months to get that done? My DD14 volunteered all summer between 8th and 9th grade at a Thrift Store / Food Pantry. She logged over 100 hours and has a certificate to prove that she has already met her graduation requirement. She also learned how to deal with a variety of situations and gained experience that she can use when applying for a 'real' job down the line. Your local paper should have a list of volunteer opportunities. Just be sure to choose something that compliments your child's interests.

* Playing summer sports is a fun way to pass the summer. Especially if your child was already involved in sports during the school year. It is a great way to hone their skills in a more relaxed environment where they don't have to worry about their school's record being at stake. On that note, there are also sport camps, however they can be pretty pricey.

* Maybe your son or daughter would be more happy finding a job and earning some extra cash of their own. During the summer months, there are many babysitting jobs available since many parents work while their children are in school.

* Look into the classes that are held at your local rec. center or library. Perhaps your teen would be interested in learning a new skill, such as acting, gardening or art.

* If your child is considering college, there are many local universities and colleges that offer summer programs that span a variety of career disciplines. Some even offer on-campus housing for the duration of the program. You will most likely have to fill out an application before the end of the school year to participate.

* Summer is also a great time to get the kids to help around the house. While I believe chores should be part of a child's every day routine, I do keep them at a minimum during the school year so my children can concentrate more on their school work. But, during summer vacation why not help them learn more of the household responsibilities that are normally not on their chore list?

While not an all-inclusive list, you should be able to get some ideas from those listed above to help your son or daughter stave off the boredom this summer.

Have any ideas of your own? I'd love to hear them!