How to Get More Fun for Your Money

You can be happy with less money. It all depends on how you use it and what it does for you. Apply your money in the ways that will make you happiest. Be purposeful in how you spend your cash, and your life will be enriched, even on the tightest budget. Choose Experiences Instead of Materials Experiences can be one of the best investments of your money. Long after the money is spent, you will look back on the time with many fond memories. Money that is used toward experiences generally leaves people feeling that it was absolutely worth it. … Continue reading

Finding Your Identity in Your Marriage

I never thought much about my life growing up. At times in my adult life when I’ve considered getting married, having kids, I didn’t have anything but my own thoughts at that time to rely on. It’s strange because I’m an obsessive planner for short-term details, but I can’t think of any point in my life when I’ve had a vision for the future. As a kid I always had dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up: veterinarian, zoologist, reporter for National Geographic Magazine, but those were always just fleeting childhood whimsies. I never pictured myself … Continue reading

Returning to Work After Bringing Home Your Baby

After the birth of a new baby, home – based professional parents have quite a job to do. Whether they are welcoming their first child or a sibling, the first thing that they must do is get settled in to their new family structure and re – learn how to get through each day. Babies are small and cute, but they have big needs which can make for some very big changes in the way that a household runs from day to day. Once everything has settled down a bit, the thoughts of a home – based professional parent usually … Continue reading

Insurance Blog Week in Review – Week of March 4 – 11, 2012

Each and every week, there can be anywhere between twelve and fourteen different blogs appearing on the Insurance Blog. Keeping up with the Insurance Blog is a good way to stay informed about insurance changes that can affect your family. Use the Week in Review is a quick way to “ketchup”! Examining a Potential Health Insurance Plan I am, once again, attempting to find an affordable health insurance policy. In this blog, I go over what some of the abbreviations, phrases, and numbers in the health plan I am looking at actually mean. The Insurance Podcast Roundup went up on … Continue reading

What Are Your Money Beliefs?

People have many thoughts about money throughout each day. However, it is not very often that most of us sit down and think about what we truly think or believe about money. We mostly just sort of go about our business with those ideas and values at the back of our minds. We may even be unaware of how they affect the things that we consciously say or think about money. There has been much written about the subject of how a person’s core beliefs and deeply held values about money influence the amount of money that they have in … Continue reading

Do You and Your Spouse Sleep in Separate Beds?

In the days of black and white television, it was scandalous to show a man and woman in the same bed. I remember seeing episodes of I Love Lucy and wondered why Lucy and Ricky had twin beds—the world just wasn’t ready for anything more suggestive. Today when we hear of a man and woman sleeping in two separate beds, our thoughts immediately leap to the conclusion that they are having anger and/or sexual problems. But is that the only reason for sleeping separately? Some people are driven to the couch or to the guest bedroom by their spouse’s snoring … Continue reading

Count Your Blessings

I don’t consider myself a selfish person. Of course, none of us believes we are selfish or spoiled or any other negative adjective, but my thoughts on that are changing. I’ve been whining, yes, whining about how hard it is to be a single parent, to raise a child on one income, to not have any time for myself and on and on it goes. I think we are all guilty of complaining, at least I hope so, I would hate to be the only one. I belong to a meetup group and every year they do some charity thing, … Continue reading

Bargain Hunting for Your Home

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make your home look nice. Bargains are everywhere; you just need to know where to look. I have one friend in particular who is great at this. She lives in a large, gorgeous house that they had built. So everything is very new. Her decorating skills are great. Every tine I would see something new, such as a wall hanging, I would ask where she got it and she would reply with something like, “K-Mart.” Yet everything looked so expensive. However she isn’t spending a lot of money, she knows … Continue reading

3 Tips for Blogging Professionally

Blogs were first written by those who wanted to share their thoughts, family photos and stories with a small group of people. Most were used to chronicle the lives of person writing the blog. Blogs caught on due to the friendly nature and transparency of the authors. The popularity mounted and soon they evolved into the realm of making money. Once a blogger earns an income from her blog she becomes a professional blogger. When blogs were first conceived I am sure no one ever thought it would give rise to professional bloggers making a living reviewing products and chronicling … Continue reading

Thoughts For People Just Starting to Think About Home Based Work

People that are thinking about working from home often wonder whether there is actually any money to be made by doing so. There are home-based professionals that are able to pull in quite a bit of money. When you begin looking for home-based work, you must take an inventory of your job skills so that you can locate and apply for the highest paying jobs that you are qualified for. Yes, even if you want to work from home it is important to update your resume so that potential employers can know if you have what it takes to do … Continue reading