Money Saving Mom®

I’m excited and honored to be speaking at all four Teach Them Diligently conferences this year!

Teach Them Diligently celebrates the focus of Christian families — that is, the discipleship of children to glorify God. More than simply a convention about home education, they purposefully develop the themes of Missions, discipleship, and Christian parenting in addition to the traditional academic “how-to’s.

The locations and dates of the four conferences are:

• Nashville, TN — March 20-22, 2014
• Spartanburg, SC –April 3-5, 2014
• Washington, D.C. — May 15-17, 2014
• Dallas, TX — June 26-28, 2014

If you are a Christian homeschooling family (or one who is considering homeschooling), I’d encourage you to attend one of these events. I think you’ll be blessed and inspired! I was able to attend some of the sessions at the Nashville conference last year and was really encouraged by the speakers.

Get $5 Off the Registration Price!

Teach Them Diligently is offering $5 off any family registration to all of my readers when you use coupon code MoneySaver at checkout. Go here to register.

Psst! If you’re planning to attend, I’d love to meet you there! If you can’t make it to one of my sessions, we’ll also have a special meet & greet/book signing time at our booth at each conference. I’d love for you to stop by so I can get a chance to meet you personally. Meeting my readers face-to-face and getting to hear your stories is one of my very favorite things in the world!

Need a little discipline to help you put money in your savings account? SavedPlus is an app that helps you automatically build your savings when you shop. Here’s how it works:

1. Download the SavedPlus app to your smartphone, or use it online at SavedPlus.com.
2. Register with SavedPlus.
3. Set the savings slider. Decide how much you want to save every time you spend. 5% to 20% of your purchase amount will be automatically transferred from your checking to your savings account.
4. Link your bank accounts to SavedPlus. SavedPlus is bank independent and should work with any bank that offers online banking.
5. Choose your source and destination accounts. If you have more than one checking or savings account, you’ll choose the accounts you’d like to use with SavedPlus. You can set your savings to deposit into a traditional savings account, a money market account, or even long-term savings like a 401(k) or an IRA.
6. Set your savings goals. Save for your emergency fund, a college fund, debt retirement, and more.
7. Track your savings and adjust your settings. You can log in and track your progress or adjust your savings slider anytime through the app or online at SavedPlus.com.

Get a $15 Bonus!

For a limited time, you can get a free $15 savings account bonus when you sign up for SavedPlus using the promo code promo10. To get this offer, you’ll need to install and link your bank accounts to the SavedPlus app. Your $15 savings account bonus should be deposited within a week.

This post was underwritten by SavedPlus. See our disclosure policy here.

As I am reading your book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, I am trying to do one thing at a time… I began to implement a morning routine. That worked for about 2 days. We had to put my kids (ages 1 and 5) in the same room to sleep, as we are renovating the room my youngest was in. Now, the older one falls asleep sooner, and gets up an hour earlier. When she opens the door to the room to come out, she wakes my youngest up, too.

So they are both awake an hour earlier than normal and my routine doesn’t work. Since I am not a morning person, simply pushing my wake up time back an hour is an agonizing thought, though it may be what I have to do.

My question is this: this happens to me in some form or fashion ALL THE TIME. I struggle to get a routine, then once I get one and settle in to it, a wrinkle comes and throws it off. I get out of my groove and consequently seem to never find it again.

Do you have any suggestions for getting back into the routine (for whatever area) after I get out of it? I thrive on order, but cannot seem to keep it. -Kasie

Oh, Kasie! I so know this feeling — and I think many others can relate, too! Here are some ideas I had after reading your email:

1. Make Sure You’re Not Biting Off Too Much

After years of trial and error, I realized that the reason I was failing at my goals and ambitions was because I was trying to take on more than I could handle.

So step back and evaluate your morning routine (or whatever area you’re trying to change) and make sure you’re not biting off more than you can chew. Maybe just start with getting up 10 or 15 minutes earlier and doing one thing, every single morning.

This might seem discouraging because it feels so small, but starting somewhere and doing something is better than trying to overhaul your life overnight and ending up burnt out and overwhelmed. In addition, if you make tiny little steps in the right direction, they’ll add up to big progress over time.

2. Get an Accountability Partner

It’s amazing what a difference accountability can make! Think about running a race: if you have people running alongside you and cheering you on the sidelines, you’re going to have much more motivation to keep going and stick with it.

It’s the same in our lives: if we want to stay the course and follow through with our goals, we’ve got to be intentional about finding accountability partners and surrounding ourselves with cheerleaders.

Maybe ask a few friends who also want to make some small and steady progress in areas in their own lives to keep you accountable to stick with your morning routine. Text, call, or email them to check in on a daily or weekly basis. If you have a blog or Facebook account, you can also post your goals and progress there. I’ve found public accountability to be extremely helpful.

3. Ask a Trusted Friend for Ideas & Encouragement

In addition to having accountability partners and cheerleaders, I’ve found it’s imperative to have people in my life to bounce ideas off of and who can give me wise counsel. Find a few people that you can be 100% honest and vulnerable with about areas in your life you’re struggling with. These should be people who are committed to you, who will celebrate your successes, and who will love you enough to speak the truth to you when you need to hear it.

Ask these people for their advice and input when you’re having difficulty in a particular area. They will know you and your situation well and can give you counsel that’s tailored to your needs and specific situation. They’ll also be there to encourage you when you are feeling like you’ve fallen off the bandwagon and can help you get back up when you’ve fallen.

A Few Practical Ideas That May or May Not Work For You:

• Switch Most of Your Morning Routine to the Evening: Can you switch some of your morning routine to before bed to simplify your morning routine?
• Give Your Children Something to Do in Their Rooms: Could your children have a special basket of toys they could play with in their room if they wake up early to give you an extra 20 or 30 minutes to
• Have Your Children Join You in the Routines: Could your children join you in your morning routine if they wake up early?
• Try Getting Up Earlier for Three Weeks: I know you said you are not a morning person, but maybe consider going to bed a little earlier and getting up a little earlier for three weeks to see if it works for you?

What advice or ideas do the rest of you have for Kasie?

photo credit; photo credit: photo credit

Want some practical help with setting up your day for success? It all starts the night before! Be sure to grab a copy of my brand-new online course, Make Over Your Evenings.

This 14-day online course includes videos, a workbook, and step-by-step projects and is designed to help you maximize your evenings in order to experience more success in your life, more order in your home, and more joy in your soul.

It’s time to stop sleep-walking through life and wake up to the amazing excitement and fulfillment that comes when you follow my simple plan to Make Over Your Evenings.

Find out more about it here.

Are you tight on time or money but want to eat healthy meals at home on a regular basis? Consider starting a Freezer Club with your friends.

“A Freezer Club is a small group of friends (anywhere from 2-8 people) who commit to cooking freezer-friendly meals for one another each month.” ~Rachel at Thriving Home

Interested in learning more about starting a Freezer Club? Read more at the Thriving Home blog.

I was honored to get to do two interviews with Kat Lee recently! We did an interview for her Inspired to Action Podcast where we talked about my new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, and on How They Blog where we talked about Keys to Successful Blogging.

On the Inspired to Action Podcast, we talked about:

• How to create and stick with your goals
• How to find margin in your life
• How a “best stuff” list will help you create margin.
• The importance of self care.
• How knowing your drainers and fillers will energize you.

On the How They Blog Podcast, we talked about:

• How I got started blogging.
• The importance of building relationships for blogging success.
• The first step toward monetizing your blog.
• How to find your voice.
• How to find your niche.
• How to know what to quit.