Money Saving Mom®

My book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, comes out on Tuesday (January 21, 2014)! I am SO excited and can’t wait for you to have a copy in your hands!

If you haven’t ordered your copy yet and want a sneak peek at the contents of the book, you can download a free chapter here. In this chapter, I share:

• A little background on why I wrote this book
• My own personal spiral to hitting rock bottom
• The words my husband said when I was in the pit of despair that changed my life
• Why I stopped using my personal Facebook profile
• The importance of creating a Personal Priorities List
• The four C’s to creating margin

To read the introduction and Chapter 1 of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, click here. If you’re struggling with feeling exhausted and overwhelmed with too many to-do’s, I think you’ll be blessed by it.

Here’s what a reader wrote in about the free chapter a few days ago:

I just read the sample chapter from your new book and I’m not exaggerating when I say it was like I was reading about my own life word for word. I am getting on Amazon to pre-order this now. I really hope that this can help me get back on track!

Slowly but surely, I keep falling further behind. I am a mother to three children, work 30 hours a week outside the home, and my husband is in the marine corps with little to no time at home to help. I feel like I am living in survival mode now just struggling to complete what we need for the next day. Over time, I’ve somehow forgotten who I am.

My daughter asks me what some of my favorite things are and I cannot even answer them anymore. But how can I find myself when I can’t even find my car keys half the time?

Anyway, I am really looking forward to reading your book and trying to find some ways to simplify my life. Thanks for all your help!

If you haven’t ordered your copy of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode yet, you can pre-order your copy on Amazon or through many other retailers here.

This morning, Crystal was on Good Morning America talking about Pinterest Money Saving Tips.

It was super exciting and a great way to kick off the week!  In case you missed it, here’s the clip from earlier today.

Your support and enthusiasm means everything!

Thank you,

Joy G. from the Money Saving Mom® Team

This past weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to film a segment with Good Morning America! (It airs at 8:35 a.m. your local time this morning.)

I talked about how we use ideas I find on Pinterest to save hundreds of dollars a year. If you’re not following me on Pinterest, I’d love to have you check out my Freezer Cooking board, my Money-Saving Ideas board, and my Do It Yourself Board.

This was one of my first times to ever do something like this and it was a great experience. I’m so thankful for all of your support and encouragement on Facebook the last few days. It means so much!

Someone asked me the other day, “If you’re feeling overwhelmed and discouraged by everything in your life, what is the one of the most important things you can do to change your life?”

I thought of a lot of different practical things I could encourage someone to do, but at the heart of your success in anything in life is your attitude. If you have a can-do, creative, committed attitude, you’ll go far in life. If you have a can’t do, won’t do, too hard, whiny attitude, you’ll probably never go anywhere.

Change your attitude and you’ll change your life. This goes either way. You can choose to look at a situation with positivity or negativity.

The choice is yours. But your choice will have a ripple effect.

For instance, when Jesse started law school and we committed to stay out of debt during his three years of law school, I won’t pretend that it was an easy choice. Because it wasn’t.

We knew that the road ahead of us was going to be rocky and rough. We have a choice to feel discouraged and disheartened or we could approach it with all the courage and heart we could muster up (with God’s help).

We chose the latter, seeing the law school journey as an opportunity to learn, to make short-term sacrifices, to get wildly creative, and to look for the blessings along the way.

There were many days when it wasn’t easy. There were many set backs, curve balls, and disappointments. But we kept choosing to make the most of the experience. To do the best we could with the time and resources we had.

Looking back, every single one of those years of struggle and working so hard to try to make ends meet was worth it. Oh so worth it!

• If we hadn’t struggled financially, I wouldn’t have been highly motivated to learn how to pinch every penny.
• If we didn’t have to worry about how we were going to afford groceries, I probably would have never taken the time to learn how to play the Drugstore Game.
• If we hadn’t wondered how we were going to pay our rent and utility bills, I doubt I would have never spent hours and hours and hours of time trying to figure out how to make money online.

And it’s because of those lessons, that I started this blog. Writing books, speaking, growing as a person, and meeting so many, many dear people who are a part of the MoneySavingMom.com community… none of this would have happened without those lean law school years.

When the road ahead of you looks bleak, don’t give up.

When it feels impossible, keep going.

When you want to throw in the towel, hang on.

You never know what the struggles and difficulties you are going through might be preparing you for in your future. Don’t lose heart!

Crystal, I’m curious if you worked out as regularly as you do now with young children? How did you manage your time when your kids were in a more time-demanding stage? I am pregnant and have a 2-year-old at home — the former keeps me up all night with dance parties in my stomach & the lovely toddler still doesn’t sleep through the night.

I’m working 2 days a week now (down from 5-7 in residency… hooray!), but still can’t manage to pull myself out of bed before my child wakes up (usually 5:30-7:30 a.m. time range) after being up 2-3 times a night. I’m just wondering if you have any tips on how to fit it “all in” when exhaustion & time aren’t on my side right now? -JLyn

I thought this was a great question to address as exercise is the focus for January as part of the 12 Months to a Healthier You Challenge. Here are some of my thoughts:

Make It a Priority

If you don’t make exercise a priority, there’s a very good chance it’s not going to happen. It takes dedication, motivation, and commitment to stick with consistent exercising. But it is so worth it — not only because you’ll probably feel better, but you’ll also have more energy!

When I had young children, I found that I had to exercise first thing in the morning or it just seemed like it wouldn’t happen. Before I knew it, the day would be over with, I’d be exhausted and ready for bed, and I hadn’t exercised yet again.

Practical Ideas For Making Exercise Happen With Young Children

• • Use a Playpen — When I had a baby or a young child, I’d often put them in the playpen with a few special toys to play with in the same room while I exercised. This will usually buy you at least 10-20 minutes’ worth of exercise time if your child can’t climb out of the playpen yet!
  • Do It Together — If I don’t get exercise in before my children get up, they often exercise with me. In fact, just this morning, Kaitlynn and Silas did my entire hour of P90X with me. They had a blast trying to do the exercises with me and it was so fun to do it with them — and I got in a great workout, too!
  • Take Advantage of Naptime — If you are energetic enough to not lie down and take a nap while your child naps, this can be a good time to get in a quick workout.
  • Turn on a Movie — When my children were really little, I sometimes would plan their movie time to coincide with my exercise time.
  • Have a Basket of Special Toys — Another fun way to keep children occupied is to put together a basket of special toys that they can only play with while you exercise. You could even create Day of the Week Tubs specifically for them to use during your exercise time.
  • Play Outside Together — Go outside and get some fresh air. Play tag or swing on the swing set at the park. It might not be a strenuous workout, but it will be something. And something is always better than nothing!
  • Go on a Walk — Strap your child in a stroller and go on a brisk walk around the neighborhood. Too cold to walk outside? Head to the mall or another indoor location and walk.

Give Yourself Grace

Now that I’ve given you some ideas that worked for me, I want to leave you with this reminder: give yourself grace in this season, JLyn. You have your hands full — and you are nurturing a baby inside of you.

If you’re exhausted, sleep. If you only have energy to do a 10-minute workout DVD or play with your child at the park, that’s okay.

Don’t beat yourself up over what you can’t do. Just do the best you can do and be free from guilt!

What advice and ideas do the rest of you have for JLyn? We’d love to hear!