Saving Families Money Since 2007
Today’s question is from Jenny:
I’m a work-at-home mom and my husband and I are living on a tight budget. We were just invited to a wedding and we aren’t quite sure how to handle the gift. Do you have any suggestions for inexpensive wedding gifts? We don’t want to seem cheap, especially when most people give monetary gifts of $50 or more. Thanks!
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
As I mentioned a few days ago, beginning Friday morning (March 1, 2013), I’ll be hosting an Early to Rise Challenge right here on MoneySavingMom.com.
Here’s how the Early to Rise Challenge will work:
1. I’m encouraging everyone who would like to participate to commit to a specific time they’ll be getting up every week day morning in March. You can choose whatever time is best for you, but please remember to be realistic. This is not a contest to see who can get up the earliest or who can survive on the least amount of sleep. On the contrary, this is about making the most of your mornings — whether you get up at 4 a.m. or 9 a.m.
2. Every week day in March at 9 a.m. EST, I’ll post a short Early to Rise post. I’ll share a few of my thoughts on the day’s passage from Early to Rise, tell you what time I got up that morning, and encourage you to leave a comment to tell us what time you got up and how you’re doing on the challenge.
3. Want to blog about this challenge? I’ll have a link-up at the bottom of each post if you want to blog about the challenge each day. Plus, if you’d like to post your daily posts to the Early to Rise Group Board on my Pinterest page, just shoot me an email (moneysavingmom @ gmail dot com) and I’ll invite you.
4. Want to follow along on Twitter or Instagram? Each week day morning on my Facebook Page, my Twitter account, and my Instagram account (still getting this set up!), I’ll be posting a picture of my alarm clock as public accountability. I’d love to have you do the same or join in the discussion on Twitter and Instagram. Just follow hashtag #EarlytoRiseChallenge to see what others are tweeting and Instagramming about this challenge!
I think this public accountability is going to be fantastic! Who’s with me?
Assignment
1. If you’re joining in the challenge, please leave a comment and tell us what time you are committing to get up every weekday in March. Remember: be realistic!
2. Also, you’ll want to grab a copy of Early to Rise by Andy Traub if you haven’t already done so. He’s offering it at the discounted price of just $4.99 through Friday. You can read my review of Early to Rise here.
If you prefer to receive the daily chapters via email, you can sign up for those using the link in the book after you purchase it. In addition, Andy has recorded all of the chapters so you can listen to them, if you’re more of an audiobook person rather than a reader.
Not too long ago, I was attending an event for online business owners. One of the workshop presenters asked for a show of hands for who was a leader in the room.
In that group of around 100 online business owners, guess how many people raised their hands? About seven people.
The speaker went on to explain how every single person in the room should have raised their hand because we are all leaders in some sphere of life whether it’s as a mom leading her children, as a business owner leading your team, as a blogger or author leading your “tribe”, as a Sunday school teacher leading your class… no matter who you are or what you do, if you’re past about five years old, you are a leader.
I understood why very few people raised their hands at that event, though, because I used to not think I was a leader either. In fact, it seemed almost egotistical for me to even consider that I might be a leader in some sense of the word.
But I started reading John Maxwell (if you’ve not read any of his books, you must make that a priority in your life ASAP!), and it transformed my thoughts on leadership. I began to realize that I absolutely was a leader in certain realms.
I’m called by God to lead and teach my children with my husband and God has put a strong calling in my life to lead women by encouraging and equipping them to be better stewards of their time and resources and to live life on purpose.
When I finally owned the fact that I am called to be a leader, it completely changed the way I approach life. Here are three things I’m learning are especially important to be doing if I want to be a leader:
How can you expect to effectively give out to your children or your class or your team or your readers (whoever it is that you are leading) if you aren’t constantly replenishing your supply? This is why it’s imperative for me to spend time in God’s Word and prayer every day and why I’ve become very intentional about reading good books.
What are you doing to pour into your life and build yourself up to lead in those areas you’re called to lead in? If you can’t think of anything, today’s the day to set a few small goals and start working on them!
Just because I now own the fact that I’m a leader does not mean I’ve in any way “arrived”. Oh goodness, no!
I have so much to learn and so far to go. Because of this, I need wise people around me to help steer me, challenge me, motivate me, and correct me.
In the last few years, I’ve been especially intentional about cultivating relationships with those who are more experienced than me in life and seeking their counsel and advice. More than anything, I want to be teachable and willing to learn from others — even when it means admitting that I was wrong and asking for forgiveness (something I have to do so often!).
A while back, I was in a session at a conference listening to a woman speak on how important it was to be a person of your word. She gave some examples of times in her life when someone had promised her something and then they’d not made good on their promise.
I was challenged by her statements because I know that I have a tendency to make promises to people with good intentions, but then life happens and I don’t always follow through. I was further challenged because I later saw this same woman practice what she preached.
You see, this speaker had said earlier at the conference that she wanted to meet with me. I thought it was a nice gesture, but I knew she had a thousand and one things going on and didn’t really expect a meeting to actually happen.
But, to my surprise, she made good on her promise. In spite of her busy schedule, she invited me up to her hotel room later in the day and we had a great chat together.
You know why I was especially challenged? Because just a few months ago, I’d told someone at a conference that I was available to meet with them at a certain time. At the last minute, something came up and we didn’t get to meet more than in passing.
I later followed up and apologized via email and was able to answer some of her questions through email. However, I know that I disappointed this person by making a promise I didn’t keep. That’s not integrity and that’s not how I want to live my life.
How are you seeking to develop yourself so you can be a more effective leader?
photos from Big Stock
“You might not want to sit in that chair.” I said to our guest last week as we all went to the kitchen table to eat dinner. “It’s kind of getting wobbly and I would hate for it to break when you sit down.”
He moved to a different chair and we had a good laugh over it. We then proceeded to tell our friends how we bought the kitchen table and six chairs used on Craigslist for about the price you’d pay for two new kitchen chairs.
Since then, it’s become much more worn, scratched, and covered with numerous dents and crayon markings. The chairs are mismatched and missing some of their spindles, and yes, a few are rather wobbly and in need of repair.
But it’s our table.
It’s lived through so many memories with us. It’s been the anchor for so many wonderful meals and conversations. We’ve gathered around it to meet new friends, share deep heart-to-heart talks, and read countless books together. It’s been the surface where we’ve kneaded bread dough, colored pictures, worked math problems, and pored over the atlas dreaming of trips to far away places.
Jesse asked me not too long ago if I’d like to replace our kitchen table with something nicer and newer. I immediately responded that if we ever need to replace it, I want to buy another well-used table.
Why? Because I don’t have to worry about the scratches and dents and pen marks when we buy it already good and used. They just blend right in! I’ve not had to worry whether someone added additional nicks and dings to our well-used table, so I’ve freely let the kids play with play dough, color, draw, cut, glue, pound, and everything else they do when crafting and creating.
Sure, our table wouldn’t win any award for being the most beautiful piece of furniture, but it’s been the catalyst for so many memories and so much creativity that it’s much more beautiful than any high-dollar dining room set would ever be to me. It’s our Craigslist table and we love it!
Guest post from Angie of Live Healthy Save More
Choosing to live debt-free is a challenging task for anyone, but it is especially difficult for anyone dealing with an irregular income. In today’s changing economy, more and more people are adopting freelance, self-employed, and contract-style careers.
Sticking to a budget, paying off debt, and saving can be incredibly difficult when your income varies from month to month. Long term planning can also be very challenging when there is no way to predict how much money will be coming in.
My husband and I have been in this situation for the last two and a half years. He is a freelance violinist. I am a doctoral student, freelance administrative assistant, and blogger.
We went through Financial Peace University our first year of marriage, and it changed our lives. However, many times we had to adapt Dave’s suggestions to fit our “non-traditional” lifestyle. Although it has not been without set-backs, we have learned a lot about how to plan and budget with a irregular income.
Here are five simple tips you can use to harness the power of your variable income to achieve your goals:
Freelance or contract income is often incredibly unpredictable. Gigs or contracts fall through, or customers delay payment.
In light of this unpredictability, I highly recommend building at least a three-month emergency fund before putting any extra money toward paying off debt. This will give you a large cushion to rely on in case you have a slow month or a job unexpectedly falls through.
We learned this one the hard way. When we only had a small emergency fund, we often found ourselves on the ever-revolving cycle of having to put essentials on the credit card while waiting on a payment from a previous job.
Another way to prevent the credit card cycle and to avoid frequently draining your savings is to budget a month ahead. For example, everything we make in February goes towards paying the bills in March. February’s bills have already been covered by January’s income.
Being a month ahead gives you the flexibility to have a whole month to prepare if gigs or contracts dry up. It also allows you to wisely allocate unexpected extra income.
If you know next month’s bills are covered, you can put this extra income towards savings or debt payment. If you are receiving a tax-refund, you could use it to jump start your month ahead budgeting.
Living with a “non-traditional” income often comes with seasons of feast and famine. It is important to plan for these seasons as much as possible. For example, I know that we have less income in the summer.
This means that during our busy season (February through May) I intentionally look for extra deals and sales. If spinach is on sale for 99 cents, I may buy two bags and freeze one for later use. I take extra time to coupon and add to our toiletries stockpile. I also garden in the summer to reduce our grocery bill.
This is a huge key to success on a variable income. Know when your big non-monthly bills are due and save monthly whenever possible. We use automatic savings bank drafts to ensure we will have the cash for our yearly instrument and rental insurance payments.
Also, keep track of all income. We use a modified version of this spreadsheet. This will help with long-term planning.
This spreadsheet can also help with tax planning. You can also use this to track receipts and possible deductions. I am not a tax expert, so I will not attempt to offer tax advice. However, I will say that it is imperative to keep track of your income and to have a plan for tax payments. We also learned this one the hard way!
Although planning ahead is vital to financial success, everything must be done in moderation. Planning can quickly turn to obsessing, especially when there are unpredictable months ahead. I limit the amount of time each day that I spend working on our finances in order to prevent excessive worry.
A friend, who has recently overcome a major life obstacle, shared with me her secret to success. Her motto is, “Stay in your day”. Plan wisely, but do not allow your planning to pull you from living well in the present.
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”
~Leo Buscaglia
Do you have irregular income? What are your tips for sticking with a budget? I’d love to hear!
Angie is a doctoral student and online writer. Outside of her academic pursuits, she loves creating useful and innovative online content about healthy living. She also enjoys spending time with her amazing husband. Her other favorite things include chocolate, sports, and sunny days. She blogs at Live Healthy Save More.
At the beginning of every week in 2013, I’ll be sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you’ll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you’re already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.
A few of my frugal friends: Ruth from Living Well Spending Less, yours truly, Rachel from Surviving the Stores, and Ashley from Ambient Promotions.
I was being interviewed for a magazine article this afternoon and one of the questions the interviewer asked was, “What are some of your top tips for families who want to cut their budget?”
After going through the usual suggestions I give (things like setting financial goals, getting on a budget, etc.), I said, “I think it’s also important that you surround yourself with frugal friends.” While this isn’t necessarily the usual financial advice you receive, more and more, I’m beginning to believe that it’s a key factor in helping people stay motivated and on track financially.
Think about it: if everyone you associate with it spending money pretty extravagantly and telling you that you “deserve” this, that, and the other — even if you can’t afford it — it’s going to be hard to stick with your resolve to live frugally. On the other hand, if many of your friends are living frugally and simply, if they are content and totally “get” you when talk about buying something secondhand or saving up to pay cash for things, it will be a lot easier to keep on your slow and steady journey toward debt-freedom or achieving your other financial goals.
In addition, when you hang out with frugal friends, you are inspired with new money-saving ideas, you are motivated to not give up, and you can laugh at all the crazy things you do in order to stay on budget.
It’s much more fun when you don’t go it alone. That’s why I encourage everyone who wants to live frugally to start an official Frugal Club or at least find a great gang of frugal friends that you can brown-bag your lunches with.
Some of the ways you can save money by having frugal friends:
1. You’ll Be Able to Swap Skills
Your frugal friends will more than likely be glad to barter skills and talents. It saves everyone money — and it saves you all a lot of frustration, too.
Your frugal friends might also be interested in having regular swap parties where you swap clothes or toys your kids no longer need or even items you got for free with coupons.
2. You’ll Learn New Skills and Money-Saving Tactics
Your frugal friends will teach you new money-saving skills and techniques you would have never thought of or tried on your own. Pretty much every frugal idea I know of is something I’ve learned from another frugal friend.
In addition, my frugal friends have challenged me to try things I probably wouldn’t have tried on my own — like making homemade soap!
3. You’ll Stay Inspired
Whenever you’re feeling burnt out on sticking with a budget, just call or email one of your frugal friends and she’ll be sure to listen and then remind you of why you’re doing what you’re doing — and that it will be worth it.
4. You’ll Have Fun
It’s a lot more fun to save money when you’re among friends who are also committed to living frugally. Plus, they’ll laugh at your crazy thrift store experiences or used car adventures.
If you don’t know a single frugal friend, don’t despair. Start looking for them at your local library, mom’s groups, church, thrift store, used book sale, or gardening club. You just never know where you’ll find an amazing frugal friend, but if you keep your eyes open, I promise there are some other frugal folks who live in your area!
In the mean time, read money-saving books and blogs to help you stay motivated and inspired. They aren’t the same as real-life friends, but they will still help you stay motivated. And if you have trouble finding local friends, see if you can find some good accountability partners online — maybe even people that you meet in the comments section here on MoneySavingMom.com.
Do you have frugal friends? Tell us what you’ve learned from your frugal friendships and your best tips for finding frugal friends.
This morning, one of my children started the day by accidentally spilling their entire bowl of cereal and milk all over the kitchen floor.
And it wasn’t just a neat little spill (is there such a thing?). No, cereal and milk were spattered all over the place.
It was not the best prelude to a Monday morning and I wanted to get frustrated over it. I quickly caught myself, though, when I looked into the eyes of this child and realized that the last thing they needed from me was shame. Instead, they needed grace.
I had the opportunity to either speak words that would hurt my child, or bless my child. Instead of venting, I stopped, took a deep breath, smiled, and said, “Here. Let me get you a new bowl of cereal. And let me wipe you up. Don’t worry about the spilled cereal. I’ll clean it up.”
You know what? I felt so much calmer just saying those words. My child immediately smiled and all was well. And it only took a few minutes to clean up anyway.
But lest you think I’m some rockstar mom, let me tell you that I totally failed in this regard just yesterday — and it was over something much smaller than milk and cereal splashed all over my kitchen. I got upset. I yelled. And I said hurtful words.
Words that wounded. Words that penetrated. Words that shamed.
For the rest of the day, some of my family members carried heavy hearts and discouragement as a result of my words. Even though I asked forgiveness, the damage couldn’t be undone.
As was so evident to me yesterday, our words have lasting impact — either for good or for harm. In 25 years, the spilled cereal and milk and the inconsequential things that happened yesterday will long be forgotten, but my words can never be taken back.
My new mantra: “Grace, not shame.” Will you join me?
If you’ve been looking for a way to teach your child or teen good financial management skills, you’ll want to check out Virtual Piggy Bank.
It’s a FREE site that allows your child to track their earnings and learn practical skills while giving, saving, and spending the money they earn.
(Note: The link in this post is my referral link. Read my disclosure policy here.)
Last week’s goals:
Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals
1. Read two chapters of Vinegar Boy: Encounter Christ Through the Dramatic Story of Vinegar Boyaloud at lunch. Read two chapters of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh at dinner. Read three chapters of A Bear Called Paddington with Kathrynne, read three chapters of Little House on the Prairie with Kaitlynn, read three chapters of Eloise Wilkin Stories
to Silas.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
3. Have a Wii Challenge night as a family.Personal Goals
4. Memorize Romans 1:7-85. Run 25 miles total.
6. Finish reading Uneclipsing the Son, Fit To Burst, A Charlotte Mason Education, and Eve’s Daughters. {I did almost zero reading this past week, believe it or not!}
Homemaking Goals
7. Do a Freezer Cooking in an Hour session.8. Finish 30 rows of the scarf for Kathrynne.
Business Goals
9. Have a business brainstorming afternoon to flesh out business ideas and map out business goals for the next few years (We have some amazing folks flying in to help consult us in this! Can’t wait to see what comes of this!).
10. Finish tweaking my talk for the MAPS events& give presentations on Thursday and Friday. {These ended up getting cancelled due to all the snow.}
This week’s goals:
Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals
1. Read three chapters of Vinegar Boy: Encounter Christ Through the Dramatic Story of Vinegar Boy
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
Personal Goals
3. Memorize Romans 1:9-10.
4. Exercise five times.
5. Start Early to Rise Challenge on March 1, 2013.
6. Finish reading Uneclipsing the Son, Fit To Burst, A Charlotte Mason Education, and Eve’s Daughters.
Homemaking Goals
7. Do a Freezer Cooking in an Hour session.
8. Finish Kathrynne’s scarf.
Business Goals
9. Work on outlines for five upcoming talks.
10. Turn in my manuscript to Thomas Nelson!
How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!
You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
Guest post by Angi of SchneiderPeeps
Because of increasing gasoline prices we need to cut our grocery budget a little and move those funds over to our auto budget. This is really a good thing, since I’ve noticed I’ve gotten a little sloppy lately. So I’m going back to the “No Waste Kitchen” philosophy that I used to have and let slide over the past few years.
For me, a “No Waste Kitchen” means that no edible food gets thrown out – or given to the hens or dog. It means no item is too small to matter. It also means saving money. We’ve lived this way before, we can do it again.
Here’s our plan:
I know this sounds reasonable, but sometimes an item is so cheap or even free that I think it’s a good deal. But if it just sits in my pantry taking up space then it’s not a deal.
If my children need a second serving of something they can have it. But when we put larger portions on our plates and then don’t eat it all, we really have no choice but to give the leftovers to the animals.
Plan at least one lunch or dinner each week to intentionally clean out the refrigerator and freezer of the leftovers. We call it “Buffet Night”.
Remake the leftovers into something else. For instance, if I have broccoli left over from dinner, I can use it to make a little cream of broccoli soup for lunch the next day.
If there’s quite a bit of leftovers, I can freeze them in small meal size containers as “frozen dinners.”
This is where the rubber meets the road. Sometimes there really is too small an amount to save (or so we think). Save it anyway. I have a container in my freezer that is just for tomato products.
For instance, each week when we have pizza we have about 2 Tablespoons of sauce left over. Those 2 Tablespoons go into the container. If we have spaghetti and there’s some sauce left over, it goes into the container. If we brown meat and don’t use it all, the rest goes into the container. When the container is full, I use it to make spaghetti.
If I notice that the bananas are not getting eaten very quickly and they are past their prime, I put them in the freezer until I have time to make banana bread. If something has been in the refrigerator for a couple of days and I’m not sure if it will make it until “Buffet Night”, I put it in the freezer. I just need to remember to scour the freezer, also.
Angi is a pastor’s wife and mom of 6 children who spends her days homeschooling, crafting, gardening, playing chauffer, keeping chickens, trying to learn how take better pictures and blogging at SchneiderPeeps. She’s also the author of The Gardening Notebook.
We’re supposed to get quite a bit more snow today and have blizzard-like conditions for the next few days. I went ahead and planned a full menu, but if our electricity goes out like they are predicting is possible, we’ll fall back on PB&J and cold cereal. We stocked up on some no-electricity-required staple meal ingredients just in case. 🙂
Breakfasts
Oatmeal, Cereal, Eggs, and/or Fruit
Lunches
Mac & cheese, fruit
Snack-y lunch
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples
Cheese quesadillas, carrot sticks
Scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit
Leftovers x 2Snacks
Fruit/veggies
Popcorn
Chocolate Cranberry Energy Bites
Apple Butter MuffinsFreezer Cooking in an Hour (stay tuned on Thursday when I’ll share a play-by-play on how this goes!)
Homemade Freezer Biscuits
Barbecued Beef in the Crockpot
Chocolate Cranberry Energy BitesDinners
Dinner with extended family
Spaghetti Pie, Homemade French Bread, steamed veggies, fruit
Chicken Noodle Soup, Easy Whole Wheat Muffins, fruit/veggies
Vegetable Beef Stew in the Crockpot, Homemade Bread Sticks in the Bread Machine
Barbecued Beef in the Crockpot, baked potatoes,
Homemade Pizza {we’re hosting our couples’ group this week and everyone else is bringing the sides}
Dinner out
What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.
My ever-willing kitchen helper.
A new recipe: Apple Butter Muffins.
Hamburger Vegetable Soup to share with friends who flew in from out of town to spend the day with us earlier in the week.
We got over 14 inches of snow on Wednesday and Thursday! When Jesse went out to shovel off the driveway, Silas got all bundled up so he could “help Daddy dig” as he called it. 🙂
Kaitlynn had a blast in the snow! Kathrynne and I preferred the warm indoors more. 🙂
Pretty much everything was shut down, closed, or cancelled for two days, so we loved having some unexpected quiet family days all together at home.
They are predicting even more snow is coming on Monday. We’ll see. It’s certainly been a change from last year when I don’t think it even snowed at all, if I’m remembering correctly.
The aftermath of playing in the snow. 🙂
Guest post from Rebecca of A Beautiful Ruckus
I’ve been following MoneySavingMom.com since before we had kids. As a newlywed, I enjoyed shopping drugstores and finding all sorts of great deals even though we didn’t have a big family yet.
And then we had children. Quadruplets to be exact.
That’s a bit of a game changer!
Suddenly, even though I was a mom, not all of the money-saving strategies worked for us anymore. Instead, I had to find a few different ways to save money that still allowed me to take care of our two-year-old quadruplets.
We were blessed with two boys and two girls, but unfortunately, they wear the same sizes, which means hand-me-downs among siblings are non-existent. Because of that, I had to get creative. First of all, I shop consignment sales whenever possible. While garage sales often have cheaper prices, I can’t feasibly jump in and out of the car with four toddlers in tow and still find what I need.
Instead, I joined a multiples group in town and shop their bi-annual consignment sale. I also work at the sale and sell baby items we no longer need which gives me pre-sale privileges. I go with a list and load up on everything I need for six months at a time to last me until the next sale comes along!
I used to love playing the drugstore game, but having quads makes it difficult to hit four CVS’s in a row or keep track of deal scenarios. For now, I’ve chosen to give up on that money-saving idea — the stress isn’t worth it at this point in my life.
Instead, I now spend my coupon time focusing on price matching at the grocery store. I clip coupons for food items when possible, but that’s where I stop sweating the small stuff. I keep a price book on my computer with the lowest food prices for items in my area and update it weekly when the sale fliers come. Once I know what is at a rock-bottom sale, I try to build my meals for the week around it and stock up when possible.
Before kids, one of my hobbies was baking and decorating elaborate cakes. I found it relaxing! Post-kids, I’ve found that I just don’t have the same time or energy. Instead, I’ve adjusted my therapy baking to include baking our bread from scratch, mixing up healthy muffins for my kids, and making the artisan bagels my husband enjoys. I still get my time in the kitchen, but I’m saving my family money and making sure they are eating better as well!
Some people think that you have to be in the thick of deal shopping to save money. Since my babies came home, most of the last two years have been spent in doctor ordered lockdown due to their prematurity and low immune systems. Because of that, I haven’t been able to leave the house much.
I can definitely vouch that there are still ways to save money without driving around town. You have to be a little more strategic, but isn’t that what saving money is all about?
Rebecca Ishum is a blogger at A Beautiful Ruckus, living her dream job as a stay-at-home mom…she just didn’t figure it would include quadruplets! Along with documenting her kids’ milestones, her blog includes resources and tips on motherhood, marriage, and staying organized while raising so many little people at once.
Last week, I ran my first 10K without stopping. Yes, it was inside on a treadmill. Yes, it took me over an hour. However, considering that three years ago I couldn’t even run a half mile without thinking I was going to pass out, I’m completely stoked.
How did it happen? Well, it started with pushing myself outside my comfort zone when it came to exercise. First, I did P90X. Then, I started running a full mile on a regular basis — which was a big accomplishment in itself for me!
Next, I did the Couch to 5K program and ran my first 5K race. These step-by-step victories gave me the motivation to keep aiming a little higher and a little higher. I worked up to four miles, then five miles, and finally 6.2 miles.
Sure, I definitely need to improve my time — and I need to have quite a few more successful 6 and 7-mile runs under my belt before I’m ready to attempt a true 10K race, but each little running success step makes me think that maybe a half marathon or even a full marathon really isn’t as utterly impossible as I once believed it to be.
It just goes to prove that, as Andy Traub says in Early to Rise, “You are capable of much more than you believe yourself to be.”
So stop thinking “it’s not possible” and start jumping out and trying. For truly, you can’t say something isn’t possible if you’ve not gone out there and given it your best shot.
How have you nudged yourself outside your comfort zone recently? Tell us in the comments so we can celebrate with you!
I was excited to get to review the Teach My Preschooler Learning Kit for this review. Silas started preschool this past year and we’ve been having so much fun with it so this looked like a great addition to what we were already doing.
When the kit arrived, it wasn’t just Silas who was excited — though he was very stoked about it. The girls actually had a blast looking through all of the materials and helping him with the writing board.
In fact, we had to put our usual homeschooling on hold for an hour that first day I brought it out because everyone was so enthralled with the kit. I think it’s mostly because Kathrynne and Kaitlynn get excited about anything Silas gets excited about. 
The writing board has been the biggest hit. Silas begs if he can practice his letters and will sit there and practice them over and over again — which has surprised and delighted me since he’s never been very interested in writing before!
Overall, I’ve been impressed with the kit. I was surprised that there weren’t more instructions included on how to teach some of the things. There were some basic guidelines, but based upon the description on the outside of the box (i.e. “Teach Your Preschooler in 20 Minutes Per Day”) I assumed that there would be more specific instructions on what you were supposed to do each day for those 20 minutes. Or at least some examples of how to structure your teaching time.
However, for the hours of education this kit has already provided — and the hours that I’m sure are yet to come! — I definitely think that it’s been a great addition to our preschool.
Teach My also offers kits for Toddlers and Babies, plus smaller learning kits. I don’t think anyone needs to buy a kit to teach their child and many of the things they offer in their kits could be easily recreated on your own using materials you already have on hand. That said, if you’d prefer to buy a pre-made kit, I think the Teach My kits are worth looking into.
And if you can’t afford the $50 price tag, never fear! I’m giving away six kits this weekend to my readers. If you’re one of the six winners, you’ll get to choose the kit of your choice.
To enter to win a Teach My Kit of your choice, just click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. Six winners will be chosen and posted on Monday. This giveaway ends Sunday, February 24, at 11:59 pm, CST.
