Balancing Act: How to Balance Your Life!

Ever feel like you are juggling too many things? Finding it hard to balance
everything? Here are a few tips that may help you organize your life.

Tip #1: Prioritize
Many times you have a list of things to do that is a mile long. You can't do it all at once therefore you much prioritize. Organize your items in order of importance. This may be by date, urgency, need etc. Whatever the criteria, your list must be prioritized.

Tip #2: Don't Stress
This is easier said than done. Stressing is one of the first ways many people cope with having too much on their plate. Just think, is stressing going to solve your problem? The answer is, no! Dealing with the task at hand will solve your problem!

Tip #3: Get Organized
Getting organized is very important. Chaos breeds more chaos. Get your home and yourself organized. Try creating a home binder that will help you keep track of everything that goes on in the home. You may put your grocery list, coupons, schedules, medical records, pet information, car maintenance etc. in this binder.

Tip #4: Rome wasn't built in a day
Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was your life. Don't try to do everything at once. Give all of your tasks a specific amount of time. Make sure to figure in some rest time because you won't be able to tackle your load without it!

Tip #5: Let's Sweat!
Stay healthy. A rigorous schedule requires a healthy body. That means the proper balance of diet, fitness, and rest. I know you are saying, "My schedule is already loaded, how am I going to put exercise in there too?" Going back to tip #1, Prioritize. YOU should be at the top of your priority list. That includes allowing some time to workout. Mother's tend to put themselves last on the list of priorities (I know, I am guilty of it as well). We have to start valuing ourselves. Cause when you think about it, if we don't take care of ourselves and get sick, who is gonna take care of that massive list of things?

Tip #6: Master Procrastinator!
Don't procrastinate! Putting things off until the last minute will only make matters worse. By putting it off, you are constantly thinking about it, therefore stressing, while letting something else arise that needs to be added to your list of things. If it's in front of you to do, get it done! You will thank yourself later!

Hopefully these tips can help you to regain control over your life and give you time for what is really important!

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Steps to Setting up a Household Budget

Budgeting is an essential part of running a successful household. Many times we don't realize that our house is a business. Would you spend a company's funds without allocating them? Don't do that in your household either! Here are some tips to help you get your household finances on track. I will put links to free tools that you can use at the bottom!

Step #1: Track your spending!
One of the first things that you need to do is track the money that you are spending. You need to find out where your money is going so that you know how much you need to allocate to each category. You can either do this through a spreadsheet or use a website or app to help you. One popular website is Mint. Mint allows you to enter all of your financial data, budget it, and track spending habits. This is a very useful tool for anyone.

Step #2: Gather Data!
Setting up a budget requires a bit of discipline. A budget is not set in place to limit your spending, but to allow you to have all the things you desire. Tools you need to set up your budget are a spreadsheet, a mobile app, a website, or a piece of paper, to log your budget. You will also need your income information and monthly expenses. Once you have all of your information, you are ready to begin.

Step #3: Log all data!
Now that you have gathered all of your data, you are ready to begin your budget. List all of the expenses that are standard from month to month (Mortgage, utilities, food etc.). Allocate a certain amount of funds for each section. Start with necessities and work your way down to extras.

Step #4: Implement!
Now that you have your budget down on paper (or computer), it is time to implement it. In order for budgeting to be successful, you have to follow it!

Step #5: Watch it work!
You are now following your budget and guess what? You may find that you actually have extra money. Now you are not living pay check to pay check and you always have money in your bank account! You are even building a savings! Way to go!





Free Budgeting Tools
Spreadsheets






Websites
Mint
Pocket Smith
Pear Budget
Budget Pulse
Money Manager

Apps
Mint
Pageonce
EEBA
Cashculator (Mac)

Please comment if these tools help you or you have other ideas to add!