Not Just A Working Mom

How do you ever manage to balance both? It’s a juggling act, but hopefully with some good tips we can get our work done and enjoy our vacation.

Tip 1: Plan your time: Organizing your time will help you so much in the long run. If you know that you will be on a plane or stuck in an airport for thirty minutes here and there, then why not take your laptop with you and get some work done. It’s a great way to maximize your time and get the most done that you possibly can. Or perhaps you are traveling with the little ones. Naptime is a great time to get some work done while they get ready for round two of vacation. If you are visiting family, then this is a great time to ask for an hour or two to get some work done while they watch the kids. Chances are you’ll have plenty of volunteers for your work break. Just be mindful of when you will have down time and opportunities to work.

Tip 2: Plan your Wi-Fi: If you know when you’ll have Wi-Fi to get some work done then that will help greatly. If you won’t have Wi-Fi, then it might be a good time to invest in a travel card so you can get Wi-Fi anywhere. After all you are not promised Wi-Fi anywhere, and you’re lucky if you find it. If you know where you will have it, then plan your work around that. Nothing is more frustrating than to wait on a slow connection when you thought you would have better service. Then you become grumpy, and no one wants to sit by you on the plane.

When summer rolls around each year, kids across the land rejoice, but many stay at home moms find that having the kids underfoot all summer can prove to be a bit challenging. So what?s a mom to do? Here?s a list of a few summer activities that will keep the kids having fun all summer long.

1. Day Camp

While overnight camp might be a bit daunting for some children, especially younger kids, day camp is a great inexpensive way to fill up their summer with fun activities. The kids will get to take part in fun activities like arts and crafts, and they will build friendships that could last a lifetime. Day camps are a great way to get the kids outside and enjoying just being a kid without breaking your budget.

2. Vacation Bible School

You don?t have to be a member of a church to get your kids involved in a Vacation Bible School. Oftentimes churches will have their VBS schedules staggered so that you can send your kids to more than one during the course of the summer. This is a great way to get kids involved in their community, build them up spiritually, and let them just enjoy being a kids.

3. Job

Allowing your kids to do summer work around your neighborhood like mowing lawns, small household jobs teaches them responsibility. Not to mention it gives them a little extra spending money that didn?t come from the bank of mom. This is a great way to teach them about managing money at the same time.

Cloth Diapers are what many of our mothers used on us, and all their mothers had to use on them – and it was a lot of work! That’s not really the case anymore, because cloth diapering has come a long way, baby! The truth is, more and more parents are choosing to cloth diaper their infants – given the fact that it can cost nearly $3,000 to diaper the average child from birth to potty training, using cloth diapers is a great way to save money!

When I was pregnant with our third baby, we decided that we would use cloth diapers on our son when he was born. I had not used cloth diapers on our two girls, but being a one income family, we were looking for ways to save money however we could. I did lots of research on the internet and talked to a friend who had cloth diapered her two. I asked every question I could possibly ask (and then some!), and we decided on using Flip diapers, which consisted of a waterproof cover and a stay dry insert that went inside. We also had a stash of prefold diapers to use inside the covers as well. The covers are marketed for use on an 8lb newborn up to a 35lb toddler, based on the way that they are snapped to close.

When our son was 2 weeks old we started in him in cloth diapers and have not looked back. We have been so pleased with the cloth diapers, and we really only have about 2 extra loads of laundry a week. And, boy, the money we are saving! We spent less than $200 on our cloth diapers, and other than a few packs of disposables to have on hand for emergencies or travel. I tell every mom I know about cloth and what a great choice it has been for our family!