Using Time Wisely

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2012 Second Quick Tip Week: Step Away from the Problem

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

We are already halfway through our Quick Tip Week. In taking a break in the middle of the week to refresh and rest, I plug along this journey with a stop in the miscellaneous category.

Quick Tip #4: Step Away from the Problem

In planning and organizing, I get stumped all the time. From trying to fit items into a container to choosing menu items for the week, I could waste a lot of time trying to come up with answers.

Knowing that problems will arise, I work towards a solution. When the solution does not come after a few attempts, I step away from the problem. During these times, I might do the following:

    • Take a walk
    • Clean or pickup a room

By replacing my time with something profitable, I give my creative juices a rest, work on another task, and return with a fresh perspective.

In using time wisely, take a step away from the problem and come back when you can focus without distractions. Happy solving!

Question: How do you handle problems?

Heads Up: Quick Tip Week – June 24 – 30, 2012

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Next week – beginning on Sunday – I will take a much-needed break from blogging. Stepping back to knock off some big projects and relax a bit, I will present another Quick Tip Week.

My goal is to write a quick tip for each category and schedule them to post next week. (It’s on my to-do list that is going well thus far.)

Thanks for reading and commenting on the posts. I appreciate you and learn from you!

After a little break to plan for our school’s fall festival, I plan to return refreshed to continue on this blogging journey while using time wisely. Happy summer!

NOTE: I’ll still check in and join in the discussions through the comments. You can’t get rid of me that easily. 🙂

Goals for June 2012: The Cash-Only Challenge

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Photograph Credit: Flickr (Angie Torres)

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I almost postponed this post because I dread the cash-only issue.

I’m not sure if it is fear of the unknown, learning something new, or changing a system that is not broken. Whatever the reason, I question my choice in making this goal to follow Crystal’s 12-month plan as outlined in The Money Saving Mom’s Budget.

Though unmotivated, I may find peace and contentment far greater than I know it now with a new system. So, I press on with the goals I made to challenge myself. I am not a quitter, and I will continue even if I fall on my face. 🙂

The following is a recap of my progress from my May goals and my goals for June:

Physical

Drink 3 glasses of water per day.  Success! I now drink 3 glasses of water each day. Aiming for 8 glasses of water each day, I will “take the plunge” 🙂 and increase this goal to 4 glasses of water each day.

Eat breakfast each morning. Finding ups and downs with this goal this month. With a new schedule for summer, I sometimes eat an early lunch and not breakfast. With each day a little different, our morning routine fluctuates. I will need to focus a bit more on this goal this month.

Exercise for 20 minutes at least 3 times a week. Back to the drawing board. I am experimenting with time slots for exercise again. With my kids home all day and the different schedules, I struggle with a consistent time to exercise. From my success during the school year, I know that the key for me is that block of uninterrupted time. For June, I will continue to work on carving out a time slot.

Family

Plan at least one family outing/activity each week. Accomplished! Finished soccer season and spent last weekend tubing and paddle boating. Love this goal, and keeping it all year.

Spend 10 minutes with each child each day. Much improved. Right now, my son enjoys snuggling on the couch, my older daughter want to work on her letters and numbers, and my youngest daughter wants to play with the Daddy, Mommy, and baby figurines. Taking time to play and enjoy my children brings peace and calmness to our home.

Allow children to help with a household task each week. Still discussing our allowance system, but I am enjoying my helpers. In taking turns, my older children bake and cook with me, help me clean and organize, and run errands. My youngest daughter enjoyed shopping at CVS alone with me. She pushed the cart (into the shelves) and chose the items from the shelf. The 15-minute errand turned into an hour, but we had a blast.

Financial

Follow Crystal’s year-long plan to reach my goals. I’m a little behind on this goal. I still have our bare-bones budget and need to create a full-fledged budget. This goal will carry over into June. Last month, I shared how I refused to use cash. Well, that decision was premature. I cannot make that decision until I have a full-fledged working budget and know how much I need in each category. Though I really hate the idea of cash-only, I do not have enough information to make that decision yet. I still need more time – lots of time. 🙂

Purchase dressers for my daughters’ room. This goal is ongoing. No progress made on this goal for May. Not sure when we will move our girls into the same room. Right now, there is no hurry.

Purchase upgraded computers for hubby and me. This goal is also ongoing. After dealing with our Internet providers’ change of contract, our computer issues might be network-based and not equipment-based. More research may point us in the right direction. At this time, I do not want to raise our utility allotment, so patience is the key.

Business

Write posts one week in advance. Bombed this one again! Continuing with scheduling post topics one month in advance is working, but I am not writing any faster. I’m still keeping this goal because one day I will get ahead. 🙂

Make one improvement to the blog this month. Accomplished! Still need to update the Facebook landing pages, but I organized and updated all the posts in the Document category when repairing my web site after a file corrupted.

Read two chapters of blog book each month. Failed! I’m concentrating on summer reading with my kids. For my summer reading program at the library, how-to books do not qualify. To reach my summer reading goal, I am reading other books. I hope to get back to my blog book soon.

Besides really stretching me, these goals are hard work. In using time wisely, I sometimes have to choose one goal over another. When that happens, I embrace it while making progress. If I fail, then I get up and try again next month.

These baby steps are slowly inching me closer to completing my goals. By starting, I have a better chance of finishing than if I just plan. Keep going!

Question: How are you doing on your goals this year? 

Using Time Wisely: Counting my Blessings (63 – 77)

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

This series on counting my blessings is one of my favorites because I have so much for which to be thankful. I began the series after a bout of allergies in our home. Now I plan to keep this series with a post at least once a month.

At the moment, I am in the calm after the storm. The month of May was the storm. From those events, I am recovering, resting, rejuvenating, and counting these blessings:

63. Safety while taking students on three field trips during May. Two of these field trips were over an hour away.

64. Successful completion of the Live History Fair.

65. Flexibility of the soccer staff to switch my daughter to a team with her friend.

66. Chatting with friends during soccer games.

67. Watching my son improve his soccer skills throughout the season.

68. Thankful that soccer season has come to a close.

69. My family’s patience during a season lacking menu planning. We practiced pairing coupons and specials to feed our family on double game nights without breaking the bank and staying within our budget.

70. Participating in a Gullah Feast, Field Day, and Awards Ceremony at our school.

71. Successful completion of the school year where my son received a certificate for receiving all “E’s” (Excellents – equivalent to “A” honor roll) for the school year.

72. A wonderful family lunch after the awards ceremony to celebrate a job well done for the school year.

73. Opportunity to send our children to a fantastic school.

74. My kindergartener’s excitement in awaking on our first day of summer asking, “How many more days until August?”

75. Time to stay home and relax.

76. Long warms baths and early bedtimes.

77. Enjoying spending time with my precious family.

Even with a busy May, I found lots of blessings in the midst of our hectic schedule. In dwelling on counting my blessings, I forget about the piles of laundry, stacks of bills, rooms that need cleaning, and items that I just did not get to this month.

Before life passes you by, stop to count your blessings while using time wisely.

Question: What blessings are you counting today?

How to Organize Your Daily Deal Vouchers

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Photograph Credit: Couptivate

As a subscriber to multiple daily deal sites, I love the deals available. When I purchase one, the voucher gets deposited into that daily deal site’s account. When I want to use that voucher, I access my account, print, and redeem.

If I only had one account, then I would just access that daily deal site. However, I purchase deals from multiple daily deal sites: Groupon, LivingSocial, and Plum District.

The Problem

With multiple deal sites, I must keep track of when deals expire and which accounts holds which purchase. When stretching your dollars and using daily deals sites for great deals, you may spend more time staying organized than you want.

For example, I planned an outing to a bounce house place for which I had a voucher. I went to Groupon, logged in, viewed my vouchers, and found that the bounce house deal was not purchased through Groupon. So, I logged out, signed into LivingSocial, viewed my vouchers, found the right one, printed, and then logged out.

This process involved lots of steps and wasted time to find the voucher I needed. I knew there had to be a better way to using time wisely.

A Solution

In looking for a solution without creating a spreadsheet to keep up, I read about Couptivate, a site that captures all your daily deal vouchers and holds them in one account. After taking the tour on their site, reading about their encrypted security, and verifying free registration, I signed up.

Upon creating a new account using my name, e-mail, and password, I landed on the My Accounts page listing all the available daily deal sites.

As of the writing of this post, Couptivate includes the following 13 daily deal sites:

Photograph Credit: Couptivate

  • Groupon
  • LivingSocial
  • Bloomspot
  • Lifebooker
  • HomeRun
  • KGB Deals
  • EverSave
  • Tippr
  • Plum District
  • Travel Zoo
  • Yelp
  • Gilt City
  • BuyWithMe

I selected Groupon and entered my Groupon user name and password. Couptivate accessed my Groupon account and added my vouchers. I then selected LivingSocial and entered my LivingSocial user name and password. After a moment of verification, Couptivate added those vouchers.

Now I can log in to my Couptivate account to view and print all my daily deal vouchers in one place. As I purchase more deals, I only need to log in to my Couptivate account, and Couptivate captures new vouchers before loading the MY DEALS page.

TIP: If you do not see a newly purchased voucher, you can select IMPORT MORE DEALS to refresh the page.

Benefits to this Solution

Couptivate allows you to sort your vouchers by expiration date, deal site, or category. In your account settings, you can choose one or both e-mail notifications:

1. A monthly voucher summary and/or

2. Expiration date reminder of your choice of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 20 days before the deadline.

SIDE NOTE: If you use multiple e-mail addresses (i.e., personal, junk, business, etc.) and have more than one account for Groupon or LivingSocial, then you will need a separate Couptivate account for each e-mail address.

For example, if you have a Groupon and a LivingSocial account with your personal e-mail address and another Groupon account and LivingSocial account with your junk e-mail address, and a Groupon account for your business, then you will need three Couptivate accounts: personal (1), junk (2), and business (3). At this time, Couptivate only allows access to one account per daily deal sites.

In using time wisely and stretching our dollars via daily deal sites, I keep my vouchers organized through the free service of Couptivate. Taking the fear out of forgetting to use a voucher, Couptivate offers e-mail notifications and holds all my vouchers for my e-mail address in one place. With many daily deal vouchers and accounts, Couptivate saves me time and energy while using time wisely.

Question: How do you organize your daily deal vouchers?