Mom's Plans

The Importance of Diversifying When Self-Employed

2013-05-20T01:06:38Z

Diversifying is essential to life. Don’t stray too far from your clan when having children, and you’ll eventually see multiple genetic problems in your offspring. The more diverse the gene pool, the better for the health of your children and grandchildren.

Diversifying is also essential to your stock portfolio. The smartest investor is the one that has a variety of different types of investments. If one plummets, hopefully the other will improve. At the very least, they shouldn’t plummet at the same time if you’re well diversified.

If you’re self-employed, diversifying is essential.

Why Diversifying Is So Important to the Self-Employed

I’m self-employed and have three primary income streams: virtual assistant, staff writer and freelance writer.

My first jobs two years ago were small virtual assistant jobs. Then, I diversified and got my first staff writing job for a personal finance blog. Then I got a few more virtual assistant jobs and staff writing jobs.

After about 6 months, I started getting freelance writing jobs where people would contact me to write one-time posts for them. The freelance jobs ebbed and flowed. Sometimes I was swamped; other times I had no work.

I always considered the freelance writing jobs as extra. They were never part of my budgeted income amount. That way if they didn’t come, I wouldn’t be in a bind financially.

Over the last few months, my freelance writing jobs have dried up completely.

Why?

Someone else is writing the same types of posts for 50% less than I am.

If I was relying on those jobs as my sole source of income, I’d be in a bind.

If I relied on those jobs to help pay my bills, I’d also be in a bind.

Really, the only choice would be to lower my rates, too.

But because I’ve diversified, I don’t have to do that.

Would I like some of the extra money my freelance writing jobs offered? Sure.

But I don’t need it.

I don’t have to drop my rates.

The Benefits of Diversifying

Just this month, I acquired two new staff writing and virtual assistant jobs, so my finances are looking better, even though one of my self-employment income streams has essentially dried up.

Best of all, I’m making more with these new jobs than I would with the freelance writing jobs.

Advice about Diversifying for the Newly Self-Employed

If you work from home or if you’re considering it, put a price on your work that you can stand by and don’t lower the price to compete. That’s a losing battle.

Second, make sure that you’re diversified. Find jobs that complement each other. Then you can offer a variety of services so you’re not too dependent on one income stream.

If you’re self-employed, what are the ways you diversify your income stream?

Photo courtesy of flickr.com.

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Savory Pies Cookbook by Greg Henry – A Review and Giveaway

2013-05-19T19:58:02Z

We didn’t eat a large variety of foods when I was growing up. Instead, we relied on some of my mom’s favorite childhood meals.

When I lived in the co-op, I was exposed to a variety of different foods. One of my favorite meals was chicken and broccoli turnovers.

I love the idea of having one meal all wrapped in a flaky crust. Yum.

If you, too, love all in one meals enveloped in a flaky crust, you’ll likely enjoy Savory Pies by Greg Henry.

Book Details

This cookbook includes a variety of recipes for many different lifestyles. If you’re gluten free, the author even includes a recipe for gluten free crust that you can use in place of the other crusts in the other recipes, so you don’t miss out.

Vegetarian? Not to worry. there is a large section of vegetarian recipes.

Are you an adventurous eater? There are recipes from around the world included. Some of the tasty ethnic recipes include Duck Ragu Pasticcio and Irish Breakfast Pie.

Many of the recipes also include fresh vegetables, so I’m looking forward to trying even more recipes once we start getting our CSA.

I love pictures in cookbooks, and this cookbook doesn’t disappoint. Every recipe has a full-page glossy photo. I love that!

The only drawback to this cookbook is that the recipes are a bit time consuming and labor intensive. Save these for the weekend when you have more time or on a less busy day.

The Giveaway

Ulysses Press, the publisher of Savory Pies, is offering one copy to one lucky Mom’s Plans’ reader. Simply state what your favorite “pie” recipe is (can be a sweet or a meal).

This giveaway, which is open to those ages 18+ who reside in the United States, will end on May 31st at 11:59 p.m. CST. The winner will be chosen via random.org.

I received one copy of this cookbook for review purposes only. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own.

The post Savory Pies Cookbook by Greg Henry – A Review and Giveaway appeared first on Mom's Plans.

Menu Planning for May 18, 2013

2013-05-20T12:44:04Z

The tight grocery budget continues, and now we’re scrounging a little to come up with meals that aren’t an odd bunch of bits and ends. This month turned out to be an undeclared pantry challenge. :)

Here are the meals we have planned:

For the Family (Dairy Free and Gluten Free):

Saturday–Taco Soup (this is one of the last two meals I have left from my big freezer cooking session)

Sunday–Macaroni Chili Soup (the last freezer meal )

Monday–Pinto Bean & Brown Rice Cakes, Peas

Tuesday–Gluten Free Tuna Noodle Casserole

Wednesday–Poached Chicken Pesto Salad (with Pesto from last summer in the freezer)

Thursday–Skinny Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Friday–Mexican Pork Skillet (from eMeals‘ Paleo plan)

My Meal Plan (Paleo Auto Immune)

I’ll be eating these foods throughout the week:

Apple, blueberry, cantaloupe, pear, watermelon, kiwi, mango, honeydew
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, onion, squash, sweet potato, beets, swiss chard, collard greens
Beef, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, bison

For more menu planning ideas, visit Menu Planning Monday and GF Menu Swap.

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May’s Challenge – Decluttering Round #2

2013-05-17T14:18:26Z

Money Saving Mom is on a mission this month to get rid of 5 things a day.

I don’t have the time or the patience to find 5 things a day. Instead, I’m doing this decluttering challenge in large spurts. Two weeks ago I got rid of over 100 things including outgrown onesies, kids games my kids never played with, my clothes that are too big now. . .

For several weeks now, I’ve been creating a garage sale pile, and last weekend I put it all together and priced everything. These 8 tubs of items are all going in a garage sale this weekend, and I hope everything sells!

There are 198 items here!

Also, this week I shipped out several things I sold on eBay including 22 cloth diapers and one Thomas the Train set, so that’s another 23 items, which gives me a total of 221 items for the week.

I’m making good progress on the decluttering now, but there is still a lot more to go!

Are you joining in the Decluttering Challenge?

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Debt Snowflake Challenge #2 for 2013

2013-05-16T02:55:29Z

Last year I had a Debt Snowflake Challenge and “found” an additional $7,499.25 to apply to our debts.

The last time I had a Debt Snowflake Challenge post was back in August, 2012. However, several of you mentioned missing this post, and now that my husband and I have the gazelle intense goal of paying off my student loan by August 31, 2013, I decided it was a good time to bring back the Debt Snowflake Challenge.

Here’s how it works:

We inspire each other by sharing how we “found” extra money to put on our debts. If you have a blog and wrote a post about it, please link up. If you don’t have a blog, just leave a comment stating what you did this week to find extra money to put on your debt.

Our Progress

My mom sent me a sweet Mother’s Day card and $20 for Mother’s Day. She suggested that I use it to go out to eat, but really, I just want to be free of this debt burden, so we snowflaked the money. Getting out from this student loan will be infinitely more relaxing than going out to eat. I told her this, and while she didn’t quite agree, she knows the burden the debt is.

Mother’s Day gift = $20

I shared the stuff I was decluttering and donating and one astute reader (thanks, Melinda!) suggested I sell the rubber pants on eBay. I listed those and some old cloth diapers I had and my son’s old Thomas the Train sets. I made $71 after shipping and eBay fees. Thank you for the suggestion!

eBay Sales = $71

We collect all of our loose change in a jar, so I decided this was the week to cash it in. (I last cashed it in in January or February when I was holding my build the emergency fund challenge). There was $41.18 in change.

Cashing In Loose Change = $41.18

This week we were able to snowflake $132.18 on the student loan. I figured out that we need to pay an extra $108 a week to pay off the student loan by August 31st, so we exceeded our target goal. Over two weeks, we are now averaging $111.59 a week.

Now it’s your turn. Link up your progress. Let’s inspire each other!

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Lost Someone You Love? Consider Still Celebrating Their Birthday

2013-05-13T02:14:35Z

My brother, Jeff, had cerebral palsy and was in a wheel chair his entire life. He had limited speech ability, which he lost as he got older. In his teen years he had several invasive surgeries including getting a rod in his back because he had scoliosis. He lost the ability to eat and had a feeding tube.

Still, he had a wicked sense of humor, and thanks to his communication board, he greeted people as they entered church every week.

Bookworm & Uncle Jeff: The Perfect Duo

When my son was born, Jeff was scared of Bookworm because he was so small (even though he weighed almost 10 pounds at birth!). In the 3.5 years that they had together, Jeff and Bookworm developed a wonderful relationship. Bookworm had no fears of my brother or his condition; he was just Uncle Jeff, and Uncle Jeff happened to be in a wheelchair.

In the beginning of October, 2007 when my brother was 29, he got pneumonia, and he couldn’t shake it. He was in the hospital for nearly two weeks, and even then Bookworm wasn’t scared. He would climb up in the hospital bed and cuddle with my brother and talk to him and kiss him.

Though I knew my brother was very sick, I expected him to rebound. . . but he didn’t. He passed away in mid-October. We were all devastated, especially Bookworm. Losing Uncle Jeff was his first experience with losing someone close to him, and it came at too early of an age.

Even now, Bookworm can get teary eyed thinking of Uncle Jeff because he misses him so much.

Recognizing Your Loved One’s Important Days Even After They Are Gone

Every year since he’s been gone, there is a sense of emptiness on Jeff’s birthday. My brother LOVED getting gifts and celebrating his birthday.

Each year when his birthday passes and we do nothing, I feel a sadness and emptiness. My mom feels the same way.

This year, we decided to do something different.

Grandma came to visit over Uncle Jeff’s birthday weekend, and she wrapped and brought each of my kids one of Uncle Jeff’s board games that he liked. (Sadly, my girls were born after Uncle Jeff passed away, so they never knew him. Bookworm loves to tell them stories about him, though.)

We ate dinner, and then we took out a cake that the kids had helped me make earlier, and we sang Happy Birthday to Uncle Jeff. We ate the cake and talked about him, reminiscing about some of our favorite memories. Afterward, the kids opened their board games, and the next day grandma played some of the games with the kids.

We still miss Uncle Jeff, and Bookworm did cry when he opened his game because he missed Uncle Jeff all over again, but the day didn’t feel so empty. It felt like Uncle Jeff was right there with us celebrating.

How do you remember those you love who have passed?

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2013 Summer Reading Programs for Kids

2013-05-13T01:48:00Z

Bookworm at 18 months looking at his books.

I find it hard to believe, but my son has just 4 short weeks left of school. If your kids are like mine, they look forward to summer break but also get bored. Luckily for me, my son is a voracious reader, but I always like to give him added incentive to read even more.

Several companies make it easy on us parents by creating summer reading programs that encourage our kids to read all summer long. Reading throughout the summer can help kids avoid the summer slide when students lose skills they learned the previous academic year thanks to the idleness of summer.

Here are some great programs available that we plan to enroll my son in:

Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program: Read 8 books and record them in the reading journal. Then, take the reading journal to your nearest Barnes & Noble and get a free book from the selected books offered.

If you’re looking for book choices, Barnes & Noble also gives reading suggestions for kids by grade.

Sylvan’s Book Adventure: We participated in this last year, and my son liked it because he got to take quizzes after he read the books and win little virtual prizes.

To get started, go to the site and register. Then, children read books and come back to take a quiz after they finish the book. (You may want to check to see if the book has an available quiz first before reading. A few times last summer my son picked a book that didn’t have a quiz available.)

Then, students accrue points for prizes based on their quiz completion. Parents can also log in and see their child’s progress.

Scholastic Sumer Challenge: Kids sign up and then utilizing the reading list based on their age, they begin keeping a reading log. Every week they can participate in challenges and earn digital rewards. In addition, their reading time will count toward the Read for the World Record.

I love that this program is available for kids as young as 3!

Junie B. Jones Reading Club: Get a starter kit with one copy of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, activity pages and a membership ID card when you join the Junie B. Jones Reading Club.

Half Price Books Feed Your Brain Summer Reading Program: In the months of June and July, read 15 minutes a day and keep a log. Kids need to have parents sign it, and when they reach 300 minutes of reading, they can bring in the log & get Bookworm Bucks.

TD Bank Summer Reading Program: From May 6, 2013 to September 30, 2013, kids 18 and under who read 10 books and fill out the reading log will receive $10 in their Young Saver’s account at TD Bank. This offer is valid for new or existing accounts.

Showcase Cinemas Bookworm Wednesday: If you live in Conneticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio or Rhode Island, you’re in luck for this program. Each week, if a child reads a book and fills out the book report form, he gets to see the Wednesday 10 a.m. movie for free!

Your Local Library: Don’t forget to see what reading program is available at your local library! My son will take part in the summer reading program as will my daughters. My daughters are also taking part in another reading program at the library to read 1,000 books before kindergarten. (We started in January and are on book #327 now!)

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Beef Teriyaki Burger with Spinach – Gluten Free, Dairy Free

2013-05-16T01:25:06Z

With summer just around the corner, my husband decided to make some burgers. We’ll probably make these and grill these later in the season, but yesterday was a chilly day in the 40s, so we used our George Forman grill indoors.

I was envious watching my family eat these! As soon as I get spinach back in my diet, I’m totally asking him to make these again.

All three kids devoured these and asked for more, so they were good! Nothing beats kid tested and approved.

Beef Teriyaki Burgers with Spinach

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef
2 to 3 cups uncooked baby spinach, chopped
dash of olive oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 TBSP onion flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
6 tsp. teriyaki sauce (use gluten free if need be)

Directions

Saute the spinach in a dash of olive oil until almost wilted.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients including the spinach.

Mix thoroughly and form into 4 to 6 patties.

Cook to your desired level.

Put 1 tsp. of teriyaki sauce on each burger and spread around the entire burger. Enjoy!

I shared this post at Tasty Traditions and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

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April 2013 Freezer Cooking Grocery List & Complete Instructions – Make 30+ Meals! Can Be Dairy Free, Gluten Free

2013-05-13T00:30:36Z

Make 35 meals in one day with OAMC freezer cooking!

So many of you have asked for a comprehensive freezer cooking plan–a step-by-step guide to a freezer cooking session, that I decided to create one based on the freezer cooking I did in the beginning of April.

If you want to just dabble in freezer cooking and start slowly, this probably isn’t the plan for you as it was a pretty long freezer cooking session. However, if you want to stock your freezer for the month with healthy, clean eating foods, this is the plan for you. I did try to include convenient short cuts to make it easier on you.

Here is the list of all the meals. (All meals are dairy free and can easily be made gluten free by replacing regular pasta with gluten free pasta.) The meals are intended to serve a family of 4.

NOTE: The Best Tomato Sauce Ever by Jamie Oliver is fairly labor intensive. If you want to not make that and instead plan to just use jarred pasta sauce, freezer cooking on Saturday will go quite a bit faster. I have put all ingredients for the Best Tomato Sauce Ever in italics and listed them separately so you can easily omit them if you don’t plan to make the sauce. Instead, you’ll need to buy the equivalent of 6 cups of pasta sauce to make the Goulash.

Groceries Needed

To Buy This Week for Freezer Cooking

Meats

Chicken (12 cups–either buy 2 rotisserie chickens or 2 raw chickens and cook in the slow cooker before you plan to make the meal on Friday.)

Ground beef (9 lbs.)

Ground turkey (2 lbs.)

Hot Italian turkey sausage (2 lbs.) (I just used 1 lb. ground turkey & 1 lb. ground beef instead to save on costs, so feel free to make this substitution)

Vegetables

Spinach (2 cups fresh)

Green onions (2/3 cup)

Corn (5 cans or 7.5 cups frozen)

Frozen corn (2 – 10 oz. bags)

Frozen peas & carrots (4 cups)

Carrots (4)

Celery (5)

Frozen peas (2 cups)

Onions (7)

Red onions (2)

Green pepper (2)

Dry Goods

1 c. almond butter

Black beans (7 cans)

Kidney Beans (2 cans)

Cannellini Beans (2 cans)

Pinto beans (4 cans)

Chunky salsa (2 – 16 oz. cans)

Diced Tomatoes (11 – 14.5 oz. cans)

Diced Tomatoes with Jalepenos (2 – 14.5 oz. cans)

Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilis (2 – 10 oz. cans)

Italian Style Stewed Tomatoes (2 cans)

Tomato paste (2 – 6 oz. cans)

Macaroni pasta (2 boxes or bags)

Green chili (5 cans – 3 for Macaroni Chili and 2 for Taco Soup–we omitted it though)

Palm sugar (2/3 cup) you can also sub out regular sugar for this

Old Fashioned Oats (9 cups) (Make these gluten free if you need gluten free food)

Rice (4 cups)

Chicken broth (19 cups)

Bread crumbs (gluten free if you need) (2 cups)

Other Items

Eggs (12)

Milk (Rice, Almond, Soy) (2.75 cups) Can use regular milk if you’re not dairy intolerant

Ingredients for The Best Tomato Sauce Ever by Jamie Oliver

8 small onions

8 red bell peppers

8 zucchini

12 carrots

4 small butternut squash

16 – 14.5 oz. cans diced tomato

Pantry Staples–Buy If You Don’t Already Have These

Coconut oil

Maple Syrup

Ketchup

Salt

Vanilla

Cinnamon

Chili powder

Cumin

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Paprika

Oregano

Basil

Italian Seasoning

Cayenne Pepper

Dairy Free Butter (2/3 cup)

Baking powder

Olive Oil (1/2 cup)

Soy sauce (3/4 cup) (make gluten free if you need a gluten free meal)

Garlic

Canola oil

DIRECTIONS

Thursday

OVERVIEW: Today you will cook the Macaroni Chili for dinner & also prepare the Almond Butter Bars (The bars will need to chill in the refrigerator before you eat them.)

Triple the Macaroni Chili recipe. (I omitted the can of Tomato Soup & Green Chili.)

While the meat is browning with the onions, prepare the Almond Butter bars (double this recipe) and put in the refrigerator.

IMPORTANT–tonight only cook 1/2 box of macaroni pasta for the meal you’re serving. DO NOT cook up the pasta for the 2 meals of Macaroni Chili you are putting in the freezer. Instead, freeze without the pasta and add the pasta on the night you thaw and serve the meal.

Friday

OVERVIEW: Today you will prepare the Baked Oatmeal and cook up 4 servings of the Chicken Fried Rice.

Cook the beans in advance if using dry beans as well as the chicken in the slow cooker if you’re cooking it up yourself. (Save time and buy canned beans and two rotisserie chickens at the grocery store.)

Cook up 12 cups of rice. (Add 4 cups of dry rice to a rice cooker or in a pot to make the 12 cups.)

Make the rice earlier in the day so you can refrigerate it and let it cool before using it in the meal.

Prepare the baked oatmeal, and let set in the refrigerator overnight.

Make the Fried Rice for dinner, x4. You eat one meal and freeze the three additional portions.

Saturday

OVERVIEW: Today you’ll make all of the rest of the meals on the list. Be prepared to spend most of the day in the kitchen!

Bake the Baked Oatmeal at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Serve some for breakfast and freeze the rest.

Brown 3 pounds of beef with 2 onions for the Taco Soup. (The recipe calls for 4 pounds of ground beef, but I reduced that to 3 pounds, and it tasted fine!) Drain when cooked through.

Cut two butternut squash in half, remove the seeds, and roast it in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes for the Best Tomato Sauce Ever by Jamie Oliver.

Meanwhile, start browning 5 more pounds of beef for the rest of the meals.

Put half the meat for Taco Soup in the slow cooker and add the rest of the ingredients. (The recipe is too big to double all at once, so cook one portion first for 4 hours on high and then the other portion afterward.) Put the rest of the meat in the refrigerator until you’re ready for batch 2. (If you want to take a shortcut here, simply assemble everything and put in freezer bags. Then, on the day you’re ready to cook it, just pop it in the slow cooker.)

Drain the 5 pounds of browned meat & put in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

Start working on the Chicken & Rice Soup, but leave out the rice. (You can add cooked rice when you’re reheating so it doesn’t get mushy in the freezer.)

Cook the Chicken & Rice soup, and meanwhile, peel and shred the carrots & zucchini for the Best Tomato Sauce Ever by Jamie Oliver.

Roast the second batch of butternut squash. Meanwhile, scoop out the squash from the first round of roasting.

Cut 4 onions & 4 red peppers for the first two batches of Jamie Oliver Pasta sauce.

Start the first two batches of Jamie Oliver sauce in two large pans. (Add the roasted squash a bit later, since it’s already been cooked.)

While that is cooking, clean up the kitchen so far and put whatever meals are done in the freezer. To easily store, label gallon size Ziploc bags and put in the soups, push out the extra air, and lay flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer so you can stack the meals.

If 4 hours has passed, remove the Taco Soup to another bowl and start the second batch of Taco Soup.

Cut the spinach and green onion and put in a large bowl along with the rest of the ingredients for the Turkey Meatballs. Mix together, roll into meatballs, and place in the oven to cook.

Meanwhile, if the Jamie Oliver sauce is done, put it in a different container to cool and start the next two batches.

Take the meatballs out of the oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, begin cooking the Slow Cooker Italian Chili. (Since my slow cooker was full with the Taco Soup, I cooked this in a large pan on the stove top for about 30 minutes.) NOTE–Don’t add the pasta now because it’ll get mushy in the freezer. Instead, add it on the day you serve.

Then, process the first batch of cooled Best Ever Jamie Oliver Tomato Sauce in the food processor. Turn off the second batch if it’s done and set aside to cool.

Take 6 cups of Best Ever Tomato Sauce and mix with 3 pounds of the beef you previously browned and set aside. Add salt and pepper, and you now have 3 meals of Goulash. (Add noodles on the day you reheat and serve.)

If the second batch of Taco Soup is done, remove it to a different container to cool. Clean out the slow cooker and start the Mexican Chicken and Bean Soup. If you have a 5.5 quart slow cooker, this recipe doubled will fill the slow cooker right to the top. Cook on high for 4 hours.

Put away the meals that have cooled, and clean up the kitchen. You’re almost done!

For faster freezer cooling, place the cooled meals in the refrigerator first for a few hours before moving them to the freezer.

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My Weekly Goals for May 12, 2013 and an Update on Last Week’s Goals

2013-05-13T15:18:00Z

Those of you who follow Mom’s Plans on Facebook know that there is a big life change for us in the works. (I’ll explain in a few weeks after the dust has settled, so to speak.) I’ve been doing research and talking to others to learn more about this new event, and it’s taking a lot of my time as well as a lot of my emotional energy. I think this change will be great for us, but I’m a bit overwhelmed right now. I’ll feel better once all the changes are in place.

As a result, some of my goals fell by the wayside. I’m also getting behind in work and have to get caught up.

**This post contains affiliate links.

Last Week’s Goals:

Financial

Spend two more hours in the basement finishing getting everything ready for the garage sale.–ACCOMPLISHED. We even got to price everything, so we are ready to go.
List outgrown baby gear on Craigslist–NOT ACCOMPLISHED
Put books we’re no longer using on Half.com–NOT ACCOMPLISHED
Redeem some credit card rewards for $50 in gift cards, again to apply to my student loan.–NOT ACCOMPLISHED
Renew our Flexible Spending & insurance choices for the new year (ours starts on 7/1)–NOT ACCOMPLISHED
File my paperwork for April, 2013. (I think I should take it one month at a time.)–NOT ACCOMPLISHED

Personal

Do at least two educational activities with the girls.–NOT ACCOMPLISHED
Take the girls to the park at least twice this week.–ACCOMPLISHED
Read 15 books to the girls this week.--ACCOMPLISHED. We read 21 books together this week.
Spend at least 15 minutes one-on-one with my son 4 evenings this week.–ACCOMPLISHED
Walk my son to school at least 4 days this week.–ACCOMPLISHED. We walked to school and back home 4 times this week. Love this beautiful weather!
Read at least 100 pages this week. (I stopped reading as frequently as I was earlier in the year, and I found that I had more trouble falling asleep.)–ACCOMPLISHED

Work

Have my blog posts written through Wednesday of the upcoming week by Sunday.–ACCOMPLISHED
Close my books for January and February.–NOT ACCOMPLISHED. I did print them out so I could start. Does that count? :)
Put up 3 reviews and giveaways this week.–NOT ACCOMPLISHED. I got two up this week.
Follow up with the vendors I met at the Gluten and Allergen Free Expo.–NOT ACCOMPLISHED
Apply for one writing job I’m interested in.–NOT ACCOMPLISHED. I ended up getting two new jobs this week, and I didn’t want to overload myself, so I decided not to apply for this one.

This Week’s Goals:

Because I did so poorly with accomplishing last week’s goals, you’ll see many of the same ones on the agenda for this week:

Financial

List outgrown baby gear on Craigslist
Put books we’re no longer using on Half.com
Redeem some credit card rewards for $50 in gift cards, again to apply to my student loan.
Renew our Flexible Spending & insurance choices for the new year (ours starts on 7/1)
File my paperwork for April, 2013. (I think I should take it one month at a time.)

Personal

Do at least two educational activities with the girls.
Take the girls to the park at least twice this week.
Read 15 books to the girls this week.
Do at least 15 minutes of ABCMouse.com with each girl 4 to 5 days this week.
Spend at least 15 minutes one-on-one with my son 4 evenings this week.
Walk my son to school at least 4 days this week.
Read at least 100 pages this week.

Work

Have my blog posts written through Wednesday of the upcoming week by Sunday.
Close my books for January and February.
Put up 3 reviews and giveaways this week.
Analyze the data from when I tracked how I spend my working time to determine how much I work per week and what my hourly wage is as well as which of my jobs is most profitable.
Follow up with the vendors I met at the Gluten and Allergen Free Expo.
Write 8 staff writing posts this week.

I’ll update these every Sunday and post the new goals in the same post. What goals are on your list this week?

I shared this post at Money Saving Mom.

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