The following is a guest post. 

As a stay-at-home mom of three boys ages three and under, it is VITAL that I get some time to myself. It helps me establish my identity outside of being a wife and mom and it makes me a better spouse and parent.

In the early months of my new stay-at-home mom status, my “Me-time” was spent bargain hunting and garage sale shopping in town by myself. (In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a nerd who enjoys getting good deals!)

But now going to town is an $8 expenditure. My days of “bumming around town” are now much more limited. I am combining trips more than ever, and that often means I have to do my bargain hunting with my entire family in tow.

The situation has forced me to redefine how I spend “Me-time.”

My Me-time is more often spent around my neighborhood now.

Sometimes my hubby lets me carve out a moment for me to scrapbook or do some card making while he watches the kids. I take walks by myself to clear my head. I spend time reading out on my deck. I write on my blog. I visit my parents or sometimes we go to town together (they’re good people that way!). I spend time doing yard work. I work on projects around the house (like organizing things or cleaning). I plan future bargain hunting trips and hunt for deals online.

In a way, I’m kind of glad that gas prices are up because it is challenging me to be more creative in all areas of my life. I’m rediscovering old hobbies and enjoying being at home more than I ever have before.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that “Me-time” doesn’t have to mean I’m in a store.

Christina is a stay-at-home of 3 boys, ages 3 and under.  You can find her at Northern Cheapskate writing about living on less and making it work with one income.

I have a very close friend (no names, you know who you are ) that consistently over does it.  She volunteers at her oldest child’s school once a week, for holidays she does goody bags for the students at both of her children’s schools, she goes on field trips, takes her son to soccer, takes her daughter to activities at the community center, volunteers for children’s church, . . . I could go on and on.

All these things are great and I’m thrilled that she is an involved mom, but as you can imagine, she is also consistently stressed and worn out.  I find myself on my soap box, preaching to her about cutting things out of her schedule and prioritizing.  I read this article today, Seven Musts for the Worn Out Mom, and I found myself contemplating my priorities too. 

Moms really do too much.  I have found myself pretty stressed out lately, wondering how in the world I will handle one more thing, but then I accept the “one more thing”.  Couldn’t we just kick ourselves sometimes?

I hope you’ll take about two minutes today to read the article Seven Musts for Worn Out Moms.  Remember to prioritize your life so that you can make the most of it.

Sometimes being frugal with your time means taking time away. I learned this morning as I sat and looked out over the mountains and watched a couple of squirrels play in my trees. We as parents work so hard all week. We make sure our little ones get a nap, whatever the cost, because we know that they need some down time. So why do we think we loose that need once we become parents? This morning, my daughter is sleeping in. I should take advantage of that and do the same but I can’t.

So I got up and took a nice long shower, can’t remember the last time I did that without guilt.

Then I got on my computer and took care of some emails without my daughter asking me to close the laptop and play.

Then I fixed some breakfast and watched the squirrels.

Now I am blogging in peace but starting to wonder if I should check to see if she is breathing.

Then I will try to put away some laundry before the rest of the house wakes up. After all, it is 8:30 am. I can’t remember the last time my house was quiet at 8:30 am. No Dora or Boots yelling at me or a dirty butt to clean up or oatmeal to fix. Oh, wait, I better not get too used to it, they will wake up eventually. Maybe it will be about the time I start in on the laundry.

Char at Weary Parent posted a list of 13 things we need to teach our children.  Here are a few that I like:

• We all make mistakes and can learn from them. [I'd like to add we can learn from other's mistakes too!!!]
• Not all gratification is instant.  Some things are worth the wait.
• How to deal with bullies, mean people, and rude people

I think Char has a pretty good list.  To the list I’d like to add, “The world does not revolve around you.”  That may sound harsh, but in my years of teaching I have met quite a few along the way that acted like the world revolved around them.  They are impatient, whiny, demanding, and insensitive to others, and I have to say a total pain to be around. 

Here is a famous quote that we should all live by, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

I recently had a close friend tell me that she wasn’t sure if a bad situation had been resolved or not.  She thought it had on her end but the other person hasn’t called back like they said they would.  I have long since subscribed to the whole idea that it takes too much of my energy and time to stay mad at someone so I just get over it really quickly.  Probably a little too quick in some cases but oh well.

However, I have lived by this definition of forgiveness for years and I have never been failed by it.  So I hope it helps you parents out there save your time and energy for those rowdy kids that need you to be on your game instead of stressed over something else.

Forgiveness is accepting the consequences of someone else’s actions and never holding them accountable for them again.

Remember that cold I had a few weeks ago?  Well, it developed into a sinus infection.  I really didn’t want to go to the doctor.  That would mean money out of pocket for the visit and the medicine.  I decided to look online first for some remedies.  I was surprised at what I found. 

I visited the Earthclinic website and found that their #1 recommendation for sinus infections is organic apple cider vinegar.  They actually recommend taking it at the start of a cold to prevent the infection, but I decided to give it a shot.  If it didn’t work, then I would just be stuck with the normal doctor visit.

Last week I stopped at the herbal health store and asked for some organic apple cider vinegar.  He said, “Liquid or capsule?”.  Read more

Doctor Wants to Help Patients Save Money - Sometimes doctors don’t know which prescriptions will be cheapest for you.  When you go to the doctor, take a list of prescriptions that your insurance covers.  See the article for other tips.

5 Do-It Yourself Home Repairs - The Charlotte Observer tells us how to fix some common household problems.  Some tips include how to relight a pilot light, how to install a toilet, and more.

Thanks to Simply Thrifty for the tips.

Tonight at church we began our Financial Peace University classes.  This is a series by Dave Ramsey.  I am excited about the things we will be learning from the classes.  Of course I can’t share everything that I am learning, but I can give you some pointers.  Until then, I have a question I’d like your comments on:

Why do you think Americans have so much debt?

I look forward to your responses.

I got this from Dave Ramsey’s website.  It will give you something to think about:

Debt is dumb. Most normal people are just plain broke because they are in debt up to their eyeballs with no hope of help. If you’re in debt then you’re a slave, in the sense that you do not have the freedom to use your money to help change your family tree. According to a recent USA Today article about debt, 78 percent of baby boomers have mortgage debt, 59 percent have credit card debt, 56 percent have car payments.

It takes a lot of will, discipline, courage and help to slay the debt monster. But it can be done. Imagine how much you could put toward retirement if you just didn’t have a stinking car payment? This is how the wealthy build their wealth. Debt is really dumb. Welcome to the real world! Start your Total Money Makeover Now.

Get more information on debt.

When it comes to car repairs I am fortunate because my husband was a mechanic for many years.  That doesn’t mean that he knows everything about cars, but he understands how they work and he is good at finding a reliable mechanic that won’t take advantage of us.

If you or your husband don’t understand the terminology that mechanics use, then you won’t know if you really need the repairs they suggest.  I remember a few years ago we took our van to a a local dealership and they suggested all sorts of repairs for our van.  It was going to cost somewhere around $800!  After some research, my husband found out that many of the things they suggested weren’t necessary and we got our van fixed for less than $200.

The good news is that there are resources out there to help consumers become more educated about cars.  One of these is familycar.com. The site contains a lot of good information about car troubles in simple English. You want to know what symptoms the car is having and then the site will tell you what you need to do.

Make sure you know what the car needs before you agree to have the work done. You should also shop around BEFORE something goes wrong with your car.  If something goes wrong and you haven’t shopped around, then you’ll be more likely to try anyone that’s available to fix your car, or you may not have the time to do your homework.  

Homemade Heat Pack - Tips for making homemade heat packs.

Free Coffee Creamer - Just go the coffee-mate website for your free coupon.

Herbal Home Remedies - This site gives herbal ways to help with different problems you may have.