Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Melissa

7 Ways to Find More Time and Increase Your Productivity

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Women juggle multiple responsibilities, especially if they are moms. 

There are work responsibilities, household responsibilities, and family and children responsibilities.  Don’t forget to set aside some time to care for yourself by preparing healthy food and finding time to exercise.

The work at home mom must become an expert at juggling because she’ll constantly have to switch between childcare tasks and completing her work.  I should know because I’ve been a work at home mom now for two years.

In the beginning, juggling my childcare responsibilities with work responsibilities was fairly easy.  My two younger children took fairly long afternoon naps, and my workload was not that heavy as I was just starting my business.  I could get all my work done during nap time and in the evenings after the kids were asleep, and I still had time to relax.

Fast forward two years, and most days my kids don’t nap.  If they do, it isn’t longer than 40 minutes.  Meanwhile, my workload has increased.  My schedule had to change so I could find more time.

If this sounds familiar, let me share some of the ways I’ve found more time in my day and increased productivity:

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Real Life Bartering with Mavis of One Hundred Dollars a Month

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Bartering used to be a common occurrence when people had more of an item or skill than they did money. 

Maybe you would see the doctor and pay him with some of your harvest.  Maybe you would help a neighbor build a fence, and the neighbor would then share a portion of his meat with you.

As we came to have more money than time, bartering fell out of use.  However, bartering has recently experienced a resurgence thanks to the economy.

I have bartered for a few things since I quit my full-time job and became a freelance writer.  I bartered with my son’s dance teacher–my son got free tap dance lessons, and in return, we cleaned the studio for 2 hours once a month.  Considering his lessons were $50 a month, we “made” $25 an hour.  Not a bad exchange.

While I like to barter, I don’t do it often enough.  My guess is that you probably don’t either.  We can all learn from Mavis Butterfield, a blogger at One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Who Is Mavis?

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The Perils of Private Student Loans

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The cost of college is growing faster than inflation, and now many students find it difficult to go to college without some type of loan financing. 

To illustrate this, Heather Boushey, economist for the Center for Economic and Policy Research explains, “In 1981, a student could work full time all summer at minimum wage and earn about two-thirds of annual college costs.  Today, a student earning minimum wage would have to work full time for a year to afford one year of education at a four-year public university–and that assumes she saves every penny” (USA Today).

According to FinAid.org, “Two-thirds (65.6%) of 4-year undergraduate students graduated with a Bachelor’s degree and some debt in 2007-08.”

While the vast majority of those student loans are federal student loans, a small portion of them are private student loans.

Getting in student loan debt too deeply is a risk for all students, but private loans in particular come with inherent risks.

Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

The Benefits of Private Student Loans

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Why Do Women Make Less Money Than Men? Are We Training Them to Earn Less?

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That women generally earn less than men is a well known fact. 

Many people attribute the income difference to the fact that women are more likely to leave the job field to become caretakers, either for their children or their parents.  In fact, Time reported that “over a period of 15 years, according to a 2004 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a full 52% of women in their prime earning age range of 26 to 59 go through at least one full calendar year earning nothing at all, compared with just 16% of men.”

Of course, that absence in the work place can account for some difference in pay, especially when women stay out of the workforce for several years while their children are young.

However, women leaving the work field to care for others is only part of the story.

When Does the Wage Gap Between Men and Women Begin?

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5 Strategies for Keeping the Peace When Parents Move Back in with Their Adult Children

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As much as parents love their children, some parents prefer that their grown children fly the coop and don’t come back to live. 

Having adult children move back in with you can be challenging and often requires that you establish firm boundaries and ground rules so both generations can live in peace under the same roof.

While much has been written about the boomerang generation, not much has been said about the reverse trend–parents moving in with their adult children thanks to an inadequate retirement or health problems.

If you foresee that there may be a day when your parents could potentially move in with you, it is important to begin preparing now, years before it may actually happen.

Here are some strategies to help keep the peace when parents move back:

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