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By subscription only! Welcome to another issue of:
"THE BALANCED WOMAN".
Thanks to all of you who have encouraged your friends to subscribe! You are important to us. So rest assured we will NEVER sell or give away your email addresses to anyone!!
We realize that not all of the email programs available can accommodate our size. So you can also find this issue of The Balanced Woman at: http://www.betweenfriends.vjungle.com/issue22.html
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IN THIS ISSUE
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=> Welcome
=> Feature Article: "Organization
and a Life of Balance"
=> Household Hint
=> Column: "Ten Ways to Grocery
Shop With Your Kids And Not Come Home With Half the Store"
=> Parenting Tip
=> Classified Ads
=> Pampering Yourself
=> Can You Help this Reader?
=> Help Others without Spending
a Dime!
=> Subscribe/Un subscribe information
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WELCOME
Welcome to February! On the second month into the new year, I've decided to make a resolution--to cut down the size of The Balanced Woman. It's been getting rather long over time. I receive so many wonderful articles each month that I think could be of such help that I've felt I just HAD to print them! But I've also come to realize that you don't have a week to read each issue <grin>!
This month contains two articles but next month it will be cut down to one. I've also made some changes in "Can you help this reader". So be sure to make it down to that section to see what's going on there!
With fewer articles in The Balanced Woman, I'll be updating the site more frequently. After all, I can't let the articles that come my way go to waste. So be sure to stop by often!
In keeping with the new theme I'll be brief here too!
That's it for now. I hope you enjoy this issue!
jackie
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Site Updates...http://www.betweenfriends.org
Last month we ran this reader's question, "How do you get a sticky substance off of a rayon/polyester dress? A friend e-mailed me asking if I knew. She said a label (such as: Hello. My name is_______) was put on the dress and forgotten and then the dress was washed. It left a sticky adhesive on the dress and we don't know how to get if off." You can find all of YOUR wonderful responses at http://www.betweenfriends.vjungle.com/label.html
Please stop by and cast your vote at our completely anonymous site poll, if you haven't yet. This month's poll asks: Do you keep your New Year's resolutions? While there, you'll also find the results of the previous poll at http://www.betweenfriends.org/poll.html
This month's recipe is from Betty Crocker.com. If you haven't surfed this site, I recommend that you do. Not only do they have dozens of recipes, they provide weekly meal plans as well. Meal plans are organized by the the kind of cooking you want to do (i.e. healthy, quick and easy, etc)! The recipe I've chosen for the month is Impossibly Easy Vegetable Pie. As always it's quick, delicious, easy and good! You can find the link for it at http://www.betweenfriends.org/househol.htm
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Feature Article: Organization and a Life of Balance
By: Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale
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In this day and age most of us are constantly striving for a more balanced life. It's ironic that although we have more time saving conveniences than ever before, we have less and less time. And time, it seems, is the necessary ingredient for having it all! Time may be necessary but it is certainly NOT the SOLE ingredient.
A balanced life is achieved by implementing a combination of skills and time management is ONE of them. The FOUNDATION of them all is organization!
Why? Well, without a good organizational "system" there won't be enough time to manage! You'll waste countless hours looking for things that have been misplaced and trying to find a place for anything new that comes into the house. Don't believe me? How much time have you spent searching for a tennis racquet, a bill that must be paid, something you need to complete dinner, or your favorite pair of shoes? How much more clutter did you create because you didn't know what to do with a piece of mail or where to put the latest kitchen gadget?
When there's a place for everything and everything's in its place it's much easier to keep your home neat, tidy and under control. You don't have to think about what to do with something or where to put it because you know exactly what or exactly where since there's a system for it. For example, the most common clutter creator of all is mail. So, when I bring mail into the house, I immediately shred all junk without even opening it! (Shred it before throwing it out. Identity theft is on the rise and the garbage is fertile ground for identity thieves!) Bills go in the "to be paid" file in my home filing cabinet where they're paid twice a month. Magazines and catalogs go in a "to be read" basket that is emptied monthly whether I've finished everything in it or not!
Using this "system" my mail is put away in less than 5 minutes and my counter tops and tables are spared more clutter! When it comes time to pay the bills, I don't have to hunt for them. I know exactly where they are and when I have some free time to read a magazine, I don't have to go looking all over the house for it. Timesavings, timesavings, timesavings!
Having a place for everything even makes it easier for your kids to clean up after themselves. I had a heck of a time getting my son to put away his toys until I purchased inexpensive, plastic containers and designated one for airplanes, one for Lego's, one for Micro Machines and one for Star Wars toys. Now cleaning up is a breeze. I also found that I save the time I previously spent helping him to find these toys when he wanted to play with them and didn't know where they were. Now, he knows exactly where they are and he doesn't have to ask me.
It's difficult to get organized until you purge. I know, you hate that word but without letting go of the excess, the used or the obsolete it can be impossible to get "under control". Each home only has so much space within it. Without purging you'll quickly find that that space will be at a premium.
Purging doesn't HAVE to be a big process. The next time you buy more bathroom cleansers and before you put them away, go through the bathroom cabinet and get rid of anything you haven't used in more than a year. It will probably take less than 15 minutes; you'll feel better and wonder why you never made that small investment of time before!
Going through your clothes closets can be equally as expeditious. This spring, when you're putting away your winter clothes, spend a FEW extra minutes to get rid of anything you didn't wear this year. After all, you're going through your clothes anyway. How much extra time can it take? The same can be said for the refrigerator. When you're going through it to prepare the grocery list, throw away anything you come across that is old, moldy or expired. Again, you're going through the refrigerator anyway, how much extra time can it take to purge that which needs to be purged?
Making a commitment to organize your home can be like running a marathon. If you come off the blocks sprinting you'll find that you cannot keep up the pace. You may get discouraged and quit before that 26th mile. If you come off the blocks more slowly and pace yourself more evenly you'll be more likely to finish the race.
So don't dedicate yourself to cleaning out every closet in your home this weekend. Take it slow. Do a little bit at a time. Make a place for everything. Change your habits. If you do, by next year you'll be more organized, have more time, feel more in control and be on your way to a more balanced life!
Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale is a CPA and the editor of Between Friends: Resources for Mothers (http://www.betweenfriends.org) Between Friends contains household hints, time management tips, articles on organization, parenting, money management, career, self employment, self improvement and more! Subscribe to its FREE monthly ezine, The Balanced Woman. Visit today!
Webmasters and publishers may use this article in their ezine or website,
as long as the *entire*
article is used, and the *copyright notice* and *resource box* are
left in tact, including this notice
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"Tame Your Brain!" -- the success e-zine with Jan Tincher's NLP Technique of the Week! Order now and receive free report! "10 Ways You Probably Never Thought Of To Alleviate Pain!" To Subscribe, click here: Mailto:tameyourbrain-subscribe@listbot.com (1/3)
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HOUSEHOLD HINT OF THE MONTH
U.S. residents: Do you want to reduce the amount of junk mail and phone calls you receive? Then just ask the Direct Marketing Association (DMA)! The DMA offers a Mail Preference Service and a Telephone Preference Service for consumers who want their name removed from national advertising lists. Send your request in writing via U.S. mail --the DMA must have your signature to perform this service. Address your request to:
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From Emazing.com (http://www.emazing.com)
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Do you know what busy executives and moms have in common? Everything! They both have too much to do and too little time to do it in. Busy executives have spent years developing, analyzing and testing systems to help them cope. A few of those concepts have withstood the test of time and are used again and again by the most successful business managers today. They have been adapted to the home environment to give moms help too.
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"Ten Ways to Grocery Shop With Your Kids And Not
Come Home With Half the Store"
By Teresa Higginbotham
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1. Feed them and yourself first. This is one is a given, right? If your family walks in hungry and spots the incredible selection of food, then it seems that everything looks good.
2. Sit down with your children before hand and tell they can each
select a special "food"(not toy, book, candy) to have in the family pantry
that week. It should be understood with the child that they might
be expected to share that food with others but at least they were the ones
who were responsible for getting it there. By nailing it down to
one thing, you can slow
down the cart stuffers who seem to hit on every aisle.
3. Set penalties for phrases uttered like "Can I have that, can I? Can I? Can I?" or "Please, please, please, please....". Discuss harassing the parent shopper and what will happen if Mom gets pushed over the edge of her very reasonable patience. The special food they have chosen for the week could get taken away, or some other reward the child would normally get later in the week is taken away or decreased (For example, an allowance has a percentage taken off.) You could also assign a chore normally not expected of the child, for driving you insane before you hit the checkout.
4. I know this one is hard and not always a reality for many of us, but try not to shop when you or your child is exhausted. When I'm tired, I find myself uttering meaningless phrases like "Whatever" right after my son has chunked an overpriced toy from the ever-cheap toy aisle into the cart. You must BE STRONG to face down the "I want it" crowd. Also, if your child is tired, he or she may be more combative and less in a mood to listen to you or to compromise.(Duh, tell you one you don't know, right?)
5. Read the book "The Gimmes" by Stan and Jan Berenstain. This book is excellent for teaching kids manners while shopping and letting them see how awful they look when they get the "Gimmes". They also decide beforehand what they will get at the store and then stop all their fussing. It's amazing!
6. Don't forget to treat yourself to a food item you love like cookies, tea, or something from the deli. If you don't feel like your depriving yourself then you won't overindulge yourself.
7. Teach your kids about consumerism. Maybe they want to buy a certain cereal just because they see their favorite cartoon action super heroes on it. Pick up the box and show them that whatever it is probably is not in the box and they would have to send away for it. My son recently discovered a bad deal where he decided to save up labels to get an action figure. When he looked closely at the fine print , he found he had to buy an action figure at the store then send in that proof of purchase, the labels he had collected and a sum of money that was not too far off the price of the action figure in the store. He did some math and realized he really wasn't getting any kind of a special deal at all. "What a rip-off !" he said and decided to save his hard-earned chore money for something a little more worth it.
8. This one is also pretty obvious, but I can't tell you how many times it has snuck up on me. STEER CLEAR OF THE TOY AISLE. One of the stores I shop in has cleverly put the toys right next to the baby wipes. Because of that ,I've had to do some really silly-looking things when entering that aisle like saying, "Wait right here" then skid down the linoleum five feet, grab the wipes and slide back into home. Or all of a sudden I make the kids notice the store decorations as I speed down the aisle with them at 40mph, grab the wipes and try not to hit the old lady buying dog food at the end of the display.
9. Make a list and check off each item as you put it in the cart. If your child starts to stray to a new item, tell them, "Sorry it's not on the list, maybe next week. I didn't bring that much money."
10. Divide and conquer...do you really have to take all of them? One less child, especially a particulary vocal one can make staying with your budget a whole lot easier. If the mouth that roars has soccer practice you don't have to be there for, try to plan your shopping in that time period. Just watch out for long lines and first-day-on-the-job cashiers!
Teresa Higginbotham writes articles about frugal living and family life. Visit her website at http://www.tightwadtess.com.
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PARENTING TIP OF THE MONTH
You get respect by showing respect! Put another way, if you want your kids to respect you, you must respect them.
Really listen to them when they're speaking to you. NEVER belittle or make fun of their problems. Involve them in problem solving and punishments. And above all, speak to them; don't yell at them.
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Pampering Yourself
Claim a corner of the house all your own. Decorate it the way you like. Fill it with your favorite things. Allow it to be YOUR sanctuary. Visit it everyday and just be!
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Can You Help
this Reader?
This month, I've decided to try something different. Rather than posting reader questions here, I'd like to encourage all of you to use the message boards on the site for help with your household problems. You'll get much quicker responses that way and it will help to keep The Balanced Woman down to a more manageable size.
Any questions that I receive directly, I'll post on the boards. So go on over and see if you help out your fellow women! The boards can be found by going to http://www.betweenfriends.org
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HELP OTHERS WITHOUT SPENDING A
DIME!
SPONSORS FEED HUNGRY SENIORS FOR FREE!
Meals On Wheels site, www.GiveMeals.com feeds hungry seniors with Advertisers/Sponsors paid donations! Sponsors pay each time you CLICK, SHOP, JOIN or REGISTER. Make GiveMeals.com your "Start Page" and never miss a chance to help. Visit http://www.GiveMeals.com today and everyday.
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Disclaimer
The appearance of advertising in The Balanced Woman should not be interpreted
as an endorsement by the editors of the service, product, business, or
program being advertised. We take no responsibility for claims or
representations made in any ads. The Balanced Woman is for informational
and entertainment purposes only. The ideas and information expressed
in it have not been approved or authorized by anyone either explicitly
or implicitly. In no event shall Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale be liable
for any damages whatsoever resulting from any action arising in connection
with the use of this information or its publication, including any action
for infringement of copyright or defamation. The opinions expressed
by our columnists are not necessarily the position of The Balanced Woman.
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Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 JA Hale
Editor's Comments: If any of you have any ideas, comments and suggestions
on how we can improve this e-zine please let me know. Just send an
email to: jahale95@yahoo.com
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