by Yvonne Bynoe on October 30, 2009
If you are a mother who’s doing income-generating work rather than volunteering, it’s probably because your salary helps your family meet its needs. Your check may pay for basics like the mortgage or extras like ballet lessons and school tuition.
It’s therefore important that you make financial decisions that are not only aligned with your personal goals but that also allow you to thrive as your life and your family circumstances changes.
This is the 5th and final post in my week-long series, How to Love Your Life Now and Stop Being a Stressed Out, Guilty Working Mother.
To recap on the series topics:
Yesterday’s post: Why Self Care Is Important for Working Mothers discussed the need for you to reguarly re-charge your batteries, especially if you want to be fully engaged as a mother, partner and professional.
Wednesday’s post: Learn How to Ask for Help: Develop a Support System
Tuesday: Get Happier By Creating Personal Boundaries
Monday’s Stop Trying to Balance Family and Work
This bring us to my principle #5 Build a Strong Financial Vision
Making money is the chief reason why mothers work. It’s important however to determine whether you lifestyle (your family’s or your wants rather than needs) is forcing you to work longer hours than you’d like or at a job that you dislike. Similarly you can’t make an educated decision about scaling back your work or starting your own business if you are unclear about state of your family’s finances.
To take charge of your household’s finances you need to:
a) Understand Your Household’s Cash Monthly Flow (what’s coming in and what’s going out)
b) Know all of your family’s assets and liabilities
c) Put money in your own name.
d) Establish credit in your own name.
e) Know your credit scoreIf you need help in creating your financial vision or with any of the other four topics I’ve discussed in this series, schedule a Working Moms StartUP session Please drop me an email at Yvonne@SophisticatedWomanandMama.com to for the details. You can also contact me on Twitter at Twitter.com/YvonneBynoe
by Yvonne Bynoe on October 29, 2009
Many working mothers feel guilty about taking any time out for themselves. Self-care is not a priority and the lack of it contributes to women feeling emotionally and physically depleted.
Today is the 4th day in my series, Love Your Life Now and Stop Being a Stressed Out, Guilty Working Mother.
If case you missed the prior posts, here’s what they are about:
Yesterday’s post, Learn How to Ask for Help: Develop a Support System was a tip about the importance of not trying to tackle every job and responsibility by yourself.
Tuesday: Get Happier By Creating Personal Boundaries was a tip about honoring yourself by determining what is acceptable to you and what is not.
Monday’s Stop Trying to Balance Family and Work was a tip about the need to plan your life around your core values rather than trying to balance your work and family lives.
Self-care should be at the top of your to-do list, not at the bottom. You need to re-charge your batteries, especially if you want to be fully engaged as a mother, partner and professional. It’s why flight attendants ask adults to put on their oxygen masks on first—before their children’s. If you pass, you can’t help your children.
Here is principle #4 Practice Self-Care
Self-care involves ways that you can bring back energy and inspiration into your life. I have three areas that I focus on:
1. Take Care of Your Body: Commit to getting healthy—start with a visit to your physician. If you’re feeling run-down or you need to shed few pound, you can discuss a diet, nutrition and fitness program.
2. Inspire Your Mind. What you think about yourself is an important factor in how your life develops. Generally do you hold negative views about the world and yourself—or positive ones? Choose to see the glass half-full, rather than half-empty. This one change in your perception can significantly impact your life.
3. Feed Your Spirit: Creating a regular spiritual practice is critical to re-charging yourself. If you don’t currently have a practice, find some way each day to inspire yourself through art, music, literature, nature, prayer or meditation.
If you are constantly feeling tired and/or mentally drained, you need to create a self-care routine.
Please schedule a Working Moms StartUP session to help you to de-stress, release the mommy guilt and find more meaning in their lives, please drop me an email at Yvonne@SophisticatedWomanandMama.com to find out more.
