Momma's Blog — One Opinionated Woman's Thoughts on Family, Finance, and Everything Else

Forget To Do Lists – Start a Got Done List!

Last week, I talked about giving yourself permission to succeed and not being the barrier to your own success. This is my new promise to myself, and I believe I’m making progress in that arena.

One of the first things I did was log into Google Wave* and delete my To Do List. I didn’t need that long, insurmountable list of things I should have been doing. It felt so freeing not to be bound by that intimidating list anymore.

The next thing I did was even more important to me than the first… I opened a new Wave and started a new list.

Wave

Subject: Current Date
Body: Bullet point Got Done List!

There is something amazing about seeing the list get longer and longer when it represents things being done instead of things you have to do. It’s energizing and encouraging. At the end of the day, I move that day’s Got Done List to the “Daily Completed” folder.

For those of you thinking “yeah, but if I don’t have a list of everything I have to do, how am I going to remember it all? I have a strategy for that too! If it’s important enough to be on a Must Do list, put it on your calendar. This way, you still have the visual reminder without the pressure of an arm long list of things to do.

If you know that every Tuesday you have to do a dry cleaning run, don’t put it on the to do list, put it on your calendar. Grocery shopping on Saturday? Calendar. Need to schedule your annual physical? You guessed it.

Not only does this take away the pressure of the never-ending list, it also gives you a concrete date and time to get it done and keep from procrastinating. Then you get to add it to the awesomeness that is the Got Done List!

What are your strategies for getting things done without being oppressed by the dark cloud that is the To Do List?

*Leave me your email address if you want me to send you an invite! I have 10 left.

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Why I Love Mint.com – And You Should Too

by Momma · 2 comments

*This is not a compensated review. I am a Mint.com user.*

How do I love Mint.com, let me count the ways…

For most people (not me) dealing with finances is a pain in the tush. Very few people really enjoy checking up on their money every single day. Mint is designed with both the number nerds and the “reconcile monthly because I need to” factions in mind.. and everyone in between.

Mint is NOT great for people who would rather bury their heads in the sand and ignore their finances. But then, if that’s the kind of person you are, you’re probably NOT reading this blog.

What I really love about Mint:

It’s FREE!
I can add all of my accounts!
- Checking Accounts
- Savings Accounts
- Student Loan through the Dept of Education (Not anymore because it’s paid off.. but it was!)
- Auto Loan
- Mortgage
- Investment Accounts (401k in my case)
- Credit Card Accounts (Don’t have one of these anymore either. No credit card debt @ Momma’s house!)
I can view my entire budget at a glance, and it’s a BREEZE to set up
It’s simple to categorize my transactions – and the budget automatically updates based on those transactions
I can set up budget categories that roll over. This is great for:
- Quarterly expenses like trash pickup
- Car repair funds
- Home repair funds
- Homeowner’s insurance and taxes
- Car taxes and tags
- Christmas fund
- Lots of other things
The website calculates ways I can save money on my accounts or earn more money on my accounts and shows me financial products and services I may be interested in. I have not used any of these yet, but since I don’t carry consumer debt and I’m not ready to invest yet, there’s not much reason for me to.
Mint calculates our net worth automatically and shows it on the home page
I get alerts when we go over budget in an area, or when a bill is due.
They have an App for that. I can access my account from my iPhone.
I can see what my trends are and compare them with the national average.

I could go on… a LOT… but if you don’t have a Mint.com account, the bottom line is that you should. You’ll have an easy to use, easy to track way to get a grip on your finances. The best part is that it’s SECURE (did I mention FREE?) and available from anywhere you are. All you have to do is log in.

What about you? What’s your favorite budgeting service or software? Why do you love it?

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Don’t Be the Barrier to Your Success!

by Momma · 2 comments

Every time I think that you’re on the cusp of becoming extremely successful in something you’re working on, you stop doing it. What is making you scared of success? ~ Jules

Those are the words that have been ringing in my head since yesterday at our girls’ only tea gathering. They have given me pause and have forced me to think about how many times/ways/things I’m self sabotaging for fear of what will happen if I’m successful at my ventures.

What if I make a ton of money as a writer? What if we get out of debt as quickly as we can? What if I AM able to send Anna to the college programs I want her to attend? What if I DO sell a lot of Avon to people who love it as much as I do? What if I do lose the 140 pounds I need to lose? What if I ignored all of the fearful things my brain whispers to itself to keep me from trying and failing… and tried anyway?

What if you ignored your brain’s whispers too? What if we all stopped paralyzing ourselves with fear and negative self talk? How far could we go if we stopped asking What If and just did what our heart leads us to do?

Here’s the answer to all of those questions: I don’t know. But I want to find out.

I will no longer be the barrier to my own success nor the engineer of my own failures. I will no longer talk myself out of being and giving and doing the things I love and want in life. – ~ ME

Beginning today, and for as long as I possibly can, I am giving myself permission to reach for those goals and to succeed or just to fail spectacularly and keep reaching anyway. I’m giving you permission too.

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What if You Were Laid Off Today?

Since Mark’s layoff in 2007 and starting this blog in 2008, I have spent what amounts to actual weeks of my life budgeting and cutting expenses. I’ve clipped coupons, made our own laundry detergent, replaced our old light bulbs with CFLs, worn layers and used extra blankets in the winter, and kept windows open and [...]

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Indoor Family Fun for Snow Days

This is a repost from last January. This past weekend we got our first snowfall of the year! In Georgia that’s BIG BIG NEWS. Snow days are much more active than normal cold days because the kiddos want to be outside until their fingers are too cold and their clothes too muddy to go any [...]

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