Money Making Mom: My first book review!

As mentioned in a previous post, I was chosen to be on the launch team for Crystal Paine's brand new book, Money-Making Mom: How Every Woman Can Earn More and Make a Difference.
The book release date is November 3rd, but you can pre-order the hard copy or kindle version from Amazon now! (Just click the Amazon link at the bottom of the post.) And, if you go to the Money Making Mom Book site, you can get some free bonuses for pre-ordering! Since I am on the launch team, they sent us a .pdf copy of the book, but I have already pre-ordered the hard copy; it was that good!

Without giving away too much information, I want to give you a quick overview of this book.

This is not a "how to make money quick" book.  It isn't filled with instant ideas to start a business.  But what it is, is a guide to help women (or men!) to find out what their talents and abilities are, to brainstorm ideas on how to bring in an income from home, and what to do after they start that business.  It is full of amazing advice and encouragement.

The first chapter discusses what financial freedom is, and what it means to you.  This is a great foundation to start on because you need to find your "why," what motivates you and will continue to motivate you when times are hard.  This is extremely important for this and many aspects of life, to avoid burnout and giving up.

The second chapter was probably my favorite.  Crystal walks you through a process to brainstorm what are your abilities, talents, and passions.  This was extremely helpful to me, because at first glance, I don't seem to have an overwhelming passion that could easily translate to a business.  Through this chapter, I was able to brainstorm and write down all of the abilities, talents, and passions that I have, and to triangulate which ones could potentially bring in an income for me.  So eye-opening and inspiring.

In the following chapters, Crystal goes through what the next steps are; how to get your business going.  There is some very helpful and practical advice on how to get your momentum going.  She also talks you through what to do when your idea doesn't work.  Crystal shares personal stories of things that didn't work for her.  While it looked like a failure at the time, it was actually a necessary step for what was to come.  It is very encouraging to know that when we fail, it isn't actually a failure, but a step to the next opportunity.

Concluding the book, Crystal delves into the opportunities that an income from home can provide.  It is great to make an income from home, but what we do with that income makes all the difference in the world.  If is great to have money, but if we don't use it wisely, there's no point to having it!

I learned so much from this book.  I want to share it with everyone I know! My mother and I are in the process of starting an embroidery and monogramming business.  I realized that my talents are best used collaborating with my mom and her plans- plans that I am very excited about too!  I will be able to use the marketing and public relations that I learned in college, along with the creativity and organizing skills that I have.  A great match!  I will keep you updated on how the business is progressing.

Lastly, I just want to encourage you again to pre-order this awesome book.  I know you will be glad that you did!



If you want a taste of the material that is in the book, you can sign up for this free 5-day course, "How I Make a Full-Time Income From Home."

*Disclaimer: contains affiliate links

Frugality

I have always loved to save money.  I am a sucker for a good deal, and have always tried to be a good steward of the money I have.

Being young and semi-newly married (December makes 3 years!), saving money has gone from a hobby to a necessity.  Recently, since my husband has gone back to school full-time and we are down to one income, our money has gotten tighter; and now, due to some unforeseen circumstances, it is even more so.

So now I am faced with the challenge of paying all our bills and finding some way to afford gas and groceries as well.  I will admit that I had a breakdown at first- a moment of "how in the world are we going to manage this and still eat?!?!" But then I settled into my attitude of "there's always a way."  We won't let this defeat us, and we will find a way to break even.

First, let me acknowledge that we have some amazing family, and neither side would let us starve to death.  For that, we are so very, very thankful.  But now that we are married and living on our own, it is our responsibility to manage our own finances and not rely on someone to bail us out.

The first thing we did was find ways to bring in more income.  I read on The Humbled Homemaker that you might not have a spending problem, you might have an income problem.  Both my husband and I are going to work part time helping my parents to do some work on a house they are trying to sell, and another property they are fixing up to rent.  We can make more money that way, and it is also more flexible with our schedule than both of us getting separate part-time jobs.  Not to mention, we can do this together, and not be spending weekends apart at other jobs.

I am coming up with a few strategies to save extra money as well.  First, I am cancelling our non-necessary bills.  There aren't many of them, but every little bit helps.  We subscribed to Netflix for $9 a month, so that has been cancelled.  We are also debating whether or not to cancel our internet service.  It isn't on contract, so we could cancel now, and get it back when things improve.  Also, we have unlimited data on our phones, so using that instead will work for homework and browsing the web.

Our cell phone and satellite are both on contract, and each one would cost $300 to cancel.  Yikes. So we will continue with those for now.

Our gas and grocery budget is another thing to tackle.  We are being very mindful of unnecessary trips.  I don't leave work for lunch (bonus: I get to leave an hour early!) and Jason doesn't leave campus until he is done with school for the day.  His class schedule makes it difficult for us to commute together.

As far as groceries go, My family has a full beef in the freezer, and we all are able to use that as we need.  Not having to buy meat will save us a lot. We are cutting back on extras like frozen, pre-cooked items, convenience breakfasts, eating out, and sodas and drinks.  I am trying to look at the things I already have in my pantry, and finding meals that I only need one or two ingredients to complete, instead of planning meals where I need to purchase several ingredients.  I am looking at making some soups and stews too, as those are very cost effective. Red beans and rice is a very inexpensive meal that is tasty too.  You can leave out the sausage to make it only pennies for a serving!

As I come up with other strategies to save/make money, I will be posting them here.

What are your favorite ways to earn or save money?

Book Launch Team

So I have some exciting news!  I was picked to be on the book launch team for Crystal Paine's new book Money Making Mom that will be released November 3rd.  I was so excited to be included!  I was sent a copy of the book to read, and I have joined a Facebook group to discuss with the other team members.  All we have to do is read the book, mark quotes and ideas that inspired us, then write reviews for the book on Amazon, our blog, and social media.

So far I am LOVING this book.  Crystal Paine, the creator of the blog "Money Saving Mom" and author of several books, is all about helping families save money and live frugally.  Money-saving ideas and ways to cut your budget are important, but this book addresses another aspect of budgeting: when you don't have a spending problem, but you have an income problem.  It helps inspire and create ideas as well as practical applications on how to create income, especially at home. Visit the book's website here.

This is a book after my own heart.  It has long been a dream of mine to be able to stay home when we have children.  It is very hard to live on one income, especially when that one income isn't very large.  While we are young and don't have children, my husband and I are trying to work our way up to a larger income.  My husband went back to school full time in January of this year to finish his degree.  I am working full time, and part time with my Premier Designs jewelry business. When he graduates and gets a job, our focus will be saving and paying off debt.  Then, hopefully, we will be ready to start our family, and be in a position for me to stay home.  That's the plan at least!

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek into Money Making Mom. If it sounds like something you are interested in, you can pre-order the book here. You can also do a free 5-day course on how to make a full-time income at home. Let me know what you think!