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10 Quick Ways to Reclaim Your Sanity As a Busy Mom (Guest Post)

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As a mom, taking time to care for yourself is usually the last item on your list to be checked off – if it ever even gets checked off. However, not only does taking care of yourself provide you with great health benefits, your kids also benefit. Your children rely on you to be healthy so that you can give them the time, attention and energy they need. Taking care of yourself shouldn’t be seen as an indulgence – it should be seen as a necessity. So move yourself to the top of your to-do list!

1. Go and get a massage. Getting a massage not only relieves sore muscles, it also eases stress and promotes relaxation. Massages help you calm down and prepare you for the challenges ahead. And don’t just daydream about it – be purposeful about scheduling it in: ask your partner, a relative or a friend to watch the kids one evening or on the weekend, or see if you can take a long lunch break from work.

2. Eat nutritiously when you can. While you may be tempted to reach for the salty snacks or bars of chocolate when you’re feeling rundown, listen to what your body is really craving rather than giving in to the impulse to eat what’s easy. Eating a nutritious meal is far more refreshing and rejuvenating than anything found in a vending machine. …

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I’m Shopping Small On November 24 For #SmallBizSat

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Being a small online business owner, I know how important each and every customer. Of course I am one that shops at the big retailers, but I don’t forget the importance of the small business owners in my community too!

While many of the big businesses are looking forward to “Black Friday” and the sales that it can bring to their business, there are many small business owners that will be looking forward to Saturday,  the day after for Small Business Saturday that takes place on November 24, 2012.

I don’t know about you, but I would be sad if there were no small local businesses. My mom used to waitress years ago when I was young at a family owned restaurant. I have so many good memories of eating at my mom’s work on the weekend with my grandparents. Unfortunately the restaurant is no longer in business, but I still have my memories that can’t be taken away. My mom, being a waitress for all of my childhood relied on the local customers to not only give business to her employer to help cut her paycheck, but to give her tips that she used to support us.

Next Saturday, on November 24th I plan on taking my family out in our community and shopping small. I normally buy the family donuts for breakfast on Saturdays, its something they all look forward to. Instead of buying our donuts at the local grocery store, I am going to take the kids to the local donut shop (Golden Donuts) down the street. The donuts are a little higher, but it will make me feel good knowing that my dollars are going into the bank account of a small business owner and not the big guys.

Last year, over one hundred million people came together to Shop Small in their communities on Small Business Saturday.If you would like to take part in this movement and shop small too, visit: www.ShopSmall.com.

Disclosure – I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for American Express. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.

 

PG&E & Opower – Learning To Save On Your Power Bill – #SmartMoms

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Last week I attended a luncheon in San Francisco with PG&E and Opower along with some of my other fellow bloggers from the Northern California area to learn more about energy consumption and the resources we can use to learn how to save money on our electricity bills.

During this #SmartMoms luncheon, I learned some stuff about saving energy that I wasn’t aware of that I want to share with you. Since I am frugal, I normally try to save energy when possible by turning of lights and other appliances when I am not using them. My husband is also pretty good at trying to turn off things we are not using, so we both try to remind the kids all to try to save some power too! What I didn’t realize is the all the other resources that are available that can help educate us on how to reduce energy and save on our power bill.

Here are a few of the resources  that PG&E customers can take advantage of that can help to save money:

  1. Winter Gas Savings Program – When you are enrolled in this program, on Dec 1 through Jan 31 you can receive a bonus credit of up to 20% of your bill.
  2. PG&E’s Energy Efficiency Hub – A variety of resources to help educate you on your energy use and what you can do to start saving money on your electricity bill such as applying for rebate checks, using solar panels and other fun resources for kids.
  3. Energy Alerts – Get alerts to in an email, text message or phone call when you are moving into higher-priced electricity tiers.

Many of you, like me receive a home energy report that gives us some very useful information regarding our energy usage. These reports are sent to PG& Customers as well as customers of over 70 different utility companies to help to encourage us to save energy and save money!

For those of you that get the Home Energy reports from Opower, I want to encourage you to use the information in these reports to help you to save money on your future bills. When I first got one of these reports, it said that I was using 99% more energy than the rest of the neighbors in my area. Reading that encouraged me to find out what was causing me to use more energy and I have since got my energy usage down since I started receiving those reports.

This is just some of the valuable information that I learned while I was at the luncheon. I also learned about decoupling for the first time and also learned that California (my state) is one of the states that conserves the most energy. This news was a little encouraging and has me wanting to try to conserve even more.

“I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of PG&E and Opower. I attended an informational luncheon and received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.”

We also learned a fun fact also that I want to share for all of you with an iPhone5.

To find out more about PG&E and how you can save on your energy bill, visit: https://www.pge.com.

Disclosure – “I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of PG&E and Opower. I attended an informational luncheon and received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.”

 

Febreze Seasons Giveaway – Share Your Story For A Chance To Win $10,000

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It’s amazing how just one holiday memory can take you home, even when you’re far away.

 Do you know someone who can’t be home during this upcoming holiday season? You can go online and share your story on the Febreze Facebook page for a chance to win something BIG for that someone special. Through the Febreze Facebook Contest, they’ll deliver $10,000 and all the special holiday memories of home to the one lucky winner. To make this holiday special for that special someone, share their story by telling Febreze about your friend or family member and why he or she could use a little happiness this year.

Don’t wait to share! The Febreze Best of Holidays Past Contest started on November 5th and ends on November 27, 2012.

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Febreze. I received a promotional item to thank me for participating”

 

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