No matter where you live or what you do with your daily life, cleaning is that one chore that we all have to do at some point or another and it is the one area where most of us hate having to waste our time or money on. Cleaning is also the one area of our domestic lives where we are exposing ourselves, our children, our pets, and the environment to the most potential harm from harsh cleaning chemicals. Fortunately, there are some great safe and natural alternatives along with simple tips and cleaning short-cuts that can help take the “chore” out of the chores and help you to save both time and money while getting your entire home in tip top shape in a safe and more environmentally friendly way.

*photo courtesy of Pbroks13

A simple solution for this cleaning problem can be found by just using lemon slices. Take a few slices of a fresh lemon and place them in a microwave safe bowl with some water then microwave for 30 seconds to one minute. This little trick will not only freshen up your microwave and neutralize any of the food odors that have been collecting there but it will also loosen up any of the stuck on food and stains making them a snap to clean up with little effort.

2. Need to Unclog a Drain?  Drain Cleaners are one of the strongest and most dangerous chemicals that we often use in our homes. Not only can drain cleaners pose a threat to us in our homes but once they go down they drain they end up affecting water supplies and the ecosystem in a variety of ways often miles from where they were originally used. There is; however, a safer and more natural way to work on those clogged drains that will also save you a couple of bucks.

Just pour hot lemon juice along with some baking soda down the drain to help loosen those clogs, clear the drain, and kill odors.

3. Have a Stinky Garbage Disposal?  With all of the food and kitchen waste that your garbage disposal tackles you may find that the odor coming from your kitchen sink smells anything but clean. Just as the drains need a little extra attention from time to time, so to does the garbage disposal. For a quick and easy way to clean the garbage disposal, simply toss the lemon peels from your other cleaning tasks in the disposal to help keep it clean and fresh.

4. Need to Take Care of Scratches in Wood and Polish Your Furniture?  No need to waste money on furniture polish or spend the time with costly specialized scratch removers as part of your cleaning regimen. When it comes to polishing furniture and taking care of the wood around your house a simple mixture of lemon juice and olive oil will do the trick. It will give you a great shine, and that “lemony fresh” scent that brightens and freshens your entire home.

5. Get Rid of Sticky Gum, Crayons, and Scuff Marks:  Any parent has, at one time or another, experienced these special cleaning challenges with accidental gum in the carpet or your child’s creative expressions sprawled in crayon along the wall. There is a simple cleaning trick using, believe it or not, a bath oil from Avon called Skin So Soft. Just use a small bit of the oil and let is sit on the gum to clean it out of carpets, hair, etc. You can also use Skin So Soft to clean crayons off of most painted services and to get those unsightly scuff marks off of your floors.

6.Keep Ants Away:  Additionally you can also use this handy bath oil to keep away ants by dabbing it along window seals and door jams or one of many other uses for Skin So Soft that make it a great hack itself. Spraying a bit of lemon juice around problem areas is another simple and safe alternative to pesticides as well.

7. Bleach Alternatives for Removing Stains:  The next time you have a stain on your white fabrics, do not be to hasty to reach for the bleach or a costly stain remover. Instead, try applying a little lemon juice or white vinegar to the stain and let is soak for a bit before tossing it in the laundry for an inexpensive and safe alternative to bleach and stain removers.

8. Carpet Stains:  White vinegar can also be used to help remove dark stains from carpets and other surfaces such as red wine or grape juice stains. Blot up all of the excess liquid after a spill and then apply some of the white vinegar to the stained area. After allowing it to soak into the stain for a few minutes, rinse and clean the area to remove the stain and save the few bucks you would have spent on specialized carpet cleaner.

With regular use wooden cutting boards can store food odors and tiny particles of food become trapped on the cutting board. A very simple solution is to, once again, pull out the lemons. Run some lemon juice over the cutting board after a normal cleaning and allow it to soak over night, then rinse clean in the morning. The acid in the lemon juice can help get rid of some of those left over bacteria causing bits and freshens up your work space.

*Photo courtesy of Donovan Govan

9. Need to Keep Your Cutting Board Clean and Fresh?  With regular use wooden cutting boards can store food odors and tiny particles of food become trapped on the cutting board. A very simple solution is to, once again, pull out the lemons. Run some lemon juice over the cutting board after a normal cleaning and allow it to soak over night, then rinse clean in the morning. The acid in the lemon juice can help get rid of some of those left over bacteria causing bits and freshens up your work space.

10. Get Rid of Hard Water Stains:  Fighting hard water stains can be a breeze using, you guess it…fresh lemons. So there is no need to buy a bathroom cleanser for your showers and sinks, just spray some lemon juice on those trouble areas and let it do its magic then clean as normal.

11. Need an Easy Way to Get Tough Pots and Pans Clean?  Lemons can be used for just about every cleaning problem that you have, especially in the kitchen, and they make a great scrub for your dirty pots and pans. Instead of using brillo pads, put a little baking soda on a lemon after you have cut it in half and then use it as a scrub. It is a very simple way to clean and the lemon juice will help to cut grease, fight odors, and along with the baking soda will loosen stubborn food. Simply rinse clean afterwards.

12. How About a Free (Or Virtually Free) Rust Remover?  Cleaning rust can be one of those chores that seem hopeless and can be a real problem when you have rusted bolts you need to loosen or other such problems; however, you do not need to buy a rust remover because you probably already have exactly what you need sitting in your kitchen- salt and a little lime juice. Sprinkle some salt on the rusted area and then squirt a little of the lime juice over the salt, being careful not to wash the salt away. Let the mixture sit for several hours and you can then scrub away the rust easily with a brush.

13. A Simple and Safe Way to Disinfect Your Home:  Trying to keep your home germ free does not have to mean that you spend all of your time cleaning. Add a teaspoon of natural tea tree oil per gallon of water and use a spray bottle to disinfect around your home. The solution is also great for cleaning windows and floors or any area that you need to kill germs. This works great for getting rid of mildew as well.

14. Clean Your Coffee Pot:  Coffee pot looking a little worse for the wear? Just fill it up with a cup of vinegar added to the pot of hot water then run it through its normal cycle as if you were making coffee. Afterwards run a couple of cycles of plain water to have your coffee pot looking brand new.

15. The Best Cleaning Tip!  Last but not least, the best time saver (and money saver) when it comes to cleaning around your home is…..clean it right away! Ok, this might sound like a no brainer, but the truth is we tend to be a generation of procrastinators and when it comes to cleaning that can end up costing us both time and money. Most spills, stains, tears, etc. do not become a problem until they have been left to settle, dry, etc. and then it takes more time, and often more supplies, to get the job done. Alternatively, if we simply take care of a potential problem the second it happens (wipe up a mess while it is still wet, soak the blouse as soon as the stain occurs, etc.) we will end up saving ourselves a lot of time and hassle that tends to make cleaning such a chore in the first place.

Have you found your passion in life; something that wakes you up in the morning and makes you jump out of bed, something that makes you sing with emotion, something that when you try and describe it you get lost for words?

If you haven’t then this article is for you.  It’s an article to help you think about the possibilities, to help you believe that you can do it, to help you see life doesn’t have to be boring and repetitive, to make you stop and think for a few minutes and re-evaluate, to make you want to shout out loud ‘I Have a F*cking Great Life.

Always Be Truthful

When You start being honest with yourself about every single thing you can start to be honest with others and gain the respect you deserve in life.  Being truthful is so much harder than lying, but it is worth it.

When we lie to ourselves and each other we create what is called: ‘cognitive dissonance’ within our minds and we start to have an internal battle with ourselves which can build up into a form of a mental illness such as depression.

There is a release that comes with being truthful and it clears your mind to deal with other important things in life.  When I say be truthful I don’t mean be hurtful, be diplomatically truthful.  You will soon get a reputation for being truthful and soon people will come to you knowing that you will tell them the truth and some people will stop asking you questions, knowing that you will tell them the truth.

Enjoy Some YOU Time

It’s great spending 8 hours per day at work, 2 hours travelling, 6 hours with the family and 8 hours sleeping.  However, we need to take a break from all of that and spend some time on our own to replenish our batteries, so to speak.  Take a day off work and spend the whole day on your own watching your favourite TV show, or spend a whole day browsing books and drinking coffee in Borders, or whatever floats your boat, but just get away from it all.

Don’t get stuck in the trap of taking a day off work and letting everyone tell you this needs done and that needs done.  Politely tell them you are spending the day alone and no housework, DIY jobs or anything else is getting done, this is time for you, enjoy it and don’t feel guilty.

Daydream Often

Daydreaming is great for our minds and great for taking little mini-mental breaks.  I often dream of winning the lottery and imagining what I would do with the money (50% is mine, 10% to charity and 40% goes to family and friends).  I know the chances of winning are extremely slim to say the least but it’s great just taking a mental break for a few minutes and dreaming about the possibility.

Have A Mental Mentor

This might be a new concept to you but if you have a goal in life, and everyone should, you will more than likely have a person who you admire greatly.  Someone who is already doing what you want to be doing.  I admire and look up to Eben Pagan and have enormous respect and admire his qualities and he is my mental mentor. when I feel as if I am getting nowhere I can hear Eben saying ‘Keep going, you’ll get there’ and other little nuggets which keep me going.

You can even go as far as having a conference room in your mind whereby you meet all these heros of yours and just have one topic of conversation and they each have their say on it.  It might sound crazy but you’d be surprised at what comes up from your mentors, I know it’s your own mind giving answers (or is it!).

Regret What You Have Not Done And Not What You Have Done

Regretting your mistakes is a wasted emotion as you cannot undo the past.  However if you regret what you have not done there may be time to fix that.  Someone who regrets not going to law school when they were younger can still go, no matter what age they are.  Someone who regrets not travelling the world when they were younger can still do so at any age.  Many of the things will have passed you by and there is nothing you can do about this, let it go and move on.

Remind Yourself Everyday What Treasures You Have

Every single person reading this just now are so fortunate; we simply cannot comprehend how fortunate we are.  We cannot comprehend it because we are used to living this life, we have become comfortable living in a house, become comfortable with our loving partners, become comfortable with food, with friends, with money, with a job, with a warm bed, with a 50 inch flat screen TV, with a computer – It’s time we stopped for a moment to say ‘I am so grateful for ……..’ – make this moment a daily moment.

Hold Your Hands Up

If you’ve done something wrong, admit it.  Simply put your hands up and say ‘I’m sorry, that was my fault,’ and then work to rectify the wrong.  Simple advice; huge dividends.

Love Your Partner

There was a reason you fell in love with your partner, remind yourself of it every day.  Try and not to see the bad points but look at all the good points, the good points were the reasons you fell in love.  If the bad points are so bad, then leave and move on, there’s no point in wasting energy on a bad relationship, but there’s every point stoking the fire of a good relationship.

Don’t Care What The Neighbours Think

So much mind energy, money and time is wasted on keeping up with the jones’s that it can ruin our lives.  Imagine how much money we would save if we bought a reliable but older car and parked it in the driveway – heaven forbid, what would the neighbours say if our car was 6 years old, they would think we were poor – Who cares! Save the money and go on a great family holiday or save the money and start your own business or whatever, the point is do what YOU want to do and don’t think about what others might say.

To Help Yourself, Help Others Achieve Their Dream

This might sound a little paradoxical, but by helping others achieve their dream you will be know as the person to turn to when help is needed.  This help can be monetised in some way.  For example: there are thousands of life coaches in the world, they are helping other people achieve their dreams and getting paid to do it at the same time – a win-win situation.  If you are starting up in business, don’t think how can I make money from these people think how can I help these people.  When you ask ‘How can I help?’ you are seeing the world from the perspective of a customer and will ultimately be in tune with the customer.  When you answer the question ‘How can I help?’ you will succeed in life.

Excel At What You Do

Never be known as the lazy one.  Strive to be the most organised, the smartest working, and the person to go to when things need to get done.  This doesn’t mean taking all the crap from everyone, it means organising yourself to a degree where you can finish your work in half the time it would normally take, believe me there are hundreds of ways to do this.

When you have cut your time in half work on improving other things in the workplace without being a wise man about it.  Suggest things and give other people the credit for it.  When you start to think ‘efficiency’ in everything you do you won’t believe the amount of time you can save doing things.

Read More Books

Books, more than any other form of entertainment, will raise your IQ and your sense of wonder about the world and your part in it.  Books are the gateway to your mind and will forever help you question life and keep your mind intellectually piqued.

If you can help your children to read at an early age there is nothing better than reading for raising their intelligence and their mental development.

Always Look For The Lessons In Failure

Whenever you fail at something it doesn’t mean you are a failure it means you failed at something, and you need to find another way to do it.  So many people give up after failing a few times.  When you accidentally touch something hot your body reacts immediately by sending a signal to your brain saying: ‘Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh that’s f***ing hot, get your hand out of there.’ and you will almost instantly remove your hand.  So it is with failure, it’s life way of saying: ‘Don’t do it that way

Find Your Passion In Life

Everybody seems to be saying find you passion in life, it’s not that easy to do.  For one, not everyone has a passion in life and finding it can be like trying to find the holy grail.  here are some suggestions to finding your passion:

What do you dream about doing – Ever since the age of 14 I dreamed of being a writer, I used to copy the blurb from Harold Robbins books and make up my own.  That dream died out but kept coming back and it’s still here and now I am pursuing it.  What did you secretly dream of.  You don’t have to be good you just have to do it, the more you do it the better you become at it.

What floats your boat – Have you ever had a conversation with someone and a friend talks about something and you find yourself saying ‘I would love to do that’ and have found yourself thinking about a few more times since? why no try it? A friend was telling me a few months ago about his friend who dreamt of flying and getting his pilots license.  It was a pipe dream but he did it, he just went for it, and now he has his own small plane and flies all the time and makes money taking other people out.

Look at what you’re good at – Everybody has skills they are naturally good at or just enjoy.  Look at this and see if you could pursue it a little more and turn it into a passion.

Make Money From Your Passion

When you have found your passion and have become extremely good at it or even competent you will find some people ask you to do a job for them using your skills.  When you get to this point in your passion there may be a great opportunity lying here to make a living from your passion.  If you just want to keep it a passion and help friends out now and again that’s good.  However if you see an opportunity for something bigger then go for it.

There are thousands of ways to make money from your passion.  I am doing it right now by writing and it’s transitioning from a part time passion/hobby into a fully fledged freelance business.  That could be you to, think about it for a moment.  What would it feel like waking up every single morning doing something you loved doing and getting paid for it.  Yes it would be scary as hell giving up a day job for it, but it will be so worth it for the quality of life and the enjoyment. It could turn into a chore if you make it your full time job but there are ways to deal with this.

Life is not about getting the best paid job and working 70 hours per week to get $100,000 per year, who needs the hassle. Life is about finding a balance between your family, friends, your passion and bringing in money to provide for your family.  If your passion and your money are linked it will make it so much easier on yourself and your family.

Conclusion

The key to living a great life is to work with what you have and make what you have great.  If you need more skills, acquire them through dedication.  Your life can be utterly amazing if you let it, acknowledge your life and everything good about it today and start living a life of passion, a life of love, a life of awe, and tell yourself that ‘This is a f*cking great life!’

Go Get It

Want to live like James Bond ? Hell yeah you know the lifestyle of a super star. This exclusive guide teaches you hot to live a full amazing life and covers every aspect of living from dressing confidently, earning a real living, and traveling in style. Find out how with the 007 Lifestyle Program

If you’re like most parents, the peaceful moment after getting your kids on the school bus is your favorite time of the day. Fighting and tantrums regarding unfinished homework, breakfast choices and that ugly purple shirt can get the day off to bad start for all involved.  Fear not, a peaceful morning is just a few hacks away.

1. Wake Up 30 Minutes Before Your Kids

Parents like to sleep late. We day dream about the days before kids when we could sleep as late as we want without having to wake to coordinate backpacks and referee arguments. Still, waking up at the same time as the kids will only create more confusion and chaos. When you’re awake before the kids you can take some time to have a cup of coffee and prepare for the impending chaos. Parents who wake early get to take their time in the bathroom without rushing and prepare for the morning already having shaken away the morning cobwebs. This puts them in a better mood when the kids wake and keeps the crankiness at bay.

2. Do Homework After School

There’s only one way to avoid the morning homework fight – make sure it’s done the day before.  Many parents prefer having their children do their homework first thing off the school bus. Leaving homework until the last minute means it’s done in a hasty manner, it also means your children’s attention is spent concentrating on getting the task done rather than doing it to the best of their ability.

3. Pick Out Clothes the Night Before

If your kids take too much time choosing the day’s outfit or if they don’t like the clothes you choose for them, have them decide the night before.  Don’t wait for the last minute, the last thing you want is for wardrobe consideration to cut into bed time. Making it a part of the evening routine will save a considerable amount of time in the morning. This will also give parents enough time to mend or iron clothes that are in need of an adjustment.

4. Have Kids Plan Out the Breakfast Menu Ahead of Time

Picky kids aren’t as high maintenance when they’re allowed to make the decisions. Let them plan the breakfast menu over the weekend. If you have more than one child, they can take turns picking for different days. Find items that will appeal to everyone and inform all there’s no going back. Now, this may not always prevent a meal time meltdown, but generally if kids have a say in the planning and preparation of food, they’re more likely to eat without a hassle.

5. Make Lunch the Night Before

Making lunches the night before leaves one less thing to do in the morning. Make it part of your after dinner routine, like doing the dishes. Parents with more than one kid can have everyone help in assembly line fashion. Older kids can even make their own lunches. One less thing out of the way at night means one less item to worry about in the morning. Put lunches and snacks in lunchboxes and bags and put them in the refrigerator over night.

6. Set a Timer

If kid are taking too long, set a timer. If they don’t finish breakfast, remove it from the table. If they’re taking too long in the bathroom, tell them their time is up- even if their hair isn’t brushed. If they’re not fully dressed tell them they have to go to school in their pajamas (they won’t but it’s a good threat). You get the picture. After a day or two they’ll get the message.

7. Offer Rewards

If kids get through the morning ritual without incident, offer a reward. Rewards don’t have to be serious prizes either. Try awarding privileges such as having control of the remote the whole night, extra video game time, later weekend bed time or being able to pick out a movie . Stickers and dollar store items also make nice rewards.On another note kids who dawdle or give you a hard time can find themselves facing a loss of privileges such as no television  or dessert.

8. No TV

If you want your children to get ready for school in a timely manner, don’t let them procrastinate in front of the television. Having the TV on, even in the background, ensures at least one child will be standing in front of the tube ignoring breakfast and everything else around him.

9. Schedule the Loo

Bathroom problem? Too many kids and not enough johns? You need a bathroom schedule. Allot each child a certain amount of time, for instance five to seven minutes for young children, 15 to 20 minutes for teens. This helps to eliminate the morning bathroom line, and also, it keeps kids separate and out of each others’ hair.

10. Take a Time Out

If you’re getting stressed because the kids are yelling, or the kids are yelling because they’re getting stressed, someone needs  a time out. Leave the room. Count to ten. Count to twenty if you have to. Walk away, take a deep breath and come back after you’ve calmed down a bit. If one of the kids need a time out, do that too. Start up again when things are calm.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Most of us would never dream of starting or running a business without a carefully thought out business plan, yet we often live our lives without any plan or premeditation. Without that intentional approach to life we are often overwhelmed and stressed out. We all have goals, whether it is to loose weight, save money, stay healthy, advance our career, or connect with love ones. But how are you going to actually achieve any of your goals or stay on track without a plan to get there? This is where creating a Life Plan comes in.

You may hear a lot about creating a Life Plan in business success circles, but developing a Life Plan can be useful in your every day life whether your are a corporate executive, a college student, or a stay at home mom. Creating a life plan helps you to organize your life in ways that you may never have thought of before.

A Life Plan gives you several benefits including:

• Saves Money by helping you to keep track of your finances, plan your spending, and reduce wasteful spending.
• Saves Time by keeping you organized and putting all of the information that you need right at your finger tips.
• Improves Your Health by helping you to track your weight, plan your meals, remember appointments and needed check-ups, and giving you a proactive plan for tackling health issues and preventative care.
• Reduces Stress in a number of ways. Being organized and in control of your life is one of the most important factors in reducing and eliminating the stress in your life. Creating a life plan will help you to prioritize your life and set goals.
• Improves Relationships by helping you keep track of your schedule and make time for the things that matter most in your life and encourages connections with the important people around you.
• Helps You to Achieve Goals by giving you a strategy for reaching your goals and mapping your success along the way with regular check points to monitor progress.

Creating a Life Plan Gives You a Personalized Plan of Attack. Unlike many tips or guide books out there, a Life Plan is authored by you, so it is customized to get you exactly where you want to be without wasting your time dealing with tasks or chapters that are not relevant to your life or goals.

Creating a Life Plan is a simple and effective way to take charge and create the life that you have always wanted, so let’s get started.

Getting Started

Grab your Day Planner (an essential for getting organized), a pen, and some paper and get ready for a hard core look at yourself. If you do not have a Day Planner or personal organizer, no problem, you can create a calendar easily from your computer or pick one up for plan scheduling with your Life Plan.

The first thing that you need to do is think about how your life is and how you want it to be. Jot down a few notes about your goals, your strengths and weaknesses. As we go through each section of your Life Plan you will be dealing with several questions to aid in creating a plan for your life. You can print off your goals and information and arrange them in a handy binder or even use a notebook for your Life Plan, whichever is the most effective for you.

We are going to take a look at seven key areas that you will need to include in your Life Plan including Finances; Health, Fitness, and Mental Well Being, Career & Education, Family, Community & Personal Relationships, Goals & Lifestyle Evaluation, Emergencies & Long Term Planning, and Special Projects.

Finances

This section will take a look at your current income, budget needs, and future goals and help you to develop a schedule to help you keep track of your budget and financial needs.

In this section you will want to include the following areas:

• A record of all income.
• A list of your current spending.
• A list of all bills and necessary expenses.
• Your financial goals. (Are you trying to get out of debt, save money, plan a vacation, etc.?)

Once you have this information in front of you, it will help you to to make some decisions and create a weekly and monthly budget. Your monthly budget will be an overview of all of the income coming in and the bills due. You will break that down into a weekly budget that will help you control spending and plan pay dates to make sure that you get everything paid on time.

This will also give you a chance to see the areas that are costing you the most and where you might be able to trim some fat. Are you spending a lot of money by eating out? This could be an area to focus on that would not only help you save money but create healthy meals at home with your family. Do you waste a lot of money on late charges because you can never keep track of when your bills are due? Or perhaps you are paying for a gym membership that you never use.

The financial section of your Life Plan will not only be useful in getting your finances under control but will also give you a snapshot of your life, where you are putting your money, and where you could better use your resources. If you are using a binder for your Life Plan this is also a great section to keep track of all of your account information, customer service agreements, warranty information, etc.

Health, Fitness, & Mental Well Being

This is perhaps one of the most important sections of your Life Plan, after all if you do not take care of your health, little else will matter. To get started on this section, take a real and honest look at your current situation. What is your health like? Do you have special concerns such as high blood pressure or diabetes? Then evaluate yourself to see where you are falling short. For example, are you getting enough exercise? Do you need to loose weight? Is your diet appropriate for you and your current health?

The most important things that you will need to do with this section is to include your current status, your future goals, and what steps you will need to take to reach those goals. This is also the section where you need to include a meal plan, weekly shopping lists, and a fitness schedule. Creating a chart to keep track of medications is also a good idea.

Keep in mind, that your over all health is not just about your physical well being, but your mental and emotional health as well. Developing your spirituality, taking time to meditate, or connecting with a religious community are important parts of your health plan. Stress and stress related diseases kill millions of people every year. Taking care of yourself properly means taking time for your inner self just as much as you do your physical body. This is true regardless of which religion or ideology you subscribe to and whether it is taking a relaxing bath, making time for prayer, or playing chess during a rousing philosophical discussion, be sure to feed your mind and your soul just as much as you do your body.

Some of your health and fitness goals could include:

• Losing weight
• Lowering your blood pressure
• Decreasing sugar intake
• Lowering cholesterol levels
• Improving flexibility
• Strengthening your muscles
• Preventing heart disease
• Boosting your immune system
• Improve digestive health
• Increase energy levels
• Make time for prayer
• Learn to meditate
• Connect with a local synagogue, church or religious center

Once you have these goals in place that are customized for you, you will be able to create a meal plan based on those goals. Creating a meal plan with a pre-defined shopping list before you head to the grocery store will also help you save money.

Career & Education

Next up, it is a time to take a look at your career and educational goals. This section will apply to everyone, even if you do not engage in work outside of the home or if you are still a student. The idea of this section is to help you look at what you are currently doing, find ways to do that better, and to help you achieve new goals for these areas. Productivity and goal setting will be important here whether your are writing a novel, starting a business, or folding laundry.

Make a list of what activities you are currently doing. Then, next to that, list the things that you want to do and see how they compare. If they are not matching up then this gives you a starting point to work with.

Also, consider what your traits and talents are. Using your natural talents and abilities throughout your day tends to make you more productive and leads to greater enjoyment in your work. If your current situation is not allowing you to do this, then this is the chance to develop new career goals and to put a plan in action for obtaining that new position.

Education is also important to keep in mind in a Life Plan, but not merely for career purposes. Would learning to sew help you save money by doing minor repairs on clothing and items around the house? Maybe you have always dreamt of a trip to Paris but have never learned French, now is the time to include that goal. Education is a life long endeavor and learning new skills can help you advance your career or begin a new one, achieve life long goals, or simply add enjoyment to your life. Including educational goals in your Life Plan also keeps you forward thinking and gives you many more options to deal with the various aspects of your life, both personally and professionally.

Family, Community, & Personal Relationship

Next is a look at your family, community, and personal relationships. This is one of the key areas in which many people also address stress issues and find their priorities. It is time to think about those people in your life, both positive and negative. Examine your relationships and how they are effecting your life. Is your marriage in trouble? If so this is the time to work on a plan for addressing your issues, strengthening your marriage, or attending marriage counseling. Perhaps your marriage is great, but you just moved to a new town and do not know anyone in the community. This section of your Life Plan can help you to develop some ideas for becoming involved in the community and meeting new people.

Unfortunately, not all of the people in our lives are positive influences. This is the time to ask yourself some important questions and maybe even make some hard calls. If there are people, or situations with those people, that are causing undue stress in your life and hindering you from reaching your full potential then it may be time to deal with the situation, whether it be confronting the person to deal with issues or to develop a plan to facilitate better communication. Sometimes, it may mean eliminating the person from your life all together.

This can come into play in many different areas of your life. For example, if you dread going to your doctor because you always feel that it is a battle to get him or her to listen to you then perhaps it is time for you to find another doctor with whom you can build a better working relationship. If you have been trying to quit smoking but have a friend who always smokes around you, then it is time to talk to them honestly and request that they no longer smoke in your presence. This can be a difficult process but often you will find it is much easier to deal with a situation directly than to let it fester over time.

This is also your opportunity to consider ways to reach out and spend more quality time with those nearest and dearest to you. Institute a family game night or a date night with your spouse. Set a date to write a weekly letter to your sister living abroad or to visit sick relatives in the hospital. Deciding where you priorities are and what social activities you can actually incorporate into your life without becoming over burdened will be an essential part of creating a successful life plan.

Goals & Lifestyle Evaluation

This is a pretty straight forward section where you decide what your goals are and evaluate your lifestyle in order to determine what is working and what needs to change. Since you have already been looking at most of the key aspects of your life, you already have the information in front of you that you will need for this section. Develop your goals and evaluate your lifestyle in relationship to those goals. Do you have bad habits that are impacting your health? Is your spending out of control? Maybe you are feeling a bit isolated and need to find ways to connect to your community. Wherever you want your life to go you can develop a plan to get you there.

It is important at this point to set a series of realistic goals to help you map out your progress. For example, do not merely set a goal of loosing weight, be specific and set a series of goals. If you want to drop thirty pounds, set a date for that goal then break it down into a weekly goal for weight loss that will help you reach your main goal.

Emergencies & Long Term Planning

Another simple part to include your Life Plan is emergency and long term planning. What is your emergency response plan to a house fire or natural disaster? Do you have storm supplies and a first aid kit prepared? Does your family know where to meet should disaster strike? Who will take care of your kids if you need to go to the hospital? Making these plans ahead of time, and having them written down with contact information in your plan will make emergencies much less chaotic and insure that you prepared to handle them.

Likewise, keep an eye on long term planning whether it be preparing for retirement or long range goals for your health care, be sure to include long term planning goals and needs in your Life Plan and update it regularly.

Special Projects

Lastly, we all have hobbies and special interests. Develop a plan to help you incorporate those into your daily life and include an area related to any special projects that you may have. Whether it is writing a book, building a home, or learning to cook make a plan and set milestone goals to help you succeed.

Create your Life Plan and revisit it every week or even daily to chart your progress, ensuring that you are on track and whatever your walk is in life, your Life Plan will help you reach your destination.

Running a business is not easy at the best of times, but when you have a full time job as well as an online business, it can be extremely difficult. This can be made even more difficult if you also have a family. Difficult that is, if you are not well organized and make the most of every minute you have, you’ll miss out on opportunities that could change your life.

This article will show you some great ways to stay on top of your commitments and become better organized in all areas of your life.

24 Hours in a Day

There is only so much you can do in a day, after all there are only 24 hours to play with. A lot of people think they have to work harder and work quicker to get more done however with the correct mindset and preparation you can not only get more done but will be able to do it in less time simply by working smarter.

Getting Organized

Being well organized is a prerequisite if you are going to balance your life between your job, online business and social life. If you are reading this with a groan and thinking “I am not an organized person”, don’t worry you will be after being shown a few simple tips and putting them into practice.

Tidy House – Tidy Mind

It’s amazing that with the simple act of tidying the workspace around you can relieve so much stress and chaos in your mind. Your workspace reflects your state of mind and if your workspace is in turmoil you can bet that your mind will be as well. It’s time for a clear out.

Start with your desk at home. Clear out every bit of paper you do not need, be ruthless here, if you’ve not looked at it for a few months bin it or file it. Clear out the scratched CDs, the broken pens, old computer manuals from your drawers and leave only the essentials in there. If you have three calculators lying about donate two of them Throw away anything that is broken and can’t be fixed, even if you’ve been meaning to fix it for a year now. Now, get some polish, a cloth and give your desk a good clean and clean your computer screen and printer with some computer cleaning fluid.

That’s it, you will have made a start on clearing your space. Now you’ve got the momentum, start clearing the rest of your office space in the same way and then finally do the same with the rest of your house. yes it might take a week or so but believe me if you have niggling little jobs at the back of your mind all the time it gets in the way of your focus and attention.

Now, it’s time to do exactly the same at your place of work. This will not be as big a job as, hopefully, you’ll not have a whole house to clean, it should only be your desk and your office or workspace area.

Counting the Working Week Hours

Now you have a tidy house and tidy mind you have time to focus on your working hours. Look at how many hours per day you are working your full time job and do the same with your online business and your family/friends time. Your midweek schedule might look something like this:

• 11 hours – Preparation and being at work
• 3 hours – Family time (meals, talking with partner, playing with kids)
• 3 hours for online business
• 7 hours sleep

Your Saturday and Sunday schedule might look something like this:

• 7 Hours – online business
• 7 Hours Sleep
• 10 Hours – Friends/Family, household chores, etc…

So all in all you will be spending around 29 hours on your online business. That might seem a lot but that 29 hours can go in very quickly if you waste some of it on emails, social media, chatting, twittering etc.

Now we’ve got all that out of the way it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty and look at the three main area in your life and work on each of them in turn; Your full time job, Your online business and your family/friends.

Your Full Time Job

It’s a chore but you have to go everyday so you know the mortgage payments will be met. Also to keep your partner happy, she/he will probably think you’re playing around on the internet and not thinking about chucking your full time job to go full time – playing on the internet.

We’ve established that you will have around eleven hours preparation time and actual time you spend at work. This includes getting ready in the morning, driving to work, working, and driving back from work. Around nine of those hours will actually be spent working. So that’s two hours getting ready and commuting. What if you could cut out the commuting and work from home, that would give you another ten hours per week for your online business.

Suggesting to the Boss Home Working

It’s not possible for all jobs but if you’re office based it’s feasible you could work from home as effectively as you could by being at the office. This could save a lot of time for you and if you prove your productivity is better working from home it could be a full time thing. If you decide to approach your boss about this make sure you make it a win/win situation and make it sound better for the company. Read Tim Ferris’ excellent book “The Four Hour Workweek” which will provide you with some details about how to go about this.

Automation

Depending on the job you have you can automate a lot of the work so it makes it easier on you. For example I have to send out letters, do assessments, and type up notes every single day using Word and I have learned to automate this by setting up databases of all my clients and mail merging all my standard letters, and standard assessments. This saves me around 15 minutes per client each day.

If I see six clients in a day I am saving 90 minutes per day, or seven and a half hours per week. The time I am saving means I get to have a lunch break instead of working through it. I always, always take a break from work and get out of the building. I think this is an important point to make. the more breaks you get throughout the day i.e. your lunch break, the more refreshed you feel when you come home. When I come home for lunch I get to spend around 45 minutes on my online business related matters. If you are focused you can do a lot in 45 minutes.

Micro-Napping

A micro-nap is a great way to refresh your mind and energy levels. Once you’ve practiced it for a bit you can micro-nap anywhere. A micro-nap is simply closing your eyes for five to seven minutes and drifting off into a very light sleep. If you do practice this make sure you are not lying down as you are likely to fall into a full blown sleep. Sitting up in a chair is best and when you begin to fall into a slightly deeper sleep your head will fall and wake you up. Have you ever been at a boring meeting when you’ve drifted off and your head jerks you back awake and you’ve got a bit drool coming from your mouth and you look around you hoping nobody has noticed you, well that’s what a micro-nap is like only nobody is there laughing at you.

Productivity

Become as efficient as possible whilst at work. Remember your work is a secondary pastime and you eventually want to give it up, so make sure you run like clockwork whilst you are there to reduce any stress you feel coming home. Give up the gossip time and get back to work so everything is finished for the day and you have no stresses for the following day. You might lose a few work acquaintances in the process but who cares, when you eventually leave your work you’ll never speak to them again anyway.

Your Online Business

This might still be a hobby to you but if you are making money from it you have to treat it like a business from the very start. For example a lot of people, when they start out making money, don’t keep receipts for expenses etc and don’t do book keeping. It’s very important that you realize that when your business grows it will be harder to keep track of your incomings and outgoings so make sure you keep a record of everything from the start, it will save a lot of time in the future.

Cut Out Time Wasting

Whilst online you will find that you have a million and one ways to distract you from actually keeping on top of your business. Twittering, online chatting, social media, Facebook, checking e-mails. There is a time and a place for all of this and I’ll get to that in a minute. Turn off everything that is a distraction to you. That means close down all the tabs in your browser which has your twitter account, your Facebook account, Google account etc, turn off your emails, stop watching YouTube and actually get on with working. Give yourself two or three hours of focused working every day.

Making Time for the Fun Stuff

Part of the attraction of running your own online business is that you get to spend time doing what you want and enjoy, like twittering and interacting with customers, and chatting etc. It’s important to make time for all of this but try and do it in a controlled manner. Spend 1 hour per day on the fun stuff, or more if you don’t have a family, but always keep in the back of your mind that you are there to make money for your business and eventually give up your day job.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a great way to hand over all the smaller, but time consuming, tasks to someone else. you will have to pay them of course and make sure you find a good person to work with. For example If you are into internet marketing you might have to write a lot of articles for your blog, pay someone $3-5 per article whilst you concentrate on growing your business. You can find quality workers on places like Elance.com, guru.com, and others.

The same goes with working on your website. If you are not great at web design hand it over to someone else. You might find you are spending two hours per day trying to get your website sorted, because you are still learning, it’s better to hand it over to someone who knows what they are doing for a relatively small fee whilst you concentrate on growing the business. Other jobs that you can outsource might be:

• Finding leads for your business
• Writing letters to prospective clients
• Answering emails with standard responses
• Finding partnerships
• Processing email orders
• Accounts

There is a lot of work you can outsource just make sure you find someone who is good and when you have stick with them.

Spend Time Branding Yourself and Your Company

This is an important part for every business. I am a freelance writer and marketer and to brand myself I give away a lot of my stuff for free, yes for free. I write guest posts for other blogs, I write e-Books to give away, I produce downloads for free to give them away. This is hugely important as it gets my name out there and the more people see my face and get to know and trust me the more likely they are to turn to me if they need help in the area I work in. Whatever you are doing it’s important to brand yourself and get your face known.

Your Family

your family time is just as important as your full time job and online business time. they are the ones supporting you and they are the ones who want you to succeed. However they might not fully understand what you do and why you have to work so many hours per day. You will want to spend quality time with every day, they might not see the big picture as you do so it’s important to give them as much attention as possible.

Get your family involved

My two sons don’t quite fully understand what I do and why I do it but I have shown them a lot of the work I do online and I have even shown them how to do a bit of social media for me. So they can sit at my desk with their laptops doing some social media work whilst I work away writing. However, we are spending time together and we are interacting with each other. Sometimes they don’t want to do it and that’s fine, I’ll spend time doing what they like, like playing their X-box games.

Setting Aside Time

Make your time with your family sacred and try and spend quality time with them. Sometimes, it might just be a cuddling up on the couch that they want and that’s quality time with them and for you. Kids especially just want their parents to be in the same room and know they are around rather than them hiding in the office all night. Time is against you here so set times that you will spend with them.

Whenever you come home from work remember that your family has not seen you all day so make this time a priority to spend an hour or so with them and sit down with them for dinner.

Make the weekends a time to have fun with your family and do something different and get out of the house. Remember kids see the world differently from us and even going to the park will be a time they remember that they have spent time with you and it’s these memories that last a lifetime.

Your Sleeping Pattern

I have managed to change my sleeping pattern over the years to accommodate my passion for writing and online work. I now get by on five or six hours of sleep per night with one or two micro-naps during the day. You’ll never become successful if you sleep for ten hours per day, but then again you’ll kill yourself if you only sleep three hours per day.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this will give you an insight into what you can do to gain balance between your full time job, online business, family and friends.

What do you do to maintain balance with everything going on in your life?