Just when I thought I didn’t have to go back to the mall, I spent another 4 hrs at THE MALL! When will the back to school shopping ever end? I just love it when our girls start playing the “well she got that, why didn’t I get this” or she got more than I did. How about mom and pop? We didn’t even treat ourselves to a white chocolate mocha.

From the mail room.

Dear Chris -

I subscribe to your emails from Obzokee.com. I read them everyday that I get them.  I live in PA and I want to be able to telecommute/work from home. All of the stuff on the internet are scams and it is so hard to find a work from home job. I don’t want to have to pay any money to “join” any of the websites to get the jobs or have to pay for anything….period! I am not looking to start my own business either. I am a single mother of a 5 1/2 yr old boy. He will be starting kindergarten in Sept. and I want to be able to work from home so that I can be there for him.

Do you have any suggestions or any leads? Do you know of anyone that is hiring? I also did apply for the position you had in the one email. Did you find someone?

Please email me back, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help in advance!

Yes, it’s very tough sifting through all the crap, spam and scams which we are flooded with on this here internet. Scammers see people who are looking for a work at home job as PRIME TARGET! Maybe it’s due to the hint of desperation?  Here are a few tips I hope will assist you in your quest…

1. Visit the job boards on a regular basis, so you can apply for the vacant jobs as soon as they’re posted. You can start at : WFHMarket.com and Genuinejobs.com.

2. Use internet forums and discussion groups to get feedback on possible scams and to ask questions relating to working from home. People who visit these forums are very friendly and are always willing to assist. On many occasions I’ve seen vacant jobs posted on these forums as well. If you need help finding forums, simply go to Google.com and try searching “work at home forums” “telecommute forums” and/or “telecommute forums”.

3. If you do find something you’re interested in do some research on the company. Again, post questions in forums and also check the BBB to see if there’s anything listed on the company. Google.com is also a great place to start your investigation.

4. NEVER pay for a job or the promise of a job.

Christy I do hope the tips above help. Yes, I did hire someone for the position I posted about a month ago and Jen is doing an amazing job. I’m about to launch a new website in mid September and may need another assistant for that. Stay tuned for when I do make the post.

Saw this posted on the 5 Minutes For Mom site and thought of you (readers). Here are the details…

We are looking for the perfect person to help us write and manage our newsletter.

If you are a stay-at-home or work-at-home mom with experience managing e-mail newsletters and could start helping us right away, you may be just the person we need.

Seems like a great opportunity to be part of a site and team of women who are on the rise. Full details about this great new job opportunity can be found here : Manage Newsletter Job opening. Before you apply, please do read the details about the position and make sure you follow their directions. i’d hate for you to get all excited and miss something that may prevent you from landing the job.

It’s 12.45 am Friday night and thanks to a large double double from Tim Hortons, I’m wide awake. Enjoy the weekend.. I think I’ll head out to Burlington for their annual rib fest sometime this weekend. Enjoy some mouth watering BBQ and make the most of the final days of the summer.

This is a guest post by Shawnee Bowlin

The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of working from home is leisure.  The thought immediately invokes an image of an easier life.  Working away from home is often imagined as more stressful.  While that is not always true, balancing work life with home life can be stressful whether one works at home or away from home.

Although working away from home does involve more travel time, there is also travel time with the work-at-home life.  Research, supplies, appointments, and post office visits are some of the reasons for travel.  There is also the time traveling that involves children who live in the home.  This doesn’t stop just because of a home work life.

Balancing the work-at-home life can be just as hectic, if not well organized, as balancing the work-away-from-home life.  It is imperative that schedules are respected when one works at home.  Work must be taken seriously regardless of the circumstances or surroundings.

First, the family must understand that having a parent at home does not mean a relaxed attitude towards the importance of the work life.  No work equals no money.  Working from home can definitely have many perks as opposed to working away from home, but work is still involved.

Second, distractions are still distractions whether one is in an office building or in the home office.  If weaknesses towards distractions can be recognized, quality work time can be maximized by avoiding those weaknesses.  Strong work ethics must prevail in any work situation.  Know your own strengths and weaknesses.

Third, a flexible schedule can hurt as much as it can help if not properly arranged.  Flexibility is often misunderstood when one decides that working from home is better.  Staying up all night to finish a project can still harm a person who neglects to get the work done because of the interruptions during normal work hours.  This also affects the next day’s work and can cause a domino effect until the proper balance is restored.

Finally, there is the responsibility to keep work areas in one place rather than strewn all over the house.  If organized properly, time spent searching for supplies, paperwork, and so on, or time spent rescuing these items from mischievous pets or toddlers can be avoided.  Besides being unprofessional, it just sounds lame to explain to a customer or business contact that the dog ate your project.

Balancing work life with home life is essential to making the most out of the work-from-home experience.  There must be a rational plan of action and a reality check for success to prevail.

We’ve now spent 2 entire days combing through the malls and dark alleys for deals on back to school items for our girls. I’ve had enough! I feel as if I’m hung-over from a night of booze, dancing and all that follows those kinds of nights. We got home around 11 pm last night, pockets empty, energy drained and children still bitching that they didn’t get all they wanted. Too freaking bad!

Every year, around August and September, parents of young children face one of their largest single expenses: getting their kids ready for a new school year. They extend their budget for children’s clothes and school supplies, forgetting to plan ahead in the process.

Unfortunately, this expensive annual tradition has not been adapted to a time when there are more single parents and, in general, less money in the average family budget. That’s why it is more important at this time to be an informed shopper than ever.

Start by taking a thorough inventory of what you already have, and develop a budget for what you still need. Then, list each item in priority, from most important to least important. By having a prioritized, budgeted shopping list, it can be trimmed easily by cutting from the bottom.

The next step is to compare prices of different items. If a store five miles away is offering low prices on blue jeans, it may be worth the drive. Buy underwear, socks and other basics in quantity when they are on sale, making sure to allow for growth. Check as many newspaper advertisements and catalogs as possible before you finally make your purchases.

Another important strategy is to remember that what you buy is as important as how you buy. Basic, durable clothing will stretch your dollars significantly. Check for strong buttonholes, secure buttons, reinforced stitching, firmly woven or knitted fabric, and basic styles.

Some important things to remember about back-to-school shopping:

Children grow quickly. Look for articles of clothing with no definite waistline, like overalls. Blouses and shirts with long tails, as well as pants with elastic waistbands, also allow for kids to grow. Make shorts out of long pants, and short sleeves out of long sleeves, as your child grows. Also, straight-knit dresses make great tops for jeans, stretch pants, or skirts.

Kids like ‘easy’ clothes. For younger children, getting the best value for your dollar means buying clothes they like to wear. Look for articles they can manage without much help. For example, front openings, flat buttons, easy-to-reach pockets, elastic waistbands, and large necklines make it easier for kids to get dressed in the morning. Remember, the easier it is for them to dress themselves, the less stressful your mornings will be.

Save on school supplies. Before you run to the “Back To School” section at an expensive retailer, compare prices with lower priced outlets and office supply stores. You might find that the spiral notebook with the really colorful cover is more expensive and has less paper than the one with the plain cover.

Shopping for school clothes and supplies also gives parents a great opportunity to teach their older kids about spending habits. Sit down with your children and decide on a budget. Let them do the comparison shopping and point out that if they get the expensive sneakers, they have to cut back in other areas. Not only will they learn about smart shopping, they will value what you buy for them much more.

The most important strategy for Back To School shopping is to stick to the budget you set. Bring only as much cash as you need, based on your budget, and leave your credit cards at home (you’d think I would know this by now) . Shopping for less is a challenge, but with planning and forethought, you can prepare your children for another school year without breaking the family budget.

BTW, when I grow up I want to own a Hollister or Abercrombie store… that place is a magnet for teens and dungeon for parents alike. Quite honestly, this must be the “crack” of the new generation. EVERY friggin teen and their poor parents were in those stores!

How many times have you wearily told yourself you could accomplish everything you had ever dreamed of ‘if only there were an extra hour in the day’? Since it is not likely that we will ever see 25 hours in a day, the only other option for us women who are juggling both families and careers is to get a little more organization in our lives.

Now I know what you are thinking, as you roll your eyes with a sarcastic snort of laughter… “like my family is going to let organization into the house.” Organization has somehow become a bad word in today’s lifestyles, but I think that you can interweave it to where organization is actually appreciated as well as wanted by everyone in the home. I want to share some ideas on how to ease organization back into your home, little by little, so that your family is unaware that you are actually taking back control of the household.

The first thing that you need to do is understand what the advantages of some organization in your life will bring you as you create a personal schedule that works for you, not for others.

• You will gain time.

• It will reduce your anxiety.

• It will motivate you.

• It reduces your avoidance.

Now, you will have to do a little homework to begin with, but it isn’t so much to ask that it would be worth the risk of continued chaos. What you need to do is take a journal and keep it with you for one week. Write in it at every opportunity, to track for that one week, everything that you do so that you can find out where you are at what time of the day. You should also write down your goals, in this journal, of what you are looking for from getting organized. Your goals should be specific, realistic and achievable. This will make it easy for you to organize and prioritize your life so that you can manage your time successfully. Having an awareness of what your goals are will assist you in prioritizing your activities so that when you schedule your time, you can do it in a manner to use your time wisely, but don’t forget to leave yourself some flexibility in your schedule to allow for interruptions and distractions. Every working mother has some.

Once you have your schedule, you need to create a ‘to do list’ for yourself. Some like to create this list every morning when they wake up, others like to do it before they go to bed at night. There is no right or wrong way to do it, just do it…it will make your life simpler. Flag or highlight the items on your ‘to do list’ so that you know if they are Urgent – items that have short-term consequences, or if they are Important – items that have long-term, goal related consequences. Work towards reducing the Urgent items so that you can work towards the Important items. Try to give the Important items a deadline so that they do not become Urgent emergencies. At the end of the day, or in the morning, remember to transfer over to the next day’s list whatever you did not get to off of your list. Make sure that you keep your list handy, so that you can check off items as you get them done. This will give you a sense of accomplishment that will in turn give you a desire to accomplish more.

It is always a good idea to get yourself a daily/weekly planner so that you can write down appointments, meetings, and kids schedules to stay in control of your time. First thing every morning, check what is planned for the day, and always check the planner before you go to bed so that you can go to sleep knowing that you are prepared for the next day. If you get a good planner, it will have a monthly chart in it as well, which can be a big help to constructively plan time for yourself. Organize your planner in a way that makes sense to you. If you need colors and photos to help you make sense of your day, put a lot on your planner. Maybe you like to have everything neatly hidden away; a pocket planner is probably the way to go then. What I am saying is to forget the ‘format’ on how to plan, do what makes sense to you. Planning is a key factor in every organized schedule. Here are a few suggestions:

• Organize your week so that you are doing the same thing on the same day each week.

• Shop only ONE day per week (this will save you gas by taking fewer trips to the store).

• Cook the week’s dinners on Sunday (pick a day that fits your schedule best), and package them for the night’s during the week when you’ve been working all day.

• Put a load of wash in when you leave for the day. Dry and sort them when you get home, while warming dinner.

Find your prime time and utilize it. Your prime time is when you are at your best. Are you a ‘morning person,’ a ‘night owl,’ or a ‘late afternoon whiz?’ Knowing your primetime and utilizing it for your priorities is the most effective time management for women with families and careers. Conquer Procrastination! When you are avoiding a task, try breaking it into smaller tasks and doing just one of the smaller tasks. By doing a little at a time, eventually you will reach a point where you will want to finish the task. When you succeed in completing a goal, you must reward yourself so that you can maintain the necessary balance in life between family and career. Reward yourself with what you desire…a babysitter so that you and your husband can have a romantic dinner, some time to yourself, or a girl’s night out with friends. It’s your reward, you earned it.

Using time to think and plan is time well spent. If you fail to plan, you are, in effect, planning to fail and your life will remain stranded in chaotic confusion.

This is a guest post by Michelle Noe. Learn more about Michelle on our featured writers page.