by BlondieWrites on March 14, 2010
Freezer Cooking Made Simple
Where to Buy:
http://www.frugalology.com/freezercooking
Also Available:
Crockpot Cooking Made Simple
Meal Planning Made Simple
The Hillbilly Housewife Recipe Collection
About Freezier Cooking Made Simple
Description: This ebook is filled with all the information necessary to learn how to freeze foods and make those dollars stretch. With information such as how to get started, what items you need, what foods freeze well and foods that don’t quite cut it when it comes to freezing, this eBook tells it all. Worksheets, printable labels and even a few quick and easy recipes are included to get you started with healthier meals when living on a tighter budget.
Review: As a mother, wife and just all around caretaker of my home I needed to find something that would take less time and save me money in the kitchen. I went looking for ideas and found many that seemed to be the answer. Most of them I found to be more time consuming than anything. Then, I came upon this ebook.
Freezing foods makes sense in all aspects. It’s amazing how in just one afternoon you can have a freezer full of healthy foods to feed your family for a month. This ebook will show you how. It’s easy to understand, has all the facts you need to know and will give you the answers to any questions you may have.
Freezer Cooking Made Simple is set up so that even the newly married can find what she needs. It explains why freezing foods can save you money and time. It talks about what you need in the way of equipment, how to shop for foods and how to cook these foods.
There is a section that explains how to safely store your freezer meals including labels to help you remember exactly what you have and how to reheat it. Susanne has included a printable shopping list along with a worksheet to help plan your meals on a weekly and monthly basis. Best of all, there are even a few recipes added to get you started.
If you’re looking for a way to save money and time in the kitchen, I strongly urge you to take a look at Freezer Cooking Made Simple. Once you read through it, put it into motion immediately. You will see that this is a very simple and easy way to make those hours in the kitchen count. Shopping, cooking and freezing foods aren’t as hard as many of us believe. Give it a chance and you will find the answer you’ve been looking for all along.
Article written by Susanne Myers of HillbillyHousewife.com
Popularity: 1% [?]
by BlondieWrites on March 12, 2010
Ten Tips for WAHMs
Being a Working At Home Mom (WAHM for short) can often turn into a balancing act. The duties of work and home begin to overlap, and often one can take over. Many moms decide to work at home to spend more time with their families, but end up dedicating even more time to work. Here are a few tips to help you juggle.
1. Get organized. Figure out what your goals and priorities are, in your business and in your personal life, then figure out how to achieve them. Then put your house, office, and life in general, together in a way that will help you achieve your goals.
2. Lists, lists, lists. One you have your plans and goals, make to-do lists. Try to organize your lists by priority. If something doesn’t get done, it probably wasn’t that important anyway.
3. Multitask. At some point, you’re probably going to get burnt out doing things that seem tedious or that you just don’t want to do. Try mixing it up. If something is really stressing you out, go on to something else and come back. As a WAHM, there’s always something else that needs to get done.
4. Set work hours, and follow them. Set work hours for times when the kids aren’t around, or don’t require a lot of attention. When your work hours are done, stop working. If you can’t manage to get your work done, you may need to reset your work hours, but you most likely need to look at how much work you can actually take on.
5. Make a separate space for work and family. While it may be easy to work and play in the same area, it helps to have a dedicated office area when you work from home. This will help you focus on what you need to be doing, and even help protect you from getting your work disrupted by your family.
6. Get the family to help. Sure, if your kids are young, they aren’t going to be able to help with much, but even very small children can often help organize the house or dry dishes. Make sure everyone does their part.
7. Take time for you. When balancing work and family, you often forget an important part of the equation: you. When scheduling your work and family, always schedule some time to relax, socialize, and do what you like to do.
8. Make friends. Even if you don’t get to see them a lot, friends are an important part of maintaining your physical and mental health. Remember to take time to keep your friendships alive.
9. Stay positive. One of the biggest keys to success is keeping a positive attitude. You’ll be surprised what you can accomplish as long as you believe you can do it. Plus, you’ll be setting a great life example for your kids at the same time.
10. Remember that you are unique. Trying to fit into someone else’s schedule and someone else’s plan isn’t necessarily going to be successful. You need to tailor your plan into your family’s unique needs and find something that works for you.
Popularity: 2% [?]
by BlondieWrites on March 8, 2010
Work at Home: Don’t Get Overwhelmed
When working on a big project, it’s easy to look at it and think “there’s just no way I can do that”. But a big project becomes a lot more manageable if you break it down into smaller pieces - you just have to know how to divide it up.
Before you dive into breaking up your project and making a plan, you need to figure out exactly what needs to be done and when the project needs to be done by. This may be very easy if your client has a clear idea of what they want and a solid deadline, but they may be more flexible and want you to fill in the blanks, it which case this might take a bit longer.
Either during or after figuring out your full goal and deadline, break the job down into exactly what needs to be done. Break the job into small pieces. Don’t worry about the order yet, just make sure you have a list of all the tasks involved. Also make sure to put next to each tasks who needs to be involved and what tools and equipment will be needed to complete it.
The next step is to organize all the pieces into an order. You can do this based on several criteria including:
* Client needs. No matter what your preferences, to run a successful business, you need to put the client first. If your client needs certain parts by certain dates, then that’s going to be the first determinant of your schedule. Once that is decided, you can fill in the other blanks from there.
* Chronological considerations. While certain parts of projects can be done in any order, some activities require other portions to be done before they can be finished, or sometimes even started. Once you are done organizing things by firm deadlines, they can be ordered in this way.
* Availability of people and tools. Generally, you’re going to need certain employees, outside contractors, specific equipment, and other items. These are likely going to be different for each part of the project. Organize your timeline based on who is needed for each part. For example, if you need a certain contractor for several steps, it’s easier to do those steps one after the other instead of spreading them apart. And if a person is working on a part of the project that will take up all their time, they obviously can’t work on another project at the same time.
Once you have a general order set up, you’re ready to set up a more specific timeline with dates that specific parts of the project need to be done. Unlike the previous step, this one may be more difficult (and you may have to redo the last step). For your timeline, you need to take into account not only when things are due, but when people and equipment you need will be available.
Once you have your final plan, you’re ready to get started. But, don’t let you’re planning be done there. We all know that nothing goes exactly as planned. Re-evaluate your plan every so often to make sure it still lines up with client expectations and how things are going. That way there won’t be any surprises later on.
Popularity: 1% [?]
by BlondieWrites on March 8, 2010
If you want to get stuff done at work, you need to take breaks. Our brains and bodies aren’t meant to go non-stop. The longer you go without taking a break, the slower you’re going to be working. By taking breaks, you’re going to increase your productivity and probably get more done in the long run. Occasionally, you’re going to need a day off, or even a full vacation.
When you work in a regular office, you have specific vacation time that you can take to get out of the office. When you work at home, it’s easy to not only skip vacations, but also to work through weekends and holidays too. If you try to take a day off at home, you’ll often end up working through your break. To really get a break, you need to get out of the office and the house.
You’ve probably heard of people or media outlets talk about office burnout. This is when you get so stressed out at work, you just don’t want to do it anymore. You’re tired, angry, and disinterested in your work, or sometimes anything else. This not only decreases your productivity, it also can be dangerous to your health.
Don’t have time to take off? You’ll get too far behind on your projects? Before you write off taking a break, sit down and think about why you started working at home to begin with. Chances are it had something to do with your family. Whether it was to make more money for them or to spend more time with them, it’s probably about them. If you work yourself so hard you’re having physical and mental problems, how is that helping your family?
When we’re used to keeping going and going, it’s hard to figure out what to do on a day off. However, there are plenty of things you can do for any interest. Like learning? You can go to a local museum. If you like nature, go to your local zoo or park. If you prefer adventure you could take the family canoeing. If you just need to relax you might look into your local day spa. There are endless possibilities to fit every personality.
Just because you take a day away from the office doesn’t mean you necessarily need to stop working. One great way to do this is to go to a seminar. The beauty of seminars is not just that you meet new people and learn things, it’s that they’re often in fun, sometimes exotic places. You can build useful business relationships, learn new techniques and ideas, and have a relaxing vacation all at the same time. If there are no useful seminars, you could just go on vacation with someone in your field. You can brainstorm, trade ideas, and relax at the same time.
The important thing to remember is that if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else. Taking the occasional day off is a great idea to recharge and refresh yourself so you can get back to being the best version of you.
Popularity: 1% [?]
by BlondieWrites on March 8, 2010
Photoshop Actions to Create Software eBox Covers
If you are looking for an easy and quick way to make sofware ebox covers for your digital products, then I have just the thing for you. You can create professional looking ecovers with Photoshop Actions using this inexpensive method.
Photoshop Actions are easy to install and easy to use, allowing you to make professional looking graphics. It’s a fact that more sales are made when using professional looking covers for your ebook covers and software ebox covers. Photoshop Actions …
And, to make this an even sweeter idea… you can make covers for clients and charge them $25, $50, $100, or more! Covers are in demand! Have your own online ecover business using your Photoshop and this Photoshop Action.
Check out the samples below. Get the full details here:
http://www.thewahmagazine.com/softwareboxecovers.html
Popularity: 1% [?]
by BlondieWrites on February 6, 2010
Do you rely on your skills as an internet marketer to generate income? You may sell your services to others or use your skills to drive traffic to a website you monetized. Regardless of how you make money as an internet marketer, you must not only have good marketing skills, but good time management skills. Why? Because managing your time can save you time.
Managing your time can save you time. That sounds like a neat and catchy phrase, but is it really true? Yes it is. Unfortunately, many individuals look at good time management as nothing more than a useful skill. Yes, it is, but it can be so much more. It can be transformed into a time saving and moneymaking tool. How?
An important component of time management is knowing how your time is spent. For example, how do you market a website for yourself or a paid client? Do you submit articles to directories, submit websites to directory lists, or you buy advertisements? If so, you are on the right path, as you are getting work done. But, are you using your time to its fullest extent?
One of the many pitfalls of working as an internet marketer is that you work from home and on the computer. There are many benefits to doing so, but many cons as well. One of those being rampant distractions. Every time you turn around, you may find a distraction. These distractions could include an incoming phone call from a relative, a sink full of dirty dishes, an interesting website you found online, or computer games. Are you avoiding these distractions, eliminating them as an issue, toning them out, or falling victim to their allure? If falling victim to their allure, you are not making full use of your time.
But wait! Above, you stated that you are getting many internet marketing tasks done throughout the day. Yes, this is good, but you are still not making full use of your time. Even if you send an email to a family member, you are wasting time. It doesn’t matter whether you spend 30 seconds or three minutes sending that email, it is still wasted time.
When your workday involves more than just working, you get less done. By eliminating distractions and improving your time management, you can get more done. This is nice, but look at it from an opportunity standpoint. When you finish your to-do list quicker, you can do something else. If you are an avid internet user, your newfound free time many be spent focusing on researching new internet marketing tactics, but it could also be spent with your friends or family.
In addition to saving you time, properly managing your time can also help you generate income. In fact, it can prevent you from losing money. When an internet marketer, you generate income by either selling your service or marketing a product you sell. Regardless of which category you fall into, time management is vital to your success and your high earnings. By eliminating distractions and doing nothing but work during business hours, you distribute more links over the internet and complete more paid projects.
In short, time management is more than just a nice skill to have. When properly used, it can be a moneymaking and time saving tool.
Popularity: 3% [?]
by BlondieWrites on February 6, 2010
Do you operate a website or blog that generates income through the sale of a product, service, or affiliate links? If so, you not only need to be a webmaster, but an online marketer.
As a website owner who uses a website to generate income, internet marketing is important to your success. For that reason, you need to implement it. If this is a new step for you, you may be looking for guidance. The first step is to familiarize yourself with popular internet marketing techniques. You can easily do this online or by visiting internet marketing forums. Once you know how to market your website or blog, you start to implement the techniques you learned. Unfortunately, this is where many new marketers make costly mistakes.
To ensure you get the most out of your newfound internet marketing knowledge, you need to create a schedule. When properly complied and used, a schedule will increase your productivity. Remember, the more traffic you drive to your website or blog, the more your earnings potential increases. If that isn’t enough reason to create a schedule, continue reading on for five more.
1 – It Is Easy to Make a Schedule
An internet marketing schedule is essentially a detailed to-do list. What you do is start with times. Set aside blocks of times, like in one or two hour increments. For each time slot, write a task or two. This is what you want to do. For example, do you want to submit an article to a directory or send advisements to your followers on Twitter? If so, add to your schedule.
2 – You Have Many Options
Not only is making an internet marketing schedule easy, but you have many options. You can compose a schedule by hand, in Microsoft Word, or by spreadsheet. You also have the option of creating daily, weekly, or monthly schedules.
3 – A Schedule is a Guide
When you are familiar with internet marketing tactics, it is easy to advertise online. Unfortunately, many run into problems with distractions. It is easy to go from using the internet to research to reading the news or the latest celebrity gossip. To prevent this from happening, use your schedule as a guide. You want to avoid distractions, but if an interruption happens, don’t spend time trying to remember what you were doing or were about to do, just consult your schedule and get back to work.
4 – It Serves as a Source of Motivation
As previously stated, a schedule is essentially a to-do list with times attached. These times are important as they add pressure and serve as motivation. When you track your time with a clock or beeping alarm clock, you know when time is about to expire or has. When most know they only have X amount of time to complete a task, they tend to put forth more effort and increase their productivity.
5 – You Can Extend Your Reach
In terms of internet marketing, there are hundreds of successful tactics. You cannot implement them all in one day, but get the process started. When doing so, don’t place all your attention on one marketing tactic. Unfortunately, if you do not have a set guide to follow, you may make this mistake. The best way to market a website, product, or service is to spread your reach.
Popularity: 3% [?]
by BlondieWrites on January 15, 2010
Learning to master time management can make or break your home business. In the early days of your home business, you will still have a lot to learn and as you fill orders, work with customers and businesses; the hours can fly by very quickly. You will discover that there are not enough hours in a day to complete all of your daily tasks.
Efficiently managing your time will help you to create order out of chaos. If you wake up and simply start moving things around without some sort of plan in place, you can easily forget important jobs that need to be completed forget orders, neglect to call back clients and lose customer confidence in your fledgling company.
Plan Ahead
Have a plan in place such as a daily schedule. Follow up that schedule with a weekly schedule that fully covers all of your daily tasks. With this plan in place, you can quickly take stock of your time to figure out what needs to be done. This will help you to achieve your goals by completing important tasks first, and getting through simple tasks with time to spare. Get into the habit of checking, editing and updating this schedule as last minute plans may arise.
This plan will allow you to get your work done without creating a backlog because you accepted too much work in a short amount of time. When new requests come in, you can look at these schedules to see if you have the time to spare or if you should turn down the job due to lack of time. It can be hard to turn away new business or repeat offers but if you accept more work than you can complete in a comfortable amount of time, you will disappoint clients who will go elsewhere when they have new jobs.
Start Business Early
Some people will create a home business to sleep late and work whenever they want to. However, this is not likely to happen. If you sleep all day, no one is running your business and it will not be successful. If you have family as well, getting up early will allow you to take care of them and send off in the morning. You can then shower, eat breakfast and head off to your home office awake, refreshed and ready to work.
Separate Family and Business Life
Spending more time with your family may be one reason that you decided to open your own business, but you will have to keep the two separate to appear more professional and to keep everything organized. If you have young children, keep them away from your home office if possible. If you allow them to play in this room while you are working, they may feel that they can enter it when you are away. This can lead to ruined or lost paper work, schedules and important tasks that you need for your business.
Separating business and family is also a good way to help you to relax and get away from work. When you have completed your tasks for the day, you can simply close the door and go spend time with your family. This is hard to do if your computer and business is in an area that is accessible to the entire household. You want a personal space that you can shut away from the outside world when you are working and away from your personal life when you want to get away from the home office.
Set Priorities
If you do not have your priorities in order, you can end up doing a lot of work and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Completing a large amount of work one day, won’t help you if you have forgotten to complete an important and time sensitive job because you did not schedule your time correctly.
Popularity: 3% [?]
