Real Life Solutions

You would think moms exercise more than anyone else; between taking care of their children, cleaning the house, and running errands.  The truth of the matter is, as a mom, you need specific exercises to remain healthy and fit. Here are four exercises which will not only give you the energy you need, but allow you to face daily challenges head on.

Lunges: To perform the lunge just stands with their feet apart, and step forward, landing with the heel first. The motion is continued until the back knee is nearly touching the ground. Return to the starting position by pushing forward with the front leg, and repeat the exercise by stepping forward with their other leg. This exercise strengthens your leg muscles and hamstrings. You can even perform this work out by dusting your living room coffee table, or cleaning the bottom of your kitchen cabinets.  Make it a fun thing to do!

Lateral Shoulder Raise: Work your shoulders and upper arms by sitting straight in a chair, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Beginning with your hands at your side, raise them both up and out at the same time. Slowly bring your arms down; repeating this move at least ten times.  Now, if you do not have any dumbbells, use a gallon container of laundry detergent.  You may not reach ten, but you are certainly on your way to it. Don’t put the laundry detergent away; you’re not finished with it yet!

Back Exercise:  Again, using the containers of laundry detergent, hold one in each hand… Stand with your legs apart. Bend your knees slightly and bend your body forward at the waist. Let your arms hang down in front of you, but don’t lock your elbows. Keeping your back straight, abdominal muscles in, and knees bent, pull the containers upward towards your chest. Then, slowly lower the weights back to starting position. Now you can put the detergent back in the closet!

Stomach Exercise:  Lay on the floor with your right foot resting on your left knee.  Lift your shoulders and neck as if you are doing a regular crunch. Reach your left hand above and over your right foot. Lower your head to just above the ground. After ten repetitions, repeat the exercise with your left foot and right knee.

All of these exercises are quick and are proven to show results.  So, get started Mom!  Be sure to email me and let me know what exercises you are going to start with.

Take a look at “Get Fit While You Sit” and get 36 Exercises you can do almost anywhere, anytime!

Every family should incorporate money saving ideas into the picture. You have a budget, no matter what their financial status is. A budget tells you exactly how much your have coming in, and how much goes out on a monthly basis for the absolute necessities like housing, food, utilities, insurance, transportation and health care.

But what about the future?  That’s another place where a budget comes in handy. When you’ve allotted a portion of the household’s weekly income to the necessities, what’s left over is your discretionary spending amount. These are the funds available to you for short-term expenses, or long-term investments, like your children’s education, and your own retirement funds.

Every family should incorporate money saving ideas into the picture. You have a budget, no matter what their financial status is. A budget tells you exactly how much your have coming in, and how much goes out on a monthly basis for the absolute necessities like housing, food, utilities, insurance, transportation and health care. But what about the future?That’s another place where a budget comes in handy. When you’ve allotted a portion of the household’s weekly income to the necessities, what’s left over is your discretionary spending amount. These are the funds available to you for short-term expenses, or long-term investments, like your children’s education, and your own retirement funds.When the children are growing and requiring more in the way of expenditures, there might not be a lot left over. But even 5% of your income can be a healthy start on an education fund. Extras like bonuses or perhaps half the amount of a raise, will make those future savings grow. Since they aren’t in the budget to start with, they won’t be missed, and you’ll still have a portion of the unexpected income to add to your regular budget.Consider financial counseling at your banking institution, or from a professional. They are often the best sources for learning how to get the most out of the dollars you have to save, and the most out of the future benefits they are going to earn for you. 

Why not give yourself a much-needed break — cook ahead today so you can relax tomorrow!  Meal planning and bulk cooking are both wonderful techniques you can use and modify to fit your families needs. The idea behind this is simple. The principle is that you cook and or prepare your meals ahead of time and then preserve them by either freezing or fridgerating them. Also, meal planning you can cook one large meal and get 2-3 other meals out of it!
Here are some free meal planning tips for you    http://reallifesolutions.net/personal/meal-planning.html

I love to meal plan so if you have any tips for other moms out there – feel free to post them in the comments!

We all know how busy mom’s are and organizing seems like a never-ending task.  Well, if you have just 10 short minutes, here are 5 great organizing tasks you can do in ten minutes or less:

1. Clean out your medicine cabinet. Get rid of old makeup, expired medicine and toiletries you haven’t used in months.

2. Clear off your desk. Take everything off your desk and clear the surface, even if you have to temporarily put everything on the floor in categorized piles (i.e. paper, supplies, electronic media, etc.).  Once you can see your desk, you’ll have a surface on which to begin organizing everything you just removed from it.

3. Delete, delete, delete. For the next 10 minutes, delete as many messages as you can from your email inbox. This includes forwarded jokes, unsolicited messages and email you can simply read and chuck.

4. Organize a drawer. Whether it’s your junk drawer, a drawer in your bedroom dresser or a desk drawer, spend 10 minutes emptying out the junk, and arranging it so that similar items are being stored together.

5. Make a Donation Box. Simply get a large cardboard box and label it ‘Donation Box.’ Every chance you get, place items that are in good condition, but you no longer use, inside the box. When it’s full, call your local charity to come pick it up, or drop it off if they don’t offer a pick-up service.
 
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Related Resources
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Your resource for free tips, ideas and articles to help you get
organized. Learn how to organize your life, home and business and life clutter free! http://reallifesolutions.net/personal/getorganized.html

An amazing collection of 1,300 organizing tips, ideas and techniques to help you organize your home, your office and your life! http://www.reallifesolutions.net/getorganized.HTML

You won’t find any junk here!!

Our Weekly Newsletter Provides: Free tips and resourses on the following topics and more: 

• Healthy Lifestyles
• Self Confidence & Motivation
• Stress Reduction
• Parenting
• Self-appreciation
• Tips on planning interesting and fun activities for
  the entire family
• Much more

Sign-Up Today and also receive a free ‘You Deserve a Break’ Report.  In this short and informative report.  I share many ways that you can give yourself the down time and the pampering that you deserve.
http://reallifesolutions.net/newsletter.html

Schmoozins.com is a place where the emphasis is on real women providing relevant information and interaction for other women. Topics include health, parenting, career, finance, relationships and more. In a world where women are so busy with career and family, websites like Schmoozins.com give women the connect with other women twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week.

My article, Finding Happiness: Tips for Women, was featured there – you may want to stop by, read the article and bookmark the site.

I know many moms out there are looking for ways to earn a little income at home (either full time or part time).  Well, Real Life Solutions has a page dedicated to Work At Home Ideas.  Be sure to check it out, you may see something that you like.

Take care and let me know if you see anything that sparks an interest in you

Five Tips for Cultivating a Positive Outlook on Life

There are may tips that you can use to change your outlook on life to a more positive one”

1 – Positive attitude — Changing your attitude and squashing negative thinking is a very important step. This will take time to master but eventually the new outlook and new way of thinking will become second nature.  Decide that from today, you are leaving negative thinking behind, and starting on the way towards positive thinking. It is never too late to start this process and soon you notice things changing for the better.

2 – Taking Care of yourself! — When we fail to take proper care of ourselves and put our minds, bodies and spirits on the back burner, it can cause many physical symptoms such as tense muscles, anxiety, dizziness, and rapid heartbeats.  Taking care of yourself is important, you are important!  Be sure to carve out some time each day to be good to yourself.   By doing this you will feel more refreshed and have a more refreshed outlook upon others and situations:

Examples:
Be sure you are getting enough rest, surround yourself with supportive people, break  bad habits, take short breaks during the work day, exercising, relaxation exercises, prayer/meditation or journaling…etc   

3- Send out Gratitude, appreciation and/or thankfulness –  When you express gratitude, you show your love and appreciation for people, places and things. Everyone needs to feel appreciated and the more you appreciate others the more others appreciate you.  Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.  It also reminds us constantly of the small blessings that we have. 

4 – Get the Confidence you need to be the best YOU you can be! How you feel about yourself truly does affect your interaction with others, your overall outlook on life in general. 

Examples:
Start off each morning and end each day with a positive statement or thought, make a list of all your positive characteristics and achievements, take what you are good at and enhance it. Let others know about it! Hold you head up high and proud and know you have a special gift inside of you.

Building up self-confidence takes time and commitment but it is well worth it. You will soon find yourself embracing yourself and giving off a very positive energy that will surely come back to you.

5 – Learning now to deal with and react to negativity and stress — You can’t hide from negativity and stress. When you find your blood pressure rising along with your stress level it is then time to stop and think about how you’re reacting to the situation.

Suggested ways to deal with and react to negativity and stress

Write it down – Journal, Express yourself to a mentor, friend, loved one.  Give yourself a break.  Try to reach a healthy balance between what really needs to be done now and what can wait.  Also give yourself permission to ask others for help when you need it. 

If there’s something in your life that’s causing you to worry; seek out things that will help you feel in control.
 
Make Needed Adjustments – Let’s face it, there comes a time when we have to make adjustments in our lives.  Try to identify your stressors and adjust yourself accordingly so that you react differently to them or perhaps totally REMOVE them from your life.
 
It is amazing how our thought process and our words can keep us stuck in an uncomfortable place if we aren’t careful. Life will always be filled with a few curve balls and surprises and I encourage everyone to really work at being more positive (in your thoughts, speech and actions). Work at this daily until it becomes so much of a habit, that you won’t even have to think about it.

Once in awhile I will offer a special on one of my products and here I am with a great special for you.  I know I love it when I run across a good deal and I am sure you do too so; I am offering you a 30% discount on the Journey To Joy package

This special discounted price is only good for 2 weeks.  Don’t forget that your Journey to Joy eBook purchase is protected by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Here’s all you need to do to get your discounted rate.

Simply visit the special discount page that I set up for you here http://www.reallifecoaching.net/jtjspecial.shtml and place your order.  That’s all there is to it.

Immediately after your purchase you will receive the link to download the inspiring 46 page eBook that is filled with clear-cut step-by-step action items to help you claim the happiness that you deserve.  Along with the eBook are links all of your bonus audios, reports and transcripts.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I know 1st hand how frustrating it is return home after a busy day then slave over the stove or to rummage through the cabinets when you have hungry, impatient tummys waiting.  Visit http://reallifesolutions.net/personal/quick-dinner-ideas.html for your quick and easy dinner ideas.

A nice tie into this is learning how to do a little meal planning so that you actually spend less time cooking and more time really enjoying yourself and your familly. I am an avid meal planner and wrote this easy to follow article on how you too can plan your meals and free up your precious time: http://reallifesolutions.net/personal/meal-planning.html

As you know, I love hearing your feedback. Do you have any of your own personal tips that you’d like to share with me?  If so, just e-mail me and I am all ears

Here is a great resource – The Healthy Express Cookbook: 101 Fresh, Light & Quick Dinners.  Offers you healthy, home-cooked meals that are super fast to prepare — visit http://reallifesolutions.net/Cookbook.HTML to learn more