I’ll confess.
I had heard of Money Saving Mom for years but never paid much attention.
Here’s why: As much as I appreciate frugality and saving a few bucks, I made the intentional choice long ago that I didn’t want to dedicate time (or energy) to couponing since it requires a fair amount of effort and organization to pay off. And for whatever reason, I thought Money Saving Mom was all about extreme couponing, how to get a lot for a little, and feeding your family on next to nothing.
Boy, was I wrong.
A few months ago I was given the opportunity to read and review Crystal Paine’s new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. Crystal is the woman behind moneysavingmom.com and since I was reading and reviewing her book, I thought I should make an effort to get to know her platform better. So I started following her on Facebook, Twitter, and checked out her website.
There are a zillion and one money saving ideas, yes. And there are coupons, tips about couponing, and lists of great deals and freebies.
But you know what else there is? Family. Finances. Organization. Productivity. Relationships. Recipes. Spiritual development. Balance.
Sanity.
So I opened her book and began to read. I wasn’t even out of the introduction when I was hooked.
This woman was real.
Say Goodbye to Survival Mode was born out of Crystal’s personal journey from overwhelmed to balanced. Busy to intentional. Productive to purposeful.
As a homeschooling mom with three children, Crystal built a wildly successful blog and business (moneysavingmom.com). She worked hard to keep it all together – writing, managing, parenting, homemaking, serving – but juggling all those (incredibly worthwhile) things came at the expense of her own health, her own family, her own relationships, and her own quality of life.
Doing everything perfectly meant she was doing very little purposefully.
After stepping back, gaining perspective, and re-prioritizing she has built a life of contentment, intention, and purpose. It meant saying “no.” It meant identifying her priorities. It meant developing strategies to manage her life, manage her business, and enjoy her family more. It meant giving up opportunities and the pursuit of perfection. It meant simplifying.
It also meant finding joy, finding purpose, and living for things greater than herself.
This book was an easy read – and also easy to put down and pick back up (hello, life with children!). It was full of practical, easy-to-implement strategies from the wisdom of a woman who has been there. Her personal stories pulled me in and spoke right to the heart of this doing-it-all mama, and her tips were practical and adaptable to any number of situations – single or married, stay-at-home moms or moms in the workforce, those with limited financial means or those with more resources.
The advice was holistic – encompassing prioritization, decision-making, organization, marriage, relationships, finances, mealtime management, scheduling, housekeeping (my personal weakness), goal-setting, self-care, and living with purpose.
Maybe you wonder how other people do it. Maybe you stand in the middle of your kitchen, with the sticky floor and the screaming children and the overflowing laundry baskets and the jam-packed schedule and the constant rushing and lateness and that thought creeps into your brain – This isn’t how it’s supposed to be! If you’re feeling like you need your sanity back – or maybe you’re just not feeling like there’s much purpose in your day-to-day life, I highly recommend checking out Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life by Crystal Paine.
I’m so glad I did!
Sign up for the Money Saving Mom 7-day challenge and you’ll be ENTERED TO WIN the book! http://www.spirit1053.com/all-mom-does/2014/06/20/say-goodbye-to-survival-mode
