Today's guest blogger Jenny Newcomer is a busy mom of 2 and the founder of LobotoME {eco-friendly organizational products} - For more information visit at www.LobotoME.com.

We all need to take a break from buying new things once in awhile. I've found that a spending hiatus is a great way to not only reduce my bills for a period of time, but also a way to analyze what is truly important in my life. During prior spending hiatuses, my family & I found ourselves at home more together, cooking, relaxing, playing instead of going out to eat, going shopping because we were bored, and reassessing our financial priorities.

I first learned of the concept of a spending hiatus via the blog Simple Lovely.  She went on a self-imposed 3-month spending hiatus earlier this year. Some of her readers joined in, many watched and waited to see what she had learned in the process. After she wrapped hers up, another set of bloggers spear-headed by Aimee of the blog Mostly Mod began a "remainder of the year" spending hiatus -- 8 months long! Some chose to have a "No Spend Weekend" or a "No Spend Month", only paying for housing, utilities, food & gas for a shorter time frame.

I joined in, but made a few exceptions -- some travel, some unfinished house & landscaping related expenses, birthday & holiday gifts (that aren't homemade), and I vowed not to by any "un-necessary" items. If I found we did need something (eg. Sam new sneakers), to try a thrift store first. I am 4 months into it and have been doing really well, for the most part.

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Over lunch the other day, I asked a friend of mine if she was happy, the kind of deep-down happy that, even if everything seems to be going to hell in a hatbox, is always there. She said she was pretty much a happy soul, and then turned the question back on me.

Big pause. Me? Happy? I had to admit that I wasn’t — am not — a generally satisfied, over-the-moon kind of person. I can’t speak for other women, but upon reflection I’ve decided that my underlying discontent is due, in part, to the fact that my mother never had a career or a paying job. Don’t get me wrong, I admire and adore my mother tremendously. She was — and continues to be — a fantastic mom, a well-educated and well-read woman, and a tireless volunteer in public schools. But she grew up in an era where most women didn’t have children, careers AND personal interests.

Let's be honest, most women didn't have careers back in the 1950s and 1960s, and my mom was no exception. As a result, she's never had an accomplishment to call her own (unless you count my brother and me). To her credit, she didn’t expect me to be like her; not once did she imply that I should get married, have kids or be taken care of. Neither did she suggest that I map out professional goals for myself or discover my life's passion.

Let me be clear: I certainly don’t discount any woman who chooses to stay home and raise a family. For many women, that is their passion, and I applaud them for it. As much as I love my husband and children, however, I want to be more than just everybody’s something — wife, mom, employee, chauffeur. Someday, I want to point to an achievement, say, “Look at what I did,” and be proud. Did I mention that my happy friend’s mom was a pioneer in broadcast television and worked with John Cameron Swayze at NBC in the 1950s, and went to law school at the age of 46 after raising three kids?

The good news is that, after years of swimming in the dark, of wandering through various careers, I’m almost there, ever closer to that all-too-elusive happiness I’ve been chasing. Still, I can’t help but wonder if I’d had a role model to emulate, if I’d been pushed a little harder, if I'd been guided by a more self-confident hand, whether or not I might have had the confidence to get there sooner.

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Concerned about your daughter's obsession with princesses? You should be, but not for the reasons you may think. Laura Vanderkam's recent op-ed in USA Today titled “The Princess Problem” suggests that your girl's fondness for princesses is more damaging to her self worth than her self image.

Some moms worry that princesses make girls obsessed with beauty. But I think the problem is that the popular princesses lack what psychologists call an "internal locus of control." This is the belief that you are responsible for making your way in the world.

Vanderkam suggests that this lack of "internal locus of control" is holding girls back. She notes, according to Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever's 2003 book Women Don't Ask, "young men are four times more likely to negotiate their first salary than young women, resulting in $500,000 more in earnings by age 60." Ouch.

We're not slamming princess dresses — they're super cute and our daughters love them. Just make sure that earning the "keys to the Queendom" is part of her storyline. She'll thank you later. Read Laura's editorial on USAToday.com.

Thanks Manisha Thakor, Harvard MBA and co-author of "On My Own Two Feet," for turning us on to this article via her Money Musings blog.

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I have two kids and run two businesses. My kids are a 7-month-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. My first business, a Web consultancy called Soapbxx, will gross $300,000 in 2009 and employs eight people. The second company, an online finance publication for women called DailyWorth (this website), requires a team of four part-time contractors to operate.

The best news? I'm not mad. I have plenty of time to be with my kids. I even manage to find time to have a leisurely lunch or extended "me" time.

Here's how I do it:

7am: Our baby girl wakes all of us up.
8am: We're downstairs, dressed, eating breakfast and packing lunches.
9am: My baby is cared for by a nanny. This nanny shows up at 9am and I hand my baby girl off. My 3-year-old goes to preschool. My husband always takes him to preschool. Bottom line: even if we're running late, I depart for my home office (top floor of our house) at 9am sharp. This is critical to me. 9am. Work.
9am-11am: After I clean out my inbox, I focus on DailyWorth, my finance blog for women. We send out a daily email, and this requires about two hours of my day to orchestrate.

11am-4:00pm: I focus on Soapbxx, my web consultancy. The tasks I concern myself with include:


I don't worry about Soapbxx's internal performance or quality because I've learned over the years how to hire only the best people. My team is exceptional and as a result, I don't have to micro-manage them or worry much. This did not happen by accident. I have 10 years practice hiring and firing. I've employed or contracted to 40 people over the last few years and only a select few remain.

4:00pm. I shut down my computer, scoop up my daughter, and drive to pick up my son from preschool. It feels incredible to me that I can run two companies and finish my workday by 4:00. Having been raised by a single mom who was forced into a strict 9-6 corporate work environment, I vowed to set up a life where I could be there for my kids more than my mom was for me. I don't blame my mom for her absence -- she did what she had to do to earn what she needed to earn in the 1980s. But I hated that she couldn't drive me to school, or be there for me after school. I'm structuring my life so that I can run my businesses and be there for my kids before and after school. In 2009, working moms can have it all if we plan properly.

4:00pm - 9pm. Family time! We run errands (Target, anyone?), make dinner, take baths, read books and every other bedtime ritual that makes having kids so special.

9pm - 11pm. Here's the part of my life that isn't so ideal. I generally boot up my Mac and do more work at 9pm. I know my husband would rather that I curl up on the sofa and watch True Blood with him. Sounds dreamy, really. But the truth is, these days I feel pulled to run through emails that came in from 3:30 - 7pm (there are often many) and finish tasks I wasn't able to finish during the day. I look forward to a day when I can stop work at 3:30pm and not resume until 9am the next day. Until my babies and businesses are more self-sufficient and systematized, it's a sacrifice I'm making, and hope that my husband realizes it's temporary.

11pm. Bed.

The keys to my operation:

1. I delegate a lot to very precocious people. I have a very responsible, motivated assistant. Without her, I'd be mad. She loves having her hands in everything from accounting to project management, and I love her for it. If she chooses to leave me (which she will some day), I'll have a very hard time replacing her.
2. I'm obsessed with cash flow and work with a great bookkeeper/accounting team. For Soapbxx to operate, we need to deposit $25,000 into our bank account every month. I plan quarterly and manage daily when and from whom checks will arrive. My bookkeeper claims I'm one of the best cash collectors she's ever worked with, and I'm proud to have mastered the science of receivables. Just last month, I got our receivables down to $0.
   
3. Once a month, I'll stay up until 4am if need be to push through things I owe. Sometimes, you just have to.

Does my story seem impossible to you? You have to take into consideration my manic, tightly-wound character. I'm more work-obsessed than your average mom. I love my companies and have very ambitious financial goals for myself (tens of millions, thank you). I don't exercise. I'm generally not eating proper lunches (note above: no lunch break). I do experience exhaustion. I wish I had more time to just be with my husband. For now, I'm satisfied with my structure and recommend it to my power mom friends.

Check out Soapbxx.

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Last week, a DailyWorth member asked:

"Once school starts, for the first time in eight years, I will have 9am to 3pm
to call my own. Inspire me with possibilities." ~ Susan G.

How exciting for you — a chunk of time to call your own. Here are a few possibilities:

• Meditate. Spend fifteen minutes a day meditating. Relax. Close your eyes. Breathe slowly. Start your day peaceful and calm, not frazzled and disoriented.
  
  
• Have coffee with neighbor WAHMs. Find fellow work-at-home moms in your hood and organize a coffee gathering to discuss your emerging careers. There's nothing like human contact to inspire creativity and productity.
  
  
• Manage your net worth. You know your credit score, but do you know your net worth? Figure out what you have and then learn more about how to grow it.
  
  
• Tweet tweet. Join Twitter to find other mothers who have just re-entered the brave, new world of free time. Still perplexed by the Twitter phenomenon? You are not alone. Here's a guide to help you get started.
  
  
• Teach a class. Nothing says expert on a resume like "teacher." Cooking, web design, quilting, refinishing furniture, growing vegetables, flower arranging — teach whatever you love and are good at.
  
  
• Become a day trader. You want to do your own investing, but don’t know where to start. Begin by taking a class, such as the online classes at Morningstar.com’s Investing Classroom. Supplement any class you take with respected books and Websites. Follow the stock market closely; pay attention to the companies that interest you. When you feel like you know enough to be dangerous -- take a calculated risk, a little at a time, until you find your feet. With plenty of practice, education and a little caution, you’ll end up a day trader.
  

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