Earlier this year, I made a pledge to take better care of my health.  And as I try to juggle each and every personal and professional responsibility, I realize that I haven’t always been good at doing that.

I realized that it’s time for me to start taking care of business.

The hardest part of this is simply admitting that I need to stop doling out advice and start taking my own.  That means I really have to focus on ways to reduce the amount of stress in my life.   It means I need to focus on getting enough sleep, eating right, moving more, staying organized, and taking time to enjoy the little things.  It means I have to be honest with myself about how I take care of my own personal finances.

As many of you know, life threw a wrench in our budget earlier this year, and it made me realize that when money is tight, it’s usually because one of two problems:  Not trimming the fat from the budget or not enough income.  In our situation, the new car payment put just enough of a squeeze on our budget to know that we had an income problem.  Since my amazing husband already has a day job and about 4 other side gigs, it was up to me to figure out how to increase our income in a way that worked for our family.

While I do make some money from Northern Cheapskate, it’s small return on a huge investment of time.  I had been scouring the local job listings to find meaningful part-time employment that was flexible enough for me to still be able to be around for my family.  Whatever job I found had to pay enough to cover the expense of driving to town. I wanted to make sure that I did not put any burdens on my family with the new job.  I wanted to do something that interested me.

I didn’t find anything, so I kept plugging along on the blog, and doing my best to cut every extra expense I could.  And then something amazing happened.  A friend of mine who runs a non-profit organization in my community, offered me a job as her office assistant.  Flexible hours, decent pay, and fulfilling work?  Yes, please!

I just finished my first week at the new job, and it’s been great.  It’s pushed me to go outside my comfort zone and learn new things. It’s challenged me to think about all kinds of things.  It’s pushed me to be more organized and to delegate more around the house.    Those are all good things for my health.

But it has been a huge transition for me, as I have been a stay-at-home mom for the past eight years.  While I’ve had freelance jobs over the years, it’s not the same as having to actually get dressed, pack a lunch, and report to an office

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received – whether it is personally, professionally, or financially – is to know your limits.

So until I figure out a new routine to balance work, blog, and family, I will be scaling back on the blog for a bit.  I plan to take a brief break from blogging, and when I return in June, It will be with a slightly lighter posting schedule.  My hope is that by taking better care of myself, I will be able to create a better blog for all of you.  We all do better when we all do better, right?

Now… figure out what you need to do to take care of business in your life and go do it!