Last week was a big reminder of the advantages of lifestyle freedom. I had several errands to run, among them was to vote. I have found that between 10:30 and 11:15 in the morning are the best times to do a lot of things because everyone else is at their job. Being my own boss, I decide when to do it.

When I went to vote, there was one other voter there. I was in and out in under 10 minutes. During lunch and after work, there was a mob of voters. I’m sure the vote time was at least 45 minutes.

I get my hair cut during these times, no waiting. At other times, there are at least one if not two people ahead of you. The stylists always ask if I am taking the day off because not only am I there at that time but I’m dressed extremely casually.

We had an issue with our cable TV signal. I was able to schedule the technician’s visit when it was convenient to me. Working from home meant that I didn’t have to take off to meet him. I didn’t have to disrupt my work longer than it took to tell him where the box was.

The carpet commute eliminates traffic frustrations as well as wear and tear on the car. The 13 gallon gas tank lasts about 3 to 4 weeks so the high gas prices were not a big deal.

If you want to enjoy a flexible schedule, boost your family budget and avoid things such as layoffs, I would invite you to start your own home based business. The residual income that you create will let you ‘retire’ whenever you want.

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In these scary, uncertain economic times filled with the specters of layoffs, unemployment and recession, remember that fear itself magnifies the bad things. Many people worry about the pressures on the family budget, how they will pay for college, and being the sandwich generation, how they will they care for their aging parents.

Are these issues real? They can be. They can also be dealt with instead of just feared.

Step 1 is to determine what you want. My goal was lifestyle freedom which includes time freedom and money freedom. Getting to that automatically meant that I had the resources to deal with whatever came up.

Step 2 is determine how you are going to get there. After my research was over, I realized I needed at least one residual income stream. A linear income stream like selling stuff on ebay was not going to make me rich. This also meant starting a home based business. I chose network marketing because it fit my criteria.

Step 3 is implementation. I have chosen the method of online network marketing as my main focus. This allows me to play to my strengths. This is my success formula. I continue to participate in training so that I can help myself and my team succeed.

One benefit that is hardly mentioned in the sales brochures and web sites is the change in your perception of control. If you are fearful, you are automatically placing control outside of yourself. When you start becoming successful in your own business, you automatically start pulling that control within you. This feeling permeates your life. You will feel in control in all other situations as well.

Let others fear, take control now.

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Staycation is a new word that has entered our vocabulary. It’s where you can’t afford to go anywhere for vacation. I’m sorry, but I believe I deserve better.

The word became a staple in this new era of gas prices around $4 per gallon. These prices are really cutting into people’s budget. It’s the first time I have ever seen gas prices dramatically affect how people drive.

When you work for someone else, you get a double whammy with this situation. First, you have a ceiling on what you receive. In my 20 years of working for someone else, I did not have a real say in the raises I got. They were either budgeted at the beginning of the fiscal year or they were on a schedule.

The rising cost of commuting plus all the price increases of all the food and other goods that are affected by fuel prices can put a real squeeze on a family budget.

The frightening vision I receive from this scenario is someone who is trapped in a room with rising water.

My answer to this is to work for myself in my home based business. The lifestyle freedom that this has enabled me allows me to minimize the problems with rising prices. To get more income, I just work a little more. The concept of staycation doesn’t even occur to me.

Technorati Tags: family budget, gas prices, home based business, lifestyle freedom, staycation, vacation, work for myself