Say Goodbye to Survival Mode

If you find yourself racing from place to place and barely making it through the day, this is a great book for you.  Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine (Moneysavingmom.com), is a great guide to a more calmer and more productive existence.

The book starts out in Chapter One-entited Stop Trying to Do It All.  Start by asking you to think about and write down your priorities.  So often we think we know what is important to us, but our actions are not reinforcing those beliefs.  I like that the book even gives you a place to write down your answers so you can use this in the future as a guide to making changes and decisions.

Chapter Two asks you to example how you are spending your time.  As I often tell my clients, until you really examine what you are doing, need to complete and want to accomplish you have no idea if it is all actually feasible in the hours you are given.  This chapter helps you break it down into manageable chunks of time that you can then prioritize.

The next chapter discusses goals and their importance.  While we often think of goals as business oriented, they can be really beneficial in the home setting.  It’s great to determine why you want to do things, how meaningful they are to the whole family and what you can do every single day to move towards those goals.  Having these goals written down and having these discussions with your family can make all the difference in the world.

Chapter Four is an important one. It talks about staying on track.  Although it’s not easy, the results are worth it.  The book gives you some tricks and tips to make sure you’re always mooing in the right direction.

The next few chapters take you though the process of creating a financial plan, taking time for yourself and managing your home.  I don’t think you need to read the book cover to cover, but I do think you’ll get a few helpful ideas from it.  It does have a religious teem throughout the book so be aware if that turns you off.  Overall, I think it’s a good book to change the way you think about your daily life and how you’d like to live.