Upgrade Your Finances: The Family Road Trip

Ellie Kay is known as “America’s Family Financial Expert” ® and in this Financial UPGRADE gives us some timely information on taking the family on a road trip this year.

"I remember my dad stuffing all of us kids in the back of a VW bug and traveling from Texas to Indiana, making about 600 miles per day," Ellie says. "It was a daring adventure!"

I (Dawn) traveled a lot too, in a military family; and I can attest that Ellie's financial tips are all helpful and wise!

Ellie continues . . .

That traveling tradition continued with my own military family as we took time in the summer to carve our own road trip.

Here are some ideas that will make your family trip a lot more fun and affordable.

1. Begin With Prayer

My husband, Bob, and I liked to begin our family vacation planning process with prayer.

James 1:5 says that if any of us lack wisdom, we can ask God. Well, we asked Him early and often and He answered! We feel that He gave us additional insight as to what would be best for our family and our budget.

Then, before each day’s drive, Bob had the whole Suburban full of kids bow their heads and he prayed for safety, for unity and for a spirit of fun.

2. Healthy Eats and Treats

One of the greatest expenses while traveling is for food on the road. Not only does it get pricey, but these purchases can also take a toll on health by eating fast food on the road.

When we traveled, we packed a lunch for the first day on the road and stopped at roadside parks. It’s easy to plan these stops by locating parks through the Roadtrippers app.

To save money on snacks, pack some healthy options in individual bags for each family member – such as carrots, grapes, cherries, pretzels or trail mix. Bring along extra snack-size baggies so you can split other treats you buy on the road – such as fresh popcorn, fruit or beef jerky from a roadside store.

3. Busy Hands and Happy Hearts

One of our main challenges as a family was keeping the kids occupied, and this is the number one concern I hear from parents.

Older children can use a tablet or game to stay busy, and everyone enjoys movies on the way. But even these options can lead to inevitable boredom as kids start to get restless. I think this is where creativity comes into play.

When we had a long trip (or a military move), I shopped ahead of time for small games, books, activity puzzles, little toys and other trinkets I knew they would like. Then I’d wrap these “surprises” in gift paper and put each child’s name on it. At the top of every hour, we would give them their individual present. You can also go to Travelforkids to find other alternatives.

4. A Place to Stay 

There are creative ways to save money on a place to stay on the family road trip. You can go to vrbo.com to find vacation rentals by owners.

Suite hotels that offer extra rooms are also an option such as the ones found at hotels.com, orbitz.com or cheaphotels.com.

Another option is to try a family camp. Google “YMCA family camps” to find one that meets your needs. You can enjoy a cabin, horseback riding, canoeing, and other great family activities for 40% off the cost of a conventional resort area. 

5. Food and Entertainment

Be sure you make use of Yelp to find the best restaurant at the best prices and bonuses such as free appetizers or desserts.

I also recommend entertainment.com where you enter the zip code of where you will be traveling in order to preview their entertainment books for that destination. Be sure you download the app RetailMeNot to find codes on everything you’ll need on your vacation, whether you are shopping for souvenirs in a store or eating at a restaurant.

At restaurant.com you enter the zip code to get gift certificates for half price and while you’re there, see if they have any sales. I recently bought $25 gift certificates at that site for only $4 when I applied a coupon code.

6. Save on Gas

AAA’s Fuel Cost Calculator helps plot the most efficient route. Just enter the year, make and model of your car and it will compute what you’ll spend on gas.

Get the GasBuddy app and find the cheapest price for gas along the way.

We also use the Waze app to find real time road conditions, the most efficient route, and the best gas prices along the way. On more than one occasion, it has saved us 30-45 minutes by avoiding a crash or slow down.

7. Prayer of Thanks

Begin and end your family road trip with prayer, thanking God for his protection, wisdom and safety.

Some of the best family memories you may ever have can be found on the road if you purpose in your hearts to make them with the ones you love.

What kind of a family road trip will you have this year?

Ellie Kay is the best-selling author of fifteen books including Lean Body, Fat Wallet, and Heroes at Home. She is a Toastmaster Accredited Speaker as well as a popular international speaker and media veteran who has given over1,200 media interviews including appearances on ABC, CNBC, CNN and Fox News. As a popular columnist, she writes for six national magazines and has been a Subject Matter Expert for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post. Currently, Ellie provides financial education to military members through her “Heroes at Home Financial Event” sponsored for USAA. Ellie is married to LTC Bob Kay and they have seven children.

Graphic of picnic table, courtesy of Morguefile.

The Difference Between Average and Excellence Is Only 15 Minutes!

Marcia Ramsland, the "Organizing Pro," knows the importance of using time to the glory of God. In this Time Management UPGRADE, she helps us redeem our time–especially our "power hours."

"Did you know," Marcia says, "that if you can invest just fifteen minutes a day into your top priority project, you will reap sixty-five hours of success at the end of the year on that project?"

Wise time managment has always ranked high in my (Dawn's) priorities, but I still learned something new from Marcia's wise approach!

Marcia continues . . .

15 Minutes x 5 Days = 1.25 Hours a Week or 5.4 Hours a Month or 65 Hours a Year!

Likewise, if you lose fifteen minutes a day, you will have lost over an hour weekly and 65 Hours a year of valuable time!

What Will You Gain—or Lose—This Year?

How could fifteen minutes make a difference?

Working smarter means looking for those fifteen minutes to bring your work from average to excellence by doing the following:

• Carefully proofread a proposal or important e-mail before sending it off, fixing mistakes, and setting the right tone.
• Confirm a meeting agenda and its attendees a day ahead, saving everyone’s time and creating a reputation as someone who begins and ends meetings promptly.
• Review tomorrow the night before, writing down your top three priorities so that in the morning you can get right to work.
• Plan 15 minutes at the end of each day to bring closure to open ended items like emails and cleaning up your workspace.
• Get to sleep fifteen minutes earlier so that you can think better the next day and stay healthier long term.

People performing with excellence seek out those fifteen-minute advantages to spend on their priorities.

Work Smarter by Controlling Your Power Hours

Everyone has a “power hour” where they can buckle down and produce amazing results in a short period of time.

Controlling your power hours for strategic activities is your secret to getting the most out of your day.

You need three in a day.

Morning Power Hour:

The early bird gets the worm if you are a morning person, but loses it without a strategy.

Plan productive priority projects for the week on Sunday night, and mark them as appointments. Get up earlier, like at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m., to keep those appointments with yourself.

Noon Power Hour:

Noon is a great power hour to meet with clients, coworkers, or friends. Schedule this “people power hour” time for two lunches per week on a weekly basis, such as on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Afternoon Power Hour:

The “wrap-up power hour” is the time to bring closure for the day’s work — the hour before you finish for the day, close down e-mail, finish the project at an appropriate stopping point, make final phone calls, and write a list of priorities you will pick up with tomorrow morning.

Strategically utilize the rhythm to your day to always put your best work, your people time, and your closure hour at the same time each day. You’ll realize, “If I don’t do this project at this time, I’ll never get back to it.” So you’ll schedule it and do it.

It’s freeing, and the results will be amazing!

Managing our time well reminds me of the Bible verse that was posted on my childhood bedroom door growing up:

“Whatever you do, work at it heartily as working for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23).

That inspires me to excellence. How about you?

Marcia Ramsland is well known as the “Organizing Pro,” a Business Productivity Coach, speaker, and author of her newest book, Organize Your Workspace for a Productivity Boost available this week! She coaches individuals and organizations to be highly productive on a personal and professional level. Get free tips at www.organizingpro.com.

Graphic adapted, Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Passing on Our Peace of Mind

When I think of the word "peace," I think of Julie Sanders. She has weathered changes recently, focusing on the Lord, and she is excited to serve Him. In this Mother's Day UPGRADE, the writes about a special kind of legacy we can leave the next generation.

"Whether we are a grandparent, mom, foster parent, or mentor," Julie says, "children will challenge our peace. Parenting is not a place to lose our peace of mind and heart. How do we keep the peace and pass it on?"

As I (Dawn) think back to my early parenting days, I have to admit many nights I pillowed my head with the opposite of peace. I think many moms today are "wired," stressed out and searching for peace too! But having peace isn't just about us.

Julie continues . . .

Since we can’t impact what we don’t possess, passing peace to the next generation starts with practicing it in our personal life.

Before we can give kids "a peace of our mind," we have to have it planted firmly in our own.

Many children are more familiar with “meltdowns” and being “stressed out” than models of calm in the commotion of a day.

Because children today live in a conflicted world, they need to see a heart of peace modeled—to take a godly, grown up hand and walk pathways of peace through uncertainty.

Only when peace fills us can it pour out of us.

1. Pursue it

Faith in Christ not only makes the personal practice of peaceful living possible; it makes it a promise (Romans 5:1). Women who believe in Jesus move from grasping for out-of-reach peace to the promise of it.

The pursuit of a calmly-confident way of living is not unrealistic for those who know Christ. God has made it possible through His Son.

Confidently, expectantly, pursue the peace you are meant to experience in this life.

2. Prioritize it

It’s never been easier to be distracted from God’s ways. Instead of hoping to receive a randomly-grown peaceful spirit, take steps to cultivate it. Plan to read your Bible, be with God’s people, and practice prayer.

Children will learn to love the peaceful life, crave it and plan for it. Instead of focusing on worldly worries in our conversations and energy, setting our mind on the Spirit produces “life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Put peace at the top of your list of daily pursuits, and those in your life will be touched and taught by the calm that comes with you. If peace matters, plan for it.

3. Protect it

Your enemy works against your desire to pass on peace. Expect to be opposed, but determine to protect the peace you need, want and value (Romans 12:18; 14:19). When relationships in your home, workplace, church, or community stir conflict and drain peace from your heart, work to stop it. Refuse to focus on worldly worry.

Choose peace and guard its place in your life. Peace is worth having to give.

4. Pass it on

The next generation looks for hope they don’t see in the world. “Is there cause for hope?” they want to know. Those who have pursued peace as a priority say, “Yes, and ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope,‘”(Romans 15:13).

Women who walk in God’s peace pass on a heart and mind of peace to children who come after them. Mom? Grandma? Aunt? Friend? Mentor? Foster mom? Your gift of a peaceful life will serve the next generation well.

If we put our faith in Christ, we can expect peace of mind and heart. “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace,” (James 3:18).

Today’s children look for grown ups walking in peace, and as they find us, they will follow in pathways sown with the seeds of peace.

Our gift of a peaceful life will serve the next generation well.

What are you already doing to cultivate a life of peace? Would those around you say you bring peace with you?

Julie Sanders, the mom of two young adults and a mentor to teens and young moms, is purposefully passing on peace to the next generations. As the director of a program in the Inland Northwest for children and families in poverty, Julie believes living out God’s peace is a powerful way to bring hope to our hurting world. She writes from her online home: “Come Have a Peace.”

Graphic adapted, courtesty of pixabay.

Love Your Prodigal ... From a Former Prodigal

What I love about Sharon Paavola is her desire to give hurting women a soft place to land for comfort, encouragement and restoration. This once-wounded woman understands the power of the enemy to keep us shackled. In this Relationships UPGRADE, she offers counsel and encouragement to those with prodigals.

As a Baptist minister’s daughter, I veered from God," Sharon said. "I was drawn to teenage friends who partied. My heart walked the prodigal road and crashed, and landed in ditches along the way."

I (Dawn) watched and prayed for a prodigal for many years and then rejoiced in that prodigal's return. I know the pain that comes during the waiting process. But there are God-honoring things we can do while our heart aches.

Sharon continues . . .

I ignored the warning light on the dashboard until I didn’t see it at all.

I wanted my life my way.

I didn’t know God had a better plan for me. I didn’t trust him. What might be down His road?

My desperate need to be loved, accepted and understood brought heartache, pain and depression.

I depended on bonds with one man after another, alcohol and therapy in search of intimacy, fulfillment and belonging.

My parents prayed daily—aching on the sidelines—wondering what had happened to their third child.

One day I landed so deep in a crater I couldn’t get back out.

I was studying the Bible again (friends had persuaded me), and in a flood of tears I told God He had to take over.

I begged Him to be the Lord of my life.

Twenty years later I can testify His plan is better. His way brings the deep love, understanding, and acceptance through the power of the Holy Spirit my soul wanted.

Do you have a prodigal in your life? Your heart aches. In your despair take hope from the disciples' situation the day after Jesus' death. They had lost their vision, but God had His plan in place. On Easter Sunday, His power raised Jesus.

That same power and hope is yours!

Are you desperate to know what to do? My counsel for you lies in these ABC’s.

A - Abide in Christ yourself moment by moment.

• Listen to His voice in the Bible to believe God is working.
• Be wary of devising your own schemes. That’s what the one you are praying for is doing.
• Ask your prodigal for forgiveness for any past wrongs.

B – Be on your knees in prayer.

• Discover scriptures to pray over your loved one. Speaking God’s Word out loud brings power and destroys Satan’s deceptions.
• Join or start a prodigal prayer group.
• Ask the Lord to send an influential friend to them as He did with me. God is faithful!

"True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful?" (Romans 3:3)

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results" (James 5:16).

"The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent" (2 Peter 3:9).

C – Cast your love upon the one gone away.

• When I married a non-Christian, my relatives conveyed their displeasure. One aunt, despite her feelings, came to my wedding. She brought her family and her love.
• My dad agreed to perform the ceremony. Love came through to my heart!
• Keep those invitations to family and church events sent!

You may never see your beloved live for God. I surrendered to the Lord in my forties.

Relinquish your desire into God’s capable hands. He is the Shepherd who leaves His flock to seek the one who is lost.

Will you trust God to bring your prodigal back to himself?

Sharon Paavola's passion to release people from their past, depression and pain so they can move on to hope, freedom and living in the present drives her to speak, write and encourage whenever possible. She and her husband Eric live in the San Diego, California, area. They have three grown children and a newborn grandson. Sharon blogs about life and book reviews on her website.

Graphic adapted: Image courtesy of Antranias, Pixabay.com.

Five Sure-Fire Joy Robbers

Kathy Carlton Willis is teaching me quite a bit about joy, because I've "watched" her choosing joy in some tough circumstances. In this Attitude UPGRADE, she shares some of her secrets!

“One fall season, we had an abundance of pecans in our yard,” Kathy said. “Mom and I picked up enough to share and plenty to keep over winter for baking. Still there were some left over, so we had a huge box of pecans sitting on our front porch.

"Then we noticed that all the pecans disappeared; only the empty box remained.”

Squirrels? Pecans? What's not to love? I (Dawn) am  always eager to hear how Kathy weaves a good story into biblical life application, and she doesn't disappoint here!

Kathy continues . . .

Who would dare come up on our porch and steal our pecans out from under us but not take the box?”

 The answer was right before our very eyes.

Squirrels, of course!

All winter long we noticed they seemed to be eating well, but we didn’t realize we were the ones feeding them.

This is a trivial example of being robbed, but I know people who were robbed of their possessions, and they felt so violated. Sometimes the person who robbed them was someone they knew; other times, complete strangers invaded their personal space and stole their belongings.

No matter the circumstances, being robbed attacks anyone’s sense of security. Being robbed of our joy is no different.

But we have control of our joy, unlike when possessions are taken from us.

When joy is stolen, it isn’t so the other party can possess our joy. No, when they do something that causes us to quit being joyful, it’s not as if they are now wearing our joy! They’re usually as unhappy as we are when they have placed us in a negative situation.

Why is it we allow others to steal our joy? Perhaps it’s not even their motive to see us lose our peace and gladness. But when we allow circumstances to push our buttons, our joy departs.

5 Sure-Fire Joy Robbers:

1. A loss 

2. Being Misunderstood

3. Being Betrayed 

4. Being Rejected

5. Worry & Doubt

The key is to realize no one has access to our joy control switch besides us.

When we feel robbed of joy we must admit—at some level we allowed it to happen.

Our source of joy is not in circumstances or other people, but in the peace of God, which passes all human understanding (Philippians 4:7).

It’s impossible to always be happy.

Bad things happen.

People trash our parade route!

Happiness is based on happenstance or circumstances.

But it’s possible to rejoice with joy that wells up from a God-space deep within us. And when it’s flowing, it naturally bubbles over onto others.

“So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy” (John 16:22 NLT).

Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had” (Lamentations 5:21 NLT).

In order to experience the abundance of joy, it’s important to deal with any burdens weighing you down.

Here are three specific steps you can take to prevent those joy-robbers.

1. Don’t be anxious. Instead, vent your worries and frustrations to the Lord. (Philippians 4:6)

2. Deal with situations as they surface—don’t let them accumulate. (Ephesians 4:25–27) Control jealousy and anger in healthy ways. Don’t let others push your buttons. (Proverbs 14:29–30).

3. Don’t let someone else engage you in a guilt trip. You don’t need the frequent flyer miles that go along with that sort of journey! (Romans 8:1)

The next time you feel robbed, evaluate your own attitudes. Are you fully relying on God or are you allowing circumstances to dictate your moods and emotions?

Which of these specific steps can help you prevent with your joy-robbers today?

Kathy Carlton Willis shines for God, reflecting His light as a speaker at writer's conferences and women's retreats, and as an author - contributing to three books and writing hundreds of columns and articles online and in print publications. She wrote Grin with Grace with AMG Publishers and has several books releasing over the next few years. She and her husband/pastor, Russ, live in Texas.

Squrrel Graphic adapted, image courtesy of rhamm at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.