You’re so tired of caving to every little temptation. But you don’t know how to develop self control! These 5 tips will change your thinking in no time
Have you heard of the marshmallow experiment?
The basic idea is that they put kids into a room and set a marshmallow in front of them.
Then, they promised the kids that if they let the marshmallow sit there for fifteen minutes without eating it, they would get a second marshmallow.
Some kids were able to stare at that delicious marshmallow for the full time and resist the temptation.
Others, of course, popped that delicious morsel right into their mouths, too caught up by their impulses to wait for the reward.
Well, those researchers followed those kids for 40 years to see how their ability to resist instant gratification played out in their lives.
As it turns out, that was the key to nearly everything. According to the study (here), the “resister” kids “achiev[ed] higher scholastic performance and cop[ed] better with frustration and stress.”
Who doesn’t want that for their kids???
But even if you are 100% certain your kids would have been in that group that grabbed the marshmallow as soon as the door closed, that’s ok.
There are things you can do as a parent to improve their self control skills.
This is the report I’ve been wanting to write about for 16 months. I almost can’t believe that the first step of our debt payoff journey is over. It felt like such an impossible task when we set this goal. But with a lot of determination (and accountability from my favorite readers ever), I can say that we’ve reached our goal!!
It’s funny how getting our largest credit card debt paid off has changed things around here. We aren’t out of debt yet. We have a couple more cards to go (both significantly smaller than what we owed the giant card).
Still, the free feeling of escaping that debt just makes me hungrier to do better with all of our money. It made me curious about other parts of our financial picture. And that gave me more motivation to get debt free.
Now that’s a circle I’d much rather be running than the old “never get out of debt” circle!
If you hate math but wish you could save more money, have I got the 52 Week Savings Plan Spreadsheet for you! Forget January 1st…start this any time!
Lately I’ve been on a mission to find ways to make it easier for people to save money. Not just on groceries and expenses. (Though that’s important, too.) But in a savings account, a piggy bank, or wherever you like to pile up money for a rainy day.
I don’t exactly pride myself on my math skills. I often joke that I married my Hubby so he could help with math homework. He’s the math and technology guy in the house.
That said, when it comes to my money, calculators are my best friend. Especially calculators that break down my big goals (like paying off credit card debt) into manageable chunks. If I pay this much money on this card and this much money on that card, when will I be debt free?
Asking for advice or complaining when life gets hard feels like a privilege reserved for moms of 2.3 kids.
If you want an easy way to find your people, look no further than a large family blog.
It can be hard to find good quality blogs for big families. I’ll go out on a limb and say those Moms are probably so busy, they struggle to find time to blog.
Spring break! Which doesn’t mean a whole lot when you’re working on getting out of debt. The kids are off school and life is slow and simple. I love turning off the alarm clock for the whole week!
You could add “take a nice little trip during spring break” to the list of things I’d like to do once we’re debt free. But my list has gotten as long as Santa’s. Once we’re out of debt, we’ll prioritize the things we want the most from our lives. Until then, I’ll have fun in my little fantasy world! It gets me through the journey to debt freedom, so it’s fine by me.
Inside: Wondering what it takes to get a paid off credit card? Here’s what our family did to claw out of debt and what we learned from our journey.
In early 2016, my Hubby and I sat down to set our family goals for the year, when we realized that our credit card debt was worse than we thought. In fact, it was so obnoxious that the best we could do was go round and round in circles. Pay down the balance… watch it go back up.
Too much of our money was going towards that debt, but somehow the balances never seemed to get any smaller.
Why should hundreds of our dollars be handed to a credit card company every single month for the privilege of…what? Owing more money? We weren’t getting anything out of this deal.
These easy meals for large families are so easy that you’ll want them on your meal plan all month long! Simple, easy recipes to feed a crowd.
Trying to keep up with all the eating demands of a large family is exhausting!
You know meal planning would make it all easier… but feeding a large family on a tight budget seems intimidating.
Well, worry no more. I’ve compiled a list of easy meals for large families that our family of 8 loves!
And you’ll love them, too.
Here’s why:
Meal time is tough enough. The kids are fussy during that transition part of the day.
You’re tired of making decisions.
And you can’t help but wonder why you have to feed all of these people every.single.day. (You’re halfway kidding, of course!)
Well. This list of cheap meals for large families has some rules that make it all easier.
These recipes are all easy, affordable, and taste good so the kids don’t refuse to come to the table.
(Foods that most of them like, because pleasing everyone all the time is impossible. Not to mention that I have no desire to cater to every whim of my children.)
Even when you hold yourself accountable to saving money week after week, you’re going to have times when you fall off the wagon a bit. Some weeks are going to cost more than others. Sometimes life throws you curve balls.
And sometimes you don’t have a good reason for why you spent more than usual.
This would be one of those weeks. After we came back from our last minute road trip, we had a busy week planned. There were school fundraisers and events that I needed to take part in. I’m helping to begin a PTO for our school district from the ground up, and I know how much need there is in our small community. That increases my (perhaps self inflicted) obligation to take part in these fundraisers.
Finding a balance between giving and continuing our plan to pay off debt is going to be important in the coming months. The reality is, if I can continue to throw as much money at debt as possible, I’ll be able to give so much more once we’re debt free.
Moms of many kids have no choice but to find ways to calm the crazy. Learn how these large family mothering tricks make everything simpler (in a hurry).
Back when I only had two babies (16 months apart), I wasn’t any sort of pro at this whole large family mothering thing. I was just winging it.
At that stage, aren’t we all? I mean, you have a baby, the nurses help you out for a couple of days, and then…
they send you home without any grown ups to make sure you’re doing it right.
If you’re lucky, you have family members to lean on. (Or call every 20 minutes to ask what you should do next. Not that I’d do anything like that. Ahem.)
Eventually you’re able to get longer stretches of sleep. You might have more babies.
And after a while, something clicks.
You learn to let go of unimportant things, and cling tightly to ideas that are proven winners.
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. Learn more.
Click Here To Get Your Chart
Medium Sized Family is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
