Book Competition: 'Secret Women's Business' by Patsy Rowe

Secret Women's Business Book Freebie up for grabs in our latest Newsletter!

This month we are honoured to have well known Author Patsy Rowe share her advice with us. Patsy Rowe is a highly sought after Speaker and Author with many books to her name. Patsy has kindly offered one of her books for this month's book competition so get organized to get those entries in. We have some favourite website organizing articles if you need more tips to regain control of your life as well. Remember to breathe, baby steps will get you there!!

We also have an excerpt from Patsy's book in our latest Newsletter: 'Ten Tips for Taking the Mania out of Motherhood' which is well worth a read.

Sign up for our Newsletter for details on how to enter at www.organizeyourlife.com.au


Here's my review of 'Secret Women's Business'

"Countless women will vastly expand their understanding of themselves through the many stages of their lives in the  knowledge they are not alone. As Patsy Rowe so clearly demonstrates - we are all connected via our collective experience as women, mothers, daughters and  partners in this extremely well- researched book." Claire McFee Author Organize Your Life

Patsy Rowe Bio:- After building her own home and taking on the role of site supervisor, Patsy wrote a light-hearted satire on the building industry, No Sweat, Not to Worry, She'll be Jake. The book became a best seller and was followed by 9 other books. Patsy was invited by the Minister of Consumer Affairs to join the Board of the Building Services Corporation where she was the first woman ever appointed to sit as a judge hearing cases against builders who over-charged or refused to complete a contract. Patsy now travels extensively speaking at more than 100 corporate engagements a year and regularly appears on Sixty Minutes, Today Tonight, Sunrise, A Current Affair and the Today Show.

Check it out on Amazon here: - Secret Women's Business

How is your Work / Life Balance Going?

Work *Life * Balance – Do you have it or desperately need it?

Finding Work /Life balance has been a hot topic for many years now – not surprisingly since the majority of women have gone back into the workforce sooner and for longer hours after having children. Thankfully the Supermom / Supermum Myth has abated with the media no longer propping up the – you can have it all. Only to result in so many women trying so hard to attain, only to fall in one big heap!

Work / life balance is different for everyone depending on things like the number of children you have; whether you choose to send them to private school; what level of debt you have; how good you are at budgeting; whether you take time out for yourself and also your partner in your 'busy' life schedule; whether you look after elderly parents who are not well; whether you have help from elderly parents who are still more than able to help with looking after the kids; making some meals; how much overtime your partner does; whether you work inside the home or outside the home and whether you have learned how to switch off from work if it is the latter – not easy for most people that’s for sure!

I have obviously found that being pretty organized on the home-front makes a big difference to whether I have a good work / life balance or not. Also right 'up there' is how many hours a week I work. Having spoken to many women over the years about the magic number of hours it is that seems to keep life functioning smoothly, without tipping you and your family over the edge – seems to be around 15-30 hours per week maximum before things start to come apart at the seams.

Managing debt levels is also a key factor in having a good work / life balance. Things like not worrying about buying second hand cars and living in a comfortable home rather than a McMansion like your friends may reside in; Shopping at OP Shops for 'vintage' clothes sometimes rather than always buying brand new; growing your own vege’s rather than buying from expensive supermarkets can really make a big difference – especially when looked at as a whole. Also things like not buying take out food too often, which you are less likely to do if you are not working too many hours in the first place. A lot of people sadly don’t see the connection between working more and how often, the increase in pay is chewed up by the increase in associated work costs. For eg: – clothes; petrol; child care; take out etc. There is a fine line between what makes it worthwhile and what doesn’t. It is a good idea to sit down and really look at the figures to assess whether it is worth it if you are feeling stressed out if you come to the conclusion that your work /life balance is definitely out of whack.

I just find it really sad at how many over-worked, stressed out, frazzled, overwhelmed mums/moms are out there, who know something has to give but can’t work out what or how and it’s not a nice position to be in. When I think back to my mum and grandmother’s day when their role was solely to raise the children and take care of the home – in some ways it sounded like a much easier time. Not as many arguments about who did what –it was a lot clearer!!

Don’t get me wrong though, I love the fact that women are able to choose whether they work and many do because they love it and need it for their emotional wellbeing, but I worry about the growing number who ‘have to’ rather than choose to, just to keep their heads above water and how this is affected them, their partners and of course the wellbeing of their children.

A recent article I read on work/life balance and what the children’s perspective was on their how much time their parents (in most case didn’t spend with them), and not surprisingly most kids simply yearned for more time and attention from their parents – one let alone two!!

Where there is no choice about work hours and whether one or both parents work, more than ever, the time spent as a family is of the utmost importance and giving thought to how you can make the time you spend with your partner and kids quality time – if you’re not too exhausted from work that is!!

Work Life balance is certainly a very complicated topic. What are your thoughts –do you have a good work life balance? What do you think helps to maintain a good work / life balance?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Heard of the Slow Life Movement ?? Maybe we could learn a thing or two from it....

Slow Life Movement

A friend gave me a stack of old magazines the other day including a recent copy of the Cleo Mag. I was pleasantly surprised about the quality and depth of all manner of interesting articles considering I am now probably outside their demographic - at the ripe old age of 36!!

There was an interesting article titled "Do less, worry Less and want less", by Georgia Clark covering the Slow food Movement, Slow Relationships, Slow careers and even Slow Sex.

In our modern fast paced society the Slow Life Movement groups(www.slowmovement.com) take into account taking the time to connect with what is around you, which not surprisingly correlates to living a happier more fulfilling life. Slow food focuses on ‘Good, Clean, fair food with as small a carbon imprint as possible. The least distance between the paddock to your plate..the least amount of chemicals if any, taking the time to enjoy food with loved ones, not rushing or eating mindlessly in front the TV.

This improves our digestion and the quality of our relationships. If you have fallen into the habit of eating with the TV on, you would be amazed at how much more quality conversations you have without it on, so that you really know what is going on in the lives of those closest to you…....otherwise it’s all to easy to live separate lives together in our McMansion's, not really knowing about the day to day lives of our family members.

The article went on to talk about the importance of Slow relationships, quoting Psychotherapist Dr.Pam Stavropoulos who says we are fitting so much into our already full and busy lives, 'we do not connect with our emotions, which in turn puts our system on auto pilot.' and that 'Speed can sometimes make us de-sensitised.. and we can lose touch with our feelings.' Slowing down can reverse this process.

Scheduling in some essential ‘Me time’ can counteract the effects of some of this unavoidable busyness. Factoring in Meditation, regular relaxing baths, journaling etc are great for this purpose.

Ever heard of a Slow Career? This comes back to being in tune with what you want from your life, not what others ‘expect’ of you. You need to be fulfilled in your chosen job/career. Sometimes this takes time to become evident, so don’t rush into jobs that may pay better for example but aren’t fulfilling to you – especially if the workload and pressure involved is really high. Work/Life Balance is proving to be much more important than your pay packet to the majority of people who have been there and done it. After all - as a favourite quote of mine goes ‘At the end of the day, are you going to say I wish I had worked more or I wish I had worked less?”

Slow sex…
This part of the Worldwide Slow Life Movement article about advocates for example that it’s "better to have slower better quality sex less, than rushed, obliged sex more often." It’s about quality not quantity. Many people get stuck in the trap of an auto pilot sex life which isn’t healthy long term. Slowing down and getting more in tune with your partner and vice versa can improve relationship satisfaction immeasurably. As with anything – a balanced sex life is ‘key’- sometimes a quickie is preferred by one or both parties and that’s ok too. :)

Worth thinking about I think!! Don’t you?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

nb: if you are having trouble factoring in ANY Sex Life let alone a slow sex life then you may life to read this article "Organize Your Sex Life' for some practical tips on how how to improve your love life.