In an effort to cut down on my business expenses I have recently moved my office back into my home. As a Realtor with several listings I really felt as though having an office outside of my home was a luxury and although I am selling now, I’m just not comfortable with where I see our market going. Many of my clients are in a very unfortunate financial bind and I believe that my expenses for my business are better used servicing my sellers via marketing services.
With that said there are some unfortunate distractions that come with a home office. Some are obvious, like having kids at home, finding laundry or house cleaning that needs to be done, blogging 
But the distraction that traps me the most is the television. Worse than that, it’s the 24hour a day news channels. All of them, I flip around. When I’m not at home I listen to the same news channels on XM stereo in my car. I have a problem and I know it!
What I really love is when they have someone that comes on and tells us how horrible the economy is, and then they have another person that tells us how we’re doing fine, and that we should stop holding onto our money and spend!! I’m becoming schizophrenic and I’m blaming the news channels!
But wait, before I hire my attorney to file a lawsuit siting “24hour News Channel Schizophrenia” I have decided to share some ideas that may help you and your family get through this “potentially” difficult economic time. If you have any suggestions, I would love for you to share them too, please comment!
- Lower your dining expenses by joining the Elks! If you have never been to an Elks Club you should try it. Most locations offer a nice menu at a low price and with the smoking ban going into effect in January (in Oregon) it makes the environment more tolerable. AND, cheap drinks, need I say more?
- Share the clothes off your back! I have a closet full of clothes that for one reason or another I don’t wear. Find a friend that is the same relative size as you and trade those clothes for the ones that they don’t wear. No brainer!
- Sell your crap. Craigslist is still free in Portland and E-bay is still reasonable. How much stuff do you have in your attic and closets that you will never need or use? I have a lot and when I think about the possibility of having to get a part-time job I think about how much time I could spend selling items that I don’t need or use…..tax free…..that’s a part-time job!
- If you do need to get a job, join some form of law enforcement or security. According to the 24hour News Channels crime is up, gangs are everywhere, there’s pirates off of our shores and there are illegals in our prisons. AND all of the so-called experts are predicting that it will only get worse!
I hope that you find these suggestions helpful! Although I am being somewhat tongue and cheek I have no doubt that the implementation of these ideas could save your family money during these hard times. Oh, I gotta go, the 24hour News Channel is now doing a story on how blogging can be detrimental to your health 
OK, maybe I’m the crazy one after all!!?? News channel 12 is coming over in one hour to test my children and I may have to turn in my “Mother of the Year” award because of it.
My friend Katie asked me to help her out. She’s a news writer for our local Fox affiliate and they are planning a show for the evening news for next month’s “sweeps week”. The idea is this: 1. No adults at home (I’ll be waiting down the street) 2. Have one of the guys from the studio come to the door of the home, ring the doorbell 3. See if the kids answer the door 4. Lesson learned: either I’m a good parent and the kids refuse to answer the door OR I’m doing a horrible job, they answer the door, admit that I’m gone then the news crew interviews me about what a horrible mother I am!!!! AARRGGHHH!
I’m having 2nd thoughts. Maybe in an effort to look like a good parent I should warn them about the impending “trickery”? OR maybe it’s not me, maybe it’s them and they should be grounded for answering the door when I’ve told them several times not to!! OR maybe it will teach them a lesson and scare them just enough that they’ll never do it again??!!
OR, maybe they will NOT answer the door and I will get to keep my “Mother of the Year” award………..we shall see.
