Tag Archives: Lemons to Lemonade

Family Time – Lemons To Lemonade

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Family Time is worth more than money! 

So in this Lemons to Lemonade series, I’m going to cover how to maximize your Family Time with the kids.  In particular, I’m going to describe how we turned the sports our kids are in, from Lemons to Lemonade!

First, let me say that Family Time with your kids is worth more than money!  It’s something that most of us don’t realize until much later in life, so experience and enjoy it as much as you can.  It’s something you can’t buy more of later with money!!!

A friend told my wife that she doesn’t let her kids play sports because she cherishes their family time too much.

This got my wife to think about family time and if sports like soccer was gobbling up too much valuable family time…

She came to the conclusion that it wasn’t and here are the reasons why:

  • Watching and rooting for you kids in sports is great for the entire family.  And it give our kids a confidence boost knowing that the family (including grandparents, aunts and uncles) came out to support them.
  • We have 2 kids, so while one is out, we interact with the other one.  Sometimes, when my son is on the bench for a rotation, we’ll practices soccer stuff with my daughter, and of course vice versa.  Often we have a good time because it gets silly .  This time is enjoyed by all of us!
  • The driving time is practically forced time for the kids to interact with us socially.  Both my wife and I really enjoy the chats in the car when driving the kids to their games!
  • We interact with other parents, and they’ll cheer our kids on (and we cheer their kids on too).  As a kid, I would think it’s extra exciting hearing non-family members cheer for you!
  • Many times, we’ll go out to eat after the games, especially on longer, away games.  This is a treat for us all, in addition to the extra family time we experience.

So the lemons to lemonade process that we accomplished with the kid’s soccer games is to take an activity that could be considered a chore (Mom’s taxi service, etc), and converted it into an excellent opportunity for quality family time!

Often I find that it only takes a little to change a negative to a positive. 

Do you have any lemon to lemonade stories that you would like to share?

-MR

Did you like this kind of story, if so, check out my first in the “Lemon to Lemonade” series: Lemons to Lemonade Series #1 – Long Commute Drives

Also, related to this Lemon to Lemonade series is my guest post on Cash Flow Sherpas called:  Saving Money and Time With Audiobooks!

Lemons to Lemonade – Mowing To Excercise and Save Money

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I’ve been mowing lawns every since I was 7 or 8 years old.  Of course I got paid for it when I was younger, so while I didn’t enjoy it at least I got paid for the job.  It was a miserable experience for me since I have both grass and tree pollen allergies(we didn’t know that at the time though).

Flash Forward to Today:

I’ve had a series of immunization shots for my allergies, so my allergies has been taken care of, but now I don’t get any benefit from mowing the lawn… or do I?

Although I don’t get paid, I do derive benefit from mowing my lawn.  First, I have a push mower, so I get a small workout of sorts just by mowing my lawn myself.  While this is not enough in itself as an exercise program, it can be one piece in a weekly exercise routine.  I also save money by not having someone else mow my lawn.  Both of the previous points are obvious.

The not so obvious benefit is that I’m able to to have time to myself, no interrupts from kids, in fact, nobody bothering me with anything at all!  It’s my own “Temple of Solitude“, albeit a noise one.

Have you learned to take an activity that you hated when you were younger and convert it into something beneficial today?  The mind is a funny thing, and if we try hard enough we can effectively change the way we perceive our surroundings.

-MR