Member Lifesavers

Buy greeting cards in bulk! Make one main trip per year and buy a birthday card for each family member & close friend, plus a couple new baby, sympathy, get well cards. Add 3 or 4 thank you cards. Last but not least, get a few blank cards, too. Store them in a special file folder or storage container near your address book.

If you own a business, and work from home, beside making 3 daily business connections or network connections, meet with business ladies at least twice a month for information sharing, brainstorming or workshops. It keeps you connected with the local business developments, and it helps you pass any “bump on the road” that you may have, or feel that you have.

Create a reading "nook" in an empty room or secluded corner of the house. Use a screen or furniture to create a feeling of separation if needs be. All you need is a comfy old armchair and a reading lamp. Even a few minutes a day in your nook curled up with a book will recharge you. It's an easy and free way to build a tiny bit more "you time" into your day.

Stuck at a red light? Feeling your blood pressure rising? De-stress by training yourself to think of something positive you can associate with stop lights, then use that image to discharge tension. I take a deep breath, exhale, and think of how the green and red lights remind me of our Christmas tree when I was a kid. It's amazing how I don't notice how tense I am until I do this. It's also amazing how something most drivers dread -- stop lights -- can become a nice spot to take a short break. It's just a matter of changing your attitude.

Here is a cute summer hair lifesaver. Some mornings I am too tired and/or it's way too hot to blow hot air on my head for 20 minutes. So, I have an really easy way to get cute summer hair without much heat. After you wash your hair, let it naturally dry about half way. Then put some gel, mousse or something that holds a style through your hair. Then divide your hair into about 6 sections for long hair, less for shorter hair. These sections don't have to be evenly divided in any way, just grab six different bundles of hair! Twist the hair and then wrap each section into a little bun. You can pin it with either bobby pins, barrettes, clips, whatever you have and it doesn't have to look pretty because this itself is not the hairstyle. Now, leave your hair like this while you finish up at the house, run the kids to school, go to the gym, or whatever you generally do before work (you can even finish at the office!). Right before you are ready to leave, hit the dryer on it for a few seconds and then spray some hairspray. Take out your minibuns and shake it out. You will have a super cute curly/wavy do (depending on how long you leave the pincurls in). You can even leave these in overnight and just wake up and remove them. If your hair is overly curly, don't panic, just don't spray anymore hairspray and let it settle down. It will calm down in a few minutes. The first time you do this may take longer but once you do it one time, each step should only take about about 2 minutes.