Traveling with kids: Tips for flying with toddlers

The holidays are approaching and that means travel plans are under way. Last year the Minchin family took a 5 hour flight to visit family for Thansgiving, traveling with a two year old (and one on the way) so you better believe I was looking for tips for keeping the stress to a minimum. Here are the top tips for traveling with little ones:


1. Travel light
Toddlers and babies have a high gear-to-body-size ratio, so you have to carry a lot of junk when you go anywhere. Juggling your carry-on, diaper gear, stroller, toys, sippy cups, snacks, tickets, ID, shoes (through security), your luggage, your kids, and the car seats can be way too much to keep track of. Think really hard about what you need to bring to stay sane for your three day visit to Grandmas house, and consolidate or do without the rest. You can probably get by feeding your baby or toddler in your lap, instead of bringing a portable high chair, for example. There will be plenty of things to entertain him at Grandma's house, not least of which will be all the family he hasn't seen. Leave room in your suitcase because Grandma and everyone else are going to be sending toys, presents and clothes back with you. If you have presents to bring you might want to consider shipping them ahead of time just to save yourself the hassle, and nowadays you have to pay for your luggage anyway.

2. Ditch the carseat
You don't have to lug car seats through the airport for your toddler or small child. There is an awesome product called CARES Child Aviation Restraint System which creates a 5-point safety harness for your toddler using seatbelt-like straps that fit in your purse. It's approved by the FAA as a safe alternative to a car seat for children age 1-4. You can check your car seat with your luggage and pick it up at the end of your flight, or if you rent a car you can also rent a car seat eliminating to need to schlep your own car seat around at all (this is what we did and boy was it a relief). It was easy to use, and while watching the DVD that comes with it (to demonstarte how it works) we discussed "the rules" with our two year old to prepare him for flying on a plane: staying in his seat, using his quiet voice and keeping his seatbelt on. It is a little pricey but if you consider that it can be used until he is about 4 years old, and that it spares you from carrying car seats through the airport, it is a pretty good deal.

3. Bring cheap entertainment
My biggest concern was keeping my son entertained on such a long trip. Like many moms I was afraid of being that family on the plane with the screaming kid so I scoured the web for tips from other parents. You never know if there will be in-flight movies appropriate for children, and looking out the window eventually gets old. The best idea that worked like a miracle was to buy several cheap, small, *quiet* dollar-store toys and wrap them like presents (I just wrapped them in colored tissue paper in case security wanted to check them out). Whenever he started to get bored I would give him a special present from the bag (I didn't let him see that I had a bag full of presents, I just kep surprising him which was part of the fun). He still talks about the presents he got on the plane and can identify each one today. I also downloaded several episodes of Diego and Blue's Clues to my iPod nano, and brought coloring books, markers and puzzles, all things that are light, flat and compact to fit in the diaper bag.

4. Load up the diaper bag
Here is one area where you will want to bring more than you think you need: More diapers, wipes, snacks and change of clothes than you plan to use. You never know if your baby and toddler will take turns being sick, if your plane will be delayed and even grounded for several hours without letting passengers off, or if the flight crew will run out of food. Be considerate and bring scented waste bags for disposing of diapers in the tiny airplane bathrooms. You can use these to collect wet clothes, spitup cloths, and garbage generated by your little angels, because you know the flight attendants will not come by to pick it up. Grandma will thank you for it too.

Share your top tips in the comments!

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Ask a Manager: Getting Noticed by Management

Guest Lecturer, Dick Whitman, Manager in Residence

Dear Manager,
What are the best and worst things employees can do to get noticed by their manager or upper management?

The worst way to get noticed is to show that you are trying really hard to get noticed. We manager-types don’t like that. It’s the same way the monkeys at the zoo feel when you tap on the glass. It annoys us. So lay off the red exclamation points on your emails, ok?

The thing to realize is that a manager needs to balance the needs of the entire team along with the objectives of the job and his own ability to make things happen for you. It can never be all about one person. As far as I’m concerned, generosity toward teammates and a sincere contribution to the company’s success – in addition to quality work – are the most important things an employee can do to show his or her worth.

This takes patience as well, because sometimes there are just not a lot of opportunities for advancement that a manager can offer. You might find yourself on a longer path than you are comfortable with, but you can measure your success by the amount of trust your manager has in you. This can be seen when you are given important projects to work on, or when you are asked to share the things that you know with your team.

So try to stay away from expressions like “Me too!”, or “I was just going to say that”, or “Hey! Look at me!”. You don’t need to get the last word in every email exchange. If you send your manager information, and he replies with “Thank you”, you don’t need to reply with “You’re welcome!”. If a client sends you a nice email praising your performance, it is perfectly acceptable to tell your manager that the client was happy and sent a nice email. However, forwarding it along when the client or other teammates on the thread don’t think to do so for you…it looks like horn-tooting, which again, is akin to the glass-tapping.

While I am suggesting that you look for ways to help the company and the team for the common good, and to do it selflessly, you might think that you have already been doing that for a long time and you are still playing the wallflower. In these cases, I recommend that you talk to your boss about it. The important thing here is that you don’t go asking for a promotion or worse, storming in guns-ablaze all full of ultimatums.

You may have varied success with these methods depending upon the manager, but I have always found it refreshing when an employee comes to me and says “I feel like I have been making a good contribution, but can you tell me how you think I am doing, and what I would need to do to get to the next level (or ‘how I can get to a point where I take on some new challenges’)”. If you show that you are taking some responsibility for your own performance, and your own fate within the context of the needs of the company, you will generally find a manager who is more open to discussing your goals and how to help you reach them.

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Weekly roundup 11-13-2009

Are you "Professional"?
This week on Career Rocketeer, one of the fastest growing career search, career development and personal branding blogs on the web today.  Founded by Chris Perry.  Additional services still under construction - check back often.

How do you lead when the news is all bad?
More resources for leaders in turbulent times.  As our resident manager explained this week, staying "on message" can be difficult when the message is hard to swallow.  Forbes contributor Susan Adams reinforces that honesty is still good policy.

Resume Red Flags
Work Coach Ronnie Ann Himmel responds to concerns about resume "red flags."
Work Coach Cafe specializes in the interview phase of your worklife, and includes several tip lists on interviewing, resume writing, and networks.  Ronnie Ann also published Zen and the Art of Being a Receptionist, which complements this week's post on the secretarial arts.

Top WebSites for Finding Freelance Work
As compiled by CEOWorld magazine

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Avoiding layoffs: Making yourself indispensible

Everyone is expendable, and in many cases there is nothing you can do about a layoff when your company is forced to reduce headcount. There are steps you can take however to make yourself harder to live without should the time come to make the hard choice of who to let go.

1. Do work no one else wants to do
In every workplace there are jobs that no one wants to do. If you take those tasks and execute them with gusto you can quickly make yourself an indispensible part of the team. This works best when it is a mission-critical task that you actually enjoy and can excel at. Even if you don't enjoy it, if you do it well no one will want to lose you because then they'd have to find someone else to fill that role (or do it themselves). But don't go around offering to scrub toilets or complain loudly about how you work late every night on the WEENIS - there are limits to what tasks will help move the team forward and which just make you out to be a martyr.

2. Find a Gap and Fill it
Whether it be a gap in process, in skills or in knowledge on your team (or even with your manager), seize the opportunity to fill it. By doing so you can make things better for your coworkers, make your manager look good, and be seen as a knowledgable asset to the team. For example, say you and your co-workers regularly labor over tedious data manipulation in excel for your monthly reports. One way to help would be to use formulas to set up a report template that everyone can use to save time and reduce errors. Or, if you happen to be interested in new relevant technologies that your team could benefit from learning about, offer to put together a presentation to share what you know. This only works if you are sincere about sharing and helping your coworkers. No one likes a showboat who only offers to help when the boss is in earshot, and touting your awesome knowledge on a subject at the expense of others will only backfire.

3. Become a subject matter expert
Like the first two tips, making yourself the go-to person for a given subject can help to make you a necessary member of the team and therefore harder to lose. This works best when you have the opportunity to dive deep into a project as you may doing tips 1 &2. This is not about hoarding knowledge or being a know-it-all; it's about acquiring sufficient experience with a subject area to be considered an expert. If you don't see any opportunities to do this within your team, volunteer to work on cross-functional teams and build relationships with groups your team depends on to get their job done. These connections can help you to become the liaison who people turn to when they need assistance from the other departments.

Implementing these techniques out of a sincere desire to make a difference is key and can help cement your place as a valuable, productive team member. Continuing to produce and add value, while "owning" certain subjects can make you a less obvious choice when the time comes to make cuts. If, in spite of your excellent performance you are still let go, you can use these tips in your new job when you want to establish yourself quickly as a valuable member of the team.

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A Secretary's Story

Misses Minchin and Bender share the distinction of having begun their career at the same entrée step, though it had changed its name to Administrative Assistant by the time Minchin had taken her chair. The fact that we share this experience is not so astounding. Many women – perhaps most – get their start in this role. What we find more interesting is how differently we experienced it, and how it shaped us for future roles. Neither is right or wrong, neither is better or worse. But one of us was happy in that slot, and one of us was not.  And both of those stories are true.

We thought we would reach out to the secretaries, admins, PAs, and receptionists among us by telling these stories.  Some of these points may speak to you too.

To paint the picture for you, I was the junior secretary in a shared office space with a Gibbs grad who frequently reminded me that she was my “soo-peer-i-ya.” Her Boss was senior to mine; therefore, she was senior to me. It was the rules of the Officers' Wives, and I understood that.

 I was 23, a full-time graduate student and a full time subordinate in a double-time office. It was everything I had imagined being a working girl in the city would be, except for the wool suit and nickel lunch.  (and sometimes I wore the suit anyway)

Expectations were very clear
This says more about management than it does about the secretarial profession, but remember that I had very little frame of reference other than Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox.   It was still common practice at that time for expectations to be laid out in the very first meeting, for culture and habit to be codified and all questions asked up front.  This was not about Power, but about Authority, which my Boss had in buckets.

The things that were mine were mine alone
After outlining the things that were within her authority, she outlined the things that were within mine.  I believe you can tell when you are supporting someone who has never had a secretary before, and who has never been one.  And I believe that the bosses who don't draw the boundary lines think they are helping.  But they are not.

She didn't have to offer not to get underfoot in my corral, because she did not expect to ever enter it.

There were daily opportunities for success
Some of them were very small victories.  You will find as you climb your ladder that some days you would give it all back for just one tiny victory.  I saw results all day long, and some of them were quite large indeed.

What a rhythm we had
I strove to be Radar to her Henry Blake, and when she departed, for her own next growth spurt, it felt very much like the choppers taking off.  I held entire parts of her brain for her, so the rest of it could work on bigger things, and she trusted me to do it.  I took representing her as a tremendous responsibility that instilled a professional maturity I would not have come to on my own.

I got to try everything

One reason the secretarial entree was such a powerful jumping off point for a generation of women who would have the opportunity to actually grow out of the pool (Bender-style) was that we had our hands in every pie.  Because we answered the phones, handled the correspondence, coordinated the meetings, organized the notes, we knew all the inner workings of our bosses' jobs.  Because we were mentored (or hazed) by those Senior Secretaries, we learned the politics of our organizations and the art of the deal.

(seniors smoked like chimneys even in 1987)

Now that everyone literally keeps their mail and phone calls in their pocket, it's no wonder no one knows what's going on in the building.

The sisterhood was real
There was 1 man in our sphere, and he was a temp after the departure of my Soo-peer-i-ya.  He was eventually replaced by a woman.  At the top of our food chain was a fierce old Yankee who supported the President.  Departmental secretaries and any grad student like me were at the bottom. The pecking order was as real as sorority hell week, but the minute you were in trouble (professional or personal), your team came right off the bench to your aid. 

Our Yankee leader once tugged my ear for leaving a staffer's review in the copy machine and sternly reminded me of the burdens of confidential access.  But she didn't rat me out.  I suppose 22 years later, it is safe enough for me to fess up.

For someone like me, the structure, the rules, the clear lines of demarcation were exactly what I needed to feel grounded and secure enough to stretch myself.  Miss Minchin can tell you the other side of that experience.  And her story is just as true.

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Ask a Manager: Staying on Message

Guest Lecturer, Dick Whitman, Manager in Residence

Dear Manager,
How do you handle having to stay "on message" when you don't agree with upper management?

This is often a challenge to me, particularly because my personal style is so rooted in building trust and loyalty with the team. Still, I need to maintain the balance of effective leadership along these lines while staying loyal to my own leaders. It would be hypocritical of me to expect a kind of loyalty from my employees that I am unwilling to give to the people to whom I report.

I would like to tell you that I always agree with what my leaders tell me. But then, I would be insulting your intelligence, and that breaks a big rule with me. I actually have a few driving rules that I try my best to honor:

• Never lie to the team
• Never insult their intelligence
• Be as open and candid as possible
• Never break a confidence
• Do not throw company management under the bus

Obviously, the very nature of this dilemma can make it difficult to follow all of the above rules at once. The last one above is perhaps the hardest to honor. By not throwing my management under the bus, I don’t just mean that I avoid bashing them. That is clearly unprofessional. What is more important to me is that I try not to tell my team anything along the lines of: “I don’t agree with this, but they are making me do it, so I am making you do it.” That compromises my own integrity, and it doesn’t help the company to be unified in its objectives.

So how do I deal with it then? Well, provided I am working in an environment in which I trust the leadership overall, I feel it is my duty to fight for my beliefs, and for the best interests of my team and my clients. I do my best to make my case strongly and effectively, but most of all professionally and respectfully. I feel that if I am working in an environment where I am able to question authority, I can make a real contribution. I expect nothing less from my team in dealing with me. The key to this is to know when the discussion is over, and to understand when it is time to carry out the directive from the boss. I don’t always agree with it, but I understand that I am not always right.

So when this happens, and my objections are overruled, it is my job to go out there and get the team to execute. The most effective method I have found to accomplish this is to try and get a good understanding of the drivers behind the decisions that have been made. If I don’t agree with the proposed solution, I can at least gain some insight into the problems that the company is trying to solve. In almost all cases, I am well aware of these. Once I can get my arms around the problem, it is easier for me to go back to the team and communicate the impact of the current state. From there, I can communicate the plan to address the business needs, followed by communication that starts with, “so this is what we are doing about it.”

From there I can listen to my team’s feedback and validate any concerns, while staying on message with the notion that the current plan is what we need to support. In these situations, I am often able to commit to staying close to the situation, to monitor the risks as we go, and to try again with my management if the plan’s execution hits a bad turn. I commit to this, and I do my best to follow through in every way possible when a course correction is warranted.

The above approach has served me well overall. Luckily, I have had only a few cases where I was so far apart from the leadership of my company that I found myself unable to justify the direction. Staying on message under these circumstances without breaking my own rules caused me a great deal of heartburn. In both cases that come to mind, I was dealing with a pervasive disconnect between my own values and those of my company’s management. After trying to reconcile this and failing, I decided that I was not well-matched to the company and so I moved on. As a bottle of steak sauce once told me: “Yeah. It’s that important.”

Ask a Manager: Have a workplace dilemma? Want to understand what goes on in the mind of a manager? Post your questions in the comments.

 

Related posts:

Ask a Manager: What makes a Good Manager?

Ask a Manager: Managing through a layoff

Ask a Manager: Your Questions Answered

You're on a Need to Know Basis

Read more »

Weekly roundup - 11-6-2009

Additional reading and resources recommended by your faculty

The single biggest mistake when writing your performance review @ CubeRules.com
Cube Rules seeks to help you reach that vaulted status of Cubicle Warrior – a person who not only survives, but thrives working in a cubicle.

 Personal Branding Blog
The content provided on this blog includes podcasts, interviews with experts, insightful articles, research reports, games and much more, for all your personal branding needs. Dan Schawbel is the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y, and author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009). Me 2.0 made the Amazon top 100 business book bestsellers list when it was released and was the #1 job hunting book.

Detours & OnRamps
Created by a mom for moms, with an ever-changing and regional roster of speakers who are working moms themselves, this is a site that offers ideas, insight, and inspiration. Sessions and applicability for working dads too. If you've been home for a bit and want to get back--or if you're sick of working 90+ hour weeks and want to know a bit more about this elusive "work life balance."

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The Office Cocktail Party

Instructor, Caroline Bender


Wednesday is New Professionals' Day at the Finishing School, though we recognize that even the old soldier can learn a few new tricks. As we near end-of-year office celebrations (on or off site) we offer a few tips for getting through the cocktail hour.


The New Professional navigating the political minefield of the workplace may find the snap decisions of the office social overwhelming -- so much potential to advance, stall, or cripple her success as a serious player. Gaining a reputation as someone who "doesn't go to these things" can put you out of contention for real opportunities in the big picture.


The Seasoned Professional is not immune to this problem; especially in a new workplace where she has not yet learned the politics of this particular tribe.


This lecture refers to the small on-site after work cocktail affair that usually lasts only a couple of hours. The Office Holiday Party, baby shower, annual sales meeting, trade convention, and talent show have additional concerns which should be covered separately.


How to drink


• There is no rule against it, but be mindful of your behavior. Act as if you have seen alcohol before, and are capable of buying it for yourself. It may be open bar, but it is not your sister's wedding.
• Use the cups the caterers brought. Bringing your own cup went out with gatoring at the Delta House.
• It is unnecessary to comment on the caliber of wine being served, as if you expected someone to have opened the wine cellar. If the stemware is plastic, it is red table wine. Drink it or don't. If the event is at the Boss's house, you love whatever it is and listening to her talk about it.
• The best reason not to drink is that it affects your judgment. If you tend to lose advance notice of what you might say, do, or touch... keep your wits about you.


How to eat


• If you are going to drink, please do eat.
• If you could afford to pick up your own dinner on the way home, yield the line to those who can't. The gang from the call center and the grad assistants' lounge count on buffets like this.
• Anyone working through the night should be able to get in front of you and fill a larger plate than yours.
• You can't handle a plate, a fork, and a glass. Pick finger food


How to mingle


• These events are bad enough without enforcing our own cliques on them. Try to break free from your own team, unless you have a new member. Hook them to you, and take them to people you know in other departments.
• Approach those you know when they are talking to people you don't know. Simply stand next to them and smile. It's as simple as this: "I don't think we've met. I'm ______." If you have met, they will remind you. Or not. And it won't really matter.
• "Where do you work," is an acceptable ice breaker, but only one generation removed from "What's your major?" Unless you want to give your own elevator speech, don't ask anyone else to give theirs. Go in a different direction.


How to fraternize


• I am fond of a scene in the film "Big," where Elizabeth Perkins' character corners the boss with a lot of talk about work. He says, "Have a drink, Susan. it's a party."
• As long as everyone is mingling and drinking out of plastic stemware, this is the prime time to move into conversation with highers-up. Things they like to talk about: their kids, their sports, fixing up the house, vacation plans, and the weather.
• Remember, too, that there are subordinates and other career climbers hoping to mingle with you, so don't shut them out. Be as gracious with them as you hope the executives will be with you. Things your staff like to talk about are their kids, their sports, fixing up the house, vacation plans, and the weather.


How to flirt


• Mingle + Fraternize x (eye contact + friendly arm touching). Take the rest of it off-line.


Should I make a speech?


• Are you good at it? Don't answer -- ask others.


May I crash parties I wasn't invited to?


You may not. Class dismissed.

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What is my Son Learning About Women?

by Michelle Morgan, Director/Editor, Tipsy Pix, Inc.


As I sit alone in my hotel room 3000 miles and 3 time zones away from home, I fear I lack the perspective necessary to really answer the question honestly, so I have forwarded it to JRo, Age 2. Two year-olds, like your boss and the guy in the cube down the hall, are fiercely opinionated yet lack the ability to fully articulate. And they can’t spell. Recognizing that, I have taken the liberty of fleshing out some of JRo’s thoughts.


What I am learning about women from my mom is…

•They are really committed to the Whole Foods Army.
While nobly super-momish, it is powerfully smug and all it means is that she's spending too much of my Heavily Marketed (Yet Highly Coveted) Disney Toy money on free-range Cheerios.

•They are really freakin’ competitive.
Just because your mom pumped 15 times a day at work for the first 30 months of your life (that’s 2 1/2 years for you non-mothers) doesn’t mean that you are going to be more (insert adjective here). Mine only did it for 6 months and I can probably kick your butt all the way from the swings to the slide…
...but I wouldn’t because we don’t engage in aggressive play.

•That they are pissed off at Dad... a lot.
I don’t know what this is about and I wish it wouldn’t happen so often. Something about division of labor…

•That despite how tired she looks, she still manages to get me to the pool, playground or story time AND have that 10 am conference call with some guy named The Azhol.

•They like wine.
[Mom replies: I have no problem with that last observation. It will get him a lot farther at cocktail parties than Calculus.]

•They can multitask like nobody’s business!
This is something I know a thing or two about as I can eat breakfast, watch a video and play with a remote control ambulance while mom dresses me. I know it’s cliché, but it is true.

Take yesterday, for example. That woman (my mom) ordered my birthday invitations and paper goods (Yo Gabba Gabba, SCORE!) from her iPhone in O’Hare. By the time she landed in Seattle, she had ordered food for my kid party and family party from the online grocery. She had sent dad addresses and instructions for the invites so he could mail it all out before she got home (which didn’t happen, but whatever). She coordinated 3 separate caretakers, complete with instructions, and schedules including doctor’s appointments for big bro and me. Then she had a late night production meeting in her hotel room.

Then, one of her colleagues had the nerve to suggest, “Motherhood has overwhelmed her.” Well, I oughta…!
That colleague was a woman. With no kids.

 What I hope my son is learning about life from me.

He's learning the importance of independence and trying something you might hate four times before concluding that you do, in fact, hate it.

You need to eat healthily-not because that sweet guy with the tattoos like Daddy on The Biggest Loser tells you to, but because it actually tastes better. Also, eat as much as you want for breakfast and as little as you can for dinner.

Solving the problem is more important than knowing the answer.

Fat lips gotten in the pursuit of fun are okay. Fat lips gotten in the pursuit of hurting another person (or cat) are bad.

Pick your battles wisely. If you do this, you will always win.

If you can swim and play the piano, you will do well.
If you can do both at the same time, you will make a great working parent some day.

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Downsized But Not Defeated (book review)

(c) 1997, Hope Stanley Quinn & Lyn Muller-Lochman

Necessity is truly the mother of invention.  On the tender outside edge of the dot-com bubble, companies were still downsizing, and employees were being laid off.  Author Hope Quinn's family went looking for a resource, and finding none, she compiled this book.  Downsized but Not Defeated: The Family Guide to Living on Less
is still timely, though noticeably absent are any reference to internet resources, ARRA, universal health care, or other services you could cut from your expenses, like your iPhone or TiVo.  But you may be glad for that, since this back-to-basics approach reminds you of the things you truly need  and sets the tone for your post-employment financial life as well.

Quinn and Miller-Lachman take a "You're OK" approach to keep you from panic, and assure you that downsizing your output when your income is cut is rational and manageable.  Remember that we were all living beyond out means anyway, certainly in 1997.

The book presents the personal stories we are accustomed to in self-help volumes.  This reviewer personally finds it distracting, but it does give the text some narrative readability, and it can help the reader identify with the material.

The 5 Stages of Grief are a true experience, even if we feel they have become a cliche.  The book's opening chapoter allows you to "feel your feelings," so that you can get to the work ahead.  And that work is what you would expect: live lower on your hierarchy, and spend a lot less money.  But houw....?  right?

To break down your Luxuries and Necessities, the authors recommend simple listmaking.    If something is truly a necessity, ask yourself if there is a way it can be maintained for less.  If your daily coffee is a need, shop the cheaper vendor, whether that is Dunkin' Donuts, or 7-Eleven.  If the karate class is contracted, you will have to see it through.  If the class is expiring, maybe it is not a Necessity to renew. (another case made for paying in full when you can.  If the end comes, you will have fewer monthly withdrawals to account for.)

Some of the outdated advice you will find is a recommendation to convert cash to CDs for a long-term savings plan.  This may still be an option, but note that CD rates are very low at present.  Similar advice is given about home equity loans, though even in 1997, the authors caution against borrowing more than you can repay.

The "Getting a Job" section is the most outdated, as you might expect, but there are still some common sense reminders that you have everything you need for your jobhunt.  Buying more "stuff" to prepare is just a distraction. 

In each area of your budget, suggestions are offered for downsizing, for example, reduce entertainment costs with coupons, matinees, minor league sports, dining in/desserting out.  Remember your contemporary resources as you review these suggestions: e.g. reading periodicals on-line.

Two chapters are spent on food budgeting, and since food is typically 15% of the family expenses, this is an appropriate amount of space.  Unfortunately for this review, Miss Bender subsists on hummus and seltzer, so she did not relate much to this section.  But here are some "hey now" moments from my own reading.  (the rest of you might find this website interesting)
* Yes you do have time to bake bread.  You are at home.
* Budget shopping will take you longer than habitual shopping
* Local and seasonal can be had, but may not cost less, and you need to have a flexible palate

Community Support Agriculture can be expensive and requires a lot of adventurous spirit.  For a couple of months, monitor your produce consumption to see how much you are spending and consuming before you invest in a collective.  If you are not willing to learn how to prepare kale and pickle turnips, this may not be your thing.

This book can be found online (see our carousel at right).  Though some comments will feel out of date, it is not as a whole outdated.  BWF recommends it for its practical approach, a structure that allows you to focus on the items relevant to your life (child care, and debt consolidation, for example) and read in an order that suits your priorities.  We are recommending it because it is from a slightly earlier time in our cultural memory, which also helps remind us how cyclical these downturns are, and that we do (and have, and will) make it through.

The Finishing School continues to stress to our students that your preparation for a downsizing should occur while you are employed.  This means
1.  Living within your means
2.  Saving appropriately
3. Simpifying your expenses
4. Buying to last
It is your best defense against feeling vulnerable to any of life's surprises (including illness, disability,  and disaster).  When your rainy days are over, you will be habitiated toward starting to prepare again.

Related articles
Preparing for the Worst
Meal Planning and Nutrition
Employment at Will

~~CB

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