Before moving to Mexico City, we spent just over a year traveling. A friend recently asked me how we didn’t go broke paying for accommodations. “Doesn’t it get expensive staying in hotels every night for months on end?” she asked. The answer is of course it does. Even staying in hotels here in Mexico, where the rates are typically much less than say, hotels in Liverpool, accommodation costs can quickly add up and it would have been easy to spend a significant portion of our travel budget on hotels. Instead, we managed to save money by staying in alternative accommodations and hotels were often a last resort except for in the most inexpensive of destinations. Read more
I’ve always viewed September as a time for new beginnings, a kind of second New Year. It’s the time when new school years begin and workloads resume, when people stop taking vacations and get back to the daily grind. September signals the end to a carefree summer, the changing of the seasons and the arrival of the holidays.
This year it’s especially significant because it’s the first time in several years that we find ourselves back on a regular schedule and settling into a daily routine. Carlos has enrolled in University here in Mexico City and I find myself reevaluating my post long-term travel plans; namely finding a way to reintroduce paid work and daily routine into my life in a way that I’ll enjoy and that won’t leave me feeling drained or bored.
The work I’ve been doing online, though not without its rewards, has been taking up a lot of time lately, too much. I never intended for blogging to be my main source of work or income, yet over the past year I’ve been pleasantly surprised as it’s morphed into much more than just a hobby. It’s hard to be dissatisfied doing something I enjoy while working from home, and blogging is something that I really enjoy.
But it’s easy to get caught up in the details and lose sight of the big picture.
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Lately I’ve been exploring ways to eat a healthier, more sustainable and compassionate diet without breaking the budget. I’ve spent the past month seeking out vegan-friendly ingredients, markets, restaurants and food stands in Mexico City (check out the links to some of my vegan-friendly foodie discoveries at the end of this post).
I’d like to think that everyone wants to eat well, I know I do. The challenge is actually getting around to making the changes that need to be made in order to do so. If you’re just starting to transform your diet and overall relationship with food it can seem like a lot of work and with so much going on from day to day, it’s easy to lose focus.
I’ve learned that eating well doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, rather a simple approach is often best. For starters, I’ve really had to examine what I eat on a daily basis to be sure that I’m only eating what I need, when I need it. An important part of the minimalist approach is eating less, plain and simple. If you discover that you’re routinely eating more than you need to be, try cutting back little by little. Then give these other tips a try. Read more
If you’re a new blogger then you know how much time and effort it can take to build a successful website and how frustrating it can be when you’re not getting the results you’re hoping for. Simple Blogging, a new e-book by Rachel Meeks, talks directly to these points, helping new bloggers to figure out what’s important and how to get it done – without staying up all night. Rachel is the successful blogger behind Small Notebook, a simple living site that now has more than 13,000 subscribers.
From writing better posts to getting noticed, measuring success and even knowing when to take a break, I could really relate to a lot of what Rachel talks about in this e-book. Like when she says,
“I don’t even want to tell you how long it takes me to write something that looks so short.”
How many times have I heard people talk about throwing a post together in 30 minutes or less. Meanwhile, I’ve spent the better part of the day just tweaking my latest blog post.
This e-book shares strategies to help streamline the writing process, write more efficiently and get better results in a shorter amount of time.
Simple Blogging is 143 pages of advice and real-life examples that teach you how to grow a successful site – all for just $8 – and there’s no waiting, it’s available to download immediately. Click here to find out more or to purchase Simple Blogging.
