This quote is from a movie I watched recently.

“Your actions will always follow your beliefs.”

– “Facing the Giants” DVD

Read the Quotes From TV Archive

I recently wrote about how mothers have a sixth sense, a gut instinct, when it comes to our kids. While watching yesterday’s “Oprah Winfrey Show,” actress Jenny McCarthy mentioned this same sense, she calls it the Mommy Sense. She used this in diagnosing her son with autism.

When a doctor told her that her son had epilepsy, she knew the diagnosis was incorrect … from her gut, she knew, she explains. She pushed forward, with another doctor and got the correct diagnosis — autism. Had she not listened to her Mommy Sense, who knows when she would have received the correct information.

We all need to use this as a reminder to trust our Motherly instincts, our guts, our hearts. Even when you can’t explain why you know; if you know you are right, press on.

We already know that women carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, but now it’s proven! Well, sort of. Two of my favorite magazines carried similar stories within one month of each other … must be an important message.

“The Oprah Magazine” has an article in the October issue called, “Shop Smart: Is your Handbag Killing You?” while “Real Simple” magazine has an article in the September issue called, “Is your handbag weighing you down? Here’s how to lighten your load.” (Unfortunately, “Real Simple” doesn’t post the article on their Web site.)

Writers for both articles talk about bags that are too heavy and how these purses can be contributing to back and shoulder pain in women. It’s not just the purses themselves, but the contents as well.

“O Magazine” weighed items that women typically carry: iPod, wallet, cell phone, PDA, etc. and came up with a total of 15 pounds (not including the bag).

“Real Simple” sampled purses from women on the streets of New York and found the heaviest bag weighing in at 18 pounds.

I’m pleased to say that my bag weighs just under 3 pounds — which is plenty for me. How much does your purse weigh?

If you’re curious about the contents of women’s purses, visit the photo-sharing site, flickr to see photos.

I found an article on CNN.com about reading — “Where you fall in poll of U.S. reading habits.”

One highlight from the story is:

“One in four Americans read no books last year.”

No books.

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada.

Makes me wonder how books stores stay in business? Do people buy books, but not read them?

The article does point out that women are some of the most avid readers.

“Of those who did read, women and seniors were most avid.”

When I talk to people about books, it seems that many don’t really read that much. Who has time? People are too busy — kids, work, house work, school, meals, home work, sports … there is little time for leisure.

Reading also competes with activities such as TV and movies. Personally, I love all three: TV, movies and books. Maybe it’s storytelling that I love.

I’m always reading a book, always. I don’t consider myself a fast reader and complete only an average of 12-15 books a year, but I read more than most people I know (although I know several who read several books per month!). And, each year there are books that I start, but don’t finish … which far outweighs the number of books I complete. I need to be engaged with the book to complete it. When I was younger, I would read the book in its entirety, no matter what. Now that I’m older, I’ve given myself permission to stop reading a book if I’m just not into it.

What’s most important about this reading poll, is what’s not mentioned – the importance of getting kids to read. We need to read to our children every day to instill a good reading habit. Here’s a brochure with tips on getting kids to read, from the American Library Association — How to Raise a Reader

Here are a few of my favorite tips from the brochure:

Raising a Reader:

• Begin when your child is born and spend time reading every day.
• Visit the library.
• Choose books with colorful pictures and simple words—or no words at all.
• Read with expression— or just tell the story in your own words.
• Hold the book so your child can see the pictures clearly.
• Let your baby play with the book.
• Encourage your toddler to point out objects, repeat words, and talk about the story.
• Reread your child’s favorite books over and over again.
• Ask the child open-ended questions about the story: “What do you think will happen next?”
• Encourage older children to read to their younger brothers and sisters.
• Be an example to your children; let them see you read books too.

I’ve been seeing so many articles and tips for women regarding finances lately. This is good. We need to be constantly reminded of the importance of financial planning. Here are two sources I found within the past couple of days:

The first piece I found is a video, on iVillage.com showing a young woman and her finances. She gets a wake up call about her credit card and the interest rate she is being charged — 19.24 variable percent. Think about it this way … if you went into a store that charged 19 percent ABOVE the regular selling price, would you buy the item?

Let’s use an example, a purse. You walk into your favorite department store and eye the perfect, must-have bag for fall. It costs $100. At the counter the clerk rings it up:

$100 purse
+ $7.00 (tax, let’s say 7%)
__________________
$107.00
+ 19.24% (credit card interest rate)
_________________________
$127.58 (total price of bag)

I know my methodology is not perfect here, but think about it. Would you ever buy something if you knew you had to pay more than the sticker price? The reality of using a credit card is actually much worse than my purse example because the credit card company charges that 19.24 percent every month, not just once.

We should use this lesson to learn about our own credit and finances. I’ve talked about the importance of this before, and I want to keep finding sources to get the message across to women that we need to know more and to do more with our financial planning.

Here’s another relevant article, coming from today’s “Orlando Sentinel.” Titled, “Women not putting away enough money, experts say,” it begins by saying,

“Women of all ages think about retirement. The problem, experts say, is that most don’t do enough saving for retirement.

And nobody’s sure why.”

Read the full article here.

I have a few other links I’m collecting on this topic; I’ll share them in future posts. For now, read my finances archive.

Disclosure: Previously, I worked for both The Orlando Sentinel and NBC Universal. NBC owns iVillage. These are sites I still visit often so I’ll share relevant information from them every now and then.