The Alternative 52 Week Money Saving Challenge for 2015

So, I'm sure that most of you have seen the 52 Week Money Saving Challenges out there on the internet.  I've decided to use an alternative style.  I had come across this idea a few years ago, but for the life of me, I can't find it again, so I drew it up myself for this post.  It basically alternates from the low end of the savings to the high end and back again.  So on the first week (I'm starting on Jan 3rd) you put aside $1, then on the second week you put aside $52, on the third week, $2, on the fourth week, $51 and so on.  You get the idea.  Here's a visual for you.

Download Here

(This is my first time making a downloadable link, so please let me know if you're unable to download.  Thanks!)

I like having the amounts staggered rather than having all the large amounts together.  If we have an unexpected bill or something comes up, then it won't be so hard to save $52 one week and $2 the next, but saving $52 then $51 the next week is a little harder to do.  This alternating between the larger and smaller amounts just makes things a little easier.  Saving the larger amounts all at one time (either at the beginning or the end of the year) is tough when you're living paycheck to paycheck.  Doing it that way would be $202 in one month.  I don't know about you, but that's a little bit much when I have to buy groceries!

Also, having the bigger amounts toward the beginning of the year is easier (in my opinion) than having them at the end when Christmas is coming.  To me, it's harder to save around the holidays.  By then, I'm wishing I'd have been saving all year and with the holidays, my hubby gets time off, so the pay's not as big (not getting overtime makes a big difference) so it's a little harder on the wallet.

I think I'm going to start something with my 4 year old as well.  We're just starting to learn about money, so this might help him.

Download the Children's version Here

Of course he doesn't have a "job" but he's going to start "earning" this money by doing his chores.  We've been a little slack in the chore department.  He has them and does them, but we haven't been as consistent as we had planned to be.  Don't judge.  It's the least of my worries right now.  But hey, New Year, New Plans! Part of the New Year's Resolutions list.  (We might get the 2 year old in on it too, but that would be more for fun than teaching at this point.  He is so cute when he giggles and claps his hands at the "plunking" the money makes in his see-through bank that he got for Christmas!)

I suppose one of the biggest thing on my list (every year) is to be more organized and this money saving plan falls right into place with that particular resolution.  There are many subcategories to that resolution, but that's a whole other post!

So, who's with me on the challenge?  If you don't like my take on it, you don't have to use my particular schedule... or you can make your own.  Just Google "52 Week Money Saving Challenge" and you'll instantly become overwhelmed with spreadsheets of all kinds, shapes, colors, etc.

I'd love to know what you think of my plan(s) above.  Do you like it?  Hate it?  Want to give it a try?  What do you think of the children's version?  Let me know in the comments below.  Thanks and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's 2014! Is it really the first of the year?

Well, I said I would meet you back here and go over some New Year's Resolutions, didn't I? In all honesty, I haven't had much time to think about my resolutions. Oh, they've flitted through my head while doing other things, sure. But I haven't actually had time to sit and write them down.

Let's start by understanding what a New Year's Resolution is supposed to be. It is something that one decides to do or change about themselves over the course of the next year. Typically, these are things to help one improve oneself such as; lose weight, quit smoking, quit drinking, get organized (a standard for my list,) etc.. Yet many of us make these lists, but never seem to be able to keep them.

Are we making unrealistic goals? Are we just too lazy to keep up with them? Are we not ready to turn over a new leaf on the first of the year? Maybe we make too long of a list and it gets too daunting and overwhelming or too many things to try to remember to do/not do all at once.

Whatever it is, I still like to make out my list at the beginning of the year and see how far I get. One idea I had was to make a list, but start only one of them in January, then start the second one in February, the third in March, well, you get the idea. Since it takes 21 days to make something a habit, I thought that would be a good way of instilling each individual item on the list into my life. Make each a habit, one at a time. Although, now that I'm going through my list in my head, some things aren't under the category of "habit" and are just things that need to be done.

Now, for the list:

1. Organize the house (this may actually take more than one month LOL it actually needs it's own list of different areas)
a. My desk/office area
b. Master bedroom
c. Master bath
d. Guest bath
e. J's bedroom
f. B's bedroom
g. Kitchen
h. Living room
i. The garage (that is a whole entire project in and of itself that will take many months to complete, but leads me to my next main list item)
2. Go through a box a day from the garage
3. Get published!
4. Finish the books that I have started (I've got quite a few in the works and really need to finish them, a few are in a series of their own)
5. Lose weight (I've actually already started on this, having lost 9 pounds recently, but I want to get into regular sized clothing, rather than the "plus" sized stuff)
6. Start exercising (this should take care of the item above)
7. Start a garden (we've been trying, but can't seem to get anything to really "take" in our crappy sandy Floridian yard)
8. Get into major couponing
9. Finish the afghan I'm working on right now as well as one other I have planned as a gift
10. Write daily
11. Keep the van clean (I've got kids, what can I say?)

I've been working on a few of these things for a while, but really want to focus on them this new year, so that's why I've added them to the list. For example, this past November, I did NaNoWriMo, but now have to finish editing and getting the book ready to publish. Also, the afghan I'm working on is a project that I tend to only work on when going on long trips (a drive that will last at least an hour+) when my husband drives because I hate his driving and he hates me screaming at his driving, so crochet. Why don't I just drive instead of him? Well, I'd rather not and it gives me time to crochet when the kids are strapped in their child seats and can't come running up to me and climb all over me and my yarn with sticky fingers and drool. Enough said.

The main "habits" I need to establish are rite daily, exercise and going through a box a day from the garage. Now it's just a matter of prioritizing my list and getting started. The main thing I really need to do is get more organized. I still have Christmas cards that need to be sent out because I lost them! I had them, we got ready for Christmas Day, moved a few things around and *POOF* gone! Totally disappeared. I don't know if the little green men who live in the walls came out and took them or what. (That's something my Dad always said if we lost something; the little green men must have taken it.) So, better organization is my number one priority. With that, everything else should fall into place.

The main problem(s) is(are) that this house is too small (and I'm a packrat) and has no decent storage space. There are hardly any cupboards in the kitchen for pots, pans, glasses and dishware, there are only a few very small closets and the rooms themselves are small, so there's not a lot of space for our furniture. So, organization is a necessity that I've been putting off for waaaayyyy too long.

Starting a garden is also something that I want up at the top of the list because that could save us a ton of money in groceries. We'd still have to buy some produce from the store, obviously, but if I could grow my own bell peppers, lettuce, celery, squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., that would be a huge help! I've grown celery, but it only grows for a little while (about 3-5 inches tall) and then dies off. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with it.

Anyway, that's my New Year's Thoughts and Resolutions. What are yours?

Brains —It's what's for dinner

Intelligence is not defined by one's educational level, but by one's own actions, awareness, ability to work through problems, and much more.

Ok, so this post isn't about eating brains for dinner, but it is about intelligence and a little self-discovery in the brain department.

My mother was a very intelligent woman, but had to leave school in 9th grade to take care of her mother who was bed-ridden for 36 years. My mother took care of her, her first two children, her first husband and held a job as a waitress.  Amazing woman.  She continued to be amazing with her second marriage as well as me (I'm the baby of the family and her third child and the only child to her second husband.)  And in her 60's, she went on to become a Certified Nurse's Aide (CNA) and we were all so proud of her.  Yet, unfortunately, since she had never made it through middle and high school nor received a diploma, she thought she was stupid.  I told her over and over again that she was very smart and that just because she didn't have the "book smarts" that she thought she needed; that didn't mean she wasn't smart.

She was the one who taught me long division when my father, who was an electrical engineer, had me on page 3 of a division problem and still didn't have an answer!  Brilliant man with absolutely no common sense whatsoever.

My Mom was the one who helped me through mathematical word problems, history books, studying for spelling tests, etc.  She was more than book smart, she was amazing!

Why am I rambling on about my mother when it's not even close to Mother's Day?  Well, today's Google page is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Crossword Puzzle.  Well, my mother used to do the crossword puzzle in the paper every week and did it IN PEN!  And she never made a mistake!  Ok, well, maybe once, but that's it.  I'm working on Google's crossword puzzle and I've gotten 11 so far that I think are correct.  And I cheated on gave up on two more.

My disastrous attempt at this crossword puzzle has made me realize just how smart my mother was and how much I've let myself go —mentally, that is.  (Ok, truth be, I've let myself go physically as well, but that's a whole other comparison to my mother, who was in tip top shape until I came along.)

So now what? I have a BA in English, yet I can't finish a simple crossword puzzle. I have been reading on the web about proper grammar and have found many things have changed and there are many things that I –have forgotten.  There's the -hyphen vs the –en dash vs the —em dash, comma splices (which I am dreadfully guilty of,) the Oxford comma, leaving one space after the period instead of two (that's new and very hard to get used to doing. It's more like 'space space backspace RAWR!' It nearly kills me to only do one space after 40 years of knowing it's supposed to be two spaces, which is what I learned back in the day,) and many more grammatical rules to learn and relearn.  Not to mention my loss of spelling ability.  I used to be amazing in my spelling abilities.  Even words I had never come across I could usually guess correctly.  Now, if it wasn't for auto-correct, and that ugly squiggly red line on the computer screen, I would make even more of a fool out of myself than I already do. (Ugh, see, there's that stupid single space that makes my hands nearly convulse.) But times change and I suppose I need to change with them.

So, many of the grammatical advice I've recently received has been from The Write Practice, which is, in my opinion, a wonderful site that has certainly shown me my terrible ways. I'm not sure how I like some of it, such as the single space vs double space after a period, or the comma splice theory, but I do like the blog and enjoy relearning my grammar and they also have wonderful writing prompts and helpful information on honing your craft as a writer. Of course, if you're not into writing, then you might not care for the site, but if you enjoy writing in any form, then I would suggest checking it out.

There's also Lumosity to help my brain out. I enjoy the site, but can't afford to pay for it, so I just visit once in a while (when I remember... ha! ironic, isn't it?) and get the few free activities it will allow. It helps to get the brain going again —or at least, that's what I tell myself.

With the new year coming so quickly, I find myself wanting to make tons of resolutions, but I know they won't last very long. (And I'm sure I'll be doing a New Year's Resolutions post soon.) Which leads me to the need to prioritize my hobbies, my goals, my dreams, etc.. (Does that get a second "." after the "etc."? Hmm, I think so, but again, there's my brain not remembering.)

Many times, I just feel like I'm overloaded and over-worn. Too many hobbies that I want to enjoy, too much housework, then there are the kids, the husband, the... everything! And no time to do any of it. Oh, I get a few things done, but between my two little ones always tugging at my, climbing on me, wanting me to hold them, etc., I don't get much done. And I'd rather enjoy time with them than worry about the dishes. Know what I mean?

So, what's the point in my rambling on in this blog post? Well, the new year is approaching fast. I want you to join me in prioritizing your New Year's Resolution list. We all know we won't keep them —at least, not all of them, but let's see who can keep the most the longest! A challenge. Let's make our lists and meet back here at the first of the year to share them. Then, at the end of the year, let's see who had kept any. Maybe we'll even meet up in the middle of the year and do a "list check" and see what we've accomplished and what we may need to re-try. It's never too late to start again. My mother getting her CNA license in her 60's was proof of that.  And I need to start getting my brain back into shape, before it's not worth anything —except maybe dinner for zombies!

2012

Mermaid On Crutches?

Well, I came across one of the most ridiculous outfits that I’ve ever seen:

While quite beautiful, it seems to be very obnoxiously inconvenient and problematic.  I mean, seriously, how do you get a mermaid to “walk” with crutches (when obviously the poor model can’t even move her skimpy chicken legs?!)?

But then, while trying to find the actual fashion show that show cased this particular dress, I came across the following video:

I’ve never liked Haute Couture or any of the weird styles that some of the more popular designers put out… until now.

Jean Paul Gaultier is wonderful.  Somewhere into the video I actually found myself enjoying the fun that is JPG.  I still don’t quite believe it, but I did and now I do.  There were even a couple outfits that I actually liked.  The gold stockings on the one model were, in fact, my favorite thing for the whole show, but there were a few outfits that looked quite lovely as well. 

I enjoyed the music and the quirkiness that JPG apparently is known for and it is a pleasant and enjoyable attribute for a designer.  I wonder what else I’ve been missing with other designers as well as with this one?

(Just great… yet another object of distraction!)

But, then again, watching the models has given me new motivation to lose weight in the upcoming new year.  Will I lose enough to look like them?  Of course not, nor would I want to.  They are way too skinny, in my opinion.  But I would like to be my old self again, and lose quite a bit.  It’s always nice to have motivation.  The movie Dirty Dancing did it for me years ago and that motivation worked.  So, if it takes a Jean Paul Gaultier model to do it for me this time, then so be it.  Maybe I’ll actually keep this New Year’s Resolution and lose some poundage. 

Not that I want to wear anything that I saw in the video (I certainly couldn’t afford it!) but I would like the option and those things don’t come in my size.  What size am I, you ask?  Well, I’m not that brave as to post it on here, but if you’ve seen any of my pictures, you know I’m roughly the size of a small house.  Well, maybe not that big, but I feel like it.  And I am quite large.  So, my goal for this year is to lose 115 pounds in a year.  That’s only 2.2 pounds a week, so it’s actually quite doable… in theory. 

To change the subject yet again, I apologize for not getting any crafts out here… but the new year is just around the corner and once the holidays are over with, I’ll be able to concentrate on more than cleaning, cooking and decorating!

Back from hiatus...

Well, Christmas came and went rather quickly... so did the new year. (Happy New Year, by the way) Things got really busy around here and I didn't even get the tree out of the box, let alone the rest of the house decorated!  Ah well... there's always this year!  (which is what I say every year)

So, I need to get back to posting and here we are.  I didn't realize that I'd slacked off for so long. 

Hiatus: A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break.

Anyway......

I've got some crafty things planned that I need to do/make for Cub Scouts (Pine Wood Derby is coming up at the end of this month!) so I'll be posting some stuff in that area. 

To be continued....