Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to read, but I have been trying to fit it in a little every day. I feel like I'm missing out with so many great books out there. I really like the self help/motivational type books. Please share your favorites with a review in the comments!
My current read is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. It's the new Oprah book club book and she is starting an online "class" with it starting March 3. So far I have read the first four chapters and it really makes you think about the way we live our lives day to day. It changes your focus from the mundane things we do to fill our time that are negative to a more positive energy.
Charles has started The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, a book I bought for myself, but I'm already reading A New Earth. I'm not a fast reader and this is a thick book. I did not want to try and read them both at the same time. I am really surprised he started this one so quickly because he has a stack of books he has bought in the past year but hasn't gotten to. You see Charles buys books then lays on the couch after everyone has gone to bed, has the tv on and tries to read. He always falls asleep in about 29 seconds. After reading the first chapter (there are many chapters and most of them are pretty short.), he has made an effort nearly every morning to read some of it, and for the past two weekends he has woken up at 5:30am to read it. I was wondering how this book started because it has really gotten him motivated to read it when he is awake rather than by "osmosis." The first chapter is called "Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life." I'm not sure how that hooked him but it did and I have seen a big change already. So without even reading the book, I can say I recommend it!
Wow, it is March already! We haven't had much fun this past month. Logan and I have been sick on and off. Today it's Logan's turn. He was sick and I took him in - It's strep! Now another round of antibiotics. The pharmacist at Target is getting to know me pretty well. Then the insurance card was declined. Just another phone call I need to make to get it all straightened out. Luckily it was one of Target's cheap cash medicines. if the insurance worked I would have paid a $10 copay. But Target sells this one for $6 cash. Unfortunately, Logan missed his first soccer game with the big kids.
Financially, this month seemed even better than last even though we spent close to our $500 on food and extra medical bills that we rarely have. We actually spent less that $3000 this month! I think it has been before Logan that we have spent so little. I haven't opened the new savings account. Life has gotten in the way of some things so that is next on the list for this week. I have a big rummage sale next week at work to raise some money for one of our nurses who has tongue cancer. That will be a big job so I cant wait until that one is behind me.
I am still sick but doing better. Sinus infection turned into bronchitis and now on my third antibiotic and have a referral to an ENT on Monday. Should be loads of fun!
Okay, warning! This video is a little gross. But if you don't want to ruin your love of lemons in your water at restaurants then, well, don't watch the video. Sorry but I had to share this one. I found it on the blog Wise Bread.
I have been sick for the past week and also had internet problems that I didn't really feel like dealing with. I am now on the mend and hopefully I have made my last call to my DSL provider for a while. But it may be a week before I can catch up on everything so I will continue this next week. Thanks!
The January budget held up good. Before I did a budget I thought about what did I want to spend on a few categories like food and household stuff. We decided $500 for each for the month. I took out $500 cash for each and put them in their own envelopes and guess what? We spent only $350 on the food category and $325 on the household category. That blew my mind. But what really got me was looking back in Quicken to see what we averaged per month last year. We spent and average of over $700 per month on food last year. And over $1000 a month on household stuff (this category includes things like dog food and meds, the new rug in our front room, tools and fixing the lawnmower). It could just be a fluke. February might not be as good. In fact I know it wont be as good. I just bought some vitamins that I only buy every few months and I will be making a run to Whole Foods to buy my special gluten free bread. This might be a $500 month. We are well stocked though and feel like if we really want to stick to a $500 limit it shouldn't be a problem. It might mean a few creative meals though!
We were also talking about what to do with the "extra" money left over at the end of the month. The two options we came up with were to roll it over to the next month or put all the extra into an extra spending fund. (I think the TV is on the way out - You can't really read anything printed in small writing anymore and it takes about 15 seconds to "come on" when you turn it on. I'm thinking we will need a new one in about a year) If we roll it over then we really aren't keeping to spending the same every month. I dont want to get used to splurging just because there is extra. So we are going to go with hording the extra to spend on something that we need/want that is not in the budget and to have a plan for the extra. No spur of the moment buys. So all in all I think January was productive financially.
I also got all our retirement/college accounts organized and on Quicken. I had lost passwords and account numbers changed and I just had not bothered to get it all together. Now its all straightened out. Turns out I had made many deposits that had been sitting there in cash for the past year. I hadn't bought any mutual funds with them yet. So now I am slowly buying funds so the money isnt just sitting there. I will also be opening a high(er) interest savings account with an online bank so my savings will make more than the 0.71% it makes now. Duh!! I will give more details about that when I get it done this weekend.
Now to exercise. Well lets just say I'm doing a lot better than I was before which was nearly nothing, but I know I could do better. It really is hard to make time when you are falling asleep before 9pm. I don't like to choose between exercise and reading with Logan. I should be able to do both but sometimes is doesn't work out.
You may be considered ordinary by some, but you're far from boring. You elevate the mood of any discussion, and people miss you when you're not around. You are secretly very dominant and powerful. Most can only take you in small doses.
My current read is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. It's the new Oprah book club book and she is starting an online "class" with it starting March 3. So far I have read the first four chapters and it really makes you think about the way we live our lives day to day. It changes your focus from the mundane things we do to fill our time that are negative to a more positive energy.
Charles has started The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, a book I bought for myself, but I'm already reading A New Earth. I'm not a fast reader and this is a thick book. I did not want to try and read them both at the same time. I am really surprised he started this one so quickly because he has a stack of books he has bought in the past year but hasn't gotten to. You see Charles buys books then lays on the couch after everyone has gone to bed, has the tv on and tries to read. He always falls asleep in about 29 seconds. After reading the first chapter (there are many chapters and most of them are pretty short.), he has made an effort nearly every morning to read some of it, and for the past two weekends he has woken up at 5:30am to read it. I was wondering how this book started because it has really gotten him motivated to read it when he is awake rather than by "osmosis." The first chapter is called "Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life." I'm not sure how that hooked him but it did and I have seen a big change already. So without even reading the book, I can say I recommend it!
