2021 Here I Come!

I’m excited to be writing again. I am starting this new year with more enthusiasm

than I have ever started a year before. It has nothing to do with 2020 finally

ending. It's that I've been searching for a long time to figure out how to be me.

It's what we're all doing, isn't it? I've felt stuck for a very long time. Since starting

therapy and devoting more of my reading time to personal growth content, I have

sparked a desire to really understand the core of me. I want to peel back all the

layers of labels placed on me by others that have become a part of my own self

talk. I want to change my inner dialogue to be filled with the tenacity, imagination,

and confidence we all have when we're young and our thoughts aren't filtered by all

those limitations that we have been confronted with over the years.

In my search for making things clearer and trying to find a system that will help me

do that, I discovered Plan with Laken on YouTube. She introduced me to PowerSheets.

Something about seeing Laken explain how PowerSheets have been a game changer

for her, made me think this system could work for me.  She’s not a fellow five, but her

three-ness shown through and her ability to get things done using PowerSheets has

me believing this system has validity. So I doubled-down, bought the PowerSheets,

attended the virtual Cultivate Your Year Live, joined all the Facebook groups, and

subscribed to Laken’s Patreon to maintain the accountability I know I need to get things

done. This all coincided with me starting to read more personal growth books. I typically

never read non-fiction. I love historical fiction, mysteries, and fantasy. Those worlds help

me truly escape when I can’t completely revel in true solitude. The initial process of it all

helped me to be able to write down some solid goals and break them down into actionable

steps. The prep work has given me insight into what I'm valuing at this point in my life

and the action plan to get my goals accomplished.

My therapist introduced me to Enneagram types and upon taking a test I discovered

I’m an Enneagram Type 5, the Investigator. Now I know this seems counter to me

denouncing labels, but this personality test is different. It's designed to help you

identify those labels that have shaped your personality and learn how to navigate

life and relationships based on an understanding of them. That way you can learn

to not let them control you and you can get back to the core of you are without them.

As my type implies, I do tend to spend all my time researching and testing, but never

really following through with getting things done. I get stuck on wondering what other

possibilities are out there, what can be more efficient, or creating my own system and

constantly revamping it because I crave efficiency. That's at my core of five-ness.

I started checking out books about productivity styles/strategies, how to form habits,

and personality types (specifically Enneagram books). It is true that 5's tend to prefer

quite a bit of alone time to recharge and get centered to face interaction with the world.

Yet, I found that accountability was key to helping me build momentum to help anything

new really stick. Without it, I find it hard to get past the hump of waiting for those small

gains to add up to that moment when everything just seems to click, the mental effort

is gone, and the habit is ingrained in my way of life. Noticing this contrast has made me

want to dig deeper into the world of productivity, personality types, and habit formation.

I know I’m not the only one who struggles with these roadblocks. We’re

all different, requiring varying strategies and sources of motivation to solidify the

changes we want to implement. That got me wondering about why I do the things

I do, or don’t do the things I should do. Last year I only read a handful of books and

didn’t really dive as deep into the content as I could have. So for this year, in order

to make the reading more intentional and actually apply it to my life, I’ve assigned myself

12 books and will be blogging monthly about one. At the end of the month I'll have my

first post on my takeaways from Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's regularly $27, but is

on sale now for $11.98! If you would like to join in, I have the full list below. Please feel

free to share in the comments anything that you've read that you found helpful. My list

may not be for everyone, but your suggestion may help someone. And I'm always looking

to add to my ever-growing "to be read" list 😍!

Money Matters - My Top 5 Apps

I want to take some time to share with all of you my Top 5 apps for helping to keep our money tight and right!

1)  Last week I shared YNAB with you all and this app has become the foundation of my money management.  The other day an employee from YNAB asked, "what are some ways YNAB helped you find money that was previously being wasted?" So I got to thinking, have I made any significant discoveries about our spending? I can't say that it has brought to the surface anything we didn't already know, like food categories are the big ticket items (groceries, dining out, Starbucks), but it has enlightened us to what we have become accustomed to in regards to the cost of our living.  As a result, priorities will need to be examined to determine if our money is doing what we want it to do. Most importantly, helping us achieve the financial goals we've established.  To me, that in itself is a significant discovery. 
One change I have begun to notice is that I now really analyze my choices when I'm shopping.  Do I need this item or want this item?  If needed, is it immediate or can it wait? Lastly, I look at the numbers in the budget to determine where that money might come from if it's an immediate need.  If it can wait, the item can be added to a wish list for future consideration.  Who knows, once the money does become available, I may come to find that the priorities have changed and that item is no longer considered necessary; saving money and keeping us on track to completing the goals we've established.

2)  I have been using iBill Reminder for quite some time so that I track our bills and don't miss any payments. Late fees can be ridiculous and I want to ensure any surplus we may have gets us closer to our goals and not further into debt.  With this app you can log in all your accounts with the following info for each: the payment amount, due date (can set recurrence), whether or not you have it on auto pay, and a reminder.  It helps you forecast how much money you'll need over the next few days, week, and month.  I like using it for the reminders and as a reference when budgeting in YNAB once a check comes in. 

3)  Grocery iQ is a shopping list that allows you to track your spending as you load up your cart to make sure you're staying on budget.  As you add the item to your cart, you select it, enter the price, then check it off. It then moves it to your app cart and shows you a running total of everything you've added to your real cart based on all the prices you enter.  You can add favorites with the prices you've previously entered to make creating future lists a breeze.  This feature can also be helpful in seeing the history of price changes, helping you get better at projecting your grocery budget.  An added bonus is being able to search for coupons to print before you head out based on your list items.

4)  Boxed is a great app for getting bulk items delivered straight to your door.  There are no membership fees and everything ships within 2 business days. Prices are comparable or sometimes better to big box stores and they have so much variety on everything from grocery items to household cleaning to personal care.  I get the benefit of buying in bulk without being tempted to buy 10 lb bag of ravioli they're offering samples of at the end of aisle 10. So I save on gas, membership fees, and resist temptations that can add to my overall cost.
Considering these upsides, it's certainly worth a shot - no commitment, no hassle. Plus, if you use my code, you can receive $15 off your first order of $60 or more.

5)  Ibotta is a really cool app that gives you cash back for items you already plan to purchase! You can shop anywhere from your groceries, to clothing, to travel expenses and see a return.  I usually get cash back on my WinCo or Target shopping trips. You can even get cash back on your Boxed orders because lots of different kinds of mobile shopping is included! For my crafty lovers out there, you can even earn cash back on Joann's or Etsy purchases 😍. For in store purchases, "unlock" the items you plan to purchase by answering a one question survey or watching a 15 second video, then take a picture of your full receipt and send it through the app to get cash back.  Any mobile purchases (Etsy, Hotels.com, Amazon), simply find the offer in your Ibotta app and click on it so that it routes you to the appropriate mobile app.  Complete your purchase and Ibotta will make note of the transaction and send you your cash back so many days after delivery or so many days after your stay. Lastly, you can link your loyalty card (Best Buy) and let Ibotta take care of logging your purchases. You can then turn all that cash back into gift cards or send it to your PayPal or Venmo account. Use my code to get started! Then once you have yours, refer your friends to earn additional cash back!
One word of caution, don't just add things for the sake of getting cash back, otherwise, you defeat the purpose of reeling in your spending and making the most of your savings.

I would love to hear about any money saving tips you have or apps you love - share in the comments below! 

Money Matters - You Need A Budget

I don't remember my first experience with money management, but I do remember my mom being religious about balancing her checkbook.  To this day, she still relies heavily on keeping that book on point. But one thing we never really discussed is maintaining a budget. I've heard the term and understood the premise behind it, but never really new how to sculpt one out.  It seemed like something that was rigid, fixed, involved Excel, and was very intimidating. When I was single I just made sure I had enough money to cover bills that were due before the next check came in, along with some fun money.

Then I got married and I still operated the same way. Just before our first child was born, my husband decided to go full time in the world of sales as a real estate agent, I left my full-time salaried position and didn't plan on ever going back.  There we were, ready to be responsible for a tiny brand new human, with no clue as to when the next check would come in, and the market was still trying to make its way out of the sinkhole of the recession. Yet, I still didn't make an effort to create a budget.  When you're in this position you find yourself living paycheck to paycheck, no matter how much money is coming in.

I would randomly search Google for "ways to budget with a variable income" and most of the time I was led to the envelope system or Dave Ramsey. There was something about the Ramsey site that immediately turned me off.  I'm not trying to judge, and I'm sure it works for many others, but it felt like there was so much information coming at me and I just didn't know where to start.  So I decided to give the envelope system a try, starting with those expenses that tend to sneak up on you throughout the year. It seemed like the most straightforward system and would work based on our needs.  I went a little gung-ho and created this beauty!

But as you can see, I never really touched it, I just liked the excuse to be crafty and resourceful.  I found this beautiful, durable folder at, you guessed it, Dollar Tree!  I was already well on my way to becoming a budgenista! I got on the coupon train for a while too, but that all soon faded out (no surprise there). I never used the folder and I stopped being so relentless with coupon searching.  Believe it or not, it can be ruthless out there in the world among all the coupon clippers!  I didn't last very long.  Ultimately it didn't seem worth the hassle to run around to different stores making sure I got to the stock of toothpaste that was only going to be .25 a tube, after the sale and with my coupon, before someone else cleared out the shelves.  My one major success is that I still have a major stock of shampoo and conditioner from those days!  Besides all that I recognized how important it was to maintain a budget.  Because even though those tubes of toothpaste were only .25, I needed to ensure I had the $10 I needed to buy 40 tubes of toothpaste!

I then resorted to writing things down in a ledger, but all I was doing was writing down purchases and debt payments.  I still wasn't managing the allocation of the money we did have.  I made sure the bills were paid, but I couldn't quite tell you the amount of our monthly nut (as my husband refers to it).  If my husband asked me if we had the funds to go on a fun outing with the kids, I couldn't confidently tell him we had the money for that because I really didn't know!

This is where You Need A Budget (YNAB) comes in and shakes things up in a good way.  I can't say enough about this program.  Simply stated, it's an app that allows you to create, reference, and alter your budget.  You can also access it on a desktop by logging in to the website.  It is extremely user friendly and has made me feel more confident with managing our money.  I now know that having a budget does not mean you are stuck within rigid parameters based on your income.  Fundamentally, YNAB teaches you to simply be aware of where your money is going and allows you to examine your priorities by always following the 4 Rules: 1) Give every dollar a job, 2) Embrace your true expenses, 3) Roll with the punches, and 4) Age your money. 

I've been using it consistently since August and so far, it's proven to be extremely helpful!  As of this post we've managed to fund some future trips and get slightly ahead on some bills for next month because I can confidently say that we have the money to do that! It's all right there in front of me!  I'm looking forward to getting even more familiar with all the features the app has to offer and am continually soaking in all kinds of information from YNAB's resources.  

They don't just give you the functional tool to set up and keep a budget, they offer free workshops, forums, docs, podcasts (also available through your podcast app for iphone users), weekly newsletters, weekly videos (whiteboard Wednesdays), and blog posts.  By no means would I call my self an expert and I have barely begun to scratch the surface of these resources of all the cool things this program can do and the insight into our spending that it can provide.  I am currently hooked on working my way through the podcasts; they are short and offer huge gold nuggets of information. I can't say enough about what this program has done for my relationship with money.  I look forward to sharing so much more with all of you as my journey continues. I'm also curious to know what has your relationship with money been like? Do you have a system that you already use that you absolutely love? 

I am in no way affiliated with the website, but if you decide to do a free trial, please use my link because if you sign up at the end of your trial, you earn yourself and me a FREE month! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below! 

You Need A Budget

Plan With Me

I've been talking about planners and my obsession for a couple of weeks now, so let's jump right in! Here's my process from start to finish. First I start by outlining my week by sectioning off each day with headers I purchased off Etsy.  I went with a shop that allowed me to personalize them (color and writing) to fit my wants needs.  This planner came with an hour by hour layout and I tried that for a while, but found that it just didn't fit my style or needs.

I think if you're looking to structure your days to keep you on task or your work requires appointments all day, an hour by hour format is excellent. I may get a smaller daily A5 size planner that is hour by hour for this reason because I could use the help maximizing my days, but for me, that's not necessary for every day. I ultimately decided to cover up the hours with decorative washi tape, so I've utilized a decorative sticker in a functional way.

I then move on to inserting some other key elements and typically non-negotiable items, but ultimately everything is flexible because, well you know, (💩) life happens! And toddlers undeniably rule your world 😜! But if I had to pick something, these items include the kids extracurricular activity, at this point they're limited to one, and my extracurricular activity. My husband's schedule gives him flexibility, so for the most part he can work his stuff in when he wants and he usually has to work his schedule to accommodate our stuff.

I have turned a leaf and made a commitment to getting fit (more on that in future posts), so I make sure to log in all my gym days or activities. In doing so, I've already made the commitment to follow through and go because it's been added to my planner. I mean, let's face it, if you're a planner kind of person, chances are you have some anal retentive qualities 😉 and if you're like me, you don't really want to ruin a pretty planned page by trying to carefully remove a sticker only to have it tear through! So you go to the gym! Then you get to put a satisfying ✔ next to it after you've completed your task.

But if life happens, it's okay, there's a sticker for that too! I also add in my habit trackers. There are three activities I currently track because I feel like this action helps with the accountability aspect.  I get satisfaction from coloring in the bubbles for the days I uphold the habit and am disappointed when I see more empty bubbles than colored ones.  As of right now I'm tracking my Reading, this year's goal is to read 40 books, but I'm 8 behind my target at the moment. I hope to share with you in future posts a little about what I like and how I work in all that reading time. I'm also tracking my Exercise here.  In addition to marking them in my scheduling, I feel like I need another form of tracking as an incentive to do more.Lastly, I'm tracking Finance.  I have never ever had a real budget in my life, until just recently.  I discovered this awesome App, that you can also access on your desktop, called You Need A Budget (YNAB). I have a basic understanding of how to budget, but I was having trouble figuring out just where and how to start. It was also tough considering a household like ours where my income is fixed, because I'm salaried, and my husband's is variable, because he works in real estate and the money comes in whenever all the paperwork is done and both sides are happy. But now that I've found YNAB, it is all making cents 😆. So ideally everyday I log on and work on logging transactions and reconciling accounts.  I will also write more on this topic in future posts.

In addition to the physical part of getting fit, I'm also trying to be more conscious of what I eat, so I include meal planning for my lunch and dinner. It helps me shop for the week and if I get my lunch ready the night before, saves me some time and brain power.

Lastly, I add in all my fun kawaii stickers that are functional and write in all the stuff! As you can see I chose cakes for my date stickers because it's my birthday month 🎉🍻!

I would love to hear anything you're planning or already have implemented in your system. I'm always looking for ways to optimize.

What are some things that might be non-negotiable for you?

If you're new to planning, do you have a better sense of what you may want to implement in your system?

Can't wait to hear all the great stuff you have to share on your journey to rise up to be you!

Starting Over For the Last Time

I started this blog many moons ago as a way to feed my need for expressing my
creativity. Then I cycled through an Etsy shop, an MLM, and probably lots of other
ventures that I left by the wayside. You see, that’s been my modus operandi for a
long time and I don’t like it.  I’m ashamed of it quite honestly. I’ve finally decided it’s
time to get my life where I want it to be.

I wish I could tell you there was some miraculous convergence of events that led me
to change my outlook, but there wasn’t.  If I think long and hard about it, it has to do
with my returning to work. Long story short, I worked full-time and was enrolled in
college completing a second bachelor's degree up until I had my first child, a beautiful
baby girl.  Then, together, my husband and I decided I would stay home without any
intention of ever going back to work. At least not to a 8-5 kind of job. Which worked
out at first because 7 months after our daughter was born, we found out we were
pregnant with our son.

I basically flew by the seat of my pants when it came to managing two under two
and the household chores. In my work and school days I was a religious planner
user. Once I made the transition to staying home I didn’t think a planner was
necessary because my schedule was now ruled by tiny humans who didn’t
understand the concept of time or my need for organization. Fast forward three
years later and I was feeling overwhelmed with managing a household of four as
well as feeling like I had lost all sense of self. I didn’t feel like an individual anymore.

Coincidentally, a position became available in my old office and
after discussing things with my husband, I decided to go for it. I needed to feel as
though I was contributing to society on a larger scale; albeit the biggest and hardest job
with an enormous impact we can ever have is being a parent, I still needed to restore
my sense of self.  Last year I got back into the working world and I started to feel better.
I was connecting with adults, who have become great friends, on a regular basis and
contributing to society. Yet, I still felt like I hadn’t gotten myself on any kind of path
connecting me to that sense of self.

Fortunately returning to work helped me begin to form connections that were positive and
encouraging and I somehow found the motivation to truly make an effort to find my happy self. The old wives tale is true, if mom’s not happy, nobody's happy. My frustrations and unhappiness
radiated from my body and at times infected my kids and my husband. My husband is a true
purveyor of self help. He reads all the books, listens to all the podcasts and encouraged me
to do the same, yet I continued to push back. I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted to figure it out
myself. I slowly, my husband would probably equate to to a snail's pace started to come around and listen to a few podcasts. With these new messages I began to allow myself to hear, in
combination with the positive influence of my coworkers, I started to make changes to my life
that have led me to this post here.

I plan to share with you my journey through personal growth including: fitness, my planner
obsession renewed, my reading corner, and a host of “favorites” posts, in hopes of offering
some inspiration to those who may feel where I once was. I don’t warrant myself a life coach or
proof of concept, by no means am I completely where I want to be. Quite frankly, I don’t know
that I want to be in a place where I am 100% satisfied with myself. I want to continue to grow
and ask myself what I can do to be better and hopefully inspire all of you to do the same.

On the Road Again

My earliest memory is sitting on my big girl bed with my back against the wall.  My legs outstretched, not even close to reaching the edge of the bed.  I sat, grasping in my tiny  little hands a book full of beautiful pictures and even more beautiful to me, full of words.  I was four years old and in love with storytelling.  My preschool teacher, Mimi, was so great at sharing wonderful places and she took me to those places with books.  She would gather us around her on the big colorful carpet and we would all sit eagerly awaiting to be taken on the next exciting adventure.  I decided I too wanted to be able to go on adventures no matter where I was.

The first book I read

I would sit there in my spot on the bed and practice my storytelling, reading aloud; anxious to see whether or not Janet would get those new shoes she had been wanting.  My parents were busy doing things around the house.  When I came upon a word I did not know I would stop one of them as they were whizzing by my bedroom door, point to a word in the book and ask what the word was, they would say it aloud and be on their way.  I would repeat it and continue on with my story.  By the time I was ready to start kindergarten I could read that book.  I did not just memorize the story, but could read the words on the page.  I was so excited about what I could now do; enter new places all on my own.  My kindergarten teacher recognized my newfound love for reading and allowed me to read a book to my kindergarten class.  I earned a certificate for reading a book aloud and to this day it is one of the things I am most proud of. 

I say all this to say that I just realized I should have listened to my four-year-old self all along to figure out what career would suit me best.  Ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, I feel that there is some act of fate that plays a part in our lives.  Fate sets us out on a main pathway and allows us the freedom to take detours every once in a while; providing opportunities to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them, take risks and hopefully benefit from them.  After following my path for the last 29 years and taking detours here and there, I finally feel as though I am back on my main road.  For the first time in my life I feel excited and hopeful about where I want to be in regards to my career and that's teaching others how reading analytically and writing well can transform their lives. It's been a while, but I sure am glad to be back on the main road.

“What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when you are in that state of mind in which you know exactly what you want and are fully determined not to quit until you find it."        - Alexander Graham Bell

Peace, Love, & Nerdy Stuff