‘Personal’ Category
» posted on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at 5:50 am by Lily
I am on the hunt for a good fitness DVD to do at home. A year or so ago I tried going to aerobics classes at the Y but felt awkward around those that already know the moves. It didn’t take long before I gave up on that.
With money so tight these days I didn’t want to just buy a DVD and end up not liking it. I read reviews of various fitness DVD’s out there and the Walk Away the Pounds series of DVD’s got me interested.
The Leslie Sansone – Walk Away the Pounds – 30 Minute Walk DVD was $13.49, and I was hesitant to even shell out that much without knowing if I would really stick with it or not.
I decided to “rent” Leslie Sansone: Walk Away The Pounds: 30 Minute Walk for seven days through Amazon.com’s Digital Downloads. For $2,99 I could try before I buy. It was money well-spent.
The warm-up, exercises and cool-down in this video are great for someone like me who has a hard time getting steps down. I didn’t get overwhelmed by the steps and was able to keep up with them. What a refreshing change! I even sweated quite a lot at the end of the 30-minute walk, which they said was about two miles.
This would have been something I’d buy if not for Leslie Sansone’s annoying prattle and giggling in the video. It was distracting to me and I just couldn’t get myself to go through it one more time. What may be annoying for me might not be annoying for you, however. If you are curious, do what I did: rent it to try before you buy.
Got any fitness videos to recommend? Let me know via the Comments section!
» posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 3:12 am by Lily
I welcomed the New Year with the thought that January makes it three months that I have not paid my mortgage payment. November’s payment got diverted to pay for car issues. December’s went to pay for utilities. And now January is here.
Instead of waiting for the threatening letter from the mortgage company, I called them. As soon as I had entered my account number, I was immediately transferred to their collectors. Their phone system happily informed me that the call is being recorded and any information obtained will be used to collect money owed.
Once I was connected to a live human I was immediately informed that I owed THREE months’ payment, was I calling to pay all of that today? I was also asked for my current address, phone number and work number. I gave the mortgage rep the first two infos she asked for, but refused to give her the last. “My work place does not allow us to take non-work-related calls,” I said. She was fine with that.
“We need to update your financial information,” she said next.
“Ma’am, I am on my lunch break and I just really need to tell you that I will be paying November’s mortgage but December and January will have to wait. I just don’t have any money.”
Apparently not wanting to jeopardize my employment (or they won’t get paid at all), the rep backed off. She tried to make me commit to a time when I will pay December and January and I refused. She then offered me a five-month payment plan so that I could get my payments current.
I accepted.
Let’s hope this works!
How about you, are you late on your mortgage payments, too? What did you do about it?
» posted on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 at 11:03 am by Lily
In my post A Quick Way to Save Money and Lose Weight I mentioned that I wanted to save money and lose weight at the same time. That post also mentioned that by planning my workday lunches and snacks in advance I was able to save $27.50 last week.
I can also happily report that I have lost 2 lbs last week! I have not been taking any diet pills or started any exercise regimen at all, so I am very excited.
I must confess that a couple of times last week, I went to the vending machine and got some crunchy Cheetos (so that makes it $1 less than what I originally saved). The snacks I had prepared for the week were all sweet (fresh cherries, fruit cups, chocolate animal crackers) . I should have known that, from past experiences, eating something sweet triggers my craving for something salty, and vice versa.
This week I am doing the same thing. I had already shopped for my lunches and snacks for the coming work week. I have frozen entrees again, then yogurt and Cheetos for snacks. I have already pre-packaged the Cheetos into snack baggies and I am only bringing one baggie a day to avoid eating all of the Cheetos in one day. I believe in moderation, not self-denial.
The weather should help this week. It is supposed to be really cold all week so that really kills the desire to go out for a quick drive (and drive-thru) at lunch time.
» posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 9:51 pm by Lily
My daughter got an Aeropostale hoodie for Christmas, but it was too small for her. Armed with the gift receipt, we headed to the nearest mall with an Aeropostale store. Luckily for us we found an exact same hoodie in a bigger size. I noted that the hoodie was already in the bargain rack along with other winter clothes, giving way to spring items. At the counter the sales clerk was about to do a “like for like” exchange but I asked her:
“Is there a price difference?”
The clerk kindly obliged me and checked. There was an $11 difference! She could not give me cash back, but gave me a store gift card with that amount. Of course my daughter happily turned around and found something else to buy in the store,
$11 might not be much in this case (although that is half a tank of gas for me). However, it is money that you are entitled to. Why not take it? Some store clerks might tell you that it is not possible to give you money back. Just point out that it is just like you are returning the item for a full refund and buying the same item for its current cheaper price.
My daughter noted that the clerk did not volunteer to check for a price difference, and admitted that she would never have thought to ask about it either. I hope she learned a valuable lesson there, just as she did when we went clothes shopping with $50 and a coupon.
» posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 8:20 am by Lily
At the beginning of the year I had signed up for The Self Jump Start Diet, which is a day-at-a-time makeover of your food habits. I learned a couple of things there that I am putting into practice that I know will save me money, and hopefully will help me lose weight:
Tip # 4: Have a Game Plan — Plan your healthy meals and snacks in advance.
Tip # 7: Stash Snacks — Stash a supply of filling snacks to grab when you need a bite.
On a normal work day I do not eat breakfast, I have a mid-morning snack, then lunch, then a mid-afternoon snack. I am ashamed to confess that for the most part, the snacks come from the vending machine. The items there cost between $0.50 to $1.00 so I will just average it out to $0.75 per item, which makes it $1.50 per day. Lunch costs between $6.00 to $10.00, so an average of $8.00. So everyday I spend around $9.50 on lunch and snacks at work for a total of $47.50.
So on Sunday I went grocery shopping and planned my lunch and office snacks for this week. Lunch will be my favorite frozen entrees. They cost $1.78 x 5 = $8.90. Since those darn things never keep me full until dinner, I have a variety of snacks: chocolate animal crackers (they are great with tea, and satisfies my craving to have the chocolate taste in my mouth), fresh cherries, fruit cups and yogurt-covered raisins. Overall I spent less than $20 for this week’s planned lunch and snacks, and they are much-healthier alternatives than the vending machine and fast food selections.
The evidence is already clear: if I stick with my plan this week and not be tempted to go out and get sushi, my savings this week is at least $27.50. 50 weeks of that comes to $1,375! Wow, that’s more than my monthly mortgage payment!
I am eagerly awaiting the other half of the desired results: losing weight.
What about you, what are you doing different this year?
» posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 am by Lily
We do not have cable or satellite TV.
While this would have been enough to elicit a reaction years ago, the number of people getting rid of their cable or satellite TV subscription has been steadily increasing in recent times. The most common reasons are:
- It costs too much.
- There is nothing to watch.
- To watch what you want when you want it, it costs extra.
A computer we purchased in December 2007 came with a TV tuner, and that has been such a wonderful device! If you have a relatively new computer, check the connections in the back. Find a port that has no cable connected to it yet. Check out its labels. My TV tuner card has “DTV Ant”, “FM Ant” and “Analog Ant” underneath the ports.
This is the indoor antenna I have sitting on top of my computer. It is a Philips High Performance Amplified Indoor Uhf/Vhf/Fm/HDTV Antenna
. I connected the antenna cable from that to the port on the back of my computer marked “DTV Ant”. Then came the fun part of trying to get the right orientation.
My computer has Windows Media Player and it made setting up the indoor antenna so much easier by providing feedback on the antenna strength of each channel available to me. Click here to check if your computer already has Windows Media Player.
Another thing that helped me find the right orientation is a website called antennaweb.org. I entered my address (and made sure I unchecked any subscription opt-ins) and it gave me a listing of the stations in my area plus their compass heading, frequency assignment, and distance from my location.
If you do not have a TV tuner card on your computer and you know what you are doing around electronics, you can get one like this Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1800 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder
. You will need to install it in your computer and set it up. I recommend you get a techie to do that for you. A computer is expensive and you don’t want to mess it up!
More “Cable and Satellite TV Alternative” articles to come. Check back soon!
» posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 7:47 am by Lily
For the past 15 winters I have kept my house at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, it is pretty warm for most people, but I am a tropical island girl and love to roam the house barefoot, in short sleeves, and shorts. We also have a parrot who starts shivering and sneezing when she gets too cold. This winter, things are different.
We invested in a Honeywell programmable thermostat almost like this one
, the house is much cooler, and I am making everyone, including myself, dress for a cooler indoor climate. The thermostat has a Monday-Friday and a Saturday-Sunday schedule, and four triggers: Wake, Leave, Return and Sleep.
My daughter has to be in school by 7:15 a.m. and she finds it hard to leave her nice, warm bed so early in the morning. During the weekdays, the thermostat is set to “Wake” at 5:15 for 76 degrees. This seems to thaw everyone out of their deep sleep as they start kicking off their bed covers as the house gets warmer. The thermostat is set to “Leave” at 72F while the humans are gone. The dog loves the cooler temperatures in the house, while the parrot has a heated perch and layered cage covers to keep her warm. About 15 minutes before the children return, the thermostat triggers “Return” and raises the temperature to 74F. “Sleep” sets the overnight temperature back to 72F at midnight. I am a night owl, and having the house go cold forces me to go to bed by around 12:30!
For the weekend, “Wake”, “Leave”, and “Return” triggers are set to the same temperature – 74F starting at 7:30 a.m. – and “Sleep” sets it to 72F at midnight.
What about you? Do you have any tips to share on what you are doing to lower your heating bills?
» posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 9:30 am by Lily
Finding fast, cheap, easy and healthy lunches on the go is challenging. Usually the fast, cheap and easy lunches you will find out there are not so healthy.
I have never been a Subway fan until they started giving customers the option of toasting their subs. To me, a warm meal feels for filling than a cold one! My favorite one to order was their Chicken & Bacon Ranch sub. However, Subway came up with a selection of $5 footlong subs. The Chicken & Bacon Ranch sub footlong was approximately $2 more, so I decided to go for the cheaper subs.
Meet my new favorite: the Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast from Subway’s Fresh Fit menu and part of their $5 Footlong Subs. I order it with Italian Herbs & Cheese bread, admittedly not the healthiest bread there is, but I love it and would rather not give that up. I top it with American cheese, spinach, tomatoes and cucumber, then some ranch dressing. I do not care for their shredded lettuce, hence the spinach for alternative greens. The tomatoes provide a nice sweet counterbalance to the saltiness of the cheese and ranch dressing, while the cucumber gives the sandwich a crunchiness reminiscent of my favorite bacon, without the fat and cholesterol.
The best part? I only eat half the footlong sandwich for lunch and eat the other half either for dinner or for lunch the next day. That’s a $2.50 lunch plus tax. What a great deal!
It doesn’t last until dinner however, and by mid-afternoon my stomach starts asking for snacks. I don’t mind that too much. I usually keep a stash of fruit cups or crackers in my desk. Eating snacks also keeps me from being desperately hungry in the evening and which allows me to cook dinner at home instead of going through the drive-through.
Here’s to a healthier, no-longer broke New Year !!!
What is your favorite Subway sub?
» posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 4:12 am by Lily
My new year’s resolution is to no longer be broke in America in 2009, and one of the steps towards that direction is to keep track of my finances better. The late fees and insufficient fund fees were bleeding me financially, and I just got so tired of juggling the bills. The insanity has to stop. I am not any good with paper, so I had to find a software that will help me do that.
It is past midnight and I had been asleep for over two hours when I was woken up and felt the urge to go online and search for Quicken. This is very strange in itself as I know what Quicken is and where to get it, and had no reason to Google it at all. The first website displayed by Google was Intuit’s Quicken site, and lo and behold, the word “FREE” caught my eye. “Quicken Online – Now FREE”, it screamed. I had to check for more information to make sure it wasn’t free only for the trial period. As far as I know, it is not a trial account and there doesn’t seem to be any hidden charges. If you have evidence that it isn’t so, please let me know!
So I signed up, all the while expecting to be accosted with “Aha! Now here’s the catch!” So far I haven’t encountered any. What freaked me out was it asked for the login and password of my bank account, and I had to make sure that I was still on Intuit’s Quicken website by checking the URL. Once I provided that, Quicken contacted my bank’s server and loaded all my transactions. Just like that, everything was in place.
I am excited with the Quicken Online. I love that I can access it from any computer with internet connectivity. It seems easy to use, and it has financial tools for budgeting and setting up financial goals. I was also pleasantly surprised that Quicken Online comes with Quicken Beam, a beta service that sends alerts to your mobile phone. It can send you your account balance, your last 5 transactions, when your balance dips below your set amount, etc.
If you have never used a financial tracking software before, now is a great time to start. Get your free Quicken Online account now!
» posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 3:20 am by Lily
Today is the beginning of the rest of my life, and I choose to no longer be broke in America. Worrying about my finances is taking a toll on my life, so much so that it sucks up all my creativity and my passion for life.
Instead of being reactive, I choose to be proactive, and here is the plan:
First, I have to stop the bleeding. The late fees and insufficient fund fees I paid in 2008 have been shamefully staggering. This tells me that not only was I broke, but that I need to keep track of my money better. I need to plan my expenses accordingly, and work from a budget. This is going to be tricky. I do not do well with paper, so it will have to be some finance software that is easy to use. The goal is to have a workable budget so that I will no longer pay any late fees on my utilities by the end of Q1.
Second, I need to raise my income. With the economy and job market the way they are, this will be hard to do. In order to be more competitive, I will need to raise my qualifications. I plan to get a certification in the technical field that interests me, and this will help me get a better position — and better pay, I hope — than what I have now. The goal is to have passed the certification exam by the end of Q1.
I am keeping it simple enough so that it is achievable. How about you, what are your financial goals or resolutions for the new year?
