Busy!

That's no excuse for my slackness in posting. I'm working on something.

No more caffeine!

I am giving up caffeine.

Starting with coffee.

As much as I LOVE my cup of coffee in the morning, I have come to realize that it's NO good for me.

The side effects:

Mood Swings
On Edge all the time
Up all night

Just to name a few. I gave up coffee for a week ONCE and I was not a nice person then so, please pray that this time around, I can stick with the plan.

I'll do it gradually. Not cold turkey like the last time!

Wish me luck.

Update

I walked briskly for 30 minutes and I ate breakfast too!

Now if I keep this up for the next 2 weeks, I just might lose 2 pounds.

2 things I plan to do starting tomorrow.

1. Go for a brisk walk every morning. (Even when I don't feel like it.)
2. Eat Breakfast. (Even if it's a handful of berries and a glass of milk.)

I know these 2 things will help to get my day started off better than I have been doing lately.

I'm sure there are better ways to start off my day but, these 2 will probably get me on the road to doing something NICE and BENEFICIAL for myself.

Unexpected Expense

Our oven decided to STOP working.
I called GE the oven is 11 years old. I know that. How much will it cost to get this bad boy working again?

They cheerfully sent someone this morning.

The oven is back to normal. Yeah, $194.00 later.

OUCH is right.

$49 for the guy to TELL me the oven's ignitor switch is dead
$60 Labor
$78 for the part
$6.05 Tax
$194.00

Guess this is considered an example of an unexpected expense.
Having atleast $500 in the bank at all times doesn't sound like a bad idea after all:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/WhyYouNeed500InTheBank.aspx

Questions to Financial Pros!

Here's a question I just posted on a very famous blog Free Money Finance. I'm sorry I dont' know how to do the fancy links so, you'll have to google that blog. It's a really really cool blog too!

I'm sure they're (the commenters and owners of the blog) all laughing at me as we speak. Ahh such is life. HaHa..
This is what I wrote:
Let's just say YOU were 40 years old and this is YOUR first time investing/saving. YOU're a ONE income household (husband works, mom stays home) --YOU have $8000/ month ($1000 a month for 8 months) to ONLY INVEST or SAVE it.

How would YOU INVEST or SAVE it? The trick is, you're NOT allowed to spend this money. You have to come up with a plan that will convince your spouse that this money will NOT dwindle down to zero but, will in fact GROW. and GROW into a really nice amount. Is this a dream or is this really possible?

And how would you go about doing it or explaining it to your "deathly afraid of ending up homeless and on the streets" spouse?

Thanks for your comments and responses :)

Hopefully you haven't laughed too hard at me!

I'm on information overload just to warn you. I forget where I read a certain person that reads all this information feels excited to do it but, just FREEZES up and does NOTHING and before you know it, they're 40 years old without a savings plan! :(

I would LOVE to find a place where we can invest without upfront fees (no loads) that will return a great return. Ok Ok I'll stop dreaming right now.

What would you do with a cool Mil?

We are NOT rich. I've always said I would LOVE to have a Cool Million Dollars. Heck, I've even written down a list of things I would do with this Million Dollars. I would list it here but, I'm sensitive and I would probably break out in tears if you laughed at me.

What the heck, I'm already pondering taking a LONG walk on a SHORT pier so here goes:

1,000,000
We have NO credit cards. Can't be trusted with those plastic devils.

Not sure how the tax guy would come into play so let's just assume I've already paid the tax man on this Cool Mill

1.Tithe it. I'm afraid to disobey so I will definitely Give 10 percent to our church. I LOVE that place and Lord Knows, I've been slacking on the giving back department-
2.Pay off our mortgage-
3.Estimate what it will cost for property taxes and pay that-amount??
4.I would say invest but, I have NO idea of where to begin with that. I've been reading some financial blogs and my brain is on overload. I would probably just suck it up and go and visit a broker (with vaseline in hand of course) and hope he doesn't hurt me too bad!

I'm sure the experts out there will cringe at my list. *sigh*

My Non Celebrity Body Image.

Yes! I cannot wait, The new season of Celebrity Fit Club will begin soon! Ahhh Harvey, I LOVE you! You can Yell at me anytime!

My current stats:

5 feet 4
165 pounds
BMI-let's not go there!

My 2 week goal-lose 5 pounds.

I can do it. I know what I have to do. It's the doing it that will be the challenge.

Wish Me Luck!
And no, I will NOT post pics of my cottage cheese bootay :)

Today is the first day of my decision to change

the way I view my relationship with:

Money
Family
Food
and more.