Earn, Save, and Live Joyfully.
Growing up girls were placed into two categories: Those who were popular and those who were not. In the 1980s if you were popular you most likely wore designer clothes, kissed a lot of boys and flung your hair from side to side a lot. At least that’s what it felt like. I was a … Read more
It’s been a long two months with my mom in the hospital. The drive back and forth to see her is long and I’m both physically and mentally exhausted. We are told that life is short, but throughout our day to day lives we tend to forget that fact. Rather than embracing the hours ahead … Read more
One summer, many years ago, I signed up for a meditation class. I was twenty-two, newly out of college and searching for a spiritual awakening. I had no idea what to expect as I walked up to the old brick building and made my way into the small gym inside. The class met every Monday … Read more
Just before closing the book on 2013 I set a goal for the new year. I suppose I could call it a resolution, but I really prefer to think of it less as an end state and more as a new state of mind. It’s a remarkably simple idea: my goal is to smile more … Read more
I started keeping track of the money I earned from online contests and giveaways in 2012. That year I won $149 in online contests and $750 from two writing contests. In 2013 my luck continued and I won a total of $1,775! Do you see the large turquoise section of the pie chart below. That’s the amount … Read more
Do you track your spending? Do you write down how much money you spend each day? Do you make note of how much that latte cost or how much you paid for your new shirt? Now what if you also paid attention to the level of joy you felt each time you pulled out your … Read more
Have you ever felt lucky? Have you ever walked up to the roulette table at a casino and known, just known, that your number would come up? No, that’s never happened to me either, but I have felt remarkably lucky my whole life. I’ve never won the mega millions but I am the kind of … Read more
It’s true what they say… all good things must come to an end. After a glorious three and a half weeks at the beach it’s time to pack up and head back home. I think this is one of those vacations I’ll remember forever. I got to spend time with my immediate family, (husband and … Read more
For the most part I try to focus my energy and my life on the positive. To be perfectly honest it’s difficult to live in the negative. Life is full of ups and downs, but I don’t want to be one of those people who constantly lists all of the bad things that happen to … Read more
Over the past two months I won $450 worth of Visa and Amazon gift cards from a variety of online giveaways. I used to enter contests quite often and even kept track of all of the items I won on my old blog, but unfortunately when I ported it over to Word Press I lost … Read more