Being an adult

Okay, so its Friday morning and I still haven't written anything on my sixth goal this week: Create something once a week. I did start 2 different projects but some things just take longer than others so at least one of those will probably pop up here next week. With that said, I got a lot done this week including driving 7+ hours of Tuesday for a lunch date with my Grandmother (at Mcmenamins northern most location; another stamp), waiting at DMV for 1.5hours (though it was so worth it in the end), and making a bunch of phone calls yesterday that I have been putting off for too long. That's right, I decided to be a sort-of adult this week and got things done:

Went to the DMV to change 2 different car titles, grocery shopping, took my ring to be cleaned, closed a bank account, added myself to another one, changed doctors and dentists (from our hometown ones to ones closer to where we live now), finished paying off a few things, dehydrated 3 full stacks of apples, bananas, and strawberries for school snacks, leveled my gnome warrior from 17 to 39, got the oil changed, signed myself up for blood donation next week, scheduled 2 dentist appointments and 1 hair cut appointment, made 2 jars of peanut butter, ordered food and medicine for my 4-legged children, and celebrated national yoga month by doing some yoga.

Did I mention I'm going camping today and I already prepped all the meals, packed the car, and cleaned the house, so all we have to do is make the fire and enjoy ourselves. Now you're asking: how would I have accomplished my creative goal? I tried a new recipe - Pear & chocolate chip muffins.

I like to make small muffins for those mornings when J doesn't wake up in enough time and I had this recipe from my mom that I just had to give a try. My mom is a wonderful baker and growing up we always had cookies or muffins or cake or something being made. Since J and I met in middle school, he knows my mom's desserts well and jokes that, though mom and I look like twins, she is a million times better in the kitchen than I am. I have improved over the years (when I first moved out I always overcooked chicken in the microwave and now its my go to meat when I'm feeling lazy).

As Yoda says, I didn't try the recipe, I did it! Its a fairly simple one so I thought I would share it here:

Pear & Chocolate Chip Muffins: yields 18 muffins

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Combine: 1 3/4c. flour, 1c sugar, 2tsp baking powder, 1/4tsp salt
3. Combine: 2 eggs, 1c sour cream (or greek yogurt), 1/4c melted butter, 1tsp vanilla
4. Mix the dry and wet combos together (when mixed, it will be doughy)
5. Add 1 1/2c chopped pears (or apples) and 1 c. mini chocolate chips to mixture
6. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, using all of mixture
7. Mix 1/4c chopped walnuts, 1/4c sugar, 1Tbsp soft butter
8. Sprinkle walnut mix on top of muffins
9. Bake 18-20 minutes

And there you have it, a delicious snack! I don't have any pictures of the process because it was just that simple that I believe in you. The only picture I did take was what you see to the right - this one is going camping with us for a on the road snack. This camping trip I will be checking off at least 3 different goals on my list: #1: Unplug and turn off for 24hours a month, #3: go camping 5 times, and #23: Read 10 books (I'll be finishing the first of A Song of Ice and Fire series; aka Game of Thrones). I can already see a few posts that will come out of this weekend trip so tune back in next week. Until then, live long, take time for yourself away from technology, and prosper!

Penny pinching

Last year, J & I found ourselves in a less than perfect situation - J had graduated from college and the professional world was not being too kind and I had signed an agreement with my school that I would only work in a work/study position. We had saved the amount of money they had suggested in case of unemployment but that only lasted us so long. For a few months (okay, more than a few), we were almost entirely living off of family (thank you!) and food stamps. Even when I could pick up a few hours at work (I found the one work-study job that allowed more than 10hr/wk - usually averaging 15-20hrs), we were no where near meeting our bills each month. We are in a much better situation now, but continue to live by the helpful tips we picked up while being beyond poor. So, whether you’re already in a bind (I’m sorry) or just wanting to save a little money, here are some great tips to get you started in your penny pinching journey.

Cooking & Cleaning:

• Make a menu, make the grocery list, and only buy what’s on the list. Don't forget the value of couponing, buying stuff on sale, and buying local. It can also be helpful to download the store apps before going shopping for exclusive coupons.
• Make a compromise on brand vs price. We buy store brand canned vegetables, but buy more expensive whole grain pasta or Rotel vs generic tomatoes and green chiles.
• Look at the “per unit/ounce/lb” price rather than what each boxed item costs, a smaller can may cost less than a larger can but when you’re paying double per unit, its more cost efficient to buy one large than 2 little.
• At the same time, you don’t always need to buy in bulk, especially if its something that may go bad before you can use all of it. We almost always buy coffee creamer per ounce (we drink a lot of coffee), but we’ll buy only specific recipe ingredients (heavy cream, green onions, bbq sauce) for the single night instead of having a half used ingredient for months.
• Buy foods that can be used in more than one way. Greek yogurt can be used in so many ways - substitute for milk in recipes (½ yogurt & ½ water), sour cream, whipped cream (seriously! I once ate some lemon curd with it when I made too much and I could’ve sworn it was whipped cream).
• On that note: Decide what you’re going to buy/ do then find the coupons (not the other way around)
• Stop eating out (I'll be honest, I don't understand the difficulty with this one, its just as convenient as a crockpot meal)
• Feeling a bit hungry? Drink some water (not soda or juice - water!; you may not be hungry, just a bit bored). 30 minutes till meal time? Drink some water (don’t eat on an entirely empty stomach). Bored? Drink some water. Its good for you.
• It's okay to have the same thing multiple times in a month, you'll survive - find creative ways to spice up usual recipes, like stirring in an egg with your top ramen.
• Schedule the occasional leftovers meal instead of throwing out perfectly fine food. With just the two of us, we almost always make more than we can eat in one meal so we’ll often also eat it for lunches and leftover dinners throughout the following week.
• Embrace your crockpot and dehydrator - this is the only item that I would say splurge on even if you're in a crunch. It'll save you money in the long wrong. A dehydrator allows you to dry food (herbs, fruits, veggies, etc) that may go bad otherwise and create little snacks that would be more expensive to buy at the store (ex: banana chips = $3.99/lb or bananas in the dehydrator = $.69/ lb)
• Make things homemade (often cheaper and healthier) and DIY (only when saving you money! - make your own swiffer pads from fabric scraps, dryer sheets/ balls vs buying them, rags vs paper towels, handkerchiefs vs tissues)
• Recycle & reuse (cut down on garbage costs and save the environment)
• Only run the washer/dryer and dishwasher when full

Entertainment:

• Cable vs netflix/ amazon prime (free for students)/ hulu plus/WWE Network and share the cost with multiple people
• Internet speed - threaten to cancel to get better deals. You may not see much difference at 20MB/s vs 50MB/s or check if your city has GoogleFiber (1GB/s, that’s 1024MB/s)
• Find fun & free activities near by (walking/busing distance even) to do rather than spending $$ to do the same (discount days, free nights, donation for admittance, etc) or volunteer
• Community events and celebrations. We went to Portland Opera for kids, Rose Festival, and Scandinavian Festival and all were free.
• Shopping therapy - Even from my very first job in high school, I would always go to the store right when I got my pay check and buy myself something really small ($1-$5) - some new sticky notes or a candy bar - and the rest would go into the bank. Just a little something to say, “I earned this!” Even if you don’t have the money for that, do something for yourself - go for a walk, 15min quiet time, etc.
• More on shopping therapy - when we first started in our funk, I would walk around the store and look at all the stuff I couldn’t buy… then it hit me how unhealthy this was because, even without money, I lived a pretty good life. My walks around the store became looking at all the stuff I didn’t need because my life was pretty great as it was and buying that extra little something wasn’t going to make it any better.
• Keep an eye out for free movie screenings (We’re actually just went to one and have tickets to another in 2 weeks) and other free events

School:

• Borrow from the library/ friend vs buying or, if you do buy, sell them back to Amazon to break even (or make a lil $). Amazon has plenty of good classic ebooks for free and check out Project Gutenburg.org for all models of eReader
• If your school employs peer tutors paid by work-study/tuition dollars, utilize the resource. They like money, and you like good grades. You likely paid for them with your tuition anyway.
• Apply for any scholarship or grant you qualify for. Your financial aid department may have some contacts or tips on locating them.
• Check Bigwords.com for comprehensive textbook price comparisons. You can specify rent vs buy, paper vs ebook, and takes Amazon Prime into account on price of shipping.
• Take notes on loose paper rather than in a bound notebook (or on your laptop but really, I think writing it down does better for your memory and you won’t be distracted with the internet) - you get way more paper that you can bind however you want and you won’t end the semester with those awkward empty back pages that you’re not sure if you should recycle or tear out to use at another time.
• I’m putting this under school just because it would only apply to college students but, whether you have your own health insurance or you’re paying through the school, utilize the health and counseling center! It doesn’t cost anything extra and if you are overly stressed, you are more likely to get sick or have a lowered immune system.
• If not in school, you may have free clinics or places aimed toward low SES

Around the house:

• During the day, keep the lights off and windows open - allows airflow and keeps it cooler...unless its super hot, then close the windows and blinds
• Take short showers rather than baths to cut down on water costs
• Turn the faucet off when brushing your teeth
• Put a filled water bottle in the back of the toilet to lower the water level
• Compost: its great for the environment (less garbage) and can be used in a vegetable garden
• Spring doesn’t have to be the only time you go through, clean everything, and send stuff off to the local goodwill. Go through your house and find things you don’t need and either donate them or reuse them (okay, so this doesn’t save you money but it sure does make you feel good)

Saving and earning those extra cents:

• Compare APR/savings at different banks. Seek out Credit Unions, they may have less fees and better rates. Read the fine print of account requirements. Compare to online checking accounts which offer ~1% APY
• Internet surveys, Amazon’s mechanical turk, and freebie samples (FreebieShark, FreeStuffFinder, & Hunt4Freebies). I’ve earned a good amount through the ipsos surveys and MTurk that I was able to apply towards my amazon account and buying school books. Plus, with the surveys and freebies, you’re getting to try out brand new things at no cost to you (I’ve received shampoo, candles, lotions, feminine hygiene items, and even money just for saying that I’d try it out). You can also sign up to test out higher end stuff, though it may take a while for you to be chosen (I signed up with Nike 9 months ago and just heard back that I can try stuff out!)
• Walk, ride your bike, carpool, or take public transportation
• Donate blood (okay, its not actually fun but they sometimes give fun thank yous like free admittance or a fun free snack at a local restaurant and you are helping save people’s lives) or other fluids - plasma, marrow, semen (yup, I said it. Honestly, you’re making a little bit of money and you’re helping someone)
• Find out if your employer has negotiated discounts at local retailers. J's work has everything from hotels to shoes to food
• Groupon when you were planning something, not based on what deals they have (like I said with couponing)
• Utilize eBay’s ‘Best Offer” option on auctions and Buy Now’s

What we didn’t know then but are doing now:

• Use the envelope method - Have some pre-determined amount of savings automatically deposited into a savings account, so that it’s out of sight/out of mind
• Offer to participate in studies (eg we live pretty close to OHSU and they are often needing participants. I didn’t get called back about the study but as an example, researchers were wanting to test out a new type of tooth filling = free dental check up, fillings on your teeth with state of the art methods, and you get paid for your time).
• Seek out local professional schools (Medicine, Dental, etc) for potentially cheaper medical appointments with current doctoral students with certified doctors watching over.
• Adjust your tax withholding so that they are only taking what they need (you don’t get loans interest free so neither should they and its not like a savings account because you are earning interest on it either) and you don’t own any at tax season - ideally, you get $0 back and you pay $0. Having a small tax bill come April is preferable to a small refund.

And there you have it. A lengthy list of easy ways to save money (they really are easy). Just take it a step at a time and don’t stress it. We weren’t able to just change our lifestyle to meet every single one of these, it took a bit of time. In the end though, you feel better about saving money. Remember, its always better to be frugal because you want to not because you have to.

Thanks for reading! As always, you can follow me on Pinterest to see my inspiration, Twitter to see whats new, and Instagram to catch my photo-a-day. Join me next week, same time (roughly), same place. Live long and prosper!

23 by 24

Today is my 23rd birthday! Today I look back over what I accomplished and what goals I want to set for myself for the next year. Though I didn't complete all last 22 goals by my birthday, I still feel great with what I accomplished:

1. Read through the entire bible - Still working on it; it didn't exactly help that I pushed this one to the side until the 30 days leading up to my birthday.
2. Watch the sunset at the beach - Check! In fact, multiple times check!
3. Graduate with both degrees - Heck freakin' yeah! I now have not 1 but 2 bachelor degrees.

My 22 by 23 list at the start of my planner

4. Take a big step in my relationship with J - Check! Though we were living together before, we moved into a new apartment and, a few months later, adopted a dog.
5. Do something to make myself proud
6. Jog/ run 3 miles without stopping - Sadly, no. I did do 3 5ks this last year but I still don't feel I quite met this goal.
7. Develop and follow a weekly workout plan - EEeeek! Definitely no where close. I have tried but there's always one reason or another I stop 1-2weeks in.
8. Read 5 books just for fun - 3 out of 5 isn't too bad! I read S, The Magician's Nephew, and Wicked. In all fairness though, I did read a lot more than that in taking 18 credits fall semester and 19 credits in the spring.
9. Journal regularly - Instead of forcing myself to write a page every night, I decided that I'm satisfied with keeping my past planners. Looking back at my previous planners, I get a picture at what was important to me, how I was feeling (stressed, bored, relaxed, etc), and what I was striving for. I did upgrade to a larger moleskin planner this year with more room for doodling, keeping notes, and journaling as I feel the need.
10. Learn to take a quick (less than 5 minutes) shower - Check! Ha, but J can vouch that I don't do this very often. I just wanted to figure out how to do it in times that I'm in a hurry.
11. Learn Yoga - Checkish. I certainly learned how but actually doing it on a regular basis as I had hoped hasn't quite happened yet.
12. Finish all the crafty things I have started - So close! I finally got jars for my sand from my travels and sewn up a few things but I continue to have a wine cork board partially finished, cross stitch patterns drawn up but not started, and crocheted scarves half done. Lets say its a work in progress now that its the summer.
13. Improve hygiene overall (brush teeth, wash face, etc.) - Check! Its embarrassing that at 22 I needed to put this on a list but I struggled with keeping to a daily hygiene routine (though I did use my water pik religiously).
14. Purge the apartment - Check, though when it came time to move, I didn't have much of a choice. It felt good to finally get rid of a few things from my past and make room for the future.
15. Go star gazing - Surprisingly no. Plans are in the making though for this to happen in the next few weeks.
16. Have coffee with my mom - Check! You see, my family moved just before my birthday last year and on our road trip to their new home, every morning my mom and I would have coffee together to update our blogs. It is one of my favorite parts of the trip and I wanted to be sure to have coffee with her when I visited for Christmas.
17. Spend an entire day on myself - Check! At the time, I thought I would be busy everyday, all the time. Now I just have to laugh because I have had almost too much time to myself with school being out. It's a good reminder, though, to make time for myself with life starts to pick up again.
18. Unplug for 48 hours - Check! For our anniversary, J and I stayed the weekend at the beach and just relaxed. The only electronics we used were our phones for occasional navigating and our kindles for reading. It was so wonderful!
19. Volunteer & donate more - Check! J and I spent the day with Habitat for Humanity back in November and I donated blood 3 times (as often as I could, since there's a limit to how often you can donate).
20. Ride my bike to school 25% of the time - Check!
21. Get closer to my goal weight - Eeehhh.. lets just say no but I do feel better about the weight that I am so that's something, right? 
22. Speak positively about self and others - Check! Though I do occasionally fall into gossip or a self-loathing funk, I feel much better about how I talk about myself and others.

Total complete: 15 out of 22

Now for this years 23 goals I want to accomplish by the time I turn 24:

1. Unplug & turnoff for 24hours once a month

2. Pick my own berries & make them into jam

3. Go camping 5 times - Went for my birthday so really 4x

4. Make a new friend - New school, so many new people; might as well befriend on for them :)

5. Lose (at least) 50lbs through a healthy diet and weekly exercise - No more excuses! This is the year to make it happen. I'll be developing this goal more over the next few weeks to find a way to make this goal happen.

6. Create something once a week

7. Get on Dean's list every quarter

8. Get into grad school or get a job utilizing my degrees - I want to go to grad school but I know that life can sometimes take unexpected turns so I want to leave room for those surprises.

9. Go on a long walk or jog with Worf (my pup) once a week - We take him out at least twice everyday but it would be good for his anxiety and my health to get out of the house and just go for a long walk.

10. Start a new holiday tradition & cook a full meal

11. Finish reading through the entire bible

12. Find a home church to attend - I have really struggled with church (and the people in the church) for a while now but J & I agree it would be good to find somewhere to call home.

13. Travel somewhere I have never been - Whether by car, plane, or train (or maybe even boat), I want to travel somewhere I have never been before.

14. Say something positive everyday - Find something positive in everyday rather than dwelling on the negative that can too often take control.

15.

16. Photo a day - Follow me on Instagram to see how I'm doing!

17. Transfer all pictures and music onto an external harddrive

18.

19. Finish an entire puzzle book - I believe this is a bad habit I picked up from my grandmother but I will buy a new puzzle book, do maybe 25%, then buy a new one. No longer! I will finish an entire book before moving on to the next.

20. Write a letter to myself to read when I turn 30

21. Get Tattoos touched up and/or redone - I got both my tattoos a few months after turning 18 and both have minor mistakes that I hope to get touched up this year. I also wouldn't mind getting an all new tattoo but we'll see how that goes

22. Be seen on tv - I know this one is a bit silly but in August, J and I are going to see WWE RAW live and with our great seats that we snagged, we plan on being as excited as can be. Now to see if the cameras catch our smiles.

23. Read 10 books for pleasure - This really shouldn't be a problem since I own over 200 books, either hardcopy or on my kindle (majority of them were free), that I would love to read. I'm thinking of starting with the LOTR series.

Obviously, there are two that are still blank but they will soon be filled in. I'm debating over what I want those last two to be because I want to be realistic with my goals while still stretching myself. Some ideas I'm bouncing around are giving blood x times (I'm going to give blood anyway but do I want that as one of my 23) and/or writing x number of snail mail letters or postcards. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks for reading! As always, you can follow me on Pinterest to see my inspiration, Twitter to see whats new, and Instagram to catch my photo-a-day. Join me again soon but until then live long and prosper!

The end of summer

If I had to summarize my summer in one word it would have to be: "difficult". I don't think there has been a single season during which I have driven more miles, cried more tears, or suffered through as many stress-induced migraines. Through those miles, though, I got to know the ones I love most. Through those tears, I began to find relief through exercise and strength in myself. Through those hours of head-throbbing pain, I discovered how to let go of what I couldn't control. As difficult as this summer was, I learned more than I could ever hope for. It wasn't exactly how I would've hoped it to turn out but, now that's its all over, I can say simply that I learned a lot. There is no doubt more struggles to come as Jeremiah continues to search for a job and as I enter into my final undergraduate year. Sitting on the beach, yesterday, I thought over everything we have ahead of us. As my heart started to race from the stress, I took a deep breath and reminded myself of everything we had already conquered. While we waited for the sunset on the last day of summer, for the second year in a row, I said a little prayer. Not for thing to get easier or for some miracle to occur. Simply that, together, we continue to grow and learn through whatever life throws at us.

Today marks the first day of the fall semester so lets take a quick look at how I did on my summer goals and my new set of fall goals

My 5 summer goals:

• To see things I had never seen <- Check: cross country road trip, stopping at spectacular sights such as the Grand Canyon at sunset and Mount Rushmore
• Eat healthier <- Check: For example, I currently have no food that could be labeled as "junk food"
• Exercise more <- Check: It was touch and go for a while but then I really got on track and have worked out everyday for the last 3 weeks
• Get on track with my blogging <- Ehhh I'm still workin' on it.
• Improve my crafting abilities <- Checkish: I made a few clothing items but I have a lot of room to improve

My fall goals:

• Purposefully improve my healthy habits - so far I've only bought healthy food for a well planned out menu and am taking a Monday/ Wednesday step aerobics class, in addition to riding my bike to class, hiking, and running
• Continue improving my crafting abilities - if practice makes perfect than no doubt my new work-study job as a seamstress will tone my sewing skills
•  Make Dean's list - careful planning should make this the easiest one
•  Smile more - first step: remind myself of all the things I have before thinking of all the things I think I need

Until next summer dear readers, study hard and prosper!

Spring Break camping

Hello all. I know I haven't written for a while and I'm honestly quite embarrassed about it. In all truthfulness, I've been trying to stay focused on school but don't worry, I have been keeping up with my normal workout schedule. I'm also happy to say that I've lost 10% of my starting weight and I intended on losing more. Some short updates:

Run4Love: If you've been over to my running goals page, you'll see that the Run4Love has come and gone. My boyfriend and I ran it together and it was an absolutely fantastic way to start of my season of racing. Of course we didn't win but we passed a lot of people (we accidentally started in the back, with the "walkers"... which made me think of Zombies so we really ran in the beginning). Being that the weather has been its typical Oregon self, we haven't had much time to get outside to train but that Zumba stuff was a huge help. One little thing to mention - the website and everything said it was a 5k... there's a difference between a 5k (3.18 miles) and 2.1miles (I tracked it on my phone while running). Oh well, it still felt good to do it and all the money went to support a local organization (Love Inc).

Cycling: Now this is especially depressing for me. I've only had a chance to ride my new bike once! That is for two reasons, 1. as I said I've been trying to stay focused on school and this month was a sprint to spring break in all my classes and 2. it's been raining whenever I do get a free few hours. On top of that, once I got my bike, I left Mr.commuter for a tune up but I wasn't able to pick it up for almost 2 weeks (when it was sunny) so I had no choice but to drive to class. I know, a lot of complaining. I plan on getting out much more this coming month, hopefully to get in enough miles to participate in the Monster Cookie Metric Century.

CAMPING!!!: I am finally getting to go camping - today! I am so stoked. I didn't sleep very well last night because I was so excited. Okay, and a little anxious about forgetting something. This is the first trip that I've planned (it's always been my parents or my boyfriend's dad). I now understand why my parents were always so grumpy by the time we got to the camp site. Here are a few sites and such that I found helpful in my planning:


1. Cheesecake in a jar -

Cheesecake in a jar

my boyfriend loves cheesecake and, when he saw this on my pinterest, gave me the puppy dog eyes and asked me to make 'em for our trip. How could I say no? I substituted a few things tho: 40% fat free cream cheese (instead of not fat free), homemade huckleberry jam and fresh strawberries (instead of strawberry jam and rhubarb), and cheap graham crackers (instead of graham crumbs - same thing, just cheaper)


2. Cake like desserts in an orange - now we're also doing cinnamon rolls but I've seen lots of other sites doing the same thing with brownies, cakes, and other such things.Once again, my boyfriend loves cinnamon rolls and I thought this would be a fun idea (plus it meant getting and eating oranges and I love me some oranges).

Cake like desserts in an orange

DIY fire starters

3. DIY fire starters - definitely made these! Since we don't plan on bringing any sort of stove, we definitely needed something to help us get a fire started. I made, I think, 54 of these lil guys (3 18-pack egg cartons). I really hope they work because melting the candle wax took a long time (I used a cheap 200 pack of tea-light candles that I got at Fred Meyer a while back for $2). I'm praying they work, though I can't really see them not.






4. The Ulimate camping list - Now, of course, I didn't need everything on this list but it was a great help just being able to go through and make sure I had everything. I was reminded of a few things that I didn't initially think of (though at the moment I also can't think of any examples to give).

The ultimate camping list

Yeah, just four. I had a few others that I browsed through courtesy of pinterest but these were the ones that I turned to. I'll admit, many of the ones that I went through were about food because my boyfriend loves food and I'm always worried that I'm going to cook something uneatable and... yeah. After 5 years, I still worry about things. Anyway, now that he's finally up, we can get the car packed up, clean the house, and get goin'. I'm so excited! So I'll leave you with this.

 

Until next time, live long and prosper!

p.s. That reminds me! Today is Leonard Nimoy's 83nd birthday so happy birthday to him and buy yourself something star trek!