S & S

This new year I am thinking about what I need to do for the new year.  I like what I am doing with myself for the most part.  I am eating well, drinking less, saving money, spending time with family and friends.  I guess what I need to add and continue with is saving and stretching.

I have terrible tendinitis.  Lately it has caused my tendon in my right leg to be so sore and stiff that it seems that my back is sore and stiff, but really it is all related and causing me weakness and loss of flexibility.  This is worrisome.  At my moms, in the guest bed there that has a lousy mattress, I could barely turn over because my right leg was so weak and sore.  This is not going to work out for me as I age.  Imagine me in 20 years trying to turn over in bed?

So I need to stretch!   My goals?  Really simple, stretch for 20 minutes daily.  This can be stretching after a walk or roller blading, or it can be more sophisticated like yoga.  But somehow, everyday I need to stretch to improve my flexibility and range of motion.

I also need to continue to strive to eat from the anti-inflammatory-diet.  

As for savings, well I am so into it now I think that will be the easy part.  As long as there are few road blocks like tax audits and root canals I should be able to reach my goals.  What are my financial goals for 2013?

• Plump up the emergency fund.  I hope to hit $3,000 by year end.
• Pay off the student loan.  Hey it may have taken 15 years, but in March it's gone baby gone!
• Do more menu planning and more shopping at Aldi.
• Continue to carpool, have no spend days, make my own lunches, pay myself an allowance.
• "Feed the Pig"  by saving all those extra coins and such for fun money on vacation.
• Save weekly for big purchases....ie...tires and a new washer and dryer by years end.

So those are my ideas for the new year.  Here's to health and peace in 2013!

Merry Christmas Photos

Here are a bunch of photos I scanned today of Christmas past!

Mandi and Tim at Grandma's!  I think they had a mouth full of Washburn Ribbon Candy!

Jewelry?  1981?

Dad at Grandma's!

Maybe 1977?

Me being outgoing 1981....love the Charlie Brown tree!

At the Slaughters in Litchfield.

Maybe 1979?

Uncle Bill and cousin Cheryl

Rubik's Cubes were all the rage that year.

My Aunt Ellen at Grandma's

Dumping Cable TV

I wish I could write here how I gave up cable TV all together, but I didn't.  This month Time Warner rewarded me after four years of commitment with an increase in my monthly bill from $115 to $ 150.  All without offering anything extra.  After many choice words on my part I decided  could live without cable and they could ...well you know.

So I called today and opted to keep the internet (because there really isn't any other choice) and the barest basic available so I would not need to buy an antenna. The guy on the phone said it would be $11 monthly, that I could deal with. Imagine my excitement today when I realized I still had standard cable channels!  I had decided to bravely accept that I'd be letting go of the Syfy channel and thus not able to see "Lost Girl".  One little show is not worth the cost of cable.  However, I still have Syfy!

So I am quite pleased with the results.

Since I no longer had the DVR I wanted a TiVo.  I looked around and read all the reviews.  I was thinking I'd have to spend $150 at Best Buy, but then I was on a frugal blog and saw the link to the TiVo site.  They had their most recent DVR on a clearance sale for only $59.99.  Score!  I love a good sale!  So that will be on its way and I will have a new $15 monthly bill for the TiVo service.  Putting it all together, I still will pay $75 monthly rather than $150.  I'm saving nearly $1000 a year!

It pays to check out those frugal living blogs!