Let’s save money!

I would like to thank Nicole from It’s All Random for this awesome idea! It’s a great way to save money all year long. And it’s only the second week of the year, so it isn’t too late to get started.

So what you do, is each week you put aside the amount of money that goes with the week number. So week 25, you would save $25, week 26 you save $26, etc. But Nicole had the great idea of choosing a random amount and then crossing that amount off so that you still end up with the same amount at the end of the year, but you can save more when you are able and less when you need to. At the end of the year, you end up with $1,378. And I decided what I’m going to do with the money! I’m going to use it for a down payment on a new (used) car. My car is a 2000 and I’ve had it since 2006, so I’m going to eventually need a new one. I know that $1,378 isn’t a lot for a down payment, so I’m going to try to save even more and double some of the amounts when possible.

So who’s with me on using this to save some extra money this year? You have to wait a whole year, 52 weeks (well, after this week, only 50 more) to actually use the money, but won’t that extra $1,378 (or more) be worth it in the end? I think so!! So let me know what you think of this and if you can think of any other ways to tweak it a bit.

What I’m Loving Wednesday

My first WILW post of the year and in a long time!!! So here goes…

I’m LOVING the Jobulator app. If you are a substitute teacher using Aesop, you definitely want to have this app!! You get alerted immediately when a sub position becomes available! And the jobs are gone within seconds!! Tonight I’ve seen a ton of jobs come up, but could only take 2 of them! The other ones were for tomorrow and Friday, and I already work day shift as a cashier. But starting on Monday, I’ll be working night shift, so I can start taking all the subbing positions I can!! So I picked up a subbing job for next Thursday and the Thursday after that!!

I’m LOVING 2013 so far!! I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again…2013 is going to be one of my best years yet!! I’m getting married in 4 months and I’m starting the next chapter in my life so I’m excited!!!

I’m LOVING that I rekindled a friendship with someone that I was friends with in high school! We’ve only hungout once so far, but it’s not going to be a one time thing!

And as always, I’m LOVING my amazing fiancé, which from this post on, I’m going to refer to as B (short for Billy).

Have a great rest of your night everyone!!

Happy Monday!

Hey there blogging world!! It looks like I'm doing pretty good so far on my New Years resolution of blogging more because my last post was 4 days ago, not 4 months ago! I'm also doing pretty good with another resolution. Today I hungout with a friend from high school that I haven't seen in at least 4 years. She has a 3 (almost 4 year old) daughter that I never met today so I know it has been at least 4 years since I saw my friend last. I'm really glad that I got to see her today and I hope we continue talking and hanging out. As I mentioned in my last post, I need some good friends in my life so I'm glad that I got at least one of them back!
So my friend, her daughter, and I did some errands today. My fiancé and I got some money for Christmas and I wanted to use that to do some grocery shopping. So of course, I waited until I saw the best deals in the ads and I couponed!! I saved 54% at the first store and 41% at the second store. I'm no "Extreme Couponer", but I'm still saving money so that's all that matters!! I got us a bunch of frozen vegetables, some pizzas, toaster strudels, meat. Oh, and the best deal I got was 5 General Mills  cereals for $5!! They had a deal that if you bought 4 you would get $2 off. Then I had a coupon for $1 off 2 and another coupon for $1 off 3. So once you put that all together, it came out to be $1 for each cereal!!
Well, that was about the extent of my day. I also stopped at Barnes and Noble to use a gift card. I didn't know what I was going to get because I read all of my books on my Kindle. So I decided to get some kids books that I can have in my future classroom. I ended up getting Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl, and two books from the Magic Tree House series: High Tide in Hawaii and Tonight on the Titanic (because I love Titanic!!!) Have a great rest of your night everyone!!

Happy New Year!!!

It has been quite a few months since I’ve lasted blogged. But I have decided that this year, I’m going to put more time into my blog than I did last year. So first off, I have some things to update all my followers on…

1. I finished student teaching and graduated in December!!! I officially have my teaching certification!!! I just signed up yesterday to start substituting and I can’t wait until I pick up my first job!! I’m going to work nights and weekends as a cashier and then substitute during the day!

2. There are only 4 months left until I marry the love of my life!!! I can’t believe that after such a long engagement (we got engaged in August of 2010), the wedding is now only 4 months away!!! And we still have a ton of planning to do!!

And that’s about all that is new with me since I blogged last. I’m so excited for what 2013 has to bring!! I think it is going to be one of the best year’s ever!

Here are my New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Eat healthier: While I tried to do this towards the end of 2012, I didn’t really keep up with it that much. Last year I started eating yogurt every day and I kept up with that pretty well, with only missing a day or two here and there. I also bought a lot of fruits and vegetables, but towards the end of the year I kinda stopped doing that. So I’m going to start buying fresh fruits and vegetables again. Another thing I’m going to do is start taking a vitamin every morning. I got adult gummy vitamins last year and I was doing good with taking them and then I just stopped.

2. Work out: When I used to work at Sonic, I got most of my exercise at work by running in and out of the building delivering food to each other. But now that I’m a cashier, I just mostly stand in one spot for my whole shift. It’s not that I need to work out in order to lose weight, but I need to work out to stay in shape.

3. Spend more time with family: For the most part, I only see my family around the holidays and some birthdays. But this year, I want to try to see my family more than just at holidays and birthdays.

4. Spend more time with friends: I’m tired of not having anyone to call up or text to say “Hey, wanna come over and hangout?” or “Wanna meet up for lunch?” In the past few months I haven’t had the time to try to fix some friendships that just suddenly stopped, so now that I’m done with school, I will have a lot more time for that. I’ve actually just recently started talking to 3 friends that I haven’t hungout with or talked to in a while. And I’m going to be hanging out with them in the coming weeks, so I’m pretty excited about that!! I miss the feeling of having a friend that I can talk to and hangout with so I can’t wait to get that back!!

So, now that I’ve given you an update of what I’ve been up to and shared my resolutions, I want to hear from you about your resolutions. Leave me a comment!! And again, happy new year!!

This year we have been given a blank slate. It's like 365 empty pages that have yet to be written. Your life is the pen. How will you write?