~ This month's topics: Decluttering, Credit Cards, and Bargain Shopping ~  WOW! What a difference a few weeks can make in one’s life! First, I’ll start off by mentioning what I’ve not managed to do since January 27th when I last posted here. I have not gone back to my nutritional way of eating. I have not started drinking water. I have not managed to begin an exercise program, although I did pick up some nice VHS tapes on toning the body at the Goodwill and I do hope to begin toning soon. However, for all that I’ve not managed to incorporate into my life, I have managed to bring order to some areas that were nagging me. I’m keeping up with my daily reading and was blessed by a special online friend who sent me a book entitled Being Home: A Book of Meditations by Gunilla Norris. It’s a fantastic book with meditations on those day-to-day tasks we sometimes abhor (like doing laundry, dusting, making the beds, etc.) It’s been a totally refreshing way for me to look at my sometimes not-so-refreshing life! It has really shown me that everything I do to keep my family and home running smoothly is required and blessed by Him. I highly recommend this book (If you want, you can click here to order!) I am a person who does NOT like clutter and the state of my home’s interior was not helping me in my "simple living" journey. Since it was bugging me so much, I decided to forgo the weight/exercise program for a bit and concentrate on making my living (and work!) space more pleasing to me and more organized for my daily living. I didn’t want to use the credit card, so did manage to pay cash for some wonderful additions to my family room…a desk and chair set, 2 endtables w/3 drawers each (storage space!), and a very unique magazine/book rack which I placed in my foyer to house all of our current reading. I found all of these matching beautiful reproduction pieces at a local antique store. They were more than reasonably priced since there were reproductions and they have added some much needed storage space, as well as character, to our home. I used to have all of my correspondence materials, calenders, bills, etc ALL OVER THE HOUSE and my desk is wonderful in that now it’s all in one space. I don’t know how I’ve made it without a desk in my almost 9 years of marriage! The last room that was bugging me to death was our dining room which we use as a playroom. Our kids’ bedrooms aren’t big enough to house all of their toys since each child has a large table in it (Ian has the Brio-like Thomas the Tank Engine track on his and Jenna has a new Playmobil dollhouse given to her by her grandparents for her birthday last December.) We’ve always eating in the kitchen so Jim and I decided the dining room could be a playroom for a few more years. The toys were everywhere in the playroom because we had no storage shelves. I’ve been looking for months for some inexpensive shelves that could be used in the basement once our dining room is a dining room. I finally found some (and on sale!) at Target and the kids seem to enjoy the organization more than I am! They can now SEE what they have to play with without dumping the toy boxes out and they have a home for every toy so they are finally learning how to put their toys away…this is something I’ve battled for a while now. I couldn’t get too upset at them for leaving a mess because they really didn’t have any place to put their toys when they were done playing with them! Now, they have no excuse for leaving the playroom messy! It looks like we should be able to finally pay off our credit card in March…what a relief! That’s a major accomplishment for us as we’ve had a credit card balance for almost 2 years now! This will free up money so that we can start paying on our remaining $26,000 worth of debt. The final thing that I’ve accomplished in the last month is to stop taking the Prozac I was taking for my PMS and minor depression. Believe me, there are days I’d rather be back on the Prozac, but I just hated taking it. However, I came across a book titled Naturally Slim And Powerful: The Natural Way To Boost Serotonin Levels Without Drugs by Philip Lipetz. I knew my serotonin was low and this book looks like it has a very easy-to-follow food plan for raising the serotonin level throughout day. There are some foods I need to stock up on and some in my home that I need to get rid of so that I’m not tempted to "fall off the wagon," but I should be able to begin this new method of eating soon. I’ll report back to you if it works! (If you want to consider purchasing this book, click here!) If you have dealt with PMS and have found methods of dealing with the irritability, mood swings, food cravings, etc…PLEASE EMAIL ME and share your experience! Now for a few "fabulous finds" I’ve come across in the past few weeks. I went into my nearest Sam’s Club this past weekend because we are considering becoming members. They had some wonderful items in the book section (is there any other section you can see me visiting….hehehehe!). They had the American Girls Pasttimes kits for each American Girl for only $20.00 and I think retail on it was $40.00. It even included many of the craft supplies needed for the craft book. There also were a bunch of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books as well as Jumpstart and TurboTax software, all discounted of course. There were some other great titles I wanted to mention, but I can’t remember what they were! I just remember wanting to buy a lot of what I saw, but I managed to walk out of there without purchasing anything! Finally, I want to share with you my method of getting 4-6 brand new hardback books for around $20-30. I am always joining those book clubs that require no purchase obligation past the initial book choices. These first choices usually run about $1.00 a book plus shipping. Sometimes you get the further choice of a free book or tote bag and then you get to pick another book for either half off the retail or for around $5.00. Once I get my books in, I just write a note cancelling my membership when I send in my payment for the "trial" books. Since I’m under no obligation to purchase anything else, I have no problem doing this and have never had a problem with a book club cancelling my membership right away. The funny thing is that the same club will usually send me a "We miss you…please come back!" type letter within 3-6 months of my cancellation and I get to do the same thing all over again! And it’s usually the same "no obligation" membership!! I’ve done this with the Quality Paperback club, the History club, the Country Home/Decorating club, the Mind & Spirit club (where I got my copy of the Naturally Slim book mentioned above) and more! Most of these books retail for around $25.00 each so it’s like paying for one book and getting a bunch more FREE! Now, I’m not sure how to get these offers to you. I’ve been joining and cancelling my book club memberships since I married in 1990 and I may be getting these offers because I’ve been in their computers a while. However, in a magazine I received in the mail today, there was a card for the History club and it was a "no-obligation" offer. If anyone has information on how to get these cards and trial offers sent to your home, please email me and I’ll be happy to post that information here for everyone else. Well, I guess that’s all for this update. For many of us, the season of Lent is right around the corner. I was reminded of this season by an online friend, Janet, and I wanted to share what I usually do for Lent. I know most people are told to "give up" something during Lent. I do this, but I also "add" something to my daily life. This year, I’m going to do what Janet is doing….I’m going to try and become more child-like. I have a very hard time getting down to my kids’ level and looking at life through their eyes. I’m always so busy taking care of the family and making sure the household is running smoothly that I find myself saying "Not now, honey" or "I’m busy…later" too many times during the day as I do laundry, straighten, pay bills, etc. I’m very excited about this "challenge" (thank you Janet!) and know that both my kids and I will be all the better for it. For those of you interested, Janet shared the following Scriptures with me to read when she emailed me the following note, "For child-likeness, see Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:14-15, and Luke 18:17. This is true simplicity!" I haven’t read these passages yet, but will this weekend as I prepare for Lent (which begins February 17Th). I will post more again towards the end of the month. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?
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