September 2018 Goals
As promised, here’s everything I’m going to accomplish this month. Help keep me accountable please!! I’m not sure who said this first but it’s one of my favorite quotes:
Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be. Continue reading
Posted in Life 2.0, Monthly Goals, Updates
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5 Tips For Setting Monthly Goals
Okay, you all know I’m a big planner and if you’ve been following my little blog for any time at all then you know I used to always (okay, maybe always is a strong word but mostly) posted my monthly goals at the beginning of each month. I posted my annual New Year’s resolutions this year but I haven’t actually posted my monthly goals since last December. I’d made a decision in March of this year to take my blog and writing more seriously and I think either consciously or sub-consciously I thought I should stop with the monthly goal posts since no one was going to be interested in those.
Well, you may still not be interested, and if so, feel free to skip that day’s post (don’t worry…thousands of people skip ALL my posts so I won’t be offended) but I’m going to start the monthly goals back up starting in September. I’ve discovered I’m the type of person that needs accountability to push myself to achieve my goals and dreams. So today I’m going to go over 5 tips I have for setting goals. Continue reading
Posted in Life 2.0, Monthly Goals
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Simple Comforts
There’s too much going on in my life right now between busy times at work and kids coming and going between out-of-state summer jobs and returning to school for the fall semester and struggling to find the time and energy to work on my writing. It’s caused a bit of writer’s block, which further adds to my stress. I decided to take a step back and think about my favorite simple comforts/routines that center me when life gets to be too much.
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Dealing With Life’s Curveballs
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans…John Lennon”
This is a favorite quote of mine and boy has it proven to be true this summer. I had some really grand plans this summer and let’s just say they have not materialized. My oldest son was going to be working out of state and my youngest son was going to be home but working multiple jobs over his summer break so I was ready to make this the summer of Holly. I was going to pump out two fabulous blog posts a week and work on getting some freelance writing gigs and life was going to be fabulous.
Well, if you read my blog with any regularity at all you’ll see that this is only my 5th blog post of the quickly disappearing summer. I have not been able to work on any freelance writing or even my own personal writing projects for that matter. Some family issues arose that have been very time and emotionally consuming for me.
Posted in Life 2.0
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Budgeting-It’s not a four-letter word
This post was originally published in February 2017 but I felt it is worth a reprint.
Okay, so I will admit that I am a bit of a numbers geek. I love playing around with numbers and creating my budget each month. Creating a budget gives me a sense of security so I’m truly baffled that the word Budget strikes fear in so many people. Don’t you want to have a plan for your money?
So here’s some theories I have on why you don’t have or want a budget:
Maybe you have so much money you don’t need a budget because you’re free to spend whatever you want worry-free. In that case, I’m not sure why you’re bothering to read my little money blog, unless of course it’s just to have your weekly dose of Holly-ness.
Or maybe the more likely scenario is that you don’t have enough money and you think a budget isn’t for you. DUH!! I’m right there with you in the not enough money scenario and that’s exactly why I know it’s so important to have a monthly budget because you don’t want to be running out of money on day 22 of a thirty-day month.
Maybe you just think it’s too complicated and you’re not a numbers geek like me so you don’t even know where to start. Wow, this is your lucky day because guess what?? It’s not complicated and I’m going to tell you how to do it. My kid is taking calculus, that’s complicated. Geometry…that’s crazy complicated, all those stupid shapes. Setting up an easy budget is not complicated if you know how to add and subtract. You can even use a calculator or a spreadsheet…that’s not cheating, I promise.
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4 Tips for Living Small
We moved into our condo last April. We downsized from a 1625 square foot condo with three bedrooms, three baths and a one-car garage into a 985 square foot condo with two bedrooms and two baths and no garage. It was a change we needed to make but after pulling the trigger I wondered to myself if I had been overly optimistic as I struggled with telling the movers where to put the abundance of stuff we had. We’ve lived here for about 15 months now so I felt it was time for an update on our experience so far after downsizing so drastically and a few tips I’ve discovered along the way to optimizing small space living.
Posted in Life 2.0, Tiny Home
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7 Ways I Save While Shopping
I was busy pondering some ideas for a new blog post this week and my son suggested that I write about all the apps I use to save and make money so I have to give credit for this post to my son Nick. The following are 7 different methods I use to either save a little money or earn a little money. Obviously the best way to save money while shopping is to not shop but unless you’re totally living off the grid, we all have purchases to make. None of these ideas are going to get you rich but every little bit saved or earned is helpful when you’re busy watching your budget. Continue reading
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8 Ways to Have Summer Fun on a Budget
It’s summer time! Yes, I’m a grown up with a full-time office job Monday through Friday and I’m even working a part-time job one day of every weekend right now but I still get a little excited at the prospect of summer time. So that summer job I mentioned just now, that means I have a little less free time then I would like and it’s a big indicator that funds are a little tighter than I would like but that doesn’t mean I can’t find some frugal ways to celebrate the long summer days. Here are 8 low-cost or free plans I have for the summer:
Posted in Life 2.0, Money
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Overwhelmed
I’ve decided I need about 5 extra hours in the day! The older I get the more I think I have adult ADD. I have so much that I need and want to do in life and I’m at that stage where I am completely overwhelmed and finding myself barely treading water at getting anything done because I am trying to do it all. Continue reading
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