Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Clutterbugs: Taming the Paper Tiger

I think one of the biggest clutter challenges is PAPER. It's like a faucet that never shuts off. Every day when the mailman comes - more paper. Every day when your kids come home from school - more paper. Your Email doesn't always generate actual paper, but if it's anything like mine, it generates a Noah's Ark of electronic paper every single day. And don't get me started on the newspapers, and the magazines, and the coupons. It's enough to make Mother Theresa go postal.

OK, I'n going to give you the secret to dealing with the excess paper issue - are you listening carefully? OK, here it is - YOU DON'T NEED NINETY PERCENT OF IT. There, now do you feel better?

No really, you DON'T NEED IT. Utility bills, you don't need them. If you have a question, they will print you another one - shocking, I know. Paystubs, you don't need them. Usually they are available on-line. If not, someone in Payroll definitely has another copy of them and they will be happy to provide it. Bank statements - you do need to keep those, but you can keep them on-line, or just keep a bare minimum of them. Catalogs - definitely don't need them and it's better for your budget if you can get them to not even come into your house. Every place that sends you a catalog has a website with everything in that catalog available in a searchable format.

Here's something that might surprise you - I haven't taken a daily newspaper, watched any regular news shows, or listened to any news radio shows in probably 10 years. And I take just ONE magazine - People, just for the fun of it.

And you know what, I probably haven't missed a single important news story in all that time. I have news alerts that come to my Email for big new stories like nature disasters or stupid politician tricks. Anything else, I catch info on the Internet, hear a blip on the radio, or someone says "hey have you heard...". We get the Sunday-only paper just for the funny papers and coupons and we're good to go. I figure that saves me about 6 inches of excess paper every week. And a lot of negative BS that I don't really want in my life.

The average person has 3.1 magazine subscriptions and they don't actually read them half the time. What's up with that? We get these shiny, pretty magazines and think we're going to make all these yummy recipes, create all these fabulous crafts, make over our home to look like a magazine layout and try all these fabulous diets, but honestly, we probably won't take the time to follow through with it, and those shiny magazines just pile up in stacks all around your house.

So, what's a girl to do? Well, for starters, take a look at your subscriptions and consider doing some pruning back. Then take your accumulation of magazines and make an appointment with yourself to spend just 15 minutes a day getting through all of them. Then tear out the articles or recipes you want to reference for later. It's OK, you've paid for the magazine. Then find somewhere to pass it on to. I always think it is such a waste for just one person to read a magazine and then throw it away.

And then if you want all those fabulous recipes, crafts, and home decor ideas, there are literally hundreds of blogs that provide just about anything you could ever imagine complete with full instructions and pictures for FREE. Although if you're reading this on my blog, you probably already know that! And if you want a recipe, you can type in any ingredients you have on hand into any search engine and it will bring up a boatload of free recipes with those ingredients. I've tried a bunch of them and they've been great.

Now, the question is how to deal with the 10% of paper that you actually do need to keep? I think it will be a lot easier once you get rid of the other 90%. Then it's just a matter of setting up a filing system that is easy for you to maintain for those few papers you do want to keep. Here are some tips that work for me:

- For phone lists, sports schedules, coupons (we don't do a lot of them), and other things that I really want to keep track of, I tape them up INSIDE my cupboard doors. It's neater looking and I don't have to dig through a pile of papers or a drawer to find them.
- I keep a bill basket on my desk. As the bills come in, we just toss them in there, then on payday, I just go through and grab them and pay them with my bank's online bill pay. Even if they aren't due yet, I can set them up for the following payday. Then I toss all the papers in the shred bin at work. I've done this for probably ten years, and I can't think of ONE time, I've ever needed to reference any of those bills. Anything I need, I can pull up from a website in 5 minutes or I can pull up a year's worth of history in my bill pay service.
- Coupons. I will admit it, I'm not a big coupon person, but I do a TON of online shopping and I have a great technique for managing the flood of discount codes and offers that come in after you have bought something online. I have Gmail and I set a filter to force everything to go directly into a Shopping folder. Then if I want to shop at a particular store, I go right to the offers for that store and check out the current specials - super easy!
- Scanners - one thing I haven't tried yet, are these cool new scanners that scan receipts and all sorts of stuff and store them on your computer in a searchable format. That sounds like something really handy.

I hope this helps you with your paper challenges!

By TwitterButtons.com

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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Do You Think Your Teen is Awesome?

This is one of my guest posts over at In Be-Tween Moms.

Remember when your teen was tiny and you used to get so excited over the least little thing - the first step, the first word, how cute they looked sleeping with their little butts in the air, how adorable and snuggly they would be first thing in the morning?

I'll wager its been a while since you've felt that way about your teen. Since your eyes have lit up when they walk into a room. Teens can be challenging, to be sure, but underneath, they are still the same people as those cute toddlers we used to adore.

Photo credit: Stock.xchg by Neon_Eddy

Your opinion matters. Surprisingly, it probably matters more to them in the long run than anyone else's in the world. I know so many adults who would give anything in the world for a single word of recognition or approval from their parents. Sadly, they probably will never receive it. Is that what you want for your child?

So often we become so hyper-aware of their faults that we overlook the awesome part. Could you imagine if your boss was constantly after you to sit up straight, do your homework, clean your desk, tuck in your shirt, cut your hair, and bring your grades up? That would suck, wouldn't it? (Some of us do have bosses like that, but at least we get paid for it)

On the other hand, what if you had a boss who thought you were just terrific, praised you for your work every day, and recognized all your best qualities? That's the kind of boss you really want to work your heart out for, because that level of appreciation just makes you want to please them just that much more. I know, because I've had both types of bosses and I know which one inspires me to do better work.

Your vision for your teen plays a big role in shaping their life. If you think they are dishonest, or lazy, or aren't very smart, those things are going to be true for them in their lives because they take their cues from you. On the other hand, if you think they are smart, talented, and have a bright future ahead of them, that's going to play a big part in pointing them onto that path. Imagine the best for them and shape your actions towards helping them bring that future into being.

Does that mean you just ignore all their faults? No, of course not. But it's like the old 80/20 rule. Spend 80% of the time appreciating them and only 20% focusing on the negative stuff and see if you don't see a lot more of the awesome stuff!

By TwitterButtons.com

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Smart Money - The Fast Food Challenge

I read an interesting statistic today - 18 to 25 year olds spend up to 49% more than other age groups on dining out. Doesn't say if that's fast food, fine dining, or drinks, but if I had my guess, I'd say 90% fast food with a smattering of fine dining.

This was from an article someone Tweeted about buying habits across the 50 states and I just thought this particular tidbit was just SO fascinating. This is the first generation that has grown up in the Happy Meal lifestyle and this is demonstrating how much they have taken this lesson to heart. And don't worry, I'm lumping my three kids right in there too!

I find this kind of disturbing on a couple of levels. One is the money aspect. It doesn't say what proportion of their income they are spending, but it sounds like a pretty significant chunk of change. You probably aren't in this age bracket - I'm certainly not, but think about what you've spent just this week on food other than grocery store items.

Did you get a latte or other fancy drink in the mornings? Grab a pizza or some burgers for dinner on your way to sports practice or whatever? Have a few lunches in the office cafeteria, or lunch out with some friends? Maybe you and your husband have a Friday night date night at a nice restaurant? Even snow cones or ice cream for the kiddos? What about all those sodas or expensive bottled waters? It adds up fast. And if these kids are spending even MORE than we do what do you think their total for the week would be? $100??? $150??? More??

And what are they getting for all that money? Well, nothing really. Not to be crude, but they are spending large amounts of their income on something that is here today and gone tomorrow (in a manner of speaking).

That's money that could be used for a car payment, a down payment on a house, investing in a business, or saving for retirement or a college education for your grandchildren. I joke with my husband that we could have put one (or two) of our kids through college just for what he has spend on soda pop. And it's totally true. If you figure he has three sodas a day at a buck or two apiece times 365 days times 25 years. It ends up being between forty and fifty thousand dollars!

And that's just the soda. Figure in all the pizza, chicken, tacos, and burgers we eat in a year, not to mention the rare times we go out for a nice meal. Shoot, it usually costs me $40-$50 just to take everyone out to Denny's for pancakes and double that for a nice dinner. There's probably a house or two in there after all these years.

And of course, you are paying for all that eating in another way too. With your health. We've all heard all the statistics - heard Dr. Oz spouting forth on Oprah about childhood obesity, diabetes rates, and all the damage we are doing to our bodies with all this excessive amounts of unhealthy food we eat. We're literally digging our graves with our teeth!

So, what's a Mom to do about it? Well, it's probably a little too late if you've got kids in the 18 to 25 age range like I do. They're pretty well set in their habits at this point. But if you've got younger kids, now might be a good time to start talking to them about this.

But talk isn't enough, is it? You've got to set the example and consistently teach them how to feed themselves and their families without falling into this trap. It would be an interesting challenge to see how long you could go without buying ANY outside food or drink at all. One day? Three days? A week? A month?

It would be kind of fun if you put the money into a jar, so you could see how much you had saved over that time. I'd like that part. Brown bagging it to work, not so much.

I think I could probably do one day, if I planned ahead or even three days if I really got serious about it, but a week? A week would be a challenge for me, and a month, I think would be almost impossible to do. I've never really tried it though, unless I was really seriously dieting and then that was just me, not the whole family.

Give it a try. I'd be interested to see what your results are.

By TwitterButtons.com

Monday, May 21, 2012

Smart Money: Let's Talk Warranties

Warranties are an interesting topic. They can either be the best money you've ever spent, or the biggest waste ever. To me, that means it's worth a very close look. I know some people automatically get the warranty on any large purchase, but in a lot of cases, it isn't a very good deal.

Most brick and mortar stores put a huge markup on their warranties knowing that a large percentage of purchasers won't ever need them. It's sort of like health clubs - they bank on probably 75-80% of their subscribers working out a few times and then dropping out. If everyone who had a membership showed up on any particular day, they probably wouldn't even fit into the building. The conservative estimate is that only about $20 of every $100 spent on a warranty goes towards repair costs. The other $80 is going straight into the store's pocket. That's not the kind of charity I like to support - how 'bout you?

So, the first question you need to ask is does a warranty make sense for this item? The first question you want to ask is how likely is this item going to be to break down? In my experience, large appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers very rarely break down. I have literally had the same fridge for 21 years and I've never had a moment's trouble with it. On the other hand, my iPhone 4 ended up in the washing machine within 6 weeks (sigh). More on that in a minute...

Another question to ask is how expensive would a repair be? I do always purchase a car warranty, even though I know it's a rip-off because certain car repairs can be so expensive. However, I didn't bother with a warranty on my son's Kindle. It was an $80 product and they wanted $30 for the warranty. When the prices are that close, the warranty doesn't make sense. At that point, if anything happened, you would just suck it up and put that $30 towards a new one.

If you do decide that a warranty is a good idea, is the store version your only choice? Nope! Like any other profitable item, there are multiple companies that sell them. You just have to do your homework and make sure it is a reputable company. I found SquareTrade back when I was an Ebay seller. They specialize in warranties on various large and small items from all major retailers. For instance, the Verizon warranty for my iPhone 4 would have been $199 a year plus $99 per replacement and I think they didn't cover water damage. The same warranty through Square Trade was $65 a year and just $50 per replacement.

When mine had it's little bath, SquareTrade not only had my replacement in my hands in 48 hours, but they even sent me a 16 gig instead of an 8 gig, I think just because they were out of stock on 8 gigs. I had a similar experience with them when the hard drive crashed on my computer. I took it to a local repair shop and kept the receipt and they reimbursed me within a day or so.

On the other hand, you have my in-laws. I think they were "warranty junkies" and they made sure they got their money out of them! I remember half a dozen times when they had their washer or dishwasher being worked on and it was all paid for with the warranty. The reason that worked for them was because they were diligent about keeping all the receipts and paperwork (these were in pre-computer days). If you do go the warranty route, keeping good records is very important. You need to know exactly when your warranties stop and start, how to renew them every year, and what types of repairs are covered. That can save you a bunch of nice, juicy money!

By TwitterButtons.com

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Friday, May 4, 2012

Americans are Weird, or Unique, or Something...

I had an interesting thought. I was walking down the street in San Juan and I noticed a big bump in the road. I thought "someone should do something about that, before someone trips over it or something". Then I looked around. There were lots of bumps in the road, and all the curbs were different heights and widths. The steps doing up to some of the stores were uneven, and there weren't handrails everywhere like I'm used to.

Photo credit: Tane from Stock.xchg

And I realized that bump in the road has probably been there for 30 years or more and no one seemed to be paying the least amount of attention to it. That's a funny thing about Americans. We're so used to having everything sanitized for our protection, and hand railed, and safety checked within an inch of it's life. I know that's normal for us, but in other countries, I don't think they worry so much about stuff like that. Maybe it's because they have other things to worry about like crime, or poverty, or corrupt governments or something, but maybe it's just because they're just having more fun than we are.

I mean, really. How much time do us Americans spend worrying about every germ and every little nit-picky thing. Drives me crazy sometimes. The cruise ship was an especially good example of it. It's like a huge adult playpen. You have room stewards who clean and sanitize your room literally THREE times a day. You have these amazing waiters who bring you every imaginable type of food, as much as you want. And everything is handrailed, and perfectly symmetrical so you won't so much as stub your toe. Even if you get seasick, they have a fully equipped hospital to take care of you.

And still people bitch about every little thing. One guy at breakfast was so cheesed off because they brought him hash browns instead of corned beef hash that he sat there with his arms folded like a spoiled little kid, letting his eggs get cold until they brought him the right side order. One lady pitched a 10 minute fit because they moved the scrapbooking event from the library to the lounge without announcing it. I'm going to come up with a whole new name for them - they're called Cruizillas, like Bridezillas. Everything has to be absolutely perfect, or they just don't want to play.

I think we have something to learn from people in other countries. Just relax. Tone it down a notch. Spend a little time just enjoying your friends and your family. Do it manana. Have another beer (tequila, vodka, schnapps) and add a little spice to your life. Life wasn't meant to be perfect, but we were meant to enjoy it anyway. Dance in the rain a little. Just try not to trip and break your nose over that bump in the road, 'cuz I don't know if you'd enjoy a trip to a hospital in a foreign country quite as much. That's one place where the "sanitized for your protection" part might be kind of nice. But otherwise - relax. Have some fun, and don't worry so much about the bumps in the road...

By TwitterButtons.com

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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Altogether Outdoors Camps

My dear sweet friends over at the SITS Girls are having an extra spectacular giveaway. You see, Tiffany, the head SITS girl is the Director of a kids camp, so they are offering a chance for not one, but two kids to go to a gorgeous camp in beautiful Colorado (Denver or Boulder).

I've been to three of their live events (so far!) and I've had such a wonderful time with them, I figure it's about time I gave my son a shot at it. Or maybe one of my four grandkids, since there are a number of different options for kids of differing ages.

The awesome Colorado camp options

Overnight Camp in Colorado {1 or 2 week sessions, depending on dates} with AO Camp is an amazing experience for your 7 to 16 year old. Nestled in the Collegiate Peaks of the Rockies, AO Silver Cliff Ranch offers campers opportunities for adventure, friendship and fun in an environment with spectacular views and natural features. Campers choose from many activities and work with their cabin group to build skills and teamwork. Campers can explore their interests through exciting activities, including horseback riding, rafting, rock climbing, hiking and backpacking, kayaking, mountain biking, fine arts, filmmaking and performing arts. Wow. What an opportunity for the tween or tween in your life to spend a wonderful week in the mountains of Colorado.

Denver Summer Day Camp: 5 & 6 year olds {1 week session}
In each one-week Denver Junior session, campers have fun making friends and connecting with their counselors and nature. The highlights of this intentionally planned program include: hiking, fishing, teambuilding, crafts, stories and camp songs.

Denver Summer Day Camp: 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 year old {2 week session}
Spend a wonderful two week making friends and trying new things. With amazing natural spaces to explore – the National Wildlife Refuge, Eldorado Canyon, Morrison Nature Center and more- its will be the adventure of the summer! Small groups and great staff mean close connections, friendships and learning in our 2-week sessions.

Boulder Summer Day Camp Juniors 4.5 to 6 years old {1 week session}
In each one-week Boulder Junior session, campers have fun making friends and connecting with their counselors and nature. Based near downtown Boulder, these young campers are outside as much as possible, including trips to Open Space and Mountain Parks, State Parks and the Spruce Pool. The highlights of this intentionally planned program include: hiking, fishing, teambuilding, crafts, stories and camp songs.

Boulder Summer Day Camp ages 7, 8 , 9 10, 11 years old {2 week session} With beautiful Eldorado Canyon as their backdrop, campers have fun connecting with each other, their counselors and nature. Throughout each two-week session, Cabin Groups work together to choose much of their daily schedule from an intentionally planned list of age-appropriate activities. Activity highlights include hiking, climbing, kite flying, crafts, music, swimming, and team-building games for campers of all abilities.

The camp are run by Altogether Outdoors {AOCamps}. I took a quick tour of the website, and it looks spectacular. Their motto is More Friendship, More Nature, More Camp, which I think is awesome! Summer camp has always been a big part of our lives and I think it's a defining experience of your kid's childhood. I can't remember a summer when I wasn't sending one or more kids to camp and they always had a terrific time! This guy here is the champion camper of them all. He went to 3 different week-long church or Scout camps last year, and probably will go to that many again this year. The beauty of it is that he gets to go and do his outdoor thing as much as he wants and I get to stay home in my air conditioning!

I love that AO Camps puts a lot of focus on showing the kids a great experience. They have a lot of activities like singing around the campfire and skit nights as well as team building exercises. They also have a Leadership program that would probably be a good fit for my 14 year old wanna-be leader. It leads right into an opportunity to help out with some of the programs as a Jr Counselor at some of the day camps. That's pretty cool. They even have payment plans, which is something I've always hoped for, but haven't ever seen offered before.

I think having a chance to go for a camp experience like this with AO Camps would be such a treat for my son. It would be an experience that he would always remember and enjoy. I'd love for him to have a fabulous opportunity like this.

Disclaimer: I am entering to win a session of Colorado summer camp for a child at Altogether Outdoors from The SITS Girls!

By TwitterButtons.com

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Pages

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Clutterbugs: Taming the Paper Tiger

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Do You Think Your Teen is Awesome?

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Smart Money - The Fast Food Challenge

Monday, May 21, 2012

Smart Money: Let's Talk Warranties

Friday, May 4, 2012

Americans are Weird, or Unique, or Something...

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Altogether Outdoors Camps

The awesome Colorado camp options

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