I am definitely working on paying more attention to what is presently happening around me, and not my phone. I’ve been stuck in “always available” mode for work since 2000 and it’s beginning to wear thin. I would love to say that articles like this one finally woke me up, but honestly, I think I’m just plain exhausted. If you aren’t close to hitting rock bottom, maybe this article will help you acknowledge that you too are a distracted parent.
distracted slash crazy mom
Posted in i heart automation, Idiot Box, Kid Approved, One To Grow On, Well Beings
Tagged addicted to mobile, distracted mom, workaholic
From DaveRamsey.com:
Saving money is not a matter of math.
You will not save money when you get that next raise. You will not save money when that car is paid off. You will not save money when the kids are grown. You will only save money when it becomes an emotional priority.
We all know we need to save, but most people don’t save like they know they need to save. Why? Because they have competing goals. The goal to save isn’t a high enough priority to delay that purchase of the pizza, DVD player, new computer or china cabinet. So we purchase, buy, consume all our dollars away or, worse yet, go into debt to buy these things. That debt means monthly payments that control our paychecks and make us say things like, “We just don’t make enough to save any money!” Wrong, wrong, wrong! We do make enough to save money; we just aren’t willing to quit spoiling ourselves with our little projects or pleasures to have enough left to save. I don’t care what you make—you can save money. It just has to become a big enough priority to you.
If a doctor told you that your child was dying and could only be saved with a $15,000 operation that your insurance would not cover and could only be performed nine months from today, could you save $15,000? Yes! Of course you could! You would sell things, you would stop any spending that wasn’t required to survive, and you would take two extra jobs. For that short nine months, you would become a saving madman (or madwoman). You would give up virtually anything to accomplish that $15,000 goal. Saving would become a priority.
The secret to saving? Focused emotion. The secret to saving money is to make it a priority, and that is done only when you get some healthy anger or fear and then focus that emotion on your personal decisions. Harnessing that emotion will make you move yourself to the top of your creditor list. Ask yourself, “Which bill is the most important? After tithing, who should I pay first this month?” The answer is you! If you tithe, you pay God first, then yourself, then everyone and everything else, you will never save money.
The advertisers and marketing community are affecting our emotions every day and taking every dollar we have by making us see our wants as needs. It is time for this to stop! Emotions make great slaves, but they are lousy masters. No matter how educated or sophisticated we are, if we are not saving all we should be, we are being ruled by emotions, not harnessing them as financial planning slaves.
So whether you are saving for college tuition, a trip to the family reunion, new school clothes for little Bobby or Sally, or anything else, start saving now! It’s never too late!
Think you should haggle only when buying a car or shopping in the streets of Morocco? In this recession, if you’re not bargaining for everything everywhere, you’re needlessly draining your wallet. According to the consulting firm America’s Research Group, in October, 56% of consumers said they had recently tried to negotiate at retail outlets other than car dealerships. Of those hagglers, 50% got deals. When the company repeated the survey in May, 72% of consumers said they had tried to haggle, and a stunning 80% were successful. “What you can do today is unbelievable,” says Herb Cohen, an expert dealmaker and the author of the 1980 classic You Can Negotiate Anything. “Americans may finally learn that price tags weren’t put there by the big printer in the sky.”
Read the whole article, with haggling tips, here at Time.com: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1913774,00.html
It’s been “something” watching excerpts of the hearings for Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. You don’t have to be a Democrat to know that her “wise Latina” remark is not the problem at hand. To those that oppose her nomination, Sotomayor perfectly personifies further threat to the status quo (Obama was a big one).
I completely understand narrowing in on controversial statements she’s made for the sake of raising questions about her ability to be impartial. I even understand taking what she’s said out of context so that it fits nicely into the argument to discredit her. That’s all part of the good fight. And all is fair in love and war, or Supreme Court justice nominations, right?
Wrong. What I do not understand is the complete disregard for the fall out from all the race baiting. Forget bipartisan tension – that’s nothing new as of late. What is completely unforgiveable to me is the blatant disrespect for the very sensitive topic of racism. A painful issue that is still fresh ever since the ’08 election, with seemingly increasing rumblings of discontent from hate groups and organizations. What we’re watching is a group of powerful white men systematically calling a Latin woman an angry racist, incapable of upholding the rule of law. Day after day there’s new footage and transcripts with the most shameful attacks on a nominee who by all accounts is going to be confirmed pretty easily given the number of Senators who support her. I am not highlighting any of the attacks, they are depressing and you can find/hear them easily on the news.
You don’t have to be a pundit to see that this is and was a complete failure of a strategy from a party that has suffered more than enough blows already. Sonia Sotomayor is absolutely going to be confirmed, and then we’ll only be left with the added fuel to an already tense racial climate. Time will only tell how trying to scare white folks about this “radical Latina” plays out. God bless us all.
Posted in Idiot Box, One To Grow On, Uncategorized
Tagged nomination, sotomayor, supreme court justice
I have to take a break from price comparisons and food tips to talk about what is dominating today’s news cycle; South Carolina’s Gov. Sanford’s marital infidelity. As all of us shake our heads at what seems like sheer foolishness we have to acknowledge that this is a very real nightmare for everyone involved right now. I think what bothers me most about these public sex scandals is that this was all completely avoidable. This isn’t breast cancer, a kidnapping, a tragic car accident. Gov. Sanford made calculated choices that are destroying his family. This wasn’t what you call a “mistake”.
What is a little different about this case is Gov. Sanford seems visibly torn about what he’s done even though he’s lost almost everything in one short week. He doesn’t seem at all over this mystery lady. If I can see that and I don’t even know him, his wife will certainly see that he’s acting as if he’s made a huge sacrifice by leaving this other person and returning to his regular life. So I’m thinking this marriage is over. Anyway, all the best to the two of them and their children.
Just a friendly note that if you are thinking about having sex with someone while you are currently married…umm…DON’T! It’s really stupid, damaging and incredibly humiliating. Take a look at Sanford’s face in the picture above. He’s in hell already.
For full story details see the update here on CNN.com.
