Wednesday, September 22, 2010

We're number 11! Huh?

Here's a post I'm sharing from Chuck Colson. I love listening to his spots on Family Life Network's radio station. I may not always agree 100% but I think this is a good reminder of why our country is so down and some motivation to help us get back up. I hope folks listen to what he is saying. There is a link to a NYT op-ed piece in Mr. Colson's article titled "We're No. 1(1)!"-good read! Have great day!

Here's the link to the letter from Chuck Colson:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Report-from-Chuck-Colson.html?soid=1103374268266&aid=Zgswg3VPPa0

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Progress, how to save a dime and a giveaway!

Progress is putting books away ON A SHELF!
Progress is actually filing papers IN A FOLDER!
Progress is RECYCLING recipes you will never make!
Progress is GETTING RID OF magazines you will never read again (or maybe even the first time)!
We are MAKING PROGRESS!

See? I promised to write about how I am doing with my paper purge week and I am! How cool is that?

Well, it's not like my house was totally overrun with papers, it's just that my dining room table always has piles of various sorts. Whenever we need to use the table, the piles get relocated, but never really dealt with. And sometimes those piles never make it back to the table but somehow new ones grow in their place. It's amazing how fast paper multiplies.
So, I'd say I have half of the stuff off of the table and into proper homes today. I have to confess, I didn't spend the whole day doing this. I was only half-hearted about it really. It was just too nice outside and I rarely have the energy to get out of the house with the twins so today we went to the park. It was a glorious day!
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Part 2:
Ok, so how to save a dime, or maybe 3160 of them to be exact. (That's 316 dollars in case you are taking your shoes off right now...)

If you have car insurance and own a home, you should look into contacting one of the online sites that compare insurance quotes for you. I did it through Swagbucks. They have an offers page where you can earn swagbucks for accepting an offer, which in this case, involved entering my information online for Einsurance. I earned a bunch of swagbucks and got A LOT of insurance quotes.

For me, Traveler's came in at the lowest rates, $300 less than my current auto insurance! I was all ready to convert my policy so I called my insurance company to cancel. Just for kicks I had them re-run my information to see if they could get my rate lowered. I didn't tell them what the Traveler's quote came in at. They BEAT IT by $16. That may not seem like much but it meant that I didn't have to switch carriers, fill out a bunch of paper work and set up automatic drafts again. The biggest benefit is that since I have been a customer for a while, I have accident forgiveness.

I don't think $316 is chump change so I am happy about this. It lowers my monthly payment about $30. And since I only "work" 2 days a week, every penny counts.

I actually did this last year and saved money again by calling my insurer and checking the policy rates. I didn't do it on purpose this time, thinking there was no way the rate would be so much lower than it currently is.

So, my question is, why wasn't my rate lower to begin with? Why do I have to shop around and then come back and ask for it to be lowered? My car certainly isn't getting younger or hotter and I haven't been in an accident or gotten a ticket. Shouldn't it go down every year, not up??? I don't get it.

Now I am getting a new policy on my home owners insurance also. The company I have been with for auto insurance came in with a quote that is about $150 less than our home owners inurance and we will also get a discount for having auto insurance with them. I am looking forward to saving around $500 a year total when all is said and done. Checking out Einsurance was certainly worth it for me! And now I have enough swagbucks to get a few Amazon gift certificates!

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Part 3:
The giveaway!

Ok, so it's not MY giveaway. (You really don't want what I have any how:)
I am really NOT savy about inserting a link into a blog so try this: Nutrition Class. Did it work? If not, copy and paste www.kitchenstewardship.com and look for the Real Food nutrition ecourse giveaway.

All this week, Katie at Kitchen Stewardship is giving away back-to-school items. Today's giveaway is a Real Food nutrition ecourse produced by the Food Renegade. You can find them both on Facebook also. Great places to find information about REAL FOOD. Like butter. MMMMmmm butter. And bacon. MMMMmmmmm bacon. I am SO into this right now.

If you homeschool or if you just want to learn more about nutition, this course looks like it would be great. You can read a sample chapter of the book it is based on first. There is also a link to a detailed course description. Enter to win a FREE course! Then again, I want to win, which is part of the reason I am posting this. So if YOU win, you have to fill me in on all of the gory details, ok?? Good luck!

So for tonight, I am signing off. God bless you and goodnight!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The worst blogger on earth...

So, one of these days I will learn to be consistent! Maybe when the babies are older and my laundry is caught up and I don't have to cook breakfast/lunch/dinner and the dishes do themselves and I catch up on the gazillion emails in my inbox... Wow! How do these women make time to blog every day? And do all of the things they are apparently doing???
I bought a "MomAgenda" planner to help me pull myself together. But I still lug around a big black "Miche" bag along with my purse for all of the books and notebooks and music I seem to be incapable of being without. I bought two blue plastic boxes in order to organize my bill paying "system" (I call it that lightly these days) and there they sit on my table next to the box that they were supposed to replace. I need to put "write to do list" on my "to do list!"
It is painfully obvious that there is no product/system/gadget/book, etc., that is going to get me organized or purge my clutter or fix my diet and my waistline. I was reading tonight on the "Small Notebook" site about purging papers and getting rid of things that seem impossible to get rid of, like every card your grandmother gave you. Seems reasonable. And prudent. Expecially given that the paper clutter is my husband's biggest complaint.
I refuse to believe that I am the only paper "addict" out there. In fact, having been a homecare nurse for 14 years, I know for a fact that I am not. In fact, compared to some folks, I am immaculately clutter free! (kind of like "relative morality?" -but we won't go there now....) But that is no excuse. I really must put on my big girl panties and get to work!
First things first-this week is officially paper purge week! I will have three days to do this. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday will be my paper purging days. AND I WILL BLOG ABOUT IT EACH DAY. To prove that I am serious, I just entered it in my "MomAgenda" planner, ha! It's the first thing on the page. If I knew where my camera was and could get the darn thing to upload photos, I'd show you. Maybe that will be on the agenda next week. You'll just have to "listen" to me for now. Use your imagination. Engage your brain!
Anyone else addicted to paper? Want to start a support group?
My first project will be the dining room table. And I promise to take a picture before and after like she did on Small Notebook. Eventually I will post it. Pinky swear.