Spending fast

Okay. Here are the requirements for my "modified' spending fast.

(Side note - The idea for a spending fast first came from Anna over at And Then She Saved. Check it out. She has great tips and ideas for saving money and getting out of debt! She paid off thousands of dollars of debt in her first year of doing a spending fast.

• I have to save. save. save. I work hard for everything that I have and I'm of the mindset that if I have the money and if all my bills are paid and my affairs are in order, feel free to spend money...usually, that results in me spending money on clothes that I certainly don't need and on fast food that I most certainly don't need. So, I'm doing a saving guide that I found on Pinterest at the beginning of the year (that I don't feel like looking for, just know that I didn't come up with the idea lol) - basically you save a certain amount of dollars equal to whatever week of the year that we're in. So the first week, you put 1 dollar in a jar, savings account, etc., and the second week, you put 2 dollars....and on and on until the last week of the year when you'll put in 52 dollars. It totals up to 1300 and some change. It's a good way to save a nice chunk of change, so here we go!
• I can only go out once a week...to some that seems like a lot for a spending fast...but I have a group of friends from school that usually grabs lunch after class...and I don't want to have to bail on them all the time. That being said...once a week means once a week, so if I go out to lunch on Monday, I can't go out for dinner on Saturday...if I eat out on Monday, I can't catch a movie with them on Friday night...and so forth. 
• No money on CLOTHING at all. for any reason. I have PLENTY PLENTY PLENTY to get me through YEARS without ever buying anything.
• No shopping. except for food and needed personal items.
• I'm also going to look for a parttime job to save some extra cash. I'm thinking of either setting up a profile on Nanny.com and babysitting on the weekends. Or getting some type of server job, which I think would be really cool, since I've never been a waitress before and I feel like it's an important coming of age job lol.
• No iTunes purchases.
• No Redbox rentals (except for my free coupon that comes once a month! Yay for freebies!)
• ....and anything else that I might think of later.

Here's to saving money! Woohoo!

Before time gets away from me, I figured I should write down what I'm hoping to accomplish in twenty-thirteen. I haven't set hard goals...I, like most of America I'm sure, don't do well with hard goals (yes, yes, I'm lazy, privileged, comfortable..none of which are crimes, are they?? lol). Instead, I just came up with some things/actions that I would like to begin and/or do in the new year...which I guess are hard-set goals. I guess I'm trying to psych myself out...and I'm okay with that. Here are my not hard-set goals -

1. Spending fast, of sorts - My sisters and I did this for a few months last year and Dehli and I are going to do it again this year. Unlike last year, I have no credit card balance or large bills or anything to pay off (sans my car and student loans...but everything in its season lol) but I want to take some pretty wicked vacations after graduation next summer. That being said, I will be participating in a modified spending fast...which I guess means I can't call it a fast, but whatever lol. I'll be describing my criteria in tomorrow's post.

2. Work out - 

- I have two apps on my phone. 0 to 100 push-ups and 0 to 200 sit-ups that I want to conquer. I started last week and I can already feel improvements. The apps have three work outs per week to build your endurance. So far so good!

- I also want to run a 5k this year. I did one last year...but I didn't train and I had to walk a bit. I have another app on my phone to help me build endurance and learn to pace myself.

3. Spend more time getting to know God. He deserves far more of me than I give him.

4. Blog more. Self-explanatory. I usually do really well in the first part of the year and then quickly trail off.

5. Sleep more. I want to be in bed no later than 1030 every week night (Sun-Thurs). I have an alarm set on my phone to further remind myself of the goal.

6. Keep on top of my school work and get more A's this semester than I did last semester.

7. Finish reading the Bible through. I'm on track to finish the New Testament this week, in fact. But I want to read the OT straight through. I've read a good chunk of it...but I tend to jump around, purposefully avoiding some (*cough cough* Deuteronomy...lol)

What do you think? Any tips? What are your no hard-set goals for 2013?

What 2011 taught me...

As the new year begins, I thought I'd share a bit of what I learned during 2011.

- People may pretend to be your friends but they may also have nothing but evil planned for your life. Be careful who you trust and who you allow into your life. You may one day regret it. But also find the genuine people and keep them close.
- Jealousy is a dangerous, ugly disease that will eat away at a person's life and completely destroy everything good in them. Never allow a person's successes or talents to cloud your vision with envy and jealousy...instead allow it to be a motivator for your own life.
- Sometimes you can mess things up so bad that they can't be restored. You can't undo mistakes and you can't force someone to forgive you...BUT, I also learned that if two people were so willing to forgive and move on and mend things, any relationship or friendship can be rebuilt...stronger than before.
- NEVER step on people when they are down...you may need them in the future when you are down and they are up. Instead push the people above you higher and reach down to help those below you up to your level.
- God will fight your battles if you allow him too...He will do a better job vindicating you than you could ever imagine doing on your own.
- You never know what people are facing in their own lives...so don't be so quick to judge. Just because they're smiling doesn't mean they are happy...Be kind to everyone, it might help.
- That boy you first loved...yeah, you'll always love him. It just may never be the right time to tell him or to act on those feelings ever again no matter how much you want to. It was a painful lesson to learn but one that was necessary. Once I began praying for God to work it out if it should be worked out, the load I was carrying got much lighter.
- My family will always be there for me. No matter what. No matter how I behave or the things that I say and do...they will love me and care for me and have my best interests at heart. No matter what path I take, they will back me one hundred percent.
- I can do all the things that people say I can't. God's given me talents and dreams, things that people can't take away from me just because they don't like it...I might take detours along the way but I'll end up exactly where He's wanted me all along.
- Love is everything. Love solves everything. Love is all that you need. Love makes the world go round. If everyone loved and loved honestly, the world would be a much better place. Love is sooo wonderful. Haha gushy and sappy but so so true. Love is powerful.

Well...here's to another year of lessons learned. Happy New Year's!