Book Review: The 60-Minute Money Workout by Ellie Kay

Finances can be fun!  I know a lot of people don't agree with that statement, but the author of this book shows that it is true.  If you are struggling with issues like budgeting, planning for retirement, debt, travel costs, saving for college, starting a home-based business, charitable giving and just communication with your spouse about money, then this might be the book for you.

Ellie Kay uses humor and bite-sized assessments and tasks to help you get your personal finances in order.  She emphasizes spending only an hour at a time on the various topics so that you don't get overwhelmed.  Money personality assessments are included to help you figure out why you act like you do with your money.  I enjoy the sense of humor blended in with these topics which can be heavy and stressful to think about or discuss.  A favorite amusing line from the book is when the author relates telling her daughter, "Badly done, Bethany!  Badly done." in chiding her for a bad decision (if you don't recognize this, it's from Jane Austen's "Emma" and it made me laugh out loud).

To summarize, this is the book for you if you want to figure out how your finances got to be in the condition they are, how to talk to other family members about those finances, and how to "fix" those issues which have been plaguing you.

I was given a copy of this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Press in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews are available on Amazon and Multnomah if you'd like to rate them.

Paint Fumes have Gone to my Head

Stir.  Tape.  Dip.  Brush.  Roll.  Brush.  Drip.  Groan.  Blot.  Wipe.  Repeat.  Endlessly.

Why haven't I been blogging for a while?  See the above.  That's what I've been doing.  If you've been reading my blog, you know that we are getting ready to move to my in-law's house next door.  We've been painting our old house and our new house.  Wanna see?  No?  Too bad.  It's all I have to write about write now, so lookie here...

We started with "the back room" at the old house.  Isn't it funny how we name rooms?  At the White House they have the Red Room and the Lincoln Bedroom.  I think we'll have to be more inventive at the new house.  I'll have to think about that.  So, the back room is now White Raisin.  That's the color, we don't actually call it the White Raisin Room.  That doesn't even have a good ring to it.

 My father-in-law is rolling away to help.

 Then comes the girl's new room in the old house, which used to be our room in the old house.  It's Interactive Cream with Steamed Milk trim.  Maybe we should call it the Dairy Room or even the Moo Room.  Bekah helped paint this one.  Fortunately, we didn't have to do trim, just walls.  Everyone loves the serenity of this room when they see it.  We plan to repeat the combo in the new house-- maybe in the hallway and maybe the den or whatever we end up calling that room and maybe in the main bathroom and laundry room.  I really like this restful, neutral palette.

 Then, this is my own age-spotted hand painting the trim in David's new room in the old house, aka the Man Cave, aka the guest room, aka formerly the girl's room.  I dumped together two shades of blue to cover the violent turquoise.  Katie mourned the passing of the violent turquoise.  She loved it so.  David mourns the passing of his original room into our hands after he moved away.  He still calls this room the girl's room even though it hasn't been for two years.  Anyway, I did this project myself in little pieces and it took me about three long, ridiculous weeks.

 Then Bekah & I painted David's old 1950s bed to go with her new room in the new house...

... and many sets of shelves for use in the new house.  The paint color is a beautiful soft green shade called Hazel.  I love the color, but I don't agree with the name.  It should be something like Seaglass or Springtime or Cool Trickling Green Water.  Okay, maybe I shouldn't quit my day job (painting) to name colors.

 Wayne gets into the act next, working on painting the Big Room, aka the Living Room, aka the Family Room at the new house.  It is also White Raisin.  The back room at the old house was simply a trial run to see if we liked the color.  We did and we do!

 I don't have many pictures of me working on all these projects, because I'm usually the one taking pictures.  I've been wearing the same clothes for every project, so I should probably frame my painting pants as a memento, since they are liberally splashed with every color we've used.

 Here's my good friend, April, wielding a brush in the new girls' room in the new house.  Yes, we painted over a brick fireplace.  This is the primer.  They don't name the variety of white in primer.  I'll call this Snow Blindness.  We primed the walls and ceilings in three rooms that weekend.

See, that's my same outfit, only covered with a sweatshirt this time (there was no heat in there).

 Then there was the top coat on ceilings and walls.  Ceiling White on the ceiling.  Paper Lantern on the walls.  Isn't that a weird paint color name too?  It sounds like it should be white or off-white.  It is actually a lovely pale yellow that April says should just be called Butter.  Yep, she came back to help paint again-- a glutton for punishment, but oh so appreciated.

 Hazel as aforementioned, adorns the bathroom walls.

And also hazel on the bedroom trim.  Notice the lights and floors and heaters in there now?!  Maybe by next week I'll be able to give you step-by-step before and after pictures of this basement transformation.  So, yesterday we painted trim and doors after filling a couple of hundred nail holes.  And Wayne also painted the cement floor of the Exercise/Storage room, but I forgot to take pictures of that.

This is all to explain why I haven't blogged, haven't written thank you  notes, haven't returned phone calls and emails... you get the idea.  I'll try to do better.  If not, merry Christmas to all!  Those colors are easy to name.  Holly Berry and Evergreen.  There you have it.

Enough Already

Have you decided how much is enough?  This question is extremely practical.  The answer is extremely informative to your home, your life and your well-being.
A couple weeks ago, I was in the middle of sorting out my jars.  I didn't even realize it, but I had become a jar hoarder.

A friend stopped in while I was in the middle of this process.  Upon seeing my extensive counter top display, she asked incredulously, "What are you doing with all those jars?!!"  I replied helplessly, "I don't know."  You see, I didn't realize I had that many jars because I just kept jamming them into the nooks and crannies of cupboards willy-nilly, because I could never be sure that I would have the exact right jar for a particular jar need unless I kept all of them.

Now, you have to realize that I am big on not keeping unnecessary stuff.  I even like to help other people declutter.  I am always asking, "What are you going to use this for?  How many of these do you really need?"  So I asked myself the same question.  I decided I needed a little box of jars for paint odds and ends (you know-- that little bit of paint left in the can that you want to save for touch-ups).  And I figured three plastic shoe boxes full of jars for the kitchen should be sufficient for any storage situation that would come up.

 I relegated one of these three boxes to the basement for future paint needs.

 I kept two boxes of cleaned out peanut butter, mayo and jelly jars and one box of various sizes of canning jars.  The rest of the canning jars went to the attic to await future canning projects.  The remaining glass and plastic jars went into the recycling bin.

Now the best thing is that I have enough jars, but not too many.  When I need a jar to store some cafe mocha mix that I just made out of instant coffee, instant milk and Nesquick, I know where to find it.   When I empty out a salsa jar, I immediately know whether I need to keep it (to replace my cafe mocha jar) or recycle it immediately.  Easy!  And now my lazy susan isn't running over with unnecessary jars.  By the way, don't you just wonder why lazy susans are called lazy susans?  If my name were Susan, I would be offended.  None of my friends named Susan have ever commented on this matter, as far as I can recollect.  If you want to read some nifty info about these revolving wonders, check out this article:  Who was Susan, and was she truly lazy?.  

Now THIS is some Lazy Susan!

Anyway, back to "enough."  I used to have too many shoes.  I got rid of some and now I have enough.  I currently don't have enough chocolate.  I never have enough time.  Although, I really do have enough time, I just have too many activities or obligations or desires for my 24 hours each day.  The question is how many hours of work are enough?  How many social dates are enough?  How many meetings and clubs and sports and TV shows and books and facebook and emails... are enough?  God told Moses to tell the people to gather enough manna for one day.   Listen to this from Exodus 16: 
 ¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Each one had gathered just as much as they needed.
 ¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
 ²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

How embarrassing.  Lazy Susan or Samson or whoever was trying to get out of gathering manna the next day, or was afraid the provision wouldn't be there.  I want to learn my lesson.  I'm not going to hoard jars, because as I use them up, I betcha more will appear (like manna!).  Let's keep asking asking ourselves, how much is enough?  The answer might surprise you.

This picture has nothing to do with jars or enough or anything.  It's just a cool plastic container called a cup-a-cake with the specific purpose of transporting a single cupcake in your lunchbox.  After all even jars can't be used for everything!