Sites You Should Check Out

It's a gorgeous day in March out there.  It's supposed to get up to 65 degrees this afternoon, which is just lovely to think about.  You may wonder:  "What is she doing sitting inside blogging when she could be outside in that beautiful day?"  I wonder the same thing.  Here's the view from my window which is not nearly as good as actually being out there feeling the sun and breathing the fresh air!!

But I have several blog topics floating around in my head and one of them must surface...

"Putting technology to work for your spiritual health." That's the topic of the day.  Sounds very uninspiring!  Let's try again.  "God uses the internet to impact lives for His kingdom."  Probably old news.  God is much more up-to-date than I'll ever be.  In our house we call it "being hip to the jive."  Well, maybe not everyone in our house calls it that, but I do.  How 'bout this:  "Lisa just found some cool new websites that she wants you to know about and use too!"  There you go!  And.... here they are... tada!

1.  goTandem.com  I heard about this website on the radio one day, jotted it down and promptly forgot about it for a few months.  I recently "joined" it and it has some amazing features.  "goTandem encourages spiritual growth through daily Bible engagement." That's what they say on their website and it's true!  It's image is that of a tandem bicycle because they are "riding with you" on your spiritual journey.   When you sign up, there's a couple of questionnaires to fill out (isn't questionnaire a cool word?  It sounds like a good name for a car or a spy or something.  Try saying it in a mysterious, breathy voice.  Really.  Try it out loud.  It's fun!)  Anyway, once you complete the questionnaires, you can sign up for various notifications.  Emails, texts, or even phone calls from real live people!  These emails, etc. are on Biblical topics personally geared to your own needs (ascertained through the questionnaires).  They will deal specifically with issues you struggle with and come in the form of a short scripture with thought-provoking questions, Bible studies on various topics and scripture passages, and people's insights on topics.  It's extremely well done and can be tailored to just the amount of info you want.  The idea is to keep you focused on spiritual things throughout the day.

2.  Echoprayer.com  This is a great tool.  Simple to use.  Effective.  Just what I wanted.  I found this as I was searching for an online prayer journal.  There are many, many out there to choose from.  I liked the simplicity and effectiveness of this one.  Here's what they have to say for themselves:
Pure and simple, Echo is a tool to help you pray more diligently.

 1. You create a prayer list
 2. You set times throughout the week for reminders
 3. Echo emails or texts you one prayer at a time from your list

You can set reminders for specific prayers or random ones, and get them as emails, text messages or both.

How many times have you forgotten to pray for someone that you didn't want to "forget?"  You set the time of day (as many times as you want) for the reminders.  Very effective.  Like I said.

3.  YouNeedaBudget.com  This is exactly what it sounds like:  a budgeting program.  Wayne & I are teaching a class at church on family and personal finances which prompted me to find a good budgeting program to recommend to people.  I wanted to find something free (since obviously people are trying to save money if they are coming to this class) and I spent HOURS researching and trying out different things.  Some were too invasive (I don't want mint.com to have all my passwords to my bank account and credit cards).  Some were hard to use.  Some were ugly.  Some were stupid.  Some said they were free, but they really weren't.  I'm not bitter or anything, but it took me a while to find this one!  Anyway, YNAB has a free month trial period, then you buy it for $60.  A lot of other budgets have a monthly subscription price that you have to pay as long as you are using it.  YNAB is a one-time price and they won't ever "make" you pay for an upgrade.  They even give you a free upgrade if they come out with an updated version within 6 months of your purchase.  That's a good deal.

Anyway, here's what I like about "YouNeedaBudget"...  it is forward-looking and pro-active, rather than just analyzing  what you've already spent.  I've been using Quicken for a couple of years and it does have budgeting capabilities, but it has never been very helpful.  YNAB uses some sound financial principles to help you PLAN AHEAD and put your money to work to accomplish what you want.  You just have to check it out and see.  They even have free, live webinars to help you get started.  If you need a budget (and everyone does) try this one.  It's not free, but I believe that it will more than pay for itself through its effectiveness.  Oh!  I don't need this feature, but it also has apps for smart phones.  And forums and blogs and manuals... lots of help even though it's already easy to use.  Love it!

There you have it.  I hope you enjoy these sites or similar ones.  I've found them to be very helpful and just wanted to share.

P.S.  allrecipes.com is my favorite recipe site.  Maybe I'll write more on that another time.  :)