Have a Better Life

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Some people are dealing with snow, others with rain, others with cold and I’m dealing with yellow pollen dust from the pine trees that surround us.

Leaving in a pine tree area can be very interesting. We wake up with the birds singing in the trees, we can hear the sound of the trees moving when it’s windy, it’s quite peaceful. But the other side of the situation is during Spring when the pine trees produce the yellow pollen that covers everything. I’ve got my windows covered with yellow dust as well as the balcony, the furniture, everything is always covered with the yellow dust.

The yellow pollen from pine trees can be very annoying specially for those suffering from allergies. Some people live terrible days during spring due to it. Of course this is something we have to live with, besides the allergies it doesn’t cause any other serious diseases like Mesothelioma. People with allergies just have to take their meds and hope that Springs ends (no Mesothelioma lawyers needed). For me, I must confess, what annoys me, is having to clean the house almost everyday to get rid of the yellow dust.

Today we had some rain that fortunately kind of washed everything, but let it stop raining and the yellow dust will come back again.

Saving money is the reality show of the moment. This new reality that is part of our world now make us do all the efforts to buy cheap, avoid unnecessary products, save energy, gas and water. We have to be prepared for the future, there are houses to pay, cars to be bought, kids need to have a steady future school program and we, the parents, are responsible to make all that we can to provide a good future to our kids and ourselves.

There are several ways to save money. Usually our fist thought is saving a percentage of our monthly but sometimes that’s not possible because the paycheck isn’t enough for the monthly bills, so how we can save when we don’t have enough?

Now here come some measures we can taken:

Start at our own Home

Saving money should be part of our way of life to make it most effective. It is best that the effort to save be shared by everyone in the family, even the younger members of the family.

Little Efforts

I work far away from home and on the way I have to leave my two kids in school so I can’t imagine my life without a car. Walking would be great if we were closer to work and school. Riding the bike would be a healthy alternative but with two kids it’s impossible. Sharing a car with friends and neighbors seems a great opportunity to save a few bucks but again it’s not possible. We all live and work in different parts of the city and there is no middle term.

Avoid the little temptations that may come my way. It is naturally fine to reward myself after a hard work every now and then, but staying away from splurging is the best .

Use Less and Save Energy

Electricity - I’m already used to turn off appliances that are not being used. Turning the Tv off is a little difficult, with so make channels available we always find a great program to watch.  The refrigerator is a struggle for me because the kids tend to open it an stare at the interior trying to decide what they want to eat. Energy saving bulbs are already being used in most rooms. They had an initial investment that I’m sure will be regained very soon. Sometimes they are offered as packages for the whole house and at sale prices.

Water - Avoid long showers – this one is difficult for me, the shower is the only moment I rarely have to relax a little and a few extra minutes are spent under water but I always try to be as fast as I can. My son loves to take a long shower so everyday it is a struggle to get him out of the running water. Don’t leaving the water running when brushing our teeth is something that I already educated my kids to do. We can save a few liters of water if the faucet is off.

Phone – My phone provider has a saving plan where we pay the same amount of money to every other providers. It’s really great. I don’t do long distance calls so I don’t have a special plan for it.

Gas - I have a membership benefits with one station. I usually fill up the tank when the prices go low and use all the advantages from the membership. Not having air conditioning in the car makes me save gas. I usually take advantage of open windows.

Small gestures can make a big difference when choosing to save money and the world.

January, February and March were are tough months. January one life insurance and six month payment to our Medical Clinic; February one insurance and one birthday party, March two insurances and one birthday party. The best part, the Mortgage dropped in March.

Birthday parties at home we are done for this year. It’s my 40th birthday this year but as usual there will be only a small birthday cake just for the view and that’s it. Insurances will repeat in June, July and September and sometimes I feel I need a POS system to control all these payments.

Vacation will be more a homecation (as usual), I don’t even know if we will have money to go away just for a couple of days.

The truth is I want to go away for at least a week to have a real vacation, but I know we don’t have money for that and having a swimming pool at home and the beach 15 minutes away I can say I’m very fortunate, so no complaining from me. I hope the weather will be great and the wind goes blow another place else.

Regarding the staying on the budget issue, we will keep trying.

This last week I’ve been a little away from blogging world because, besides having a lot of work in the office, I haven’t been having the help of my husband around the house. The reason is a very valid one, he is painting the living room.

We have been on this house for almost 9 years and some rooms have never been repainted. The living room had the walls with a lot of mold that cleaning and washing didn’t remove. It was a little difficult to stare at the walls day after day and do nothing.

Winter brings wet walls and mold and therefore the walls shouldn’t be painted, but the sun and warm weather makes that possible. We took advantage of a few shiny and warm days and decided it was time to paint the living room just in time for Catherine’s birthday party on Sunday. So this week, instead of my husband leaving work and pick up the kids at daycare, he went straight home to paint. Besides avoiding to pay a painter, I save some time searching for the the best diet pill for my husband. He really needs to lose some weight and painting is a good exercise for him to lose a few calories.

All rooms have white walls but for a long time we wanted to change something so, he is painting one wall of a different color. I’ve got the “before” photos but only tomorrow I will be able to take the “after” photos. I like the color but I must confess it is a major change. Of course now we need some decoration items to match the color of the wall but money is short so we have to wait to buy them.

The living room has again clean and beautiful walls. I will post photos as soon as possible.

One of the things I often regret is not having a degree. I finished official school (12 years) and I had to start working right after because my parents had no money to send me to university. I few years later I entered a private university but two breakdowns and lack of money made me quit on the second year. Then came the marriage, the kids and the degree was put aside.

Now that I spend a lot of time online I realize I could spend some of that time taking some sort of degrees or certifications online. It’s easy, I can do it on my free time and I don’t even have to leave home.

Working in an industry where leadership and a wide range of knowledge is needed I think that a Project Management certificate would be great. I checked it online and I found Saint Joseph’s University that has an Online Management Certificate Program. This certificate can be used in several fields like Engineering, construction, computer systems, etc. so it would be perfect for my job and for others I might apply for. With this Project Management certificate give us all the necessary information and skills to make us better professionals.

Enrollment can be done online or by fax and several forms of payment are accepted. For those that have a full time job, a family and house to take care of, taking a degree online is the best choice. I really need to think about this because having no degree really narrows my opportunities.

I haven’t be very well lately and that has been reflected on my blogging. Lacking of posts is something I want t avoid but due to health conditions sometimes I just can’t be on the computer.

I’m doing my physiotherapy treatments every week day, six so far and no improvements to my back pain yet. Last week I started a new medicine for a disease that is not always understandable and that I’m reluctant to speak about it. My life was turning into a miserable life and I really couldn’t stand it anymore, I’ve been there before so I know when I’m on the edge. I’ll write a post about it when I feel more comfortable with it.

I have a lot to post but my ideas are not in order, my head is completely lost when it comes to blogging. So much to write, so much to do and so little time as usual. I tried to-do-lists, a blogging planner,  but as I work, it’s difficult to find a way to keep the lists with me all the time. At home I take it to my room to blog then in the morning I forget it and I go to work without it. It’s tough.

I really need a PDA or a sophisticated cell phone where I can keep all my to-do-things. I’ve got my laptop but it’s not very handy to take in the handbag so I just wished a PDA or a Iphone could cost the same as MP3 players or DVD players so that I could buy one. Meanwhile I guess I have to find an organized way to organize myself.

It all would be much easier if I only use one computer and one desk but having to work in an office does not allow me to have everything in one place without carrying files and notebooks with me.

So, how do you organize yourself? Any ideas of a good method?

This is a gift a lot of men will love. Although it has not a very attractive appearance (in fact it looks like a barcode scanner to me) it can be very handy for a lot of man.

This is a Philips Norelco T780 Rechargeable Vacuum Trimmer with steelwave technology. This model is very easy to use, it has a great design giving a sense of comfort while in use. Another idea for a Valentine’s Gift.