How do you change your life?

After 30 odd years of living one certain way, how do you change it?  Do you attack it all at once?  Should you form a plan and take it a piece at a time?  These are questions that are currently plaguing me.  One of my biggest faults is a lack of patience.  I want everything NOW.  Perhaps I need to focus on that first?  Ya think?!  Anyway, this blog is going to be a way for me to achieve some type of change no matter how I attack it.  I hope that this will be a way for me to track progress and keep positive about what I want to do.  If I can remember to use it that is.  Another problem I have is a bad memory.  Well they say if you don't use it you lose it.  I think I will work on that one as well.  So now it is time to look for some ways to improve my patience level and work on memory retention.  Later....

Welcome to the emotional rollercoaster that is my life.

I am so bipolar!!!  This morning I am riding high on changing my situation by purging the "stuff" out of my home and life...((remember that))...Now I am sitting at the bottom of the emotional rollercoaster going "Awww man the ride is over!  My life sucks!"  What is wrong with me??  Well maybe I got it right in the beginning of this post.  Finding out if that is true won't happen anytime soon.  Doctors charge money for their services.  A commodity that I am a little short of at the moment.  Sorry.  I'm doing it again.  Being negative.  How do optimistic people maintain such a positive outlook?  Is it just natural or do they get a little extra dose of it during childhood?  The important thing for me is that I need to figure this out quickly or I will go crazy from the mental strain.  So...I guess it's time to pay attention to what is going on when I get negative and, alternately, when I get positive.  A little understanding of the causes will help arrange for different effects.  Isn't that how psychologists do it?  Find out what makes me tick and change it.  Talk is cheap!  You know the whole "talk the talk or walk the walk" bit.  Or "easier said than done".  Oops!  There I go being negative again.  Aaugh!  How do positive people do this!!!!!  When I quit smoking all it took was to throw the cigarettes away.  Basically I decided to just quit.  Why can't I "decide" to do this and just do it?  This is that same "comfort zone" crap I have been hearing about for years.  Who feels comfortable like this???  How can anyone feel comfortable being an emotional wreck all the time?  I certainly don't!  Enough of this garbage for now.  I have to think about this some more.  Ttfn.

YARD SALE TIME!!!! And other things.

This is my favorite thing to do.  Purge the "stuff" out of my house and life.  I have done this many times now so it is like second nature.  What it does for me and my peace of mind is phenomenal.  Going through all the things you have collected over the span of a year or more and getting rid of what is useless or unnecessary can be so uplifting.  Like taking a weight off of your shoulders.  And a perk is that you could make a little money off of the castoffs.  As the saying goes..."One man's trash is another man's treasure."  I've never tried selling anything when I did this before.  Usually I just take everything to Goodwill.  This time, however, I need the extra cash so I'll try my hand at selling this stuff.  Not to mention that the weather has been wonderful lately.  Perfect for yard sales.  Unfortunately, I work on the weekends, so this will have to be a Friday only yard sale.  Maybe I will spread it out over a few Fridays.  At least until the weather changes.  Hopefully this will be a success and I can put some money into savings.  At the worst it will give me something to do during the week.  And Goodwill can always use more stuff to sell.

On to other matters.  What is the deal with car insurance??  Why is it that I have the least bit of car insurance possible and it costs me so much money?  It almost makes one want to sell the car and ride a bicycle everywhere.  In fact I am seriously considering that very thing.  At least I could get some exercise while running errands.  Oh.  And I would save a fortune just by not buying any gas!  So why is it so hard to get rid of the car?  Well, one disadvantage would be that I wouldn't be able to take my daughter to school any longer.  Rainy days would make it difficult also.  The library would involve back packs and taking out less books too.  Oh and trips to Savannah would involve renting a car.  YIKES!  Not much fun.  I think this would be easier if I lived in Savannah or another large city.  Or even downtown here.  Closer to the action so to speak.  Actually, if the city would put in a bike lane along all major roads I would switch to riding my bicycle now.  It wouldn't actually have to be paved either.  A dirt path would be nice.  Anything that keeps you from having to ride on a major highway risking life and limb.  Riding my bicycle everywhere and other  things that I am implementing should help save a lot of money.  It would make my current paycheck last alot longer at least.  Well enough of this.  I'm off to start the "stuff" purge.  See Ya'll Later.....

On a more Positive note.

It has come to my attention that I may have been a bit negative in the previous blog post. Hopefully that attitude won't last long. It really isn't as bad as I thought. The worry is still there at the periphery, but I am ignoring it. Philipians 4:19 ~ And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus ~ is the only way I keep the worry at bay. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. is another good one to remember. My faith is being heavily tested lately and I have to remember these verses or I will succumb to the depression I feel creeping up on me.

Money Saving Time!!

Unemployment comes with a few perks. (At least for me it does.) My stress levels are WAY down. This is a direct result of coming closer to God. Keeping God's word in my heart helps me to remember that He will provide for my "needs". It is necessary to keep in mind that I wrote needs not wants. Now, I have actually gone to Webster's for a definition of both words and have made an interesting discovery. They both mean practically the same thing. Yes folks...need and want have very similar meanings. It is only the practical life application of each word that give them separate meanings. Need being things necessary for basic survival and want being things that aren't necessary but desired. So maybe we should be using the words needs and desires? Don't you just love semantics?.

Anyway. Now is the time for me to keep needs separate from desires and focus my money on the needs only. In that process I have learned to find alot of ways to save that money. Such as turning off my air conditioner and using cross ventilation to cool my house. It hasn't been pleasant for sure. My house has been pretty hot for about a month now. Luckily the temperature has dropped significantly and it has gotten much easier to do. Last month's electric bill with air conditioning was $284.22. This month's bill without was $132 and change. Not too bad for suffering 90+ degree temps inside the house for one month. Heating will also be used less this year. I have already purchased some extra blankets at the local Goodwill to keep the bedrooms warm while we sleep. The other living areas will have very low heat and we will all have to wear extra clothing during the day. It will be rough but at least I won't have to deal with ridiculous electric bills. The dryer will be handled by stringing up clothes line either outside or in the house. I'm not quite sure how that will work yet, but I am researching options.

Speaking of researching options, I have a garden planned for this spring. I planted one this year, but it wasn't as successful as I had hoped. I planted it pretty much as a learning experience so that when we plant one this spring we will already have made the worst mistakes. With those out of our systems, this next garden will be a better success and we can put up some of the veggies for winter consumption. That reminds me...I need to stock up on canning equipment as soon as possible. Now the only thing left is to speak to my landlord about keeping hens (no rooster) in my yard. That way I can keep as much of my money in the bank as possible. Let's see...veggies - covered, eggs - covered. That only leaves milk/dairy products and meat. Not too bad if I have to go to the store for those only. Wish me luck.

Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to Unemployment Land I go!!

How does anyone handle this? I only lost my job 10 days ago so I haven't been in this situation for very long, but unemployment is becoming a bit of a dilemma for me. I enjoy my new found freedom. My previous job caused me so much stress that I was gaining weight at an alarming rate and my hair was falling out in handfuls. All that has stopped now that I no longer work there. Unfortunately, the bills are starting to creep up on me and I don't know how I am going to pay them. Unlike some who put money into savings or some sort of retirement plan, I never seemed to have enough money to put away. And now that I see the value of saving I don't have the income to do so.

As for the job search, there don't seem to be many jobs that I am educationally qualified to apply for. Not to mention the really weird tests they make you take now. You know, the ones where they ask you the same questions over and over again in different ways to try to trip you up. I don't know about anyone else but I have a hard time remembering each question and my answer so that automatically rules me out. Oh! And by the way....you cannot be honest and pass that test either. They don't want honesty. They want someone who says what they want to hear. Somehow that doesn't seem to be a good thing at all. I miss out on gainful employment and the employer misses out on a good employee. How many others have the same problem? How many otherwise qualified people were denied a job because some dink decided this questionaire was a good idea? I think a lot of employers are missing out on some excellent employees because of this garbage. What ever happened to the face to face application process? I don't recall there being anything wrong with that process at all. The employer got the basic qualifications and determined if you were eligible for the job by those alone. Now you have to have a psych evaluation before you even get to apply. The rest is what training and probationary employment are for.

And who's idea was it to send jobs overseas????? I would like to find that idiot and kick them in the shins. There certainly are enough people in this country (USA) looking for gainful employment and most would be willing to work no matter what the pay. I know I am. Right now I will take a minimum wage job and find ways to live within that. When it comes right down to it the only needs I have are shelter, electricity and food. I can find ways to get along without the rest. It would be rough, but I could do it.

Someone let me know if I am wrong. I don't think I am, but I'm certainly willing to listen to a differing opinion on the subject.