Goal Updates

It is not officially summer here in the northern hemisphere but the hot midday temps and the afternoon thunderstorms sure do make it feel like the monsoon season.  As a result, this week has not been very good about Goal #2: getting off of Pepsi.  Luckily, World Market is having a sale on all iced tea and dispensers until the 10th this week, so I picked up some of that nice Thai iced tea but went down a few doors to Gordman's for the dispenser.  And then promptly broke the dispenser within the next hour!  It was only $10 and the directions/box did NOT say in bold lettering "Not suitable for hot drinks!"  I think you can guess what I did to break it.  Needless to say, I will continue to brew my tea in my thermally suited container and will properly dispose of the broken glass container.

As for Goal #1: Getting my ass out of debt, I have been only half faithful to that cause.  I am still paying all of my minimum payments and putting all the extra money I am making from Swagbucks, about $50 a month, toward my credit card with the highest interest rate. 

Side Note: Swagbucks is a way to earn digital dollars, or swagbucks, for doing stuff you normally do on the internet: searching, making online purchases, watching videos, playing games and more.  You get swagbucks for activities you complete through their site and then can redeem them for electronic gift cards.  Most major retailers are on their site, including but not limited to, Amazon, Walmart, Target, Paypal and so forth.  I mostly redeem my swagbucks for Paypal and generally make between 100 to 200 swagbucks per day.  This amounts to $1-$2.  Small, I'll grant you, but at the end of the month that is roughly $50.  And who couldn't use and extra 50!  Promotional plug: sign up through this referral and we both win - you get extra income and I get a measly 15 points (or $0.15) for signing you up.

What I am not doing very well is budgeting nor keeping my debt the same; meaning, I am still occasionally charging things to my card but usually small things.  I am thinking that this next paycheck I will try to be more diligent about my spending and try not to go to Savers.  

And I am also going to focus on completing more projects.  Originally I had planned to focus this summer on amassing a large number of sewn products that I make for the store I work at but it is taking longer to complete them than I had planned.  I make an assortment of canvas totes, tumbler and tea cozies.  Currently in production are the tumbler cozies.  I have 54 covers sewn with 21 covers cut and waiting to be sergered.  Here's a pic of what some completed tumbler cozies look like and the tumbler they fit. It is hard to see from this picture but the tops have draw string closure.

The worst part is living in an apartment complex, meaning that there are restrictions on when I can operate the loud machine (no cool morning hours slaving away) and times in the afternoon when I don't want to work as the room is too hot.  I have open-able windows which are difficult and awkward to close not to mention living next to an open, sandy lot...lots of dust and sand is a headache to deal with...hum, feel like I am beginning to whine and moan here.

Back to the point!  

So when I do need a break from part-time job #556, I think I will try to work on all the other sewing projects I want to get to.  I think this will also help keep the work fresh and less frustrating, as there will be something else I can turn to.  Kind of like the way Diana Gabaldon works on the Outlander series: when one place is blocked, she works on something else, always keeping the writing flowing.  And boy do I have a lot of projects!  More than when I started this blog.

Considering of changing some of the tabs at the top to reflex these new goals...Considering a lot of other things too, like getting some of that Thai iced tea out of the fridge now that I have killed my third Pepsi of the day!  (Yikes is right.)

New Goal #2

Anybody who has known me as family, friend, coworker or enemy, knows that I have a Pepsi addiction.

I know that soda is in no way, shape or form good for you but when I need caffeine or something cold on a hot day or am really stressed I have reached...okay, I still reach for a Pepsi.  Ten plus years ago, I was having two full cans (12 fl oz, 38 mg of caffeine, 41 g of sugar) a day and thought that was bad.  Then recently I met a guy who would wake up each morning and go to sleep each day with a Pepsi, as well as drinking it throughout the day!  I like Pepsi but cannot stomach it for the first four or the last two hours of my day.  It just tastes too much like syrup.  I don't abstain from drinking water, milk, juice or tea throughout my day...I just...I have an addiction.

Here's the damage:

These days I try to keep my intake down to two mini cans per day.

This is 7.5 fl oz, 24 mg of caffeine and 26 g of sugar per can.

Cost-wise, the damage to my pocket book is as follows:

1 8-pack of mini Pepsi costs $3.00 (no tax).

Assuming an average 30-day month, if I drink 2 mini cans per day, that is 4.5 packs of soda per month at a cost of $13.50.  (I don't even want to think of the dental cost/damage I am incurring!)

In a year, I would consume 54 packs of mini Pepsi, or 432 cans, in a year - spending $162, minimally.  Not including the five days missed in my "average year" nor leap years, or the times when I drink more than 2 mini Pepsi.  Nor the times when there are special sales, like 2 8-packs for $5.00.

That is $162 on soda alone!

Solution:

Replace soda with tea or other healthy fluid.

I have tried to decrease my caffeine consumption in the past but always fall off the wagon.  So I should try replace or substitute a can of soda with something of similar caffeine content until I can completely free myself of soda.

Yerba Mate, which is not officially tea as tea is from the Camellia sinensis plant whereas mate is from the Ilex paraguariensis plant (same family as Holly), has 85 mg of caffeine per 8 fl oz generally, depending on the mate variety.

Black tea, or red tea as it is referred to in China, has 40 to 120 mg of caffeine per 8 fl oz.

Green tea has approximately 25 mg of caffeine per 8 fl oz.

White tea has about 28 mg of caffeine per 8 fl oz, though the amount may depend on the plant as white tea is plucked from the unopened bud of the tea plant.

Oolong tea uses the bud and first 3-4 leaves of the tea plant, resulting in about 37 mg of caffeine per 8 fl oz.

Rooibos and honeybush are cousins in the Fabaceae or Leguminosae plant family and are naturally caffeine free, as is the Hawaiian plant Pipturus albidus, aka mamaki, mamakii, mamake or waimea.

Coffee leaf tea, a new "tea" made from the leaves of the coffee plant has about 12 mg of caffeine per 8 fl oz and being offered by Wize Monkey.

In order to get my caffeine fix for the day, approximately 48 mg, I could have one cup of white or oolong tea and a cup of coffee leaf tea.  Plus all the rooibos or honeybush I like.  

Part of the reason I like rooibos and mamaki is that I can "over steep" them and not get a bitter taste nor do they need anything extra to taste great, such as milk, sugar or honey.  Maybe I just need to train my brain to think that it has what I need when it really doesn't.  Then again, that could back fire and I end up the next day drinking 4 mini Pepsi!

I would still be spending money on drinks but at least there would be greater benefits to my health.  Switching out drinks is going to be interesting and take some time.  Might even be a lot of time.  Good thing there are non-grocery tea stores in town!

Now I just need to find my cup of tea!

Reference: www.caffeineinformer.com

New Goal #1

Hello Again World Wide Web!

I have tallied up my expenses for this first quarter and boy have I come out of my economic slump!  Now it is time to refocus and readdress the financial beating unemployment took.

Here's the damage:
Credit Card 1 - $1600 - 12%
Credit Card 2 - $6000 - 11%
Student Loans - $26400 - 6.8 to 2.3%
Total - $34000 Yikes!

(Yes, that is how much in debt I am!)

Solution:
The stack method of debt repayment looks to be the fastest and least costly in the amount of interest paid.  

How does it work?  

Start with paying all minimum payments.  Any extra money you can spare you put solely toward the loan with the highest interest.  When you have paid off that first loan, the minimum that you paid toward that loan, plus any extra, goes to the next highest interest rate loan.  Still paying all the minimums.  So the third highest interest rate loan will (eventually) be paid with the minimum interest of that loan, plus whatever the minimum amount of the first and second loans were AND the extra, spare money.  Continue this process until all loans are payed off...or you win the lottery!

My minimum payments are around $420.  If I could swing 50 extra dollars per month, it would take me 7.5 years!  (Ugh, I will be 40 and living at home.)  Interestingly, $100 more per month only relieves 10 months of payment, taking 6 years and 7 months to pay off all the loans.  To get anywhere near 5 years, I would need to pay $200 on top of the minimum $420.

Looking at my expenses, and still being on a part-time salary with part-time hobby, I think I could swing this and still start rebuilding my retirement and emergency funds.  I really don't get out now, like for theater movies and such, nor do I have the time, so maybe I will try this for the next three months.  Wish me luck!

Others plans in the weeks to come...

Enjoying Bourbon Street Vanilla Rooibos nearly every night!

Reboot in Safe Mode

Holy Cow! 

I get a part-time job with a part-time paid hobby of creating bags and just look at all the people who stopped by!  I hope they found something useful.

So, yeah, working and creating coupled with the usual winter weather flu...then everyone at work getting sick, has meant little time for anything else, let alone the 1000 of things I want to accomplish.

Of the items I set out to do, I think getting to about half of them when you are depressed and anxious over money and life concerns, is not too bad. 

• 18 of 30 Recipes
• 13 of 30 Sewing Projects
• 06 of 50 Books

I think this year I will work on more character building traits. I still let my emotions control my actions, resulting in poor financial decisions, less than positive thoughts and a poor self-image.  This kind of struggle really needs serious devotion and will be a lifetime of re-configuring my ingrained poor habits.  It is not going to change over night.

Here are the areas I need to improve upon, in no particular order:

1. Quite Pepsi - This addiction has been with me for over a decade and at least now I am down to 2 mini cans (7.5 fl oz/222 mL).  I think this is roughly 4 cups of what Americans black tea.  I am trying to replace Pepsi with tea...which has been rough but also insightful.  Blood orange rooibos, without sugar or milk, is divine!
2. Financial Recovery - Being unemployed for more than a year wrecked my tiny savings and general outlook on life.  My hope is that the recovery, getting everything back into the green and decreasing my debts, won't take more than 3 years to accomplish.  ...I just need to figure out how to get there.
3. Stop Being a Lazy Ass - The no work depression lead to me not getting out much, at all, not for socializing or exercise, and as a result of the latter, I now lack muscle definition in my legs.  Ugh, when did I become so complacent?!
4. Set Smaller, Monthly Goals - The larger goals are necessary but with my general lack of discipline right now, I need to not worry too much on the big, big picture items and just start moving on something.  Even if I change those goals, at least I will be focused on something.
5. There's More - I'm sure but there is more than enough to start with right now.

So, yeah!  I will probably be changing things around but hey, where would be without change?