My Addiction of Choice

Seriously these things are as addictive as crack...not that I have ever tried crack but when I see addicts I wonder how they can let themselves get addicted to whatever their drug of choice is...as I'm walking away with my green tea frapuccino :/

According to PubMed, the "crack-like" feeling of addiction is not far off..."Caffeine acts as an antagonist at adenosine receptors, thereby blocking endogenous adenosine.  Functionally, caffeine produces a range of effects opposite those of adenosine, including the behavioral stimulant effects associated with the drug.  Importantly, caffeine has been shown to stimulate dopaminergic activity by removing the negative modulatory effects of adenosine at dopamine receptors.  Studies suggest that dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens shell may be a specific neuropharmacological mechanism underlying the addictive potential of caffeine.  Notably, dopamine release in this brain region is also caused by other drugs of dependence, including amphetamines and cocaine."

tldr: these things are addictive (and an expensive waste of money!).  Now if I can only stop ordering them...

More Shopping...

Ugh...I may have to try for a No Spend February as this isn't going to well for January.  On my walk I thought I would just duck into Ross.  I had seen the bag, above, there last week for $30.99 but thought it was too expensive but when I went today it had been marked down to $20.99 so I grabbed it...so much for our no spend month.

Daily update

• Walk: 2 miles (911 miles to go!).  
• No spend: Today we spent $49.25.  $6 at the $1 store (2 pizzas, potato chips, mini marshmallows, junior mints, potato chips, rice crispy cereal); $4.08 at the $1 store (hubby's trip there--2 pizzas, nail polish, junior mints); $10 at the 99 cent store (2 lbs spinach, pepperoni, bagels, 2 pizzas, 5 packs of candy); $29.17 at Ross (a cute bag to carry my walking gear when we travel--see above--and some cute underwear).
• Update this blog: yes
• Update client's blog: yes 
• Photo: yep
• Genealogy: about an hour of research done.  When I first started doing research a few years ago I used FamilySearch.  I am amazed at how many new records they have added since then (like millions and millions more records so now I can go back through my old records and add even more updates).
• Writing: one small section, I don't feel inspired to write at all but so many writers point out that you should always write something as that something can be edited where as a blank page can't be.  Wise words I'm sure.

I Spent A LOT of Money Today

Like I said yesterday, our "no spend" month kind of fizzled out...  I went to Best Buy and found a floor model side-by-side refrigerator that would be perfect for us.  Fortunately the price was dropped from $1099 to $699 and it will be delivered for free.  And since I was spending money with abandon, I decided to pick up a couple of TVs that were on sale as well.  I was thisclose to buying a new washer and dryer set but they wouldn't give me a better price (since I was buying so much at Best Buy I wanted even more of a discount but they wouldn't give me a discount so I just got the fridge).  I used my (quickly unfrozen) credit card for these purchases so I can get some additional cash back; I figure I will pay this off with my earnings from this month and next month before I get a new washer and dryer (since our washer and dryer are old, I was pretty amazed at all of the new bells and whistles on new machines).  Ughhh  I am so done with spending money.

Daily update

• Walk: 2 miles (921 miles to go!)
• No spend: Total spent today $1299.68.  $45.95 for gas, $18.39 at Ross (shower curtain and ear buds to listen to music when I walk), Target $432.38 (2 32" TVs for the guest rooms), $759.68 at Best Buy for a refrigerator, $1.67 for a donut at Dunkin Donuts (expensive!), and $30.80 at Albertsons (2 lbs pasta, 2 jars pasta sauce, potato chips, 2 cans tomatoes, 18 eggs, 1 lb pork, 4 lbs chicken, bundle of chard, 2 lbs strawberries, 1 lb turkey, 1 loaf French bread). I almost forgot, we had Subway for lunch--$10.81.
• Update this blog: yep
• Update client's blog: no, I will do a post tomorrow because we were so busy today
• Photo: yep
• Genealogy: a bit of research on one person 
• Writing: a couple of paragraphs

It's Raining Jobs...And Other Info

So I carted myself over to the Dollar Store today (it's only a 15 minute walk in the sunshine which was awesome!).  And they hired me!  It sounded like the manager was trying to talk me out of working there but I was super excited about working and the manager gave me the job ("are you sure you want to work here, it's seasonal...are you sure you want to work here, it's only part time...are you sure you want to work here, we only pay minimum wage..."  Yes, Yes, and Yes).  So I start next week.  I'm not sure if it helped that all I put on the application was "self employed" and "office work" for work experience because hubby said that if I put my actual work experience down they wouldn't hire me.  And it worked, so I may do this if I apply for any other job as well.  It sounds like the job is only part time and seasonal so they may not keep me after Christmas but like I told hubby, any money is good money because I WANT TO GO ON A CRUISE!  So my goal this month is to gather up enough money to book a cruise and pay for the airfare to get to and from the departure port.
Then when I got home from getting this job, a lady from another job that I applied for almost six months ago called me to see if I was still interested.  It was for a school crossing guard position and it sounded interesting--two hours a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, helping kids cross the street before and after school, and they pay $22 a hour!  So I told the lady I was still interested and have to go in for an interview on Wednesday.  It would be great if I could do both jobs!
Hubby is just shaking his head over the whole thing.  He can't imagine why I would take such jobs but it totally makes sense to me--I don't want a business (too much work and requires 24/7 attention) or a "good" job that has a lengthy hiring process and lots of stress (office politics, high pressure, etc) when I may quit because we want to head out and travel so these kinds of simple jobs, even if the pay isn't good, are flexible enough for me.
Now I am inspired to hammer away at making enough money to accomplish at least two of my four goals for 2013--going on a cruise and riding my bike from Canada to Mexico.  I am really trying to convince hubby to let me rent out our two guest bedrooms on AirBnB which would bring in even more income but so far it is a resounding no--he doesn't want strangers in our house and he has heard horror stories about CraigsList so, um, no way.  So far.  I'll keep working on him.

On a kind of related note, I read this post on Carla's blog which, aside from paying for the things to reach my goals, is pretty much the only reason I am working.  The hubby and I can live quite well on only his income but there always seems to be things that come up (like the *newest* cell phone, and *new style* purse, etc) that I want to spend money on.  I've pretty much got over upgrading to every new item that comes down the pike but there are still things I want.  My cell phone, for example, is a very old style and while it does what it is supposed to do--make calls, make text messages, access the internet albeit very slowly--I really want a new Samsung Galaxy S2 phone (especially now that Walmart offers a $30/month plan.  That's what I pay now and I wouldn't be paying any extra with this new phone but I have to pay full price for the phone since it isn't on a contract).  Plus I want to buy hubby a new phone, and treat him on our anniversary...and there is always something new to buy.  But at least I am not as bad as I used to be with buying the latest styles, the most expensive purses, the newest technology, etc.
And then I read this post which kind of summed everything up.  And while I have pretty much stopped shopping, I haven't given it up completely so I do still need to make some money and I am looking forward to earning enough money to buy a few of the things I want (once I do this, I then want to save up enough money to pay the few bills I pay each month--cell phones, grandson's school, etc--for a year and put it aside in savings).

10 Things I Like to Splurge On

While I am usually pretty careful with how I spend my money, I occasionally like to splurge. Here are ten things I don't mind paying more for:

1. Real maple syrup.
2. Purses (Coach and LeSportsac mostly)
3. Notebooks (I have a paper fetish and love beautiful notepads and notebooks)
4. Baskin Robbins Blast (more expensive than a comparable Starbucks drink but sooo tasty!)
5. Higher end candy (especially quality dark chocolate and imported black licorice)
6. Quality shoes (Born, Keen, Ryka, etc)
7. Pilot ink pens (the only kind of pens I use)
8. High quality sheets and comforters (I'm super picky about this and require 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets along with a down comforter with cotton comforter cover...no polyester!)
9. Travel (we tend to be bargain basement travelers but travel more often than most people)
10. Occasional experiences with other people (it makes more sense to take all of the kids on a cruise than give gifts they won't use/will get rid of soon, I would rather treat friends to lunch and the museum than give them a gift card...I like to give memories!)

Well that's my list of splurges. These are the things that mean the most to me. What do you splurge on?