Life Under Construction:
Happy Friday, fair readers! Do you ever dream of reliving your glory days in college? You know, skipping classes that start before noon; writing papers until 4am the night before they’re due; pretending you’re not completely hung over when you write your finals. Just living the dream.
Next week I start school. I’ll have to figure out what being a student is going to look like. Maybe I’ll regress and start whining about homework, eating Kraft dinner and turning our bathtub into a keg stand for my “off the hook” parties. Rocking and rolling, here I come.
Then again, maybe not. I’ll keep you posted on my college student metamorphosis, my dulcet darlings.
On to other news…
It’s been a good week so far with my Weekly $50 Entertainment Spending Challenge. Cutting my entertainment budget in half is forcing me to be more intentional with the way I spend my time and money.
Here are some of the things I have done this week and have planned for next week:
I signed up to volunteer with an election campaign for the Calgary mayoral office. I like Naheed Nenshi for re-election because of this and this so I wanted to support him. It will also be a great way to do something meaningful with my time without spending a lot of money. The volunteer orientation is held next Tuesday, September 3rd.
The husband (Phil) and I went on a date night on Thursday. I signed up for a mystery shop so Phil and I could go for a free dinner at a nice restaurant and then to a free movie using Scene points for a ticket. The whole evening would have cost over $80.00 without the mystery shop and free ticket and only came to $25.00 afterwards. I paid the $15.00 for the extra on the food bill and my husband paid for my ticket.
I spent a lot of time blogging this week. Blogging is my hobby. I recently read an article over at becoming minimalist on 15 reasons why I think you should blog and it really helped me look at my blog differently. I love writing, reading, and interacting with my personal finance community. It’s something I enjoy doing. This was simple for me until I made some money in advertising. Then I got weird. Suddenly, I was creating my very own pressure cooker of site traffic stats, SEO strategies, and Twitter follower numbers. With all the extra stress I was putting on myself, it was becoming harder to like what I was doing.
Worrying about that stuff is over now. I want to appreciate my blog for what it gives me: a fun way to do something I love; learn new financial strategies for my life; and meet some really cool people. The hosting charges cost $30 a month and beyond that, blogging is free. I might make money from it sometimes but that’s just icing on the cake. The really important stuff is already being accomplished.
Sweet Savage Link Love:
Here are some posts from around the net that I had to share:
DC at Young Adult Money shares his thoughts on 5 Ways to Stay Busy at Work
GMD from Girl Meets Debt keeps it real with Confessions: My Not So Frugal Habits
Debt Blag shares his wise decision in My landlord says she’s never seen it before
Jordan from My Alternate Life talks about debt-fatigue in I’m Sick of Paying Off Debt
Thrifty Dad shares some amazing news with Our New Baby Girl
Matt from Mom and Dad Money talks about how to Accomplish the Important Things in Life By Holding Yourself Accountable
Cheezy Romance of the Week: Task Force Bride
Something about Hope Lockhart fascinated Officer Pike Taylor. The cop and his canine companion had been patrolling the neighborhood around Hope’s bridal shop for months, trying to capture the criminal who targeted her. Was it the way she hid her voluptuous beauty beneath a plain Jane exterior?
Hope bore the scars of a troubling past. And despite a profession steeped in romance, she’d never known the love of a man. But when Pike is assigned to protect her by posing as her live-in fiancé, his tenderness may give Hope the courage to open her heart for the very first time.
Thus concludes another chapter of Sweet Savage Love goodness.
Photo Credit: By Landii [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Back to school! whoo hoo! I think I’d make a terrible student these days. I’m so bad at reading even for fun anymore. When I monetized my blog I worried about all that stuff at first too, but then realized I just need to first enjoy the blogging part, and whatever happens after that happen. Take it back to why you started in the first place! Thanks for mentioning my post on Debt and the Girl!
Hi Tonya, thanks for stopping by! I read a lot but I don’t think that’s going to translate to boring textbooks. I’ll have to see how it goes.
It was amazing how quickly I shifted when I got my first advertising contract (that whole two months ago). I just got weird and immediately wanted to monetize EVERYTHING. Or something. Hopefully I’ll behave myself and stay on track with the enjoyment thing. Cheers!
Good luck going back to school! 🙂 I just started Wednesday. Ironically, I am more motivated to work on my thesis now that I have class/teaching/internships to worry about… I think I’m a glutton for punishment.
I love the positive outlook you have on your blog. We all need to take time for the things we love!
Oh that’s cool! Are you doing your graduate degree in English as well? I find that I do my best if there’s other “stuff” going on – like you with your classes, and teaching etc. Good luck with your thesis, that’s a big project!
And thanks! I like to keep it lighthearted and positive – things just flow a lot easier when people are feeling good about what’s happening around them.
Wow, college feels like so long ago, but in terms of time and lifestyle. It’s definitely a different world. My guess is your experience will be just a little bit different this time around.
Like the others, I like your perspective on blogging. I’ve been feeling more internal pressure to ramp up on making money as well, or just get more/better traffic, and I think it’s definitely important to remember why it’s enjoyable. If you lose sight of that, it’s just another job.
Hey Matt, college was a long time ago, wasn’t it? I’m keen to start classes, it’ll be nice to use my brain like that again.
Blogging is a lot of fun but I see all these people who make a living off of it and I want to compare myself to their success – and I get competitive. That kind of creates problem because I don’t have time nor the inclination to do this full time. I’ll have to keep reminding myself what the blog means for me and leave it at that. Cheers buddy.