My Little Blue Toolbox

The Toolbox

People talk about getting ahead financially as if it were a race or a game, but I don’t think that is accurate. A race implies that participants start at a set place and have to cover the same distance. A game has rules and instructions that all players agree to follow in order to reach the stated goal. Financially speaking we clearly don’t all start with a set amount of money in life and we don’t have the same end result in mind to identify the winner. Some people are born with advantages that others can’t even fathom. Advantages that put them far ahead before the gun fires to signal the race has started. If getting ahead financially were a game then some players received the rules in advance while other obtained the instructions in a language they do not understand.

race

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The BIG 50

So I have a confession to make but don’t tell anyone. I am in the last week of my 49th year on this planet. Yup, I will turn the BIG 50 in May! I remember when my mom turned 50. The neighbors had a little get together for her and someone announced her age. She was mortified. When I was in my 30’s I always joked with my friend’s daughter that I was still a teenager. Then I bought a house and she came to me with a sly smile and said “You can’t be a teenager”. When I asked why she laughed and said “teenager’s don’t buy their own houses”.

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Cardinal Companions

I was spending a few minutes on Facebook recently and a friend had posted something about a cardinal spending a lot of time in his yard. He felt it was a visit from his mother who had passed away several months ago. I had never heard of this before so I did what any curious person would do, I promptly forgot about it and went about my day.

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Do What Makes You Happy

Get Happy!

My sister (child#1, daughter #1) commented to me the other day that my blog was starting to sound like a self-help book. I took this as a compliment! I used to scorn self-help books, thinking they were just for people who, well needed help. Then I hit a point in my life where I needed help and I turned to the library and a whole shelf of books that offered help. I wanted a change in my life but I didn’t know what to change or how to change, or how I would handle change.

I lot of books offered the same type of advice that sounded a bit like this. Figure out what makes you happy and do more of that. Pretty basic, simple advice that certainly doesn’t sound like rocket science but it pretty powerful all the same. A lot of these books also say follow your passion but I didn’t know what I was passionate about. So I focused on what made me happy. Continue reading “Do What Makes You Happy”

No Excuses

Excusitis

We all have really awesome, amazing days where everything goes according to plan. We check off all of the important items on our to do list, we make the phone calls we have been putting off, we remember it is our turn to cook dinner. We all also have those days where everything we touch seems to break, everything we say seems to hurt feelings, everything we do seems to go wrong. We are all human and this is just part of the human experience.

I have met people throughout my life who take personal responsibility only on those days that go well. They accept credit for the success, they proudly smile and nod their heads at the acknowledgment of a job well done. However when it comes to taking responsibility for those bad days where everything goes wrong, they are nowhere to be found. They have excusitis. “It is not my fault”, I’m not the one you are looking for”, “I wasn’t here”, “blame so and so”, “I did my part”. I first came across the term “excusitis” in a book called The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. Don’t you think it is a great word? Continue reading “No Excuses”

Simple Pleasures

Simple Pleasures Rock!

My life used to be much more complicated than it is now. I used to commute 40 miles to work on congested Massachusetts highways, spending up to 1 ½ hours in the car each way. That is 15 hours per week sitting in the car. I had a stressful job, working on average 45 hours per week for a company that always seemed to be putting out fires instead of accomplishing anything. I had to travel an hour to visit my close friends and 7 hours to spend time with my family. Life was tough. Continue reading “Simple Pleasures”

2 Life-Preservers

Why do people allow themselves to get stuck in a rut? Why do people remain in that rut doing the same thing, day in and day out despite knowing they are adding to their unhappiness. Why do they ignore the life-preserver that is being thrown to them that can open the door to health, wealth and happiness? When given suggestions on small steps they can take to make life better, they think – yes that is a good idea but I don’t have the time or the energy to do that. Or, that might work for someone who doesn’t have kids or doesn’t work killer hours or doesn’t have debt up to their eyeballs. Continue reading “2 Life-Preservers”

Mother Fran’s Tips to Stretch The Food Budget

A few weeks ago I posted Money Lessons From Mother Fran and that got me thinking how much of my personality and how I approach life is rooted in lessons I learned as a kid. My parents grew up during the depression and saving, scrimping, re-using, and repurposing are second nature to them. I know I inherited this mindset as did my siblings although we don’t all apply the lessons in the same way. Continue reading “Mother Fran’s Tips to Stretch The Food Budget”

Change Starts With You!

Why did you fall in love with your spouse, partner, boyfriend or girlfriend? What first attracted you to that person? What characteristics did they possess that fueled your interest and kept you involved? You chose this person to be with and to love. Why?

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Money Lessons From Mother Fran

Money Lessons

I come from a large family, very large by today’s standards. My parents had 9 kids and we jokingly refer to ourselves by birth order. I am child number 8, daughter number 6. My dad was a cop and my mom stayed at home to raise her family. Looking back I believe she held many titles including Master Delegator and Chief Financial Officer. Dad brought home the bacon but mom was the one who made sure it was stretched effectively and distributed appropriately. She paid the bills, cut the coupons, made the shopping lists and took care of the budget. Continue reading “Money Lessons From Mother Fran”