I haven't posted for ages, mainly because my life has been really crazy for the past couple of months. I have been trying to juggle a dozen quite seperate and quite demanding projects and I'm not doing really well with any of them.

Today I decided to sort out and prioritize what's important and drop or put aside the rest in the interest of doing my best on a few projects instead of doing so so (and bringing myself to the point of exhaustion) on everything.

Here's my list...

1) My health. This is my top priority so I will sleep eight hours a night, exercise every day and eat as healthy as possible (with an occasional splurge on coffee ice cream).

2) My finances. This is my second priority. I need to get my debts (credit cards) paid off, then my car then my house. I really need to concentrate on both increasing my income and decreasing my spending.

3) College. I've decided to go back to college in the hopes of becoming a naturopathic physician. I took one chemistry course this summer just to get my feet wet (it's been 20 years since I was in college) and I'm realizing that this learning stuff takes ALOT of effort. Since I'm paying for it, I need to do as well as I can. Good news...I got a scholarship that will pay for my next quarter of college

4) My business. This is where my income comes from so I need to give my clients the best possible work that I can. I plan on selling this business when I attend medical school so I can use the money to support myself while I'm in school so I won't have to work.

The things I will need to cut down or cut out include travel (costs a lot of money and directly conflicts with priority #2), volunteering (I volunteer about 20 hours a week with various causes; this time would be better spent on priority 1, 2, 3, and 4), writing and websites (my hobbies that, while they bring in some income, are very time/labor intensive).

Well now that I've vented I better get back to studying for my chemistry final

Long time no post. It's been a weird few weeks. Decided not to get divorced. Decided to go to medical school. Believe Im in the throes of a midlife crisis...may need to call Oprah or Dr Phil but for the moment I need to figure out how to a. pay off my debts ASAP, b. pay for medical school (I dont want loans that I will be paying off forever) and c. feel centered and grounded in my life. Someone pass the Prozac.

Over the last few days I have really been in a cleaning/organizing mood. Each day I pick a room to tackle (the size of the room depends on how much work I have scheduled for the day--slow work day=bigger or more complicated room such as the kitchen, busy work day=closet or smaller less complicated room like the guest room).

Yesterday I cleaned my bathroom. Scrubbed it from top to bottom, took everything out of the medicine cabinet and tossed the old, outdated medicines, cruddy loking ointments, etc. Cleaned out the linen closet and refolded all of the towels, tossed the raggedy towels into the workshop bin, and tossed a whole tray of old makeup (for some reason I hate to throw away old makeup when I buy new stuff so the old stuff, which I never wear again, just takes up residence under the sink).

Next I made a list of everything that needed replacing (cold medicine which was three years out of date, a flapper valve for the toilet tank because it drips incessantly) as well as things that need to be stocked to carry this room through the next six months (toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc).

I do this to each room about every six months so that I never run out of things. I will keep an eye on the list I made so when shampoo comes on sale I will stock up, and also when floss goes on sale I will know that I DONT need it. Unfortunately I'm tempted to buy stuff when it is on sale regardless of whether I need it or not. I have eight containers of dental floss which I really didn't know I had...guess there was a sale some time back and I got carried away.

Yesterday hubby and I went to a baby shower for our friend's daughter-in- law. Although the gift set me back over $75 it was a once in a lifetime experience because the guest of honor is a famous singer (we're talking sold out concerts, on TV, Mariah Carey soul diva type famous) in the Philipines so it was an honor just to get to attend. BTW dinner and entertainment was included so I guess it was a very good deal overall. Today I spent the entire day writing a bunch of reports for work so didn't spend at all today. Tomorrow need to get gas. I can remember when $10 would fill the tank, now it's more like $40

This has been one of the busiest weeks on record for me.

We fitted 525 elementary school kids with bicycle helmets today. Now I can look at a kid from 20 feet away and automatically know their head size

It's been a crazy busy week so far. Meetings every day (and most of them are FAR so I've been using a lot of gas). Work everywhere and lots to catch up on but I miss reading everyones blogs the most. Anyway, whenever work gets crazy I seem to spend a lot more money (more travel expenses, more eating out expenses, etc.). I'll get back on schedule next week and (hopefully) resume my miserly ways...

Boy...read through these last few days of blogs and it certainly appears the planets aren't aligning correctly. Hopefully after the full moon on Saturday, all will be well again.

Expenses today: $1.50 for hot chocolate on the way to a meeting this morning; $986 for the cell phone bill. Told the almost ex-friend that he better pay up for the cell bill but Im not holding my breath. Of course after I called to cancel the phone and paid off the bill, the guy on the other end of the line said "now that the bill is paid up are you sure you don't want us to reactivate the phone?" ya gotta be kidding.

Good stuff: nice catered lunch at a meeting, two hour ride to the meeting with a client (so I didnt have to use my gas), a check came from one credit card company--I will use this to consolidate two smaller bills onto this card with a lower interest rate then pay it off next month.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow...

OK...let's see...I can barely remember what all happened today but I know it wasn't good.

Started off having to unravel the mess the hackers did to my webhost's server.

A pretty huge deal for one of my clients that looked like a sure thing basically disintegrated before our eyes.

Another client needed to put together a document for me ASAP and has been promising it for four days. He swore it would be done today. Then he called at noon and said one of his employees injured himself so he spent the rest of the day in the ER with the guy.

Let a friend use my credit to get a cell phone (its in my name but he pays the bill) and last month's bill just came and it is $785 (for ONE MONTH)...friend recently lost his job, has no money and probably not a prayer to pay this bill so guess who gets to pay. BTW I cancelled the cellphone--thats a $200 cancellation fee (note to self and anyone else consideing such an idiotic thing...don't co-sign, dont "help people out" with financial things. Obviously if they have such crappy credit they cant qualify there is probably a pretty good reason why they are in that situation; no use messing up your own financial situation as well).

Wanted to deliver a bunch of stuff tomorrow to an office which is two hours away. Luckily I am riding with a client so it will save my gas, unluckily she insisits on driving her 'Vette which the stuff wont fit in and doesnt want to drive her other car which (BTW) gets better gas mileage than the Vette. Vette is a convertible, I hope it rains tomorrow.

An argument with the hubby pretty much capped off my day.

Total expenditure for today: $3.40 for a Starbucks Green Tea Frappucino...I figured I deserved it.

Some idiot hacked the server that hosts most of my websites. I didnt loose any money but I did loose hours this morning repairing the damage. ggrrrrrr
Maybe someone can come up with a virus that attacks the computer that hacks someone else's system??

OK...after reading everyone's blogs last night until the wee hours of the morning, I woke up truly inspired. Everyone here is so positive (and wise!). It's great to find a like-minded community of people who are doing their best to save money and not trying to out-do everyone else by spending as much as possible. Yeaaaa for all of you!

Money saving tasks so far this morning: did laundry (full loads, half the recommended amount of soap and using only half a dryer sheet per load); went through the Sunday paper with a fine-toothed comb and wrote down all of the sale items I may buy this week as well as cut coupons for things I usually buy (I haven't done this since college. Does anyone else get a rush when they find an item they use on sale and then find a $2 off coupon for said item in the next section? I may not need caffeine this morning !).

I'm going to start recording all of the great free/bargain things that come to me. I read somewhere that when you are open to it, the Universe will shower you with lots of great stuff that you don't even ask for. Last month I wrote down these items for a week and they included: a new client, a free lunch at a restaurant grand opening, a friend treated me to lunch and a client gave me a brand new laptop as a bonus--even the hubby was speechless over that. I can't wait to see what this week brings!

My financial goal for this month is to pay off a credit card which has a balance of $2136.71. Amount of money I have for this goal so far--$10. Ouch!

Have a great Sunday morning everyone

Wow...Ive never actually "blogged" before so this is a first for me. I came upon this site through links from a half dozen other sites, but when I read through other's blogs, I figured this is where I belong Super savers just like me do exist! My challenge for the month of May is to pay cash only (except for bills which I will pay with a check) for everthing I buy. So far so good. In just a few days I have realized that paying cash for my wants and needs and only using the cash I have with me saves me a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY! Estimated saving so far this month--$150 approximately.