Happy Easter and a Little More

March 31, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Happy Easter everyone! We don’t do much around here to celebrate, but I figured there is no reason for a big blog post since most people are off celebrating. For those of you who are around, I rounded up some posts for you to check out:

1. I updated the giveaway page here at AGOF.  Find all of the current giveaways here.

2. Sister site A Goddess of Literature wrote a review on the classic War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. <pssst> Tell her Happy Birthday while you are there.

3. If are looking for a new smartphone and want in on a beta plan, you read more over at Finger Click Saver.

4.  This post from So Over This was the best one I read all week (and I read a lot). If you are like me and not sure where you “fit” in the blogosphere, don’t miss the post! (I think I may have to officially label myself a debt blogger.)

5. Stage iv posted The Wheelchair Caper.  Jessica’s survival story is inspiring.

6. If you are looking for an affordable blog conference be sure and check out Trash Can Bloggers. A full conference pass is only 70 bucks (individual courses are as low as 10 bucks!). It starts tomorrow (4/1). If you are worried about timing, no need, there are self-paced sessions available. Even if you don’t blog, there’s a work from home session available.

 

Filed Under: miscellaneous

Savings Saturday-Financial Goals Quarterly Update

March 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I announced my 2013 goals at the end of last year. Here are the quarterly updates for those goals.

Car loan: $13692 (was just under 15k)

Credit card debt: $712.99-This started at $1452 (the original post says $1352, but it was a typo). I paid off one card with my taxes and am aggressively paying down the second card. I plan to have it paid off by August when my students loans come off deferment.

Savings: $490-This is still pretty pitiful, but considering it started near zero I am happy with the progress. I also have additional savings for the taxes I anticipate having to pay for my business next year. Any of that money that doesn’t have to go to the IRS for 2013 taxes will be used to pay down the balance of the car loan. I currently have saved $130 in that account.

Online income: $1525 for March -My ultimate goal is $1800, but this is well above the $1200 I had said I had to make to supplement my overall income and make my budget. Of course, I recently purchased health insurance, so this increase helps pay for it. So going forward, I really need to make $1500 online to keep up with the added insurance costs.

Student loans: Still on deferment

ROTH IRA-Still making my measly $25 monthly contribution,but as I said before something is better than nothing. Current balance: $3709.80.

How are you doing with your goals? Are you satisfied with your progress?

Filed Under: debt, savings, Savings Saturday Tagged With: , ,

Frugal Food Friday-Gorton’s Seafood Challenge Review

March 29, 2013 By 18 Comments

(Please see the giveaway at the end of this post)
In our home, every Friday is fish for dinner. Therefore, I was pretty excited for an opportunity to review Gorton’s products for the Gorton’s Seafood Challenge. My husband does the cooking around here and is a good cook. However, it seems after awhile we get bored eating the same meals every week. Lately, he has been pretty good about trying new recipes with old favorites. He was very happy when I told him about the Gorton’s Recipe Gallery.

Armed with new kitchen attire from Gorton’s he was ready to go! Gorton’s was kind enough to send us product coupons to sample some of their products (which by the way are low calorie with 20 products under 200 calories!), an apron, spatula, and oven mitts.

 

So, what’s for dinner? [Read more...]

Filed Under: frugal food friday, giveaway, review Tagged With: , , ,

Aternity-The Leader in End User Experience

March 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment

In today’s fast paced society, we rely on our electronic devices more than ever. We not only depend on them just as much for work as we do for pleasure. From mobile apps to analytics, user experience is critical to productivity.Businesses benefit from companies like Aternity, because they provide the platform for physical, virtual, and mobile monitoring. Their corporate mission is to “eliminate the visibility gap between IT and business performance”.

Their Frontline Performance Intelligence (FPI) not only helps increase productivity, but reduces disruptions. This platform will aid IT and other business professionals with essential performance results. This is also benefits businesses by allowing a quick response time to resolve issues.

Aternity Advantages

Aternity also has customer support, professional, and educational services available to meet the needs of their customers, whether its implementation, maintenance, strategies, or training. If your company uses cloud computing, desktop visualization, and/or mobile, you need reliable tools that provide the in-depth monitoring and real-time analytics. Sign up with Aternity and they will see if you qualify for end user monitoring. This opportunity is risk-free. The Aternity website also has further information in their resource center including case studies, demos, and more information regarding end user experience monitoring.

*This is a sponsored post, however all viewpoints are my own.

Filed Under: business, sponsored Tagged With: ,

Girls Just Want To Have Fun-Turks and Caicos

March 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever worked so hard you want to throw caution to the wind and just empty out your savings for an exotic vacation? Being a workaholic, the thought has crossed my mind on more than one occasion. I have found myself browsing for Turks and Caicos luxury resorts, Greek island resorts, and villas in Spain.

Currently my savings account will not cover such grand vacations and even if it did, my mature self (sometimes I hate her:) ), knows having a roof over my head and paying down debt will persevere over any vacation, exotic or not. To keep myself from being frustrated, I opened another savings account for my future trip. Right now I can only add five dollars a month, but the fact it exists gives me some satisfaction. Even better, I get more enjoyment when I search for my dream vacation. I have settled on wanting to go to the Turks and Caicos more than any other place. The resorts are so beautiful and look so relaxing. I am also very impressed with the landscaping, the clear blue water, and the overall good feeling I research. There is so much to do from sailing to water sports, any girl (or guy) can have a lot of fun.

When the debts are all paid in full and the piggy bank is fat and happy, I can’t wait to enjoy myself at a grand resort, sipping my drink (umbrella included of course), and a sunny day on a Turks and Caicos beach. I will go all out and enjoy fine dining, parasailing, massages, and going on island excursions. Somehow, someway, someday…

Filed Under: miscellaneous Tagged With:
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