Did you all read this?
I personally do not understand why a woman with 6 children already would go for fertility treatments. Maybe we will know soon. She is unidentified as of now.
Her kids are apparently 7, 6, 5, 3, and 2 year old twins. But 14 children under 7??? All I can say is good luck, lady!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
7-Quick Takes
1. First of all, I can't believe that I have not participated in the 7-Quick Takes. I am a confirmed listaholic and I haven't participated in a list carnival like this? I am glad to be remedying that now. In fact, if you look through my blog, many of my entries are in the form of lists. Apparently, somewhere between grad school and making homemaking lists, I lost the ability to form paragraphs.
2. I thought I coined the word listaholic a while back and used it on the blog. I googled the word today just for fun and there is a website by that name and I am very glad I did not click on it. On the google page, under the description, there are various titles that are quite icky and now I am wondering if the word means something else.
3. I had bloodwork done recently. They said they required 3 bottles of blood. They tried and tried and tried some more to find a vein. Finally they managed to find one and they started collection. 1.5 bottles later I threw up and they could get no more blood. So I was asked to come again yesterday when I was coming in to see the doctor. He had all the results with him and he said all the tests are done and they all came back normal. What I want to know is why did they need the other 1.5 bottles? Is the place I am going to an undercover Vampire Soup Kitchen?
4. I don't remember having a doll when I was growing up. Maybe I had one, but I just don't recall. No, I did not have a deprived childhood, thanks. I remember playing with my younger cousin with bricks and pebbles and sand and it was so much better fun than anything I can think of. Recently I came across a doll collection for $200+ and I was thinking, if we have a girl one day, she can play with brick and sand just like her Mama did and Mama turned out fine.
5. If you ever had and lost a dog or if you just even have a dog, may I suggest that you do not watch Marley and me. Especially if you are a woman and hormonal and do not enjoy crying at movies. I cried for the last 15 minutes. I don't ever remember crying for a movie before.
6. Last Friday we went to watch Ringling Bros and Barnum Bailey circus and I think my husband and I were the only ones without kids there. From the ticket guy to the parking guy everyone asked where the kids are. Husband finally replied that "we are the kids". He says though that this is an improvement on the one time in Niagra where the ticket guy for the boat (Maid of the Mist) waved me off thinking I was under 12.
7. I am no anti-feminist, but biology is biology, people. I think it is a fact that women pee more number of times than men. Just before intermission was announced for the circus, I ran to the bathroom as I knew what was coming. As I finished using the bathroom and came out, sure enough there was a line about a mile long. And the men's bathroom? Just a few. I have seen this at all theme parks (and trust me, I went to my share of them in 2008), airports, and just about any public place.
For more, visit Jen at Conversion Diary
2. I thought I coined the word listaholic a while back and used it on the blog. I googled the word today just for fun and there is a website by that name and I am very glad I did not click on it. On the google page, under the description, there are various titles that are quite icky and now I am wondering if the word means something else.
3. I had bloodwork done recently. They said they required 3 bottles of blood. They tried and tried and tried some more to find a vein. Finally they managed to find one and they started collection. 1.5 bottles later I threw up and they could get no more blood. So I was asked to come again yesterday when I was coming in to see the doctor. He had all the results with him and he said all the tests are done and they all came back normal. What I want to know is why did they need the other 1.5 bottles? Is the place I am going to an undercover Vampire Soup Kitchen?
4. I don't remember having a doll when I was growing up. Maybe I had one, but I just don't recall. No, I did not have a deprived childhood, thanks. I remember playing with my younger cousin with bricks and pebbles and sand and it was so much better fun than anything I can think of. Recently I came across a doll collection for $200+ and I was thinking, if we have a girl one day, she can play with brick and sand just like her Mama did and Mama turned out fine.
5. If you ever had and lost a dog or if you just even have a dog, may I suggest that you do not watch Marley and me. Especially if you are a woman and hormonal and do not enjoy crying at movies. I cried for the last 15 minutes. I don't ever remember crying for a movie before.
6. Last Friday we went to watch Ringling Bros and Barnum Bailey circus and I think my husband and I were the only ones without kids there. From the ticket guy to the parking guy everyone asked where the kids are. Husband finally replied that "we are the kids". He says though that this is an improvement on the one time in Niagra where the ticket guy for the boat (Maid of the Mist) waved me off thinking I was under 12.
7. I am no anti-feminist, but biology is biology, people. I think it is a fact that women pee more number of times than men. Just before intermission was announced for the circus, I ran to the bathroom as I knew what was coming. As I finished using the bathroom and came out, sure enough there was a line about a mile long. And the men's bathroom? Just a few. I have seen this at all theme parks (and trust me, I went to my share of them in 2008), airports, and just about any public place.
For more, visit Jen at Conversion Diary
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Frugal Journey
I don't write a whole lot about frugality here in my blog. The main reason being that if I were to write about frugality, it might sound like a post on "How to spend excessive money on groceries" or something like that. And that is becasue frugality and the measure of it means different things to different people. These days sleep is a little elusive for me and I was thinking about it and what it means to me and what I learned since I started on this journey.
I was never a great spender to begin with. When you have to live on $600 a month, with a very real possibility of no income over the summer, frugality comes naturally. Especially if you are aspiring to graduate with no debt. Although I never spent inordinately after I started working, I never thought much about any of my purchases either. I might shop around a little bit, but that was about it. I never questioned the necessity or the long term value much. I believe that after graduating school, where I denied myself a lot of things, I felt a sense of entitlement. Today when I clean the cupboards, I come across a lot of those "entitlement posessions," which now serves the sole purpose of creating clutter and getting on my nerves.
When I started blog-reading in 2006, frugality was a thread in most of the blogs I read although they were not expressly blogs on frugality. As is my personality, the experiment on frugal practices was mostly crash and burn. I was high on saving money by couponing for a while and then suddenly, I lost the charm. The lack of health didn't help. But the experiment helped me in many learning many lessons, some of which I am going to share here.
1. It created awareness.
I became aware that I might not be as frugal as I thought I might be. The first step in implementing a cure for anything is realizing that there is a problem. One of my bad habit was stocking up on fruits and vegetables and then throwing them out as we (usually) never managed to finished them on time. It never occurred to me that though it is nice and good to eat fruits, I don't have to buy strawberries, cherries, watermelon, pineapple, grapes, and oranges all in one week.
2. Its not the same for everyone.
There is no standard measure of frugality. It varies. We don't have the same privileges or restrictions as a 1-income family as of now. So I don't have to run from pillar to post trying to save 40 cent on grapes while ignoring other things. There is a funny story that goes with it. My life is all about irony. I was once trying to hit 3 or 4 stores getting good deals on different stuff on the way back from work. Then I went to CVS scoring free toothpaste, and by the time I got home, I was too tired to cook and we ordered pizza. The cost of the pizza was more than what I saved and I ended up with free toothpaste I didn't really need. I had to laugh at myself on my money saving skills. There are time, flexibility, distance restrictions that might make it difficult for all familes to implement all the excellent means and methods of money saving that might be found online.
3. Food habits.
We are a predominantly veggie family. I once posted a picture of the amount of veggies we eat. And that is only half the week. Most of them are not even available in the traditional grocery store. And yes, it is expensive. The spices? Expensive as well. So the nice weekly $40 food budget which works for the family of 4? Doesn't work for us. I tried cheaper Asian stores, but the quality was bad, most of the veggies were half rotten and it was just not worth the trouble.
4. Sitting on making a decision
Or in other words, intentional buying. This has been the biggest money saver yet. Before I started on this journey, if we needed something, we always bought it. No brainer, right? Afterall, we are not talking about wants here. That is what I used to think. Now, I look for alternatives. A good story would be about the tape converter. I promise I will post that soon.
5. Not all needs are created equal
Recognizing the difference between a need and a want should have comes to me easily. But again, the sense of entitlement pokes its ugly head. We travel a lot, we get lost easily, so we need a GPS. The sub conscious thought is this: everybody has a GPS, I want one too. never mind that my phone has google maps and web access, I deserve it becasue I work so hard and I am so special. When I look down deep into the recesses of my thought process, a lot of needs end up like this. This is not to bash anyone who buys GPS. The point is to tell you how I challenged my thinking on wants that on the surface looks like needs.
6. It is not meant to suck every joy out of life
We travel a lot, and we love doing it. We take 1 or sometimes 2 vacations in a year. Although vacations never made the cut and I never questioned that expense, I was more cognizant of the choices I was making while I was traveling. Again, irony abounded. For example, I am a water person. I do not drink tea, coffee, wine etc, and started to drink coke only after coming to US. That too very sparingly. The same with juices. We still buy juice in the house for my husband, but I never bother to drink any just becasue I don't like it very much. That being the case, I noticed that I would order juice at a restaurant when we travel! Basically I would order juice for many times the cost at a restaurant (and not even drink quarter of it), but drink water at home. How stupid is that?
7. It is not meant to hamper giving
There is always a hoarding mentality that comes with saving money, but it is important not to go overboard with frugality that it becomes painful to give. I always think of "give as I go" a good way to do it. If I wait until all my personal goals are settled, then many years down the line, I might have the money, but not the heart to give.
Were you always frugal or did you learn along the way like me ?
I was never a great spender to begin with. When you have to live on $600 a month, with a very real possibility of no income over the summer, frugality comes naturally. Especially if you are aspiring to graduate with no debt. Although I never spent inordinately after I started working, I never thought much about any of my purchases either. I might shop around a little bit, but that was about it. I never questioned the necessity or the long term value much. I believe that after graduating school, where I denied myself a lot of things, I felt a sense of entitlement. Today when I clean the cupboards, I come across a lot of those "entitlement posessions," which now serves the sole purpose of creating clutter and getting on my nerves.
When I started blog-reading in 2006, frugality was a thread in most of the blogs I read although they were not expressly blogs on frugality. As is my personality, the experiment on frugal practices was mostly crash and burn. I was high on saving money by couponing for a while and then suddenly, I lost the charm. The lack of health didn't help. But the experiment helped me in many learning many lessons, some of which I am going to share here.
1. It created awareness.
I became aware that I might not be as frugal as I thought I might be. The first step in implementing a cure for anything is realizing that there is a problem. One of my bad habit was stocking up on fruits and vegetables and then throwing them out as we (usually) never managed to finished them on time. It never occurred to me that though it is nice and good to eat fruits, I don't have to buy strawberries, cherries, watermelon, pineapple, grapes, and oranges all in one week.
2. Its not the same for everyone.
There is no standard measure of frugality. It varies. We don't have the same privileges or restrictions as a 1-income family as of now. So I don't have to run from pillar to post trying to save 40 cent on grapes while ignoring other things. There is a funny story that goes with it. My life is all about irony. I was once trying to hit 3 or 4 stores getting good deals on different stuff on the way back from work. Then I went to CVS scoring free toothpaste, and by the time I got home, I was too tired to cook and we ordered pizza. The cost of the pizza was more than what I saved and I ended up with free toothpaste I didn't really need. I had to laugh at myself on my money saving skills. There are time, flexibility, distance restrictions that might make it difficult for all familes to implement all the excellent means and methods of money saving that might be found online.
3. Food habits.
We are a predominantly veggie family. I once posted a picture of the amount of veggies we eat. And that is only half the week. Most of them are not even available in the traditional grocery store. And yes, it is expensive. The spices? Expensive as well. So the nice weekly $40 food budget which works for the family of 4? Doesn't work for us. I tried cheaper Asian stores, but the quality was bad, most of the veggies were half rotten and it was just not worth the trouble.
4. Sitting on making a decision
Or in other words, intentional buying. This has been the biggest money saver yet. Before I started on this journey, if we needed something, we always bought it. No brainer, right? Afterall, we are not talking about wants here. That is what I used to think. Now, I look for alternatives. A good story would be about the tape converter. I promise I will post that soon.
5. Not all needs are created equal
Recognizing the difference between a need and a want should have comes to me easily. But again, the sense of entitlement pokes its ugly head. We travel a lot, we get lost easily, so we need a GPS. The sub conscious thought is this: everybody has a GPS, I want one too. never mind that my phone has google maps and web access, I deserve it becasue I work so hard and I am so special. When I look down deep into the recesses of my thought process, a lot of needs end up like this. This is not to bash anyone who buys GPS. The point is to tell you how I challenged my thinking on wants that on the surface looks like needs.
6. It is not meant to suck every joy out of life
We travel a lot, and we love doing it. We take 1 or sometimes 2 vacations in a year. Although vacations never made the cut and I never questioned that expense, I was more cognizant of the choices I was making while I was traveling. Again, irony abounded. For example, I am a water person. I do not drink tea, coffee, wine etc, and started to drink coke only after coming to US. That too very sparingly. The same with juices. We still buy juice in the house for my husband, but I never bother to drink any just becasue I don't like it very much. That being the case, I noticed that I would order juice at a restaurant when we travel! Basically I would order juice for many times the cost at a restaurant (and not even drink quarter of it), but drink water at home. How stupid is that?
7. It is not meant to hamper giving
There is always a hoarding mentality that comes with saving money, but it is important not to go overboard with frugality that it becomes painful to give. I always think of "give as I go" a good way to do it. If I wait until all my personal goals are settled, then many years down the line, I might have the money, but not the heart to give.
Were you always frugal or did you learn along the way like me ?
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