The Review Is In :: Pocket Your Dollars, 5 Attitude Changes

Carrie Rocha, creator of PocketYourDollars.com, engages readers in Pocket Your Dollars to help change attitudes regarding financial stewardship. She shares ways to help pay down debt, avoid financial stress, and allow earners to keep more of what they make. Unlike many of the step-by-step financial programs available, Carrie’s plan begins with attitude adjustment which leads to behavior modification.

Throughout the first half of Pocket Your Dollars, Carries suggest there are five attitudes holding us back from succeeding in our financial fitness: 1.If I only had more money, 2.I deserve a treat, 3.It won’t happen to me, 4.I’ll fake it ‘til I make it and 5. I can’t afford it.

Carrie suggests, “Personal responsibility is the core issue. When we believe that our financial problems are caused solely by a lack of money, we refuse to acknowledge our current situation as something we’ve brought about. We deny the fact that the power for changing our future lies within us. And if we continue to deny this fact, change will never come.

One of Carrie’s biggest contentions to keeping your dollars stems from the idea of treats as being the leaky toilets in finances. Every time we treat ourselves to something because we feel we deserve it – the chai tea, the quick lunch, the new shoes – we are giving our hard earned dollars away. Carrie suggests we replace the notion of I deserve a treat with the idea I work too hard for my money. By creating a larger than ourselves goal, we can create our own financial frame and stick to it.

In addition to creating our own financial framework, we need to be aware of our monetary priorities. Carrie outlines them as bills, financial leaks, goals, and waste. By writing down and prioritizing our entire spending, it allows us to get a better picture of our stewardship as well as our leaky toilets. Carrie writes “Quantify it monetarily and then prioritize to stay out of debt.”

Consumerism drives our attitudes. Everywhere we turn, there are things to purchase and ways to increase our spending. We buy new dishes because we like the pattern or new clothes, not because the old ones are worn out but because it’s a new season. However, these items are not long term assets. “Consumption is not a goal of the affluent,” Carrie states. She suggests we change what we don’t like to what we do like about our current situation. We might not have the newest car, but we do have a car which runs good and gets us to work.

In addition to being financially thrifty, we must ensure we do not become misery along the way. “The I-can’t-afford-it attitude harbors guilt or shame when spending money. Addressing this underlying shame is important to relieving lifetime financial stress.” Carrie offers a way to overcome this shame through her happy and relationship tests.

In the second half of Pocket Your Dollars, Carrie addresses the skills needed to overcome our attitudes. She offers up her ideas in how to change your self-talk through idea supplementation; how to stand up to pressure via self-control, will power and distress tolerance techniques; how to stay in for the long haul using motivation; as well as, how to create a spending plan by acknowledging your predictable monthly and non-monthly expenses and your unpredictable emergencies.

When it comes to paying off your debt, Carrie encourages the use of the debt snowball method in which the bill with the lowest amount is paid off first, regardless of interest. By using this approach, it helps to boost our egos and offers us a positive win in debt management.

If you are currently working through your debt and looking at a better way to impact your financial goals, Pocket Your Dollars will give you a great start at changing your attitudes to change your behavior. Carrie offers plenty of great references on her website to help begin your journey to become debt-free.

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Carrie Rocha owns and operates PocketYourDollars.com, one of the most popular personal finance sites on the web, helping readers enjoy life within their means. Carrie writes regularly for Bankrate.com and has been featured on Wall Street Journal Radio, Glamour, Yahoo! Finance, CNNMoney.com, FoxBusiness.com, and many other magazines and websites. Carrie lives with her husband and two daughters in suburban
                       Minneapolis, Minnesota.

{Please see my disclaimer policy in regards to this post.}

Here's a Tip :: Make Your Own Bird Seed







I love feeding birds in the winter, but lately I've had to cut back due to the expense. To shy away from commercial birdseed why not make your own bird seed mix by buying peanuts, sunflower seeds, and cracked corn in bulk.

Home Organization :: Creating a Home Inventory



 

Recently, I had a friend whose home was burglarized while they were away. The thief did not take much, mainly jewelry and electronics; however, my friend had a hard time remembering all the items in her jewelry box and their value.  She commented how difficult it was to pick out what was missing and provide information to the insurance company. 

In a time of stress or disaster, having a home inventory can be very helpful. It does take time to create, but it will aide in recovery of stolen items by the police and/or replacement by insurance after a natural disaster. There are several ways to approach a home inventory: 1. write everything down you own, 2.photograph or film all your possessions, or 3.a combination of the first two with a little extra.  

Insurance policies and the companies that write them want to see documentation for your claims. Having a home inventory will not only speed up the process, but it will also authenticate your possession claims.

Please note, if you have a large collection or items of great expense, a regular home insurance policy may not cover those items. For instance, most insurance companies write a standard home policy to cover theft or damage of the entire contents with a maximum cap on certain items. Electronics cap out at approximately $2,500. If you were to have a large expense of electronics in your home (maybe you like to DJ on the side!), you would need to obtain a rider or a personal articles policy. I won’t get into the nitty gritty of those policies as your insurance provider will be able to address any questions.  

Typically, I like to make a record using Excel for books and DVDs in our home. I also like to keep a list of all electronic serial numbers and their descriptions. If I take pictures, I can import them into my inventory record to have everything in one location. For any collections we have, I do the same.

In addition to a written inventory, I walk through the home each year snapping close-up photographs of every room, making sure to include the date/time stamp. I take zoomed out pictures of the entire room for reference, as well.

If we’ve made a big purchase in the past, I hold onto the receipts for financial documentation. However, with the online paper trail we all have today, your bank or credit card statements would be of great use to document actual item cost.

Once you’ve got everything pertinent listed and photographed, make sure to keep it safe. I keep an electronic record on my computer, on an SD card in a safe, and as an online document. If I’ve printed photographs, they go into the safe with the SD card.

Be sure to update your inventory yearly. I like to do mine at the end of Spring Cleaning, which ensures not documenting items I have donated or sold during the cleaning process. Keeping up to date records is very important. If you spent hours one year building a home inventory and fail to add your purchases the following year, should a natural disaster occur, you may not be able to claim your newest purchases.

Creating a home inventory may seem like a great task at hand, but it will help note what you have in your home and be a security net should anything happen in the future.

Helpful Links:

Home Inventory Check List

Home Inventory App for IPhones

HomeZada

Garden Preparation - A Simple How To :: A Dandelion Moms Article

 

 

Head on over to Dandelion Moms and get some great tips for preparing your garden for Spring planting in my newest article

Garden Preparation : A Simple How-To.

- Michelle

Experimental Recipes :: The Toasted Ravioli



When you cook, do you ever crave something a little different? Maybe you're not really sure how to make it; you look up a few recipes combine what you like, and viola - a creation is born.

That's how the toasted ravioli went and I must admit, they were pretty tasty! Just make sure you serve them right away; they're not as scrumptious after sitting a while.
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Ingredients:

1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs (I use Delallo; I also added rosemary from the 
      garden)
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 package of fresh ravioli ( I used large bacon carbona (yum!) but you can
      use any size or flavor)
1 cup marinara sauce (Again, I use Delallo)

Prep a baking sheet with a non-stick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the milk and sour cream into a small bowl. Gently whisk until smooth. Combine the bread crumbs and cheese in another small bowl.

You can either dip the ravioli into the sour cream mixture or using a pastry brush you can coat the ravioli on both sides. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture onto both sides of the ravioli. Place the coated ravioli onto the prepared baking sheet.

Cook approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until the ravioli are toasted and golden brown. While they bake, heat up the marinara sauce and place into a dipping bowl.

A Texas Girl's Travels :: Palm Springs, California

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

- St. Augustine

 

While my husband is chapters ahead of me, I'm making my way diligently through the world. In November of last year, I had the opportunity to visit Palm Springs, California - an enchanted region of desert beauty. I don't think words could simply lend to its air; pictures barely capture the form of God's hand and man's creativity.

 

Simply Misplaced

 

 

 

The Living Desert

 

 

 

 

Feeding Uncle Pono

 

The Salton Sea

 

 

A Walk Along the Beach

 



 

 

 

 



Kiwi Crate :: Products that Fuel the Imagination

As a child, I remember being absolutely delighted when I received a package or a magazine in the mail. My boys are no different, especially my youngest.

Recently, I discovered Kiwi Crate - a mail box stuffer to engage the imagination of even your quirkiest child. Filled with materials and inspiration related to arts and crafts, imaginative play, and even science, the Kiwi Crate is sure to be a hit in your household.

Kiwi Crates are available on an individual or subscription basis and are suitable for children ages 3 to 7, although they have had 9 year olds as product testers whom thoroughly enjoyed the activities supplied.

In addition to the individual crate, the company will add a sibling pack, doubling your materials, for a minimal charge. They also offer party packs and e-gift cards as options.

The basic monthly subscription costs $19.95. It includes two monthly projects, the ability to cancel at any time, and free shipping.

I know I will be looking to Kiwi Crates for upcoming birthdays and Christmas gifts this year! Has your child ever received a Kiwi Crate in the mail before? If so, let us know about their favorite activity!

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{Please see my disclaimer policy in regards to this post.}

Dandelion Moms Project Kindness :: Making a Difference

 

As you all know, I contribute monthly articles to Dandelion Moms, a place for beautiful, strong and resilient moms to gather online. Recently, the Head Dandelion herself, Melissa Northway, started Project Kindness - a simple idea with great potential. Melissa writes, "Much like a dandelion seed that blows in the wind landing at different places – acts of kindness can also be far-reaching. We don’t always know how much a simple act could affect someone’s life."

 

The best part about Project Kindness is the ease of partaking in the list of activities Dandelion Moms provides and the gratification of knowing you have had an impact on someone's life.

 

Project Kindness activities for February are:

 

Buy the person behind you at the coffee shop a cup of coffee or tea.

Purchase a bouquet of flowers and give it to the person you think needs it most. This could be a total stranger walking along the street, a good friend or family member!

Bake some cookies with your kids and stop by a police station and drop them off – who knows, they might let the kids check out a police car!

Women’s shelters are usually in need of clothes for the women and children who stay there. Contact your local women’s shelter and see what their needs might be

 

If you complete any of these Project Kindness tasks, Melissa asks you share them with Dandelion Moms on their Facebook Page as well as Twitter and Instagram (make sure to use #dmprojectkindness). You are also more than welcome to post your kind acts (and photos) on Texas Homemaking's Facebook page.

 

Our kind acts for February had us making several flower deliveries throughout the month to area nursing homes, as well as a bouquet to a dear friend whom needed a smile.

 

 

A Tea Party Treat :: Madeleine of Commercy Recipe



The Fare of France, otherwise known as the Madeleine of Commercy, is a delectable tea cake often confused with a cookie due to its delicate nature and simple portability.

Once described as the cookie with the greatest literary clout, the Madeleine found its way into Marcel Proust's prose, Remembrance of Things Past.

"No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it? ... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of Madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little Madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea."
 

Created from a genoise cake batter, the Madeleine is a lightly sweet and irresistible shell-shaped dessert which has found its way to my heart. I often prepare these adorable treats for a variety of settings - most recently, for a tea party at the park.

While not difficult to make, Madeleines do require a thorough knowledge of the recipe and a special shaped pan. While there are many recipes for Madeleines (including chocolate ones!), I've used this recipe most often.

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Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
a pinch fine-grain sea salt
2/3 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
non-stick spray
powdered sugar

Let's Begin:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat until it is slightly brown and gives off a nutty aroma, approximately 20 minutes. Strain through a fine meshed strainer to remove solids. Cool the butter to ambient temperature.

While the butter cools, prepare the Madeleine pan using non-stick spray and a light dusting of flour. All ridges and creases need to be properly greased and floured; make sure to repeat this process through each batch of Madeleines.

Mix the eggs and salt using an electric mixer (I set my KitchenAid to high) and the whisk attachment. The volume of the eggs needs to double or triple; mix approximately three minutes. Continue to mix on high while slowly adding the sugar. Mix for 2 more minutes or until it has come to ribbons. Now, fold in the lemon zest, vanilla, and honey.

Sprinkle the flour on top of the egg batter and gently fold the flour into the batter. Fold in the butter as well.

Spoon the batter into the molds, taking care not to fill them as the genoise batter will spread. I like to fill each mold about 2/3 the way full. Bake the Madeleines for approximately 7 to 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Unmold immediately and allow the tea cakes to cool on racks. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

This recipe makes 2-3 dozen Madeleines.

Madeleines may be stored in an air tight container for up to 2 days, but are best when made mere hours before serving. I sometimes will melt chocolate and dip half of the Madeleines for an alternative to serving. I've also been known to add them to my cakes. Enjoy!

Travel Texas :: Mrs. Lee's Garden

 

"The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the bird for mirth,

You're nearer God's heart in a garden,

Than anywhere else on Earth."

Breathtaking and inspiring, Mrs. Lee's Garden showcases the beauty of Spring daffodils while delighting the senses of visitors. Open for just a brief moment (mid-February until the last blooms in March), Mrs. Lee's is a treat for the young and old.

 



Helen Lee's vision of golden hills stretches out approximately 28 acres and includes a 4 mile winding roadway, two lovely lakes, and a rustic cottage reminiscent of pioneer days.



The garden is open every day of the week during blooming season from 10am until 4pm. It is always a good idea to call ahead to ensure optimal road conditions, as it can be a little muddy at times.

 

While there is no cost to visit and enjoy the grounds, donations are always welcome to preserve and maintain Mrs. Lee's inspirational gift.



Nestled south of the little town of Gladewater, Mrs. Lee's Garden is located off of County Road 3103 and more information about the garden can be found here.

 



On our recent visit, the boys, Jake, and I enjoyed a lovely ramble through the countryside and were awestruck by the simple beauty of gold upon green. If you have not ventured to the garden, you don't want to miss out on Spring's bounty. This year is quite spectacular due to the rainfall East Texas has received.