4 Easy Ways To Save Money You Might Actually Do

I suck at saving money - I'm quite a spender.  In fact, if I'm anywhere near a Target, our checking account is in critical danger.

My husband is actually the budget conscious one in our small family - and thank goodness.  He keeps us able to go on vacations and buy cool things like curved TVs (I cannot flipping way to get our curved tv).

Through the first few years of marriage, Brett & I learned some awesome tips on how to pay ourselves and build up our savings that were SO EASY (and even FUN), that event I could do it - and that's saying a lot.


So enjoy: 4 Easy Ways to Save Money That You Might Actually Do:

#1) The $5 Bill Box

Every time you come across a five dollar bill, you put it in a special tucked-away box.  You do not open the box, and you for no reason dip into the box for any reason.  You will actually be quite surprised that you come across $5 bills so often in getting change for large bills.  Every time one gets handed back to you, you put it aside to put it in the box as soon as you get home.  The hardest part is not peaking until the end of the year, when you can open the box and use it for holiday cash, or roll it into next year's box.    Last year, Brett and I started our $5 Bill Box after finding the idea in July and wound up with over $200.

#2) The Loose Change Water Cooler Jug 

This is pretty much the same concept as the $5 bill box, except every time you come up with loose change you put it in a water cooler jug.  I learned this one from my Mom & Dad.  We had a loose change water cooler jug growing up  (and I definitely dipped into it when no one was home to fund trips to the ice cream trucks surrounding our neighborhood).  Mom & Dad would dump loose change into this thing when passing.  It took a while, but they eventually got the thing half way full of quarters, dimes, pennies and nickels.  When my brother's bike went stolen, we started rolling the change and were surprised to cash in over $300 in loose change (enough for one of those cool Mongoose bikes that were so popular in the 90s for 13-year-olds)!   Brett & I have one in my office, but have yet to get it past anything significant - we keep tipping it over to find quarters for toll roads (whoops). 

#3) The Gift That Keeps Giving

This one really works for folks in that stage of life when all their friends are getting married and having babies.  Every time you buy a gift for someone, or give a gift of cash, you pay your savings account the same gift for yourself.  If you give your nephew $20 for his birthday, then you put $20 away for yourself.  If you give your best friends $500 for their wedding, then you gift $500 to your savings.  What's really cool is looking back throughout the year and tallying the results - you will feel like the most generous person in the world.  It may even make you give more generous gifts to people :) Bonus - you can add charity donations to this gift payback list, too! 

#4) Set it and Forget It

Every bank and direct deposit mechanism at your work should have a means to split deposit into your checking and savings - or even into a completely different account at another bank or credit union.  Right before Brett & I got married almost 3 years ago, we set up a 'set it and forget it' account at my work's credit union. Every time I get paid and it is direct deposited into my regular bank's checking account, $100 gets deposited into the credit union.  We cannot, for any reason, dip into the credit union account.  Not for vacations, televisions, home improvements or otherwise.  This is what will keep building for real emergencies, future college funds, etc.  Once Brett & I start making more, we'll up the ante.  What's great about this method is that since it's in a completely different financial institution and not too large of a sum coming out of direct deposit, we keep forgetting that we have it.  We are very surprised to see quarterly sums arrive to tell us how much we have already saved (at which time, we high-five).

 

Youngest Child Syndrome is Real

I've taken a recent interest in the family psychology.  My family, like any family, is functionally dysfunctional.  Every family is crazy, and mine is no exception.  Since I come from an Irish Catholic family, there are a few more kids than in average families, and conflict comes with the territory.  In order to help better-understand my family, why not learn up on the subject...

I started with influences of birth order.

Your Birth Order Labeled You

I found a TON of awesome articles on birth order, and how that can basically predict behavior. 

Interesting Articles about Birth Order:
http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/birth_order/
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/what-birth-order-can-predict-about-you
http://research.economics.unsw.edu.au/mvidal-fernandez/birthorder_17.pdf
http://www.nber.org/papers/w19542
http://www.parents.com/baby/development/social/birth-order-and-personality/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail-gross/how-birth-order-affects-personality_b_4494385.html

The older kids in my family are a bit harder to label.  With the age differences between the children, it's harder to spot the real 'middle' and real 'oldest' - I think it different from time to time depending on who was at home.

However, there was always one youngest child: me!

Youngest Child Syndrome

Before reading up on YCS, I assumed it was going to tell me that I have a spoiled personality with a flare for attention and rely on the service of others.  This is true.

But it gave me some great insight on other things about myself that I recognize, but didn't realize they were a result of or at least correlated with being the youngest child:

• Expects others to do things, make decisions, and take responsibility
• Develops feelings of inferiority
• Generally more playful
• Develops a sense of humor as a play to attract more attention
• Risk takers; thrill/pleasure seekers
• Can be most at-risk for addictive behavior
• Tends to be fun-loving, uncomplicated and outgoing
• Can have  a 'pie in the sky' everything will work out attitude
• Can seduce a crowd with charm and likability
• Creative and enjoy freedom

I would put a check box next to each of these if I knew how to do it in this blog ...

The cool thing is, my husband is also the youngest child.  Not only do I see all of the above traits in myself, but I definitely see them in my husband as well. 

How does this help me with my family?

Understanding that I have all the symptoms of YCS doesn't help me with my family, really.  But understanding the needs associated with the other birth orders will help me connect better with my siblings.

For example, according to this article on large families and their affect on oldest and middle children, I understand that..

"Whatever oldest children in large families achieve and/or accomplish is either minimized, trivialized, or just ignored. Parents of large families view them as adults who should not have to be praised or congratulated for a job well done. Such parents contend that their oldest children should be beyond the level where they need constant positive reinforcement. They figure that their oldest children should possess sufficient self-motivation and/or sense of purpose to achieve, not depending upon them to be emotional coaches."

This leads me to believe that my oldest siblings may have not have been praised for their efforts as much as I have been.  In fact, I can say that one with certainty.  I'm not sure if my folks realize that.  Or the fact that they may very well be praising me, the youngest child, more for my trivial wins than they are praising my oldest siblings for much greater victories.  My oldest brother is a Lt. Commander, and is presenting at a conference this month.  My sister is a nurse practitioner, thinking about becoming a doctor.  I'm not sure what kind of praise they've received lately...  so my middle siblings and I should make sure that they know their achievements are not going unnoticed (regardless if they want that praise or not - I'm sure at this point they may have even convinced themselves that they don't even need it).

Waking up a Sleepwalker

Is it okay to wake a sleepwalker?  How?

Last night Brett was sleepwalking around the house and fell down the stairs!  Now he has a welt on
his back that looks like he was hit with a hot iron.  I had no idea that he was a sleepwalker, but talking with him this morning, it seems like he sleepwalks all the time - when I just thought he was getting up to use the rest room or get a glass of water.

So what now? I didn't even know what the symptoms were or if there was anything I should be doing to help - so I kicked up the laptop this morning to do some research.  Here's what I found:

1) It's okay to wake up a sleepwalker, but prepare yourself for a possible attack if you touch them. 
According to the Sleepwalking Foundation, "It is a common misconception that a sleepwalker should not be awakened. In fact, it can be quite dangerous not to wake a sleepwalker."  However, in the same article, it says that symptoms of sleepwalking include, "Violent attacks on the person trying to awaken the sleepwalker." Ummm... okay? So then, don't wake him? 

2) Instead of waking up a sleepwalker, direct them out of harm's way.
Webmd states that instead of trying to wake a sleepwalker, "Gently turn them around and make sure they return to the bedroom safely. If they resist, stay with them and help them avoid perilous objects and situations.

3) If you have to wake up a sleepwalker, make LOUD NOISES over touching them. 
Also stated in the Webmd article, "If you must awaken them, do so with loud noises rather than by shaking or touching them roughly."  That makes a lot of sense to me, especially with the fact that I don't want to be attacked by my loving husband.

Prevention is the best idea - but no article clearly states ways to prevent sleepwalking.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of answers around what causes it in the first place.  And since my husband is not a child (physically - ha!), it's not something he can simply outgrow, which is what some articles explain typically happens.

What I can do to help prevent sleepwalking, from what I gather:

•  Limit his alcohol intake: Each article mentioned that depressants like alcohol could serve as triggers.

• Make sure he gets more sleep: This is key, the only reason I didn't put it first on the list is because for my husband, number one is the most likely trigger.

• Make sure it's not a side effect of any medication he's on: again, a mentioned trigger.

• Help him start a regular exercise routine: now this one wasn't clearly stated, but I know for certain that it would help rid his body of toxins and help him sleep better.  

Hope this helps anyone starting to look for this info themselves.  We're going to work out today to start on a healthier and safer course for both of us!

Top 10 Best Cures for Hiccups

Hiccups suck.  We've all had them - irritating and wild diaphragm spasms that disappear within a few minutes... or several minutes. Discovery Health tells us the common reasons why they happen:

• Swallowing too much food
• Swallowing too much air
• Excess smoking
• Drinking too much alcohol (this is the reason I usually get them)
• Rapid temperature changes in your stomach 
• Emotional triggers: shock/excitement/stress

But who cares, really - if you have them, then all you care about is how to get rid of them.
Now, my husband and I have had them a lot - as have all of our friends - because even though we are in our late 20s and early 30s, we still party heavily on the weekends! I'm lying, we're really shadows of what we used be... But really, we have gotten many-a-case of hiccups which have easily been cured by the BEST way to get rid of hiccups (which I won't reveal until the end of this rant).

Without further adieu: Here are the all-time 10 best ways to get rid of hiccups from all of our years of experience:

#10: Drinking Water Through a Straw
This hasn't been very effective in all of our years - but when you get desperate after 1 - 9 fail, then this is a good try.  Take a huge glass of water, a straw, and drink as much as you can until you cannot suck any longer.

#9: Drinking Water Upside Down
This has worked maybe 25% of the time for us.  Again, we usually only try it when the first few fail.  Take a large glass of water, bend over so you're looking at your knees, hold the glass upright to your lips, and try to drink without spilling water up (down?) your nose.

#8: A Good Scare
My husband does this to me when I start hiccuping and it drives me crazy - he literally grabs me by both of my arms and yells "ARRRG!" in my face - that's not scary, it's just annoying.  And when you're irritated already by a bad case of hiccups, it doesn't help.  BUT, I have had this work when I was legitimately scared about something - like getting pulled over (not a drinking & hiccuping occasion - just to reassure), or getting chased with a spider.

#7: Holding Your Breath
An old classic - hold your breath as long as you can and your hiccups may be cured.  You can't half-ass it though - you literally have to suck as much air in your lungs as possible and then hold.  This works a good 50% of the time for us if we're doing it correctly.

#6: Yawning
Have you ever made yourself yawn?  You have to hold your jaw open, flex your tongue,  open your throat, and hold.  Almost like you're trying to make your ears pop, but get frozen in time.  If you can master the yawn, you'll have a good trick for curing hiccups.  It works, it really does - the tricky part is concentrating on it while hiccuping.

#5: Spoonful of Sugar
This has been known to work a time or two.  Take a simple teaspoon of sugar down and you will be in good shape.  Scientifically, a spoonful of sugar could be enough to stimulate the vagus nerve and make your body 'forget' about the hiccups.  It definitely has worked for us - but you have to take down the sugar DRY.

#4: Breathing Into Paper Bag
We've seen this work, but the hard part is - how often do you have a paper bag laying around?  Especially when you're at the bar, paper bags are few and far between.  However, if you're at a friends house, and they have kids - they'll likely pack lunches and have a paper bag handy.  Take the bag, breath in and out of it slowly.  

#3: 30-Second Hiccup Cure (Hold your breath and swallow)
I thought this was absolutely bogus, but I just tried it, and it really does work!  It's not easy, though.  Some call this the 'Hold your breath and swallow,' but this blog gives you really good instructions on how to do it exactly so that it really does work. 

#2: Throwing Up (whoops!)
It sounds horrible, but we really have seen this work.  The only reason I'm putting it in here is because I have seen it work 100% of the time.  This DOES NOT mean that I condone making one's self throw up- but facts are facts, and you cannot argue with that.  Our one friend gets hiccups every time he drinks, because he cannot handle his liquor.  He also has a weak stomach.  It's like clockwork - hiccups, throw-up, no more hiccups.

#1: Biting a Lemon Wedge
This is my absolute favorite #1 trick in the book for getting rid of hiccups.  IT HAS WORKED FOR ME EVERY TIME since I was told about it.  The best part about this trick for me is that lemons are always around when you're at a bar (or restaurant).  Take a lemon wedge, take a big bite and suck - just like it's an orange.  The shock to your vagus nerve is almost always enough to overstimulate and cure your hiccups.   

Well there you go - my top 10 best ways to cure you of those annoying diaphragm spasms.  Hope these work for you - and if you know of any more, let me know! I'll add them as honorary additions.