Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Stuff That Makes My Life Better

Howdy! I'm glad you're here.  
This post probably contains run-on sentences, sentence fragments, 
affiliate links, and unnecessary ellipses.  If none of that bothers you, let's be friends.

If you want to thank/blame someone for the fact that I'm giving this a shot ("this" being writing for 12 days straight for the 12 days of Christmas [I think maybe I didn't mention that yesterday.  Consider it now mentioned!]), talk to Terese of Farm and Away.  She's also on IG @farmandaway, which is a SUPER CONVENIENT handle.   She's been trying to get me to blog basically all year (God love her) and finally just asked if she could send me interview questions.  And I said yes and so she did, and now you'll see her questions and my answers, one at a time.  Bueno McBuenoness.

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"One of my favorite things about your blog is the way you share what is working well for you right now. I can't be the only one who loves to hear what's making life better these days, whether it's a book, a cookie recipe, or a diet. So, what's working for your right now? What are you so glad you found/discovered?"

I totally have something for this!  Have y'all heard of You Need a Budget?  It's a budgeting app/website and I. am. in. love.  In the past I've always had to make my own spreadsheets in excel because Microsoft Money and Mint and Quicken all feel way too bossy to me, and sometimes they make it hard to split transactions (are we kidding with Amazon Prime purchases being all in one category?) and they often want to judge and shame you for using credit cards as cash by forcing you to put those totals into a debt category even if you just want to count those purchases as purchases and pay the balance off in full at the end of each billing cycle.  Lame.  Just because I'm not using literal dollah billz doesn't mean I'm not prepared to actually pay for everything I buy!

unrelated collage of our house exterior(s) taken back in May
Anyway.  YNAB is awesome.  It's a zero base budget system, so you allocate all your dollars until you get to zero and then if you need more money for a category, you move it from another category that you might not need quite as much.  Totally customizable.  Free for the first 34 days and then only $5 a month after that (five very worth-it dollars, I might add).  I don't have an affiliate link or anything (I wish!).  It's just really so good.  Freeeeeeeeeedom!

In a totally different vein, I'm also hearting kids' books about important historical figures by Mike Venezia.  He has a series of great composers, another series of famous artists, and an entire set of the American presidents- one book for each.  Even if you're not doing a living book curriculum with artist and composer studies, but especially if you are, you will love these!  They're a great mix of silly jokes and actual historical images; not too difficult for young elementary students to read to themselves and not too long for you to read out loud to any age group.  I've not read them all, so I can't say every single one is awesome, but all of them we've gotten so far have been perfectly worth the purchase.  Recommend.


 And there you go, post numero dos is DUN.  I could get used to blogging like this!

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7 comments :

  1. Ooo... I might have to look into YNAB. We use a similar app but the bank syncing doesn't always work and that drives me absolutely nuts-o. All seems to be working fine just now, but I'll keep this in my back pocket when it (inevitably) breaks... ;)

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  2. SO glad you're back on the 'stang Dweej!!! You're FREAKING AWESOME.

    And I'm also stoked to hear that you like YNAB because I looked into it a while back and was very intrigued... but then we got all caught up in the "which stinkin' money management tool should we choose???" drama, and so Doug ended up making his own system, and I ended up making MY own system... and that doesn't really work out so well come tax season. :) As we're about to discover. Heheh.

    So *thank you* darling, and a very warm welcome back to the blogosphere. Awesome timing too because I'm back in the saddle again too! Just working on a different site this time - Doug's and my Soulcology one. Once it's up and running I'll send you a link! For now I'm sending you lots and lots of love & oodles of gratitude because honestly, yours is the ONE BLOG that if someone asked me which one I could easily read for the rest of my life - I would choose. Hands down! You've got it goin' on babe. ;) Or bae, as my on-point teenager would say. :D Hahaha

    Merry Christmas Dwija bean (and all the Barobia beans!) Here's to the happiest New Year either of us OR our blogs has ever enjoyed!!! :) <3

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    1. PS Um, when did the exterior of your home suddenly turn into THIS? I must have faded out for a year or so? Anyway your property is *beautiful* and I couldn't be happier for you guys. <3 <3 <3

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    2. Hahahaha! You are as sweet as ever. Back in October of 2013, we moved to a new property a few miles down the road (there was no way the old place could ever look like this, srsly). Merry Christmas!

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    3. And by 2013 I actually mean 2014. DERP!

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  3. YNAB is awesome! There is also a very helpful YNAB fan FB group with lots of good info and discussion on there.

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