I've been looking at my budget and credit cards and one of my goals this year is to really get my 1 credit card as close to paid off as possible. Don't get me wrong, if there is a decent balance then there is, I am just really hoping to get things into a better spot.
I do know that getting my shower fixed is basically going to whack that hard, but whatever.
So whatever taxes I get back on going to pay off a portion of my credit card.
I really really really want to stop eating out as much as possible (last week was hard, due to burst pipes, so there is always exceptions). I just need to kick myself in the ass a little bit more and get a cracking at cooking and baking. I know that this spring/summer will be harder, but oh well. It can be hard to say no to my Kid with that, I mean, pizza out every once in a while or chinese ordered in? It just adds up :( Plus he's had a friend spend the night a couple times and who knew that boys eat that much! Oh and speaking of that, my freaking grocery bill is going a wee bit whacky. I have a feeling my kid is gonna is another growth spurt because his stomach is not getting bigger and he's eating a lot more it seems.
I was using the excuse of my classes for some of this, just not having as much time. Well, fuck that. If I end up staying up later then so be it. That is life it seems! I like cooking too, so it's not a hard leap here lol. Dishes are a pain, well, especially with the burst pipes and cold weather.
It won't hurt us to get outside and do things, pack a lunch or picnic, ya know? Once it's warmer at least :) And it won't hurt to eat a little bit less either.
And it's not going to be never eating out again. I just want it more limited for a while. It should be a treat, not a habit for us.
Well, it's a start at least :)
Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts
2.26.2015
10.17.2014
A week in review
So many things, so little brain left after it melted this week!!
Let's see if I can break it down...
Last Friday - Good - Birthday
Saturday - Woke up sick :( The boyfriend picked us up though and we stayed at his place. I somehow ended up sleeping upside down (my feet where my head should be) eventually...but I was really up most the night and only actually slept at 5 am. For 2 hours, woke up and went back to sleep for 2 more hours. Therefore, exhausted and somewhat cranky. The Kid wasn't exactly Mr. Sunshine either.
Went home. I think I pretended to clean. I vegetated the rest of the day.
Sunday - I am pretty sure I didn't do anything. Except ask the Kid to help. Because, aka Mr. Sunshine was still being jerky...Did not sleep Sunday night again, until after 3 am.
Monday and Tuesday - called out sick and just rested. The Kid was slightly nicer after I asked him why he had to be mean when I was sick AND it was just my Bday. Because, I mean, really! Does that have to make someone being a jerk??? Ugh.
I was able to accomplish a nap on Tuesday morning for 2 hours. Score me.
Plus, you have to keep in mind that on top of being sick - my period was due (and yes, showed up) this week. GOOD FUCKING TIMES WERE HAD BY ALL! Bwahahahahahaahahahahaha. Ok, well maybe not so much.
Wednesday - Went to work. Still had my cold, therefore some trouble breathing. But not too bad. Also, work was really fucking busy. Slept ok, not like rock solid, but better than the previous 2 non sleep days.
[ I am sure I did 2 loads of laundry at some point before Thursday, but I just can't remember when...]
Thursday - Rinse and repeat Wednesday, though I was starting to feel a lot better. I actually got some good sleep finally on Wednesday. Probably because the boyfriend was there. Though I will say my period was just starting and that meant all my lovely insecurity hormones were raging inside my puny head. Another ugh.
Today - Friday - So far so good. My period is here, I feel like rearranging my living room and doing yard work. How that works out I have no freaking idea. Or maybe nap. I am at least feeling a lot better and almost 99 % with this cold.
My homework is almost done, just 2 small things left and need to get that submitted by tomorrow. I think taking this class (and waiting to be reimbursed until after I pass kinda sucks) is good but it hurt financially. Ugh. I know it's on my credit card but I seem to have this slightly OCD thing about wanting to pay it off and now off course money is tight until November. Blah. It's my own fault, because I just dumped too much of a payment onto my cc's this month. Ironically, I will probably end up paying for things on my CC this way instead of my normal account, which is just the opposite of what I wanted to do! The only possibly good thing is maybe I can get some more points and at least get a credit or buy things for free (yay Amazon cc) with the points.
I will totally blame my brain being melted due to illness on this months pathetic-ness of my finances. Totally.
And I think it's more of my perception of it being an issue than it really is. Because, seriously, there is nothing that is end of the world here.
Anyway, I need to figure out a couple other posts (one is more along those lines, "why does my hormonal state cause my brain to melt" and other such possible titles of "Where is the Wine" and "No More Laundry for You") and get this weekend started.
Also - It's Mercury Retrograde - So be safe!! Oh wait, can I blame Mercury Retrograde for this?? Hmmm.
Let's see if I can break it down...
Last Friday - Good - Birthday
Saturday - Woke up sick :( The boyfriend picked us up though and we stayed at his place. I somehow ended up sleeping upside down (my feet where my head should be) eventually...but I was really up most the night and only actually slept at 5 am. For 2 hours, woke up and went back to sleep for 2 more hours. Therefore, exhausted and somewhat cranky. The Kid wasn't exactly Mr. Sunshine either.
Went home. I think I pretended to clean. I vegetated the rest of the day.
Sunday - I am pretty sure I didn't do anything. Except ask the Kid to help. Because, aka Mr. Sunshine was still being jerky...Did not sleep Sunday night again, until after 3 am.
Monday and Tuesday - called out sick and just rested. The Kid was slightly nicer after I asked him why he had to be mean when I was sick AND it was just my Bday. Because, I mean, really! Does that have to make someone being a jerk??? Ugh.
I was able to accomplish a nap on Tuesday morning for 2 hours. Score me.
Plus, you have to keep in mind that on top of being sick - my period was due (and yes, showed up) this week. GOOD FUCKING TIMES WERE HAD BY ALL! Bwahahahahahaahahahahaha. Ok, well maybe not so much.
Wednesday - Went to work. Still had my cold, therefore some trouble breathing. But not too bad. Also, work was really fucking busy. Slept ok, not like rock solid, but better than the previous 2 non sleep days.
[ I am sure I did 2 loads of laundry at some point before Thursday, but I just can't remember when...]
Thursday - Rinse and repeat Wednesday, though I was starting to feel a lot better. I actually got some good sleep finally on Wednesday. Probably because the boyfriend was there. Though I will say my period was just starting and that meant all my lovely insecurity hormones were raging inside my puny head. Another ugh.
Today - Friday - So far so good. My period is here, I feel like rearranging my living room and doing yard work. How that works out I have no freaking idea. Or maybe nap. I am at least feeling a lot better and almost 99 % with this cold.
My homework is almost done, just 2 small things left and need to get that submitted by tomorrow. I think taking this class (and waiting to be reimbursed until after I pass kinda sucks) is good but it hurt financially. Ugh. I know it's on my credit card but I seem to have this slightly OCD thing about wanting to pay it off and now off course money is tight until November. Blah. It's my own fault, because I just dumped too much of a payment onto my cc's this month. Ironically, I will probably end up paying for things on my CC this way instead of my normal account, which is just the opposite of what I wanted to do! The only possibly good thing is maybe I can get some more points and at least get a credit or buy things for free (yay Amazon cc) with the points.
I will totally blame my brain being melted due to illness on this months pathetic-ness of my finances. Totally.
And I think it's more of my perception of it being an issue than it really is. Because, seriously, there is nothing that is end of the world here.
Anyway, I need to figure out a couple other posts (one is more along those lines, "why does my hormonal state cause my brain to melt" and other such possible titles of "Where is the Wine" and "No More Laundry for You") and get this weekend started.
Also - It's Mercury Retrograde - So be safe!! Oh wait, can I blame Mercury Retrograde for this?? Hmmm.
1.28.2013
Novellas vs Books
I've been noticing that a lot of authors that I like publishing Novella's. It's harder for me to get into these works because of the cost. If they were priced right, I would probably purchase them.
Case in point, Neferet's Curse: A House of Night Novella by P.C. Cast. P.C. Cast is well known author and published a slew of books.
This Novella is 160 pages and Amazon has it "on sale" for $10.39 as of today. The retail pricing is $12.99
See, if a normal paperback book is $7.99 and is on average 350 pages, that's $.0228 per page. So, a Novella would be $ 3.65 for the 160 pages like the one from P.C. Cast. Of course, I have no idea how they calculate the price, but coming from a logical/data stand point, it seems a little more fair. A great example is Feral Magic by Robin D. Owens (one of my favorite authors) who has also writtens tons of books. Her Novella is 96 pages and is only $2.99 for the Kindle version. That's $.0311 per page. This one I will probably end of getting once I have some of my other books read.
What I'm say is that if authors want more readers, more sales, then their publishers need to be a bit more realistic. The pricing structure needs to be amended to something us readers can afford to pay for these smaller installments that we would like to read. And yes, of course that means that the authors would get less per sale - but maybe it would even out in the end??
Now I'm not saying that authors don't have a lot of stress, it's not easy to be creative and write well. I know that they have dead lines and normal every day life as well. And I would totally love to read many of the novella's that I am seeing published lately.
To me, especially with how fucked up the economy has been for the last several years, I have been very careful (aka frugal) in my book purchases. I use my local (and state wide) library system for most of my reading needs. When I do purchase books, I try to get the most bang for my buck. I will buy used books through Amazon (those priced less than $1.00 and have $3.99 shipping or free shipping) or locally at Wonder Books. For instance, I just book 7 books for $28.86 which is an average of $4.12 per book and that was because there was some tax added in. My other criteria are: Most amount of pages, most recently related books read, favorite authors, something I've been waiting & wanting to read.
Also, it's not very often I buy hard backs anymore, unless I can get them on sale or 2nd hand and a whole lot less in price. Unless it's a book that has a ton of pages and is one of my favorite authors and I've been dying to read it. Though, now that I have a Kindle Fire, I will look at the Kindle price and might get it that way. Or I will wait.
I honestly doubt it's the writer/author that's putting the price on these things. It's the publisher and merchant. They need to be shaken so that their sense or reality can be resettled into their brains. That way we can all win. Less price = more sales = happy readers = more sales = more $$ for author/publisher/merchant. At least, that's my theory and opinion. I could be wrong...
Books that I ordered through Amazon: All purchased based on the Best Price and Free Shipping from Amazon.
Case in point, Neferet's Curse: A House of Night Novella by P.C. Cast. P.C. Cast is well known author and published a slew of books.
This Novella is 160 pages and Amazon has it "on sale" for $10.39 as of today. The retail pricing is $12.99
See, if a normal paperback book is $7.99 and is on average 350 pages, that's $.0228 per page. So, a Novella would be $ 3.65 for the 160 pages like the one from P.C. Cast. Of course, I have no idea how they calculate the price, but coming from a logical/data stand point, it seems a little more fair. A great example is Feral Magic by Robin D. Owens (one of my favorite authors) who has also writtens tons of books. Her Novella is 96 pages and is only $2.99 for the Kindle version. That's $.0311 per page. This one I will probably end of getting once I have some of my other books read.
What I'm say is that if authors want more readers, more sales, then their publishers need to be a bit more realistic. The pricing structure needs to be amended to something us readers can afford to pay for these smaller installments that we would like to read. And yes, of course that means that the authors would get less per sale - but maybe it would even out in the end??
Now I'm not saying that authors don't have a lot of stress, it's not easy to be creative and write well. I know that they have dead lines and normal every day life as well. And I would totally love to read many of the novella's that I am seeing published lately.
To me, especially with how fucked up the economy has been for the last several years, I have been very careful (aka frugal) in my book purchases. I use my local (and state wide) library system for most of my reading needs. When I do purchase books, I try to get the most bang for my buck. I will buy used books through Amazon (those priced less than $1.00 and have $3.99 shipping or free shipping) or locally at Wonder Books. For instance, I just book 7 books for $28.86 which is an average of $4.12 per book and that was because there was some tax added in. My other criteria are: Most amount of pages, most recently related books read, favorite authors, something I've been waiting & wanting to read.
Also, it's not very often I buy hard backs anymore, unless I can get them on sale or 2nd hand and a whole lot less in price. Unless it's a book that has a ton of pages and is one of my favorite authors and I've been dying to read it. Though, now that I have a Kindle Fire, I will look at the Kindle price and might get it that way. Or I will wait.
I honestly doubt it's the writer/author that's putting the price on these things. It's the publisher and merchant. They need to be shaken so that their sense or reality can be resettled into their brains. That way we can all win. Less price = more sales = happy readers = more sales = more $$ for author/publisher/merchant. At least, that's my theory and opinion. I could be wrong...
Books that I ordered through Amazon: All purchased based on the Best Price and Free Shipping from Amazon.
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