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Sasha, of www.hypnobird.com, is the author of Hypnobudgets: Life...Budgeted. A "starving artist" in Salt Lake City, Sasha devotes much of her time to assorted volunteer projects. Sharing first hand knowledge of living life on a budget, Sasha's columns are a great asset to Free Credit Fixes! We hope you enjoy them and visit Sasha's main site to view her latest artwork!
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Plasma donation. I does it.
That’s right, twice a week I donate my plasma. Not the most pleasant of ways to make $65 a week, but better than others.
In 1914 the term ‘plasmaepheresis’ was coined by John Jacob Able. Greek for plasma meaning something molded and aphaeresis meaning taken away.
In 1937 the first blood banks were established. In 1964 plasmaepheresis was introduced as a means of collecting plasma for fractionation, the separation process that allows you to isolate three or more components at a time.
In 1966 the first European plasmaepheresis center opened.
In 1972 aphaeresis was used to extract one cellular component and return the rest back to the donor.
What can you expect should you venture into the world of plasma donation? First you must be cleared for donation. Identity and residence verification can be expected. Then you give an extensive medical history to the Medical Support staff. A short physical and pee in a cup and you are ready to go. This will also happen once a year, as time goes by.
Once you are screened and cleared to donate you will be screened each time you come to the clinic. You will verify your name and donor number, be checked for cross donation at other centers and then screened for the day. That includes checking your hermitic rate (percentage of red blood cells), protein levels, blood pressure, temperature …
Saving money as a single can be difficult. You’d think it wouldn’t be, since there is only one of you, but cooking for one can be more expensive and time intensive. And when you’re busy and tired you don’t want to spare that extra time. You end up living on prepared foods and take out. After all, who wants to cook for one? So how to save money in the biggest money waster: food?
First you have to be willing to invest some time. How much will be up to you. One of the big money wasters is going to be lunch. Do you buy lunch at work every day? Or even once a week? It all adds up. Its much cheaper to bring your lunch, but that takes a little planning and possibly the investment of an insulated bag, thermos, reusable microwavable contains and everyday preparation of the food.
Some simple lunch ideas:
Peanut butter and jam sandwich (you’re never too old)
Chili in the thermos and corn chips or small containers of cheese, sour cream or whatever topping you like.
Packets of instant oatmeal, a small container of nuts and some fruit. *you CAN make your own instant oatmeal. But the
savings over a bought lunch would more than justify the cost of buying a convenience product)*
A leftover baked potato and whatever toppings you like
Don’t forget to add some …
There’s snow on the mountain tops where I live already. Its getting too cold to wear sandals and I need a sweater. The dark will soon do me in. Its winter and these are all normal things, and for me and many people like me, so is the depression that will set in soon. The winter blues.
Everyone gets down sometimes. And these tips can be useful to everyone. Whether they are just down or flat out depressed. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder; the winter blues) is characterized by excessive sleeping or eating with weight gain for the last two seasons. It effects up to 5% of the population. Somewhere between 60% and 90% of those with SAD are women. The cause of SAD is still unknown, but seems to be the lack of light. In many northern countries where they do not get sunlight for months on end the suicide rate is the highest in the world. While winter depression is the most common form of SAD there seems to be a summer depression as well, occurring during the summer months and trigger by the intense light and/or heat. We’ll get to summer SAD next may. ****If your symptoms are excessive or severe please see a doctor right away. These are just suggestions and tips but DO NOT replace good medical care and treatment by a professional.****
So what can we do about this? Depending on the severity of your depression there are many things that can …
I had to have a group photo taken today. I was not very happy about it. I declined the personal one. Its for a board that shows all the volunteers and other places they volunteer as well. So I went ahead and took the group shot even though I will never be able to look at it.
Among other things, I’m unhappy with my skin.
And I didn’t have enough money to get a facial or even buy a product at the local drug store. While a product called “Yes to Carrots” looks interesting and is something I’d like to try, $14.99 is just too rich for my blood this week. I’ve managed to be broke with a week to go before my next check, again. I have some emergency money. And I don’t “NEED” anything, including a facial. So being broke is not such a big deal. Until its time to take a picture. I’m also very unhappy with the fading of my hair color. But again, not much to be done. I can, however, get the individual photo taken later. Thank you, Curtis.
So what’s to do? Well, there are home facials, that you can make yourself with food stuffs. Too bad for me I didn’t think of that in time for the photos. So I’ve looked up online many recipes. I’ll compile them here. I’ll give as much credit as I can to where they came from, but I think most are …
I’m writing this by candle light. The electric went out. Again. For the third time tonight and the second incident in a month. I have candles, but just small little votives, and only three of them. I am, of course, unprepared for this basic need. Light.
Right now I think the Boy Scouts’ motto of “Always Be Prepared” is the most brilliant thing ever. But I wasn’t a boy scout. And so I’m unprepared tonight to keep myself from running into and over everything in a dark apartment. At least I have a lighter to light the candles. I keep one for lighting my incense, which I really need to do more often. As an ex-smoker I no longer know where my several different lighters are at all times. I just have two, and one I don’t know where it is. This one I was lucky enough to have found and been using to light incense recently to show off my new incense burners. Last time the electric went out, due to a transformer down the block blowing up, I learned the importance of keeping that lighter where I knew where to find it. Usually our blackouts don’t last that long, but we do have the.
So why am I, and we as a society, so unprepared for such basic needs? I wonder if the number of people that have extra batteries and/or adapters for their cell phones …
Enough: Lifestyle and financial panning for a simpler life.
Betty Jane Wylie
Published in 1998 this book covers many subjects and is a fairly easy read. While it’s over all theme focus is on simplifying our increasingly chaotic lifestyles, it offers some sound budgeting and money saving strategies for every lifestyle.
While discussing consumption there is one quote she uses that sticks with me the most. “Nothing that costs only a dollar is worth having’—Elizabeth Arden. How many of use truly believe this? Maybe without even realizing that we do? Probably the majority. And that’s a great place to start. Our attitude towards life in general and our relationship with money. Where did the idea that bigger, more expensive products equaled better? Advertisements. The subtle and not so subtle message are aimed at us practically from the time we are born. Telling us that brand name is better. Trying to make us feel inferior or deprived if we don’t buy their often over priced items that we don’t really need and in far too many cases don’t’ even use after the first month or so. Advertisers spend big money thinking up new and subtle ways to try and make us believe we need their product and their brand. Breaking their hold on us and our idea that more is better is essential to simplifying our lives, and our expenses as well.
Once we begin to learn and believe that …
It’s Sunday and I’m counting down the hours until I can pick up my check tomorrow and have money again. I planned poorly for paying my dental bill upfront and so this week has been much harder then it needed to be. I knew better too. Do you also sometimes have trouble covering bill, scrambling at the last minute to come up with the money? Living on oatmeal and Ramen Noodles for a week isn’t much fun. And yet we do this to ourselves over and over.
At least we aren’t alone. It is estimated that 40% of the population lives paycheck to paycheckwith very little, if anything at all, leftover after covering basic expenses. With little in savings and credit cards an all too convenient temptation to cover the basics, getting ourselves in deeper debt it may be time to try and change our ways a little bit. There is hope. It’s something called ‘the envelope method’ and I have personal experience that it does work. When I use it that is. I don’t know where it originated, or who used it first, but it sure can make life easier to manage for those us who aren’t in the Forbes Four Hundred. Although this method may not work for some, it does seem to work for most people that stick to it.
Its basically a cash payment system an envelope is used as the payee. Several envelopes. …
When you think of summer what comes to mind? Lemonade? Watermelon? Picnics? Swimming pools? Icy frozen treats straight out of the freezer? Maybe running through a sprinkler in the wet grass? All things that will help cool you down. Face it. Summer is hot! Its part of what we love about summer and most of what we hate.
While I don’t know of any specific scientific data, it seems to me that being cool becomes more and more important as we get older. Do we just feel the heat more? Perhaps it is the lack of a three month summer vacation that makes us more aware of just how hot it is. Or the fact that most adult small talk centers on the weather. One of an increasing shrinking number of ‘safe’ topics to discuss with strangers at the bus stop, it is nonetheless a constant reminder of just how hot (or cold, rainy, windy or snowy) it is. I don’t believe I ever once went up to a fellow third grader on the playground and inquired “So Stan. Is it hot enough for ya?” And I’m equally sure I never heard anyone else on the playground ask that question.
As staying cool becomes more and more of a priority, no matter what the reason, we are now faced with a new delima. Keeping cool on the cheap. While most of us just use some form of electric air conditioning, there are many more …
If you are going to take control of your financial situation, the most basic thing you will need to master is the idea of a budget. Generally speaking, a budget refers to a list of all income you receive and all planned expenses for a specific period of time, usually a month, or even a year. Knowing where and how much you are spending is the first step in taking control of your money, knowing where you can cut back and planning for financial goals.
So, how do you get started?
Well, first you will need to know how much actual income, from all sources you receive in a given month. Incoming income should not include one-time gifts of money or payments, as they are not a regular part of your income. If you are self-employed or have an otherwise variable income, you may want to look at old tax returns and check out your total income for a whole year. Divide that income by 12 and you should have an idea of your monthly income. If you can do this for the last few years, you’ll have a fairly reliable figure of income to work with.
Next you need to know exactly how much you are spending and where you are spending it. It may be helpful to you write down every single purchase for a few weeks. Even a $.50 pack of gum would go on your list. Those little purchases …
We’re welcoming a new contributor, Sasha of www.hypnobird.com, to the site! Check here in the future for tips / hints / advice on living life on a budget! I’m looking forward to it and hope you’ll enjoy it as well!
Yay and Welcome, Sasha!
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