Hurrah!

I am still a stay-at-home mommy without a reliable income stream and it’s now been well over a full year since I’ve made the decision to walk away from my place of employment, which was not a decision taken lightly. I admit that sometimes the lack of a steady income is disconcerting and for now I’ve been squirreling away every penny imaginable. When I check the dismal balances on my accounts, I try not to break down into wee little sobs.

But in my secret heart I know I’ve made the right decision and, quite frankly, I couldn’t be happier. There simply are more important things to focus on than being a compulsive saver and having gobs of disposable cash. Financially, we are finding ways to make it work by surviving off of M.’s income, we aren’t doing terribly dreadful and thus the situation is tolerable.

So for now: them’s the breaks.

I cherish each day with my darling daughter in ways I cannot even begin to describe with words. Her tender presence really has taught me that there are far more important experiences than just accumulating a rapidly escalating net worth to fart around with on some balance sheet. That seems incredibly basic to write but this, for an anal and financially-enthusiastic oddball like myself, was an epiphany of sorts.

This last year spent with my daughter has been simply incredible; so bizarre and different and exhausting and so, so wonderful. And I don’t regret a moment of it.

But, back to my financial goals.

As a stay-at-home mommy without a reliable income stream, my financial goal is to raise $1,000, somehow.

This has worked out really well in the past so I will shoot for that same goal and will reset my sidebar status back to zero over the next few days to reflect my updated challenge. (For newer readers to Broke-Ass Mommy, here is where you may check the status of my previous financial challenge. I had a lot of fun doing it last time!)

And here is a list of other financial goals for M. and me to knuckle down on:

• Possibly to change our local bank to an interest-bearing checking account. (I do not, however, like dealing with paltry rates.)

• Continue to clear M.’s student loan debt.

• Save the bulk of M.’s recent raise at work. And if we are able to increase the savings in our family coffers by at least $6,000 this year, that would be brilliant.

• Use a teensy percentage of savings for memorable vacation moments.

• NOT TO USE CREDIT CARDS except when money is all ready parked in the bank, so that any balances swiftly will be paid in full at the end of each month. (Cha-ching. Reward points!)

• Continue to stave off impulsive shopping, unnecessary purchases and other financial boo-boo’s.

• Set aside a separate fund for car repairs and, eventually, use the fund for a ‘new’ (ie, gently used, most likely) vehicle.

• Continue to find creative ways to increase my side income as a stay-at-home mommy through various writing projects, participation in focus groups, etc. (A few months back I qualified for a focus group on lip balm and found the experience different but enjoyable, and it paid really well!)

• Accumulate more points on my American Express card, potentially to be used for mileage to visit family in Hawaii.

• Keep available credit across all of our credit cards below the 75% threshold.

• Carefully track all of our weekly spending.

So here goes the savings parade, folks, and hopefully it’s contagious. What are some of your upcoming financial or savings goals for the coming months?

In unrelated news, I am gleefully looking forward to some dessert brownies that M. brought home as a small but unexpected treat. Now excuse me while I chomp my way into a food coma.

=^..^=

This week, I have decided to keep a log of how I spend my time. Since having a baby, I cannot recall feeling restless or bored because the days just dwindle away so quickly now. But where do all of those hours really go? Then it dawned on me: in order to accomplish all of my desired daily activities, I needed to become more strategic with my time. Hence the idea manifested for a weekly time log.

Recently I inherited a beautiful keyboard with weighted keys, known as a ‘portable grand piano’, from my family, who just wanted to move the poor girl out from their dank basement. It has been years since I’ve sat down to properly play a piano but I was ecstatic to run my fingers over the smooth keys and reacquaint myself with some basic notes and scales. Unmistakably I am rusty.

Basically, before I knew it, an hour had slipped away and I still felt it had not been sufficient time to accomplish what I felt necessary on my new treasure. I then realized how difficult it was going to be to consistently squeeze piano playing time into my all-ready crammed schedule!

Furthermore I have a stack of books from the library that need reading and if I am to curl up with a novel, I would prefer a good chunk of time—more than twenty minutes, at least—to lose myself in the writing.

And of course on top of being a mommy, I am also blogging. As anybody running a site can attest to, actively maintaining a blog and participating in the community is a huge dedication in itself. There are blogging activities that I have been failing miserably at, such as responding to comments, which is something I would dearly like to change. Because I do read each comment and deeply appreciate every one of them.

So perhaps a time log can help me become more organized and figure out how to achieve all of my objectives more efficiently. At the very least it will be interesting to capture a glimpse of what a week of my life looks like.

Some mental scraps—

Daily hobbies I enjoy, which require at least an hour each: writing and journaling, reading, yoga and other exercise, generally through an evening stroll with Hubs and Bubs after dinner.

Chores I detest, but which must get done, unfortunately: tidying and cleaning up. Then cooking and after-meal dish washing—usually one hour, minimum. (Errrrrgh, and if M. is in the kitchen it will be even longer. You should see what a brilliant but sloppy chef he is.)

Here is how my personal log has progressed so far:

6:32 – wake up: blearily heat water to make coffee in the French press. Switch on the computer for writing. In zombie mode.

7:26 – M. wakes up and meets me at the keyboard to groggily say good morning. Heads to the shower. I am enjoying my second cup of coffee.

7:46 –I have written nearly 500 words.  Lexi rouses. I change her diaper and, at her insistence, I also need to put a diaper on Elmo. We snuggle for a moment, all three of us.

…a diapered Elmo

8:07 – I prepare M.’s lunch to take to work and give Lexi her breakfast. As I’m finishing up some dishes, I turn around and realize Lexi has grabbed a hold of a paper towel roll and is unraveling it all over the kitchen tile.

8:21 – M. asks me to give his pants the ‘sniff’ test and then he is out the door. (He passed.)

So, how do you currently ‘budget’ your time? Could you make progress in this area?

=^..^=

For the past few years I have been hauling around an ultra cheap purse that quite literally is on its last threads. Little bits are starting to flake off the strap and the seams are becoming undone. The bottom is spongy and torn and getting ready to let loose. I figured it was time to buckle down and make a serious effort to do some bag hunting to find a suitable replacement.

And being that Lexi and I are grappling with nasty colds, which has made it difficult to concentrate on anything productive these last two days, I used the opportunity to fudge around online and mindlessly browse for some price options. Meanwhile I am trying not to bash my head on the keyboard. (This is the third time I’ve had to stop to blow my nose since starting this paragraph, yecch.)

I envisioned a quality mid-cost leather satchel for all of my essentials: bottled water, a  mini tablet, a journal and pen, my cell phone, a wallet or pouch for credit cards and my keys. Something cute and original. Perhaps a tad boho-esque, with a charming dash of Indiana Jones.

However I have no clue what an efficient price threshold for a quality mid-range leather bag is. $100? $300? As I am researching these things, Etsy has been an addicting solution for stumbling upon that perfectly unique handmade or vintage bag.

I despise head colds and my inability to concentrate BUT I have discovered some darling bags on Etsy during my down time.

handmade leather-canvas backpack. (Source: Etsy)

I love the generous size and the earthy tones of this unisex leather-canvas backpack. I really admire that faded beat-up look and this handmade pack looks to be of decent quality. I could definitely see this pack accompanying me on many different adventures. Original, and just too adorable! ($85.00 by SandyLeatherBag)

vintage camel leather messenger. (Source: Etsy)

The description says this vintage camel leather messenger is for men but I totally would use it! I love how durable this bag appears and depending on how easy those buckles unsnap, it might be the perfect bag for a writer. At 18″ however, this is probably a bit too bulky for my personal preference. ($89.00 by Genuine Goods)

And for the romantic at heart…

an antique leather satchel. (source: Etsy)

Seriously, how cool is this?? According to the seller, this is an antique leather satchel from the early 1900′s that once belonged to a British officer in the Royal Navy and it has spent an entire life at sea. Talk about an abundance of character in every ding. This beautiful one-of-a-kind antique satchel may require special treatment and extra TLC but it is sure to inspire the dreamer and poet in all of us. ($60.00 by Rolling Hills Vintage)

I always feel a bit reluctant to purchase a big ticket item without being able to touch or view it first. Have you used Etsy before? What is the most you would spend on a bag?

Okay, time to tend to Lexi. She is getting very restless and is a bit uncertain on how to deal with all of the mucous oozing through her system right now. The poor wee mite.

Until next time. Sniffle. Cough.

=^..^=

Was there a change or update somewhere that I have been oblivious to, that is attracting all of these unsolicited messages? This is my first instance of being pelted so ferociously by spamm-y comments. Usually I will receive a handful, but never of this magnitude. Is anyone else experiencing an exponential increase of spam on their own site?

So last night I sipped on fizzy wine and noodled around in my comments folders, trying not to get swallowed up in the unrelenting density of spam.

Here is a quick update on my writing project currently underway (a collaborative personal finance e-Book I am working on with several other financial bloggers):

I began writing actual words on Wednesday and I am in the process of producing a rough tattered first draft. Also it has been difficult to reach my desired word count for each day so I’ve been toying with several different writing methods, one of which I dub the ‘mental vomit’ technique, and it has worked splendidly.

I tend to agonize and stutter over every word, which seriously disrupts and paralyzes the whole thought process, and therefore this mental vomit method has been absolutely brilliant with snuffing out that bitchy inner-critic and editor, in order to just get the damn words flowing.

Basically I set a timer (usually for ten minutes or so) and then force myself to write as quickly as possible to capture my stream of consciousness during that time frame. I am so easily distracted and it actually helps to turn off my computer screen and just pound out the words. Now I can splay thoughts across the page in a deliciously deranged fashion and later return to craft something tidier and more presentable from all of that mayhem.

This has been a great technique with slicing through that mental barrier of having to stare in terror at the blank page. Do you have your own writing techniques that help you push through your own barriers? I love hearing about this stuff!

Also: remember that short list of inexpensive indulgences to pamper myself with this winter? Santa must have been reading because I received a beautiful black soft-cover Moleskine writing journal for Christmas, y’all! Finally a place to capture those spur-of-the-moment thoughts and ideas.

Many of you related to my New Years resolution to stop being such a damn shut-in, and I have been making an effort to reach out to my social circle for catch-up coffee dates and other niceties. Seriously I need to get out of my head more.

And also: progress on my ‘read a book each month’ resolution. Things were so hectic with the baby last year that I severely neglected any type of substantial reading due to time constraints.

Currently a copy of Pound Foolish: Exposing the dark side of the personal finance industry by Helaine Olen is resting on top of my favorite canvas tote that depicts a loveable devil character carrying a tray of cookies, with the words: WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE—WE HAVE COOKIES scrawled across the front. (Looove this tote bag!) Anyway Pound Foolish appears as if it aims to shred apart personal finance gurus, such as David Bach, Jim Cramer, Suze Orman, et al. I am still on the first chapter but so far it is an interesting read. My goal is to have fifty pages of Pound Foolish read by Monday.

How are your resolutions developing? Reasonable progress here and so far not a bad start to 2013.

=^..^=

Here are a few resolutions for 2013:

1. Start a dream journal.

2. Write every day. EVERY DAY.

3. Increase writing productivity. Blog maintenance and project participation is an excellent way to encourage consistent writing, in order to build up that mental muscle of transitioning thoughts to words (somewhat) gracefully. Also to continue to explore different styles in an effort to find my true writing voice.

4. Stop being such a damn shut-in. Be nicer and not so guarded with others and balance it somehow with the isolation of a robust writing schedule. I tend to clam up around those I don’t know very well and may come off as aloof, which makes me cringey because it really, truly, is not how I feel. It is just overwhelming and draining to be stuck in a crowd.

5. Continue to set new financial savings goals, even as a stay-at-home mommy. Purchase stock.

6. Seek out a cause I am passionate for and volunteer my time.

7. Have the gumption to finish a hands-on project. Bake more. Sew.

8. Unplug more with M. by incorporating “date nights” into our post-baby life. So more time with Hubs away from Bubs.

9. Learn to play chess.

10. Become more comfortable with spending money! Though I am a rabid saver, rarely will I splurge. For example, my purse is frayed and disintegrating—a quality-bought chewy leather replacement would be beautiful and useful.

11. Read a book each month.

Those are some of my resolutions, what about yours? Sweet mother of Cheetos this year flew by.

=^..^=

You don’t?  It was when I was determined, as a stay-at-home mommy without a reliable income stream, to forge a financial challenge at the start of summer to raise $1,000, somehow. Yeah. That financial challenge. This is how things currently stand:

(All income was made from writing projects, sponsors and focus group participation.)

June – $80.00
July – $57.71
August – $425.80
September – $0
October – $262.50
November – $150.00 $250.00

TOTAL: $1,076.01

My response (the censored version): Eeee! I made it!!

My response (slightly uncensored): Hells yeah, muthaf*cka!

I will use this wonderful achievement as initiative to roll out some rousing new goals for December:

Financial? I am stumped. Should I continue forward with my savings goal and plump up the amount to $2,000? Or $5,000? Here is what else I’ve been systematically undertaking:

1. Implement an envelope savings system and aggressively tackle a specific goal until it has been accomplished. PASS! M. and I resurrected our envelope savings system with all of our objectives clearly prioritized. For instance our most pressing family savings goal is to save up enough dough for a king sized bed. Once this has been accomplished we will continue to move down our list. I am pretty satisfied with this system because it catapulted us into action as opposed to wistfully chit chatting over all of the stuff we want and then remaining stagnant about it. Now we visually can document our progress and propel our ideas into action. (Instead of waffling with “we should…“, it is now “we MUST. And this is how we will…“)
2. Bring my local community checking account to $3,000 while adding $2,000 to my Discover online savings account. FLOUNDERING! I am insanely close to touching these totals, however. Just a reminder that I enjoy keeping a highly liquid amount in my checking while scouring for treasures at local estate sales. I will delve more into this aspect in the future.
3. Create a Christmas budget 2012 — figure out Secret Santa and home-made/useful gift ideas for loved ones. FLOUNDERING! This was supposed to occur last weekend and for whatever reason didn’t transpire. Progress should be made shortly as we rally our family and pull the names for our Secret Santa exchange. I believe a $30 limit per gift was discussed and agreed upon. Also, I need to order a set of America the Beautiful silver quarters from the U.S. Mint for my father-in-law’s Christmas gift. I’ve been gifting him an annual silver set for the past few years now, and this needs to be done as quickly as possible to ensure timely shipping (PASS! on the coins.)

Blogging goals.

1. Update Broke-Ass Mommy (minimally) two to three times per week. Thus far I’ve experimented with a Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday posting schedule and a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The latter felt more natural/preferable. PASS!
2. Comment on others’ blogs and tweet their posts. It seriously takes two seconds to compose a tweet after commenting, so why not share the love? PASS!
3. Consider potentially setting up a Broke-Ass Mommy Facebook account (??). Social media will carry heavy weight in the future, I believe. I am slacking on this front because I lack sufficient time to properly engage fans on Facebook, however.  FLOUNDERING!
4. Break 200,000 Alexa Ranking. I have been successfully bobbing around the 185-190,000 mark so I want to maintain this momentum. PASS!

Writing Goals.

1. 500 words a night, minimum. It means manifesting courage to face that dreaded blank screen each and every evening, but it will force me to write continually/more persistently. PASS!

Other Goals.

1. Yoga, daily. This needs to be a critical priority as I feel quite a transformation with both body and mind while faithfully engaging in yoga. Since I am pretty rusty now, I will need to warm up through the basic asanas (sun salutations) to rebuild my endurance, if necessary. The standing-on-the-head stuff will have to wait.
2. Find a new and fun recipe per week to experiment with. Preferably, baking. I love baking.
3. Join our community co-op. Now that the farmers market is hibernating for the winter season, M. and I need to look elsewhere for fresh fruit and veggies options. Our local co-op has such a cozy inviting atmosphere, and I would receive a dividend check at the end of the year for co-owning a hunk of it.
4. Buy storage bins this weekend for de-cluttering our apartment. I totally blame M. for being a packrat. At the very least I need to shuffle a lot of crap into bins and slide them under the bed and into the closets. Then systematically I will go through all of my stuff and trash/sell/donate the bulk of it. I am beginning to realize that too much stuff makes me miserable and slightly derailed. PASS!

There you have it.
Et tu? What are your goals for this month?

=^..^=

I have too much crap all ready. And I am so, so tired of the endless string of commercials and email blasts, urging me to:

“Hurry, for a limited time only! While supplies last! On Sale, must act now!!”

The holidays have become more than a little sullied and everything sounds like a colossal fucking infomercial, deliberately designed to create this irrational and false urgency to consume. It is beyond vexing. Enough, for crying out loud.

A minimalist is something I aspire to be. Relieving myself of unnecessary stuff makes me feel less stressed out. More grounded and in control. I like being more efficient, less wasteful. This brings me immense comfort and I can breathe easier.

My mission before the new year is to unfetter myself from all of the useless crap that slyly festers in obscure nooks here. In my own disorganized way I will fuss over each room of our apartment and challenge myself to find several objects per corner that immediately can be thrust out the door. Sayonara!

In conclusion: it was a pleasant respite to engage in amazing food over some hearty laughs with family during this holiday weekend, and I am tired of being a slave to some cultural expectation that consuming is what we all ought to be doing this time of year. It is a bunch of bovine fecal matter, to put it bluntly. (Bullshit.) I am so over it.

Also, I can not believe how quickly this year is hurtling by.

=^..^=

For example, during one assignment I was sent on a shopping excursion in order to scout out the lip balm section from a venue of my choice. My mission was to document (with photos) where display setups were from the front door, how aesthetically-pleasing displays were arranged, and then base conclusions on how each brand was propped up/packaged, etc. It was a bit hilarious trying to discreetly zigzag through the aisles in order to document everything on my phone. Clerks tend to look at you a bit oddly for wandering around trying to snap pictures randomly.

The best part: I generously was compensated $150 for my participation!

My first focus group, for lip balm. Also featuring my daughter’s ‘sad doggy’—she drags this damn thing everywhere. (That’s my ‘cutie poo’ tote in the background.)

Which leads us onto … “My Financial Challenge Update“.

As a stay-at-home mommy without a reliable income stream, I made a financial challenge at the start of summer to raise $1,000, somehow. This is how things currently stand:

(All income was made from writing projects, sponsors and focus group participation.)

June – $80.00
July – $57.71
August – $425.80
September – $0
October – $262.50
November – $150.00

TOTAL: $976.01

SO. CLOSE. Just a hair’s breadth away from my $1,000 milestone. Wheeee doggies!

Broke-Ass Mommy Site Stats

Subscribers –

July 3rd:
2 subscribers (Can I send you something to express my gratitude? A tater tot, perhaps?)

August 8th:
18 subscribers

September 5th:
31 subscribers

October 20th:
73 subscribers

November 9th:
185 broke-ass subscribers, as of this morning.

Alexa Rankings –

July 10th: 3,507,434
July 30th: 1,236,943
August 6th: 906,877
September 5th: 369, 754
October 12th: 261,838
(current) November 9th: 211,222

Page Rank: 2 3!! <— Check your Page Rank, folks. There was an update recently.

~¤~¤~

In unrelated news, here are some personal finance reads featuring some of my favorite lady bloggers on the internets. They are all kinds of awesome:

Frugal Portland – My Personal Philosophy at Age 31

NZ Muse – On Unabashedly Saying ‘No’ to Booze

When Life Gives You Lemons…Add Vodka – Why A Courthouse Wedding Is Not For Me

Mo’ Money Mo’ Houses – What Do Our Spending Choices Say About Our Values?

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff – Do You Fit Fun Into Your Life?

Mochi and Macarons – What Does It Mean To Be An Adult?

Little Miss Moneybags – Little Miss Milkbags–Would You Sell Your Breastmilk?

The Dog Ate My Wallet – Growing Your Professional Network

Master the Art of Saving – No Mortgage Payments For A Year—Sign Me Up!

~¤~¤~

Broke-Ass Mommy was featured in the following carnivals (a colossal thank-you to each of these hosts):

Finance Carn. for Young Adults at 20s Finances
Y and T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty
Canadian PF Happy Hour at Canadian Personal Finance
Yakezie Carnival at Parenting and Money
Carnival of MoneyPros at Finance Product Reviews
Carn. of Financial Camaraderie at My University Money
Carnival of Retirement at CashNetUSA Credit Resource

~¤~¤~

Now, onto the weekend.

Time to get your weekend started.

Have anything you want to accomplish by the end of the weekend?

Do tell.

=^..^=

Lexi is so, so proud to clumsily sprint ahead now, and my heart does these fancy little somersaults, all twisted-like, every time she turns to peek slightly over her shoulder. To check. To know that I am close, to grasp onto.

My days are now full of her laughter and her exquisite shenanigans, and it is such a cozy place to be.

On the financial front, M. and I are discussing various goals—a conversation which was ignited by our beloved, fatally-wounded MacBook yesterday, as it decided to shit the bed on us—and we have decided to implement some type of envelope system for our savings. Just, right now our wish list is so long and varied and somehow we must begin to organize our thoughts and prioritize all of these wants, in order to focus more and make a bit of progress toward each of them.

Last night we curled up with chilly fingers and hot tea to quietly murmur over these things: what percentage for long-term savings (with the principal never to be touched—we decided on 20%), and what percentage to stash into tiny vanilla envelopes, with each of our goals scrawled across in spotty ink. It is hard to believe that at some point in the future these envelopes will all brim with crumpled tens and twenties. There are excited whispers of introducing strict “no spending days” as we eagerly anticipate contributing to each of our financial goals.

Progress is exciting. Stagnation = boo!

More soon,

me.

It is Monday. (Again.)

Some PF link crushin’ to get you through the rubbish of Monday.

Here are some personal finance reads floating around the blogosphere, for your distinct perusing pleasure:

LBee and the Money Tree – Broken Heart, Broken Wallet-Part 1.

My Money Design – My Money Design For Achieving Financial Freedom

Modest Money – What Happens to Debt When You Die?

Canadian Budget Binder – How To Have The Wedding of Your Dreams and Still Be Frugal

So Over This – My Credit Cards Are Plotting Against Me

Money Life and More – How Much A Cheap Cruise Really Costs

Club Thrifty – Top 5 Finance Apps to Keep Your Finances in Check

Simple Debt Free Finance – The Worst Things For Your Credit Score

Frugal Rules – Are Rich People Really That Different From the Rest of Us?

Reach Financial Independence – Little House in Guatemala, Week 1 (with lots of pics!)

Monster Piggy Bank – 6 Simple Money Saving Tips

Pelican on Money – The Thank-You Letter That Landed A Job

~¤~¤~

It is also time for another Broke-Ass Monday! Enjoy some of this fun free stuff circulating around the web.

…it’s another Broke-Ass Monday!

• Broke-Ass Mommy is helping to sponsor a $100 Cash Giveaway through Paypal or Amazon gift card (winner’s choice) in our ‘the importance of emergency fund’ giveaway. Don’t miss your chance to win, you cheeky muff.
• WorkSaveLive is celebrating their one-year blogoversary by giving away an iPad Mini, $100 Amazon Gift Card, and $50 Paypal Cash to three lucky winners! Hurry over to enter.

Good luck to all participants. See you folks for the next Broke-Ass Monday!

=^..^=

Here are some ideas on how to pamper myself through the upcoming winter chill:

1. A small box of truffles, or another delicacy from a skilled chocolatier, or even a tarte framboises-pistache from the best pâtisserie in the city, perched loyally on my writing desk some frigid morning, waiting to be nibbled on and enjoyed with a frothy dark-roasted french-pressed coffee, served in a porcelain mug.

a delicate box of truffles

2. A Moleskine journal, to capture every wisp of thought, anywhere.

Source: Moleskinerie, Troy Pesola

3. A wallet made from chewy real leather. My current tattered purse was purchased at Target six years ago as a broke-ass student, and is absolutely filthy.

a definite upgrade

4. A pair of luxurious lambswool slippers to sink my chilly piggies into.

Baaaah!

5. A King-sized bed set-up. (Potential bonus points: a memory-foam mattress.) Although this one is not a small indulgence and NOT cheap, it is a hot item for M. and I, as we are fed up with hobbling about all ache-y after what should have been a restful night of sleep. (Will be writing a heck of a lot more on this later.)

snoozin’ like a Queen

Do you have any planned indulgences for yourself or a loved one to get through the nippier months? Do tell.

=^..^=

Or coherently write.
(Tired. Soooo tired.)
My syntax has begun to deteriorate.

Need I sleep. Help must you, please?

See?

I feel like I am going to deflagrate into a pile of goo. Thereby I will leave you with: “My Financial Challenge Update“.

As a stay-at-home mommy without a reliable income stream, I made a financial challenge at the start of summer to raise $1,000, somehow. This is how things currently stand:

(All income was passively made from previous writing projects & sponsors.)

June – $80.00
July – $57.71
August – $257.05 $425.80

TOTAL: $563.51

Broke-Ass Mommy Site Stats

Subscribers –

July 3:
2 subscribers (Can I send you something to express my gratitude? Tater tots, perhaps?)

July 18:
11 subscribers

August 8:
18 subscribers

September 5:
31 broke-ass subscribers, as of this morning. (woo-hoo!)

Alexa Rankings –

July 10th: 3,507,434
July 17th: 1,725,804
July 30th: 1,236,943
August 6th: 906,877
August 8th: 826, 155
(current) September 5th: 369, 754

Page Rank: 2

Progress is encouraging. Sleep am I going to for next days two. Talk you with soon.

… yours incoherently slothful …

=^..^=

Our apartment is anarchy and it’s amazing how quickly clutter accumulates, taking up unnecessary space and festering in every nook and cranny. It’s time to remove all the senseless, stagnant ‘stuff’ and dedicate that space to items which are important to me.

Me verses The Crap, my plan of attack:

Tomorrow morning, before my first cup of coffee, I’ll flip on my favorite Pandora channel and sway to some beats as I de-clutter-itize, or prioritize which clutter/junky room corner to first tackle.  As I poke around in an attempt to corral stuff, I’ll maul over these questions; when was this last used? Do I love this?

My reward for completing the task of unsnarling a chaotic nook: a fresh, full-bodied cup of coffee from the french press.

Hodgepodge of other goals this week:

* What I have roosting in the fridge: onion, tomato, bell peppers, cheese and mushrooms; tomorrow, pick up whole wheat dough and pizza sauce for a tasty oven-baked pizza for dinner.
* Pay my car insurance. DONE
* Fix the control arm/ball joint in my car (to be completed during the weekend, with M. playing mechanic.) The part itself cost $200, and it was triple that amount to take my car in for repairs.
* Broke-Ass Mommy was at 18 subscribers when I made a goal to reach 25 by the end of this week.

Current subscribers: 22

A reasonable start, I believe.

=^..^=

Expenses.

This weekend was brutal, financially. Another wedding. (Our second within a month.) A stag party last night. And another wedding reception next weekend.

M. and I calculated our wedding gift expenses, and it’s reaching such an exorbitant amount, I feel foolish (as a professed frugal-y chick) confessing the amount. I wonder how others deal with wedding gift expenses toward dear ones?

We haven’t blown through our entire budget, but next month we do need to aggressively tighten the purse strings, to recoup from these sprightly bashes.

My Financial Challenge Update.

As a stay-at-home mommy without a reliable income stream, I made a financial challenge at the start of summer to raise $1,000, somehow. This is how things currently stand:

(All income was passively made from previous writing projects & sponsors.)

June – $80.00
July – $57.71
August – $257.05

I’ve been incredibly lax but income has slooooowly been trickling in.

Now, my other dilemma: once my goal is reached, since I’m nearly half-way there, how should this money be invested?

To express my gratitude for your support with this site, I find this an exciting opportunity to give back to you, my broke-ass reader, in a sort of reader give-back scenario. So I am considering sponsoring a cash giveaway once my $1,000 milestone is successfully attained—something along the lines of 20 percent ($200) to one lucky reader and 10% ($100) to a charity. The remainder will most likely be stashed into our family savings, to help replenish the coffers from wedding expenses, etc.

Jacob from My Personal Finance Journey does a monthly community and charity giveback and I think it’s the niftiest idea, ever.

What do you think? What would you do right now with $1,000?

Be sure to sign up for email updates or click the ‘subscribe to this feed’ link at the end of this post so you don’t miss out on the progress of my $1,000 Broke-Ass Financial Challenge.

My to-do list this evening:

Read and respond to emails and comments left on Broke-Ass Mommy.
Devour a peach. DONE
Investigate why my Site Meter suddenly went kaput.
Browse through sites listed on my blog roll, and comment accordingly.
Hunker down and pay my American Express bill and car insurance.
Watch a movie with M. tonight.

Here’s what I’m currently reading:

• Metro Santa Cruz (feature story, John Moss). Field Trippin’ — One high school teacher’s account of a trip he didn’t mean to take
  Drugs are a common topic in my classroom. The students have questions and I have answers, and if I can prevent one less overdose or drunken driving death, it’s worth it. My students get fucked up. We live in the wine country, and whenever you live in a booze-based economy, kids are going to grow up with issues…Max had left a screensaver depicting 12 tabs of Scooby-Doo windowpane acid on one of my classroom computers. I told him to do a research paper on Timothy Leary and quit being such an asshole. I think that’s why he dosed me.

aaahhh hahahahahahahahaha…
UGH.

=^..^=

Content goals:  My objective is/was to maintain two to three weekly updates. DONE

Unique visitors per day — The site is now receiving approximately 30 unique visitors a day.

Subscribers –

July 3:
2 subscribers (Can I send you something to express my gratitude? Brandy snaps, perhaps?)

July 18:
11 subscribers

August 8:
18 broke-ass subscribers, as of this morning. (woo-hoo!)

Retaining readers is difficult, and my goal for the week is to try and reach seven new subscribers and bring my total up to 25.

Commentators –

Undeniably, the most rewarding part of building a blog is feedback from readers, and approximately 20 broke-ass readers have commented since launch. A huge thank you to those who’ve taken a moment to stop in and sprinkle me with comment love; your support and thoughtful feedback is invaluable.

Where traffic is coming from — the bulk of traffic is directly from Personal Finance Carnival links and other niche-related finance bloggers, and approximately 15% of traffic are Google hits.

Google Keywords — Ass. Mommy. (Heh.) Frazzled.

Alexa Rankings –

July 10th: 3,507,434
July 17th: 1,725,804
July 30th: 1,236,943
August 6th: 906,877
(current) August 8th: 826, 155

Page Rank: 2

I’m a bit baffled by Page Rank. Do all sites start at zero? 1? Is a PR 2 promising?

What Broke-Ass Mommy is for me..

Since I’m currently addled with gobs of ruckus-ness throughout my daily life, and pieces of me are scattered everywhere, this site is a creative outlet and means to hold myself accountable and remain focused.

(As I’m typing this, my kid is bopping up and down, lopsided, dribbling luscious snot all over my ankle. And screaming and mewling. Two hours and twenty-six minutes later: ok, I’m back. But, uh, lost. Anchor me here, folks.)

Oh, yes.

Stats.

Overall Broke-Ass Mommy has had a slow and steady progress.

My goal for this month:
To bravely soldier on.

=^..^=

A morning where I surge out of bed and dismally announce to the world: I’m feeling frazzled.

M: (rolls eyes)

Lexi:  ::sounds a baby makes:: (grabs at booby)

I’m grateful for how seriously they take me.

Source: The Cat Woman

It’s a frazzled tale where;

Mysteriously, my favorite Winnie-the-Pooh coffee mug disappears. For twenty minutes this morning, I frantically swing cupboards open, clamber on gnarled knees to squirm beneath salt-y dusted tables and pepper spattered chairs, remove our basil plant, cacti and succulents to peek around their perch, I even elevate the cat food dish as if that’s where a runaway cup ought to be found, only to, at some point during this nonsense, open the fridge and discover my beloved mug loyally perched on the top shelf, next to the gooseberries and currants, where I had placed it days ago — it even generously offers a shot of stale, three-day old coffee.

My baby sucks on pebbles from the bamboo plant, and I spend the next half-hour scooping handfuls of pebbles out from her gaping maw. (Coupled with a crinkly, dried-up orchid petal.)

The cat’s pissed. And then pitches a chunky hairball all over our shaggy black rug. Fucking cat.

Where. The page is.
blank.

Where I can’t get more than two sentences down on paper before another crisis erupts, and I’m exceedingly behind in my writing because, after three hours, this is what fills my page:

(scribble)

There lived a fruit fly named Pete. He liked to live on our street. One day he fell down while shuffling to town, and then his tiny crown got beat.

(/scribble) <insert smushed corpse dangling from page. Poor Pete.>

And then Lexi crawls over and jostles my arm, which causes me to tap a key and delete a paragraph, all while I am still in mid eye-blink. Stuck in the frazzleds, that’s me.

However, I am wise enough to recognize the frazzlies signify something might be a-miss. Sometimes it’s just pure chaos here at our humble city-apartment dwelling, but when I’m feeling this much frazzledness, it’s my red flag. My trumpet of forewarning.

Something is awry and needs to be modified, somehow. So this is where I shall undauntedly begin to pen down a few weekly goals in the hopes of nipping away this sensation…

Goals for 6/20

To get un-frazzled.

Add $300.00 to my emergency savings fund, which is my online Discover Savings account @ .90% APY. DONE

Yoga. Daily.

Broke-Ass Mommy has officially joined the Yakezie Challenge. Add badge widget and Alexa stats to website. DONE

Outline some (rough) story ideas / character sketches I have quivering about. I don’t know what my characters are supposed to be doing exactly, I just know they’ve been stuck in my head and need to be extracted.

Other website tinker-y to-do’s:

Install Pac-Man plugin on WordPress (for fun).
Work on ‘About’ page.

Anticipated weekend expenses:

A wedding. A pair of glitzy new shoes. And some fresh coffee.

To conclude with this blathering on; maybe there’s just too much ‘to-do’ and not enough ‘get-done’. And this shall pass. Maybe I just need to accept that my cat will puke wherever she pleases, and continue to do whatever she wants. Because she’s a cat, you see.

Thoughts on any of this? Do you ever experience the frazzles?

=^..^=