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This weekend, my wife is off scrapbooking with my mother and sister-in-law.   Instead of hanging around the house trying to keep three kids entertained, I’m at my brother’s house, since his wife abandoned him with their kids, too.   I’ll let his kids keep mine entertained, and vice versa.  Woo!

30 Day Project Update

I am on the Slow Carb Diet.   At the end of the month, I’ll see what the results were and decide if it’s worth continuing.   For those who don’t know, the Slow Carb Diet involves cutting out potatoes, rice, flour, sugar, and dairy in all their forms.   My meals consist of 40% proteins, 30% vegetables, and 30% legumes(beans or lentils).    There is no calorie counting, just some specific rules, accompanied by a timed supplement regimen and some timed exercises to manipulate my metabolism.   The supplements are NOT effedrin-based diet pills, or, in fact, uppers of any kind.  There is also a weekly cheat day, to cut the impulse to cheat and to avoid letting my body go into famine mode.

I’m measuring two metrics, my weight and the total inches of my waist , hips, biceps, and thighs.   Between the two, I should have an accurate assessment of my progress.

Weight: I have lost 30 pounds since January 2nd!   That’s only 1 pounds since last week.  12 more to meet my goal for February.  The difference this week?  I’ve cut back on the supplements, to see if they actually make a difference.  It would appear they do.

Total Inches: I have lost 16 inches in the same time frame, down 1.5 since last week.

Best Posts

I totally got live this joke.

Are you a compulsive shopper?  Money Crashers has some tips to cut that down.

Before I got a smartphone, I relied on a PocketMod for almost everything a smartphone does.  Does that make me a geek?

$39Glasses is having a killer sale.  $15 off a $40 item is huge.

Tim Ferriss has a guide to slow-carb seasonings.   It’s worth reading if your food is boring you.

LRN Timewarp

This is where I review the posts I wrote a year ago.  Did you miss them then?

This was Scam Week last year.  I had a post on debt scams and scams that target disaster victims.  As we roll into flooding season, it’s important to know how these scams work.

I also discussed my attempt to teach my son to savor delayed gratification.  It has been working.  He makes long-term(for an 11 year old) plans regularly.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

Money Problems: Setting Goals was included in the Festival of Frugality.

Your Budget is Worthless was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Brown Bagging Your Way to Savings was included in the Carnival of Money Stories.

Debt Burnout was included in the Totally Money Carnival.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!

Another year draws to a close while I still feel like it’s March…2002.   How does that happen?

Here are the 10 most visited pages on this site over the past year:

1. Slow Carb Diet: How to Avoid Going Bat-**** Crazy
2. How to Live Happily Without a Budget
3. Build a Bunker: How to make a vault without breaking the bank
4. Carnival of Personal Finance #270, the Elvis is Dead Edition
5.  100 Pushups in 22 Days
6. Hacking a NookColor
7. Mastermind – The Best Personality Type
8. Festival of Frugality: The Peer Pressure Edition
9. About LRN
10. Make Extra Money

Numbers 4 & 8 surprise me a bit, because they are carnival posts.   There’s no meat there.

Number 10 is an unfinished series.   I will finish that soon.

 What else has happened this year?

My financial situation has changed pretty drastically.

• My mother-in-law passed away in April, leaving my wife a house, a reasonably well-funded retirement account, and a moderate life insurance policy.
•  Two of my side hustles have grown to the point where I was close to looking at the end of my day job.   One of them is still on the upswing, the other has contracted a bit.
•  I changed my day job.   The new job is mostly a lateral move, but a bit of a backwards step in my career.   I’m not managing a team any more and I’m not the senior developer.  I have picked up more social media and advertising responsibilities, which is a direction I’ve wanted to go for a while.   Combined with a pay raise and moving to an industry I care about, this is a good move.

These changes worked out well with the several years of debt elimination.   Now, our credit cards are paid off each month and our mortgage is down to $24,000.   The inherited house is almost ready for the renters to move in just one month from now, and we’re considering adding more properties to our financial plan.   We did take out a car loan 6 weeks ago, but that was only to take advantage of a deal.  We’ve paid off nearly half of the loan and should have the rest paid off in a couple of months.

What’s on tap for 2013?

I’m hoping to carve out more time for me.  And my family.  I’ve worked almost nonstop in 2012, now I’d like to explore some personal interests and develop some non-commercial hobbies.   There are a few commercial projects currently in the works, and a few planned, but I’m going to try to keep those under control this year.  My interest vary and don’t always stick for long, so there’s no real measure of success here, but if I can buy an atlatl and learn how to chuck a spear into a target or maybe brew a few batches of  beer, I’ll be happy.

I’m also going to spend more time working on my health.   Working 60 hour weeks with at least an hour of daily commute time killed most options for exercise.   Now that I’m working from home, I’ve been walking a mile or more every day that’s been above 15 degrees. I’m going to restart the slow carb diet tomorrow.   It won’t be as complicated this time, because I can eat out of my refrigerator instead of trying to pack a slow carb meal or find one at a restaurant for lunch.    I’ll consider this a win if I can drop 60 pounds this year.

What about the blog?

I’ve considered selling this site.   Time is always crunched, and I’m no longer paying off debt, but I still need the outlet.    I’ll probably keep to the twice-a-week schedule and you can probably expect me to focus more on personal and business development instead of money.

Have a happy new year!

30 Day Project Update

This month, I am trying to establish the Slow Carb Diet as a habit.   At the end of the month, I’ll see what the results were and decide if it’s worth continuing.   For those who don’t know, the Slow Carb Diet involves cutting out potatoes, rice, flour, sugar, and dairy in all their forms.   My meals consist of 40% proteins, 30% vegetables, and 30% legumes(beans or lentils).    There is no calorie counting, just some specific rules, accompanied by a timed supplement regimen and some timed exercises to manipulate my metabolism.   The supplements are NOT effedrin-based diet pills, or, in fact, uppers of any kind.  There is also a weekly cheat day, to cut the impulse to cheat and to avoid letting my body go into famine mode.

I’m measuring two metrics, my weight and the total inches of my waist , hips, biceps, and thighs.   Between the two, I should have an accurate assessment of my progress.

Weight: I have lost 22 pounds since January 2nd.   That’s 2 pounds since last week.

Total Inches: I have lost 11.5 inches in the same time frame, down 1.5 since last week.

I’m sad.  I’m only down 2 more pounds this week.  On the other hand, I’m averaging almost a pound a day without exercising.    I’m on a new belt loop and I’ve actually lost a ring size.  I’m going to keep this up for another month.   That’s the beautiful thing about 30 Day Projects: A month isn’t an intimidating length of time.      My goal for next month is to drop another 20 pounds.

That said, this is a pretty easy diet to follow.  If I get a hankering for a candy bar on Wednesday, it’s far easier to tell myself to wait 3 days than it is to tell myself that it will never happen.  Moderation has never been my strong suit.  It’s far easier for me to set some solid rules that give me a built-in outlet.

Best Posts

Do you really want to tie yourself down for the next 30 years.   Sandy doesn’t, and I agree.  30 year mortgages suck.

Trent lists seven common bills and ways to save on each.

Free From Broke ran a guest post from Melissa on how–and why–to freeze your credit.

Larry Correia’s new book, Hard Magic, is available as an Early Advanced Read Copy from Baen Books.  That means you can read the book before it is published.  It’s not quite as polished as the final, but still quite good.  I’ve read the first 7 chapters and am looking forward to reading the final version.

LRN Timewarp

This is where I review the posts I wrote one year ago.

In Make Yourself Accountable, I list several ways to achieve your goals, primarily by getting other people involved, either to talk you down or to participate in your public humiliation if you fail.

In 6 Questions, I reveal the details of how I manage my finances.  The only one that has changed in the last year is #1.  We have moved back to our debit card now that we’ve established better habits.

I also wrote a post about preparing your children to deal with their finances.  The most important one is to teach delayed gratification.   Yesterday, my son finally had enough money to buy himself a PSP, after saving for it for months.   He earned it and he is incredibly thrilled to have it.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked

What Happens When You Save was an Editor’s Pick at the Totally Money Carnival.  Thank you, Crystal!

5 Steps to Save was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great weekend!