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Failure! 30 Day Project Summary – March

Life

My 30 Day Project for the month of March has been to do 100 sit-ups in a single set.   Based on February’s results, I had a plan.

I will be doing 5 sets, morning and night, as follows:

Set 1:  Half of my maximum amount.

Sets 2-4: 3/4 of my max.

Set 5: Do sit-ups until my abs start to cramp, thus setting my max for the next session.

I failed miserably.

It started off perfectly.   My base amount was 20 sit-ups.   I had a plan.  I’d proven, at least to myself, that I was able to follow an intense workout plan, even through pain.    I was encouraged by February’s results, so I dove in.

The first 3 or 4 days went well.   I had some muscle strain, but that was expected.   I hadn’t done sit-ups for years.   I discovered muscles I actually hadn’t known existed, just from how they hurt.   This was the good pain, the pain that shows progress.  After doing the push-ups in February, this pain wasn’t as bad as I had expected.   Push-ups are an excellent ab workout.

Maybe I became complacent.  Either my form slipped, or I was going too fast and “bounced” through the sit-ups, but I pulled a muscle in my back.   This was the bad pain, the pain that warns of fundamental problems.   My form, my size, my history of back problems, who knows?   One or more of those possible problems reared up to turn an excellent idea into a disaster.   March’s plan got sidelined for a few days.

When my back was better, I started again.   Again, everything was fine for 3 or 4 days.  Then my back betrayed me, again.   Another break, another try, another strain and I gave up.    I made it to 50, then just stopped.   Too much more, and I wouldn’t be able to tolerate sitting at my desk.   Or maybe I just wimped out, afraid to hurt my back again.

I’m disappointed.   I haven’t done a single sit-up in the last week.

To make matters worse, without the sit-ups to do in the morning, I’ve been letting myself snooze my alarm clock instead of getting up at 5.   March has been such a slacker month.

Lesson learned:  Always listen to your body.   Don’t get tied into a specific routine–even one you created for yourself–if your body is demanding to stop.   Watch your form and make sure you aren’t putting undue strain on anything that can cause long-term damage.

Lesson learned, part II:  Push-ups are more fun and less painful than sit-ups.   They will be getting incorporated into my ongoing routine.

Ending the sit-ups did leave me enough energy to get an early start on April’s 30 Day Project.   The goal for next month is to declutter every room in the house:   Every closet, every dresser, every drawer.

Loft Bed

To start, we replaced our son’s dresser, bed, and desk with a loft-bed that combines the three.   While transferring items from the desk and dresser to the new bed, everything was sorted to make sure it still fit and was used and useful.  If it didn’t meet those criteria, it was either tossed or priced and boxed for a garage sale.

In the girls’ room, we removed a dresser, the changing table, a toddler bed, a convertible crib/toddler bed.  It all got replaced with a set of bunk beds and the dresser we took from our son.   Everything got the same garage-sale check before it was put away.

Both of these changes easily tripled the usable floor space in each room and all of the kids love their new beds.   Using the magic of Craigslist, I think we got the new furniture for 10-15% of retail, and have old furniture to add to our sale, which will further defray the cost.

This leaves the master bedroom, the bathroom, the front closet, the kitchen and our entire basement to go.   Shoes and jackets that have never been worn.   Books that will never be reread.  Bye-bye.   Some of it will be painful, but we all realize it’s necessary.  We’ve already filled more than 2 dozen boxes of stuff to sell.   None of it is coming back in the house.  If it doesn’t sell, we’re donating it.

More to come as we progress through the mountains of crap.

Homeschooling for Free with Khan Academy

Business

If you are a parent who is planning to home school your children or if you are already involved in homeschooling and seeking additional resources, using Khan Academy online is highly recommended regardless of the type of material you are trying to teach or learn. Learning with Khan Academy is possible for students of all ages as well as individuals who are simply seeking new methods of learning without having to pay for the education.

What is Khan Academy?

Bug Report screenshot for Khan Academy
Bug Report screenshot for Khan Academy (Photo credit: syvwlch)

Khan Academy is a free online resource for anyone interested in learning new material in a wide range of subjects. Whether you are a parent who is planning on homeschooling your children or if you simply have an avid interest in science, mathematics or even art history, using Khan Academy can ultimately give you the knowledge you need for any reason.

Khan Academy operates as a non-profit organization and offers all courses and materials absolutely free of charge. Using Khan Academy is ideal if you are actively seeking out new lesson plans for your own children but you are stumped for ideas and material yourself.

Courses Available From Khan Academy

When you sign up for Khan Academy you can immediately dive into various lessons depending on what you want to learn. Whether you are seeking out assignments in math, science, humanities or even economics and finance, there are plenty of courses in different areas of education. You can also learn all about computer programming and various levels of specific subjects based on whether you are teaching your children or looking to learn something new for yourself.

Why Learning Online From Home Works

Learning online from home is a way for you to incorporate well-developed lessons into your everyday homeschooling lesson plans at any time. When you choose to use an online community such as Khan Academy there are also no deadlines or restrictions on the lessons you want to teach or learn more about yourself.

You can also hand pick specific lessons to help with individualizing each one of your children’s educational outline and plans. Depending on the age of your children and their own interests you can choose from a variety of lessons for beginners and those seeking more advanced work.

Teaching your children new material with the use of the online Khan Academy is a way for you to ensure they are truly understanding the lessons before moving on. Additionally, using Khan Academy is ideal if you are seeking educational content that is sourced, referenced and completely free of charge. Khan Academy lessons and content is and always will be free as this is one of the main missions of the academy itself.

Knowing the benefits of using Khan Academy and how it can help you or your children grow educationally is a way to truly take advantage of the services and lessons being offered. Using Khan Academy when homeschooling brings expansive lessons into the home regardless of your own knowledge and areas of expertise when you begin to teach your children.

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Five Ways to Save Money On Cable

Finance, Life

Cable is a luxury.   There are very few people out there who can actually and legitimately consider cable television to be a necessity of life.  For the rest of us, it’s just something that’s nice to have.   Unfortunately, it’s expensive.  In my area, prices come as high as $90 plus tax, and that’s not including any of the fancy channels that could feed my True Blood addiction.  If you start adding on channels, you can get up to $250 per month.

That’s a lot of cash.

Cutting back on cable TV is one of the easiest ways to get your spending under control.  Here are 5 ways to make it happen.

1.  Ditch it

Do you really need cable at all?  How much of your life do you waste in front of the TV?  This wouldn’t work well in my house.  We enjoy too many shows, and a lack of TV aggravates my insomnia.   When I wake up at 2AM, I need something mindless to distract me while I fall back asleep.

2.  Netflix Instant

I love my Netflix.   With Instant, as long as you aren’t too hooked on watching the latest show as it comes out, you can catch most of the show you enjoy.   There are thousands of TV series to choose from.   I make a habit of choosing a couple of shows at a time, and watching the entire series before moving on.  This does have the drawback of leaving you a couple of seasons behind for some shows, like In Plain Sight.  Grr.

3.  Go basic

If you do need TV, do you need the extended cable-only channels?  Can you get by with basic cable, and just get the shows that would be otherwise broadcast?   That’s what we did.  This, combined with #2, make TV cheap and easy.

4.  All internet

Did you know that you can use a Roku box to get Netflix Instant, Hulu Plus, Crackle, and more?  I have more channels available there than I’ve ever had on cable.   Starting at $50, it’s a steal.

5.  Drop the fancy channels

HBO, Skinimax, and Showtime are pure unnecessary luxuries.  Save yourself some money and buy each series on DVD as they come out.   If you buy one a month, you’ll still come out ahead.

I’m not about to tell you that cable is evil or that TV is rotting your brain.  I enjoy my rot, and you should be able to do so, too.   Try not to waste extra money doing it.

How do you save money on TV?

Buying on Craigslist

Finance

Image by jcolman via Flickr

On Friday, I talked about selling safely on Craigslist.  Today, I’m going to talk about buying safely and getting a good deal.

I love Craiglist.  It’s safe to say I’m a fan. We’ve refurnished most of our house for 10-15% of retail by being patient and persistent there.   We scored a $1200 oak entertainment center for $200, a beautiful oak headboard/storage thingy for $150, a nice china cabinet for $70 and much, much more.   There are a lot of deals to be had, but you have to be careful.

I never buy anything without either a picture or a model number. Stock photos do not count.  I want to see an actual picture of the actual item.   With electronics, I want the model number so I can tell exactly what features it has.    If I can’t positively identify the item, the seller gets an email.  If I don’t know what it is, I’m not interested.

Once I have the item identified, it’s time to hit Amazon and Google for a quick price check.   Acceptable prices vary, but I’m generally looking for 25% of retail for items that aren’t collectible or antique.

While it’s not a common occurrence for the things I buy, some sellers do lie. The technical term for this is “fraud”.   Fraudulent sellers needs to be kicked in the shins.   Before I go to actually see an item, I do enough research that I will hopefully be able to pick out a fraud or forgery.   The easiest way to tell if the backstory is a lie?  If you are given a backstory, it’s probably a lie.  Never assume that the seller is telling the truth about the little old lady who only drove her TiVo to church on Thursdays in the summer and never went above channel 10.  The story is always a lie. Check the condition yourself.  Check the value yourself.   If you can’t verify it, it isn’t true.

If you are buying tickets or documents, know what you are looking for to tell if it is a forgery.  If you can’t tell, ask the seller to meet with someone you trust who can verify it.   Ticketmaster tickets are laminated, so they glare slightly in the light. If you hold the tickets up to a strong light, the white parts will glow blue.    Finally, if the ticket looks like it was printed at home, don’t trust it.

[ad name=”inlineleft”]A few months ago, a local couple was trying to buy a car on Craigslist.   When they met the buyer, he took their cash and their car and left them on the sidewalk in an unfamiliar neighborhood.    The moral of the story?   Ride the bus. That, and always meet in a public, well-traveled spot.

If the seller suggest escrow, he’s probably actually the deposed ruler of Nigeria in need of someone to help him get his fortune safely out of the country.  You should immediately give him your name, address, social security number, PIN, place of business, all of your bank accounts, and the kidneys of your first-born.  He’ll hook you up. Really.

Don’t do that.   On the internet, escrow=fraud, almost every time.

Rental fraud is an issue I have absolutely no experience with, but it’s common in places with a competitive housing market.  The felonious candidates for extremely prejudiced termination will scan the real estate listings, and post some on Craigslist as a rental unit with a low-ball price.   People get excited for the extreme deal, shut off their critical thinking skills, and hand their nest-egg over to someone they’ve never met so they can keep the scam from being snatched up by some sucker who’s just a little bit slower at dumping his wallet into a crowded room on con-artists.   It’s a big decision, so take the time to research it and do it right. Find the ownership records and the owner.   If you’re buying, get an actual realtor to help you.  They are worth the money.

Tips for Buying Safely on Craigslist

Don’t wire money. Ever.   If someone suggests that for an internet sale, ask for their address and send a leg-breaker their way.  They are trying to steal from you.

Trust your gut.  If something smells fishy, it probably is.  Walk away.

Don’t ever give out personal information.  Nevernevernever.  Not your address, not your favorite flavor of chewing-cud, nothing.   Keep it private.[ad name=”inlineright”]

Meet in a public place.  Criminals tend to dislike witnesses, so go somewhere that has them by the score.

Bring a friend. I may be a bit of a chauvinist or over-protective, but my wife doesn’t bring money to go meet strangers on the internet without me.  If your local laws allow it, consider bringing some form of protection with you.

Craigslist can save you a ton of money, but it brings some risk with it.   Keep yourself safe.

Investing Basics

Finance

If you’ve got your debt paid off, or at least paid down enough to start thinking about using your money for the future instead of the past, it’s time to consider investing your money.  If you invest your money, it can grow and start building wealth for you, preferably without your active intervention.   Passive income is the best income.

Before you invest in anything, you need to understand the investment completely.  In the words of Dave Ramsey, you need to own the investment.   There are some questions to ask to get to that level of understanding.

What kind of return can you expect?   Will the income come from renters, dividends, or interest?  Is the income reliable?

How risky is the investment?  Generally, more risk comes with the potential for more income, but that is merely potential.   It’s called risk for a reason.  If your renters leave, can you make the payments on the property?  Will you be financially devastated if the investment tanks?   Companies like Standard & Poor’s rate the risk of corporate and municipal bonds.

How liquid is it?   How hard will it be to get your money out of the investment?  Stocks and bonds can usually be sold at will, but CDs and IRAs almost always come with restrictions.   Property requires a seller before you can get your money back out.

Is there a tax advantage?  Some investments, like U.S. Savings bonds and municipal bonds, are exempt from varying levels of taxes.  Others, such as some IRAs, allow your wealth to grow tax-deferred and can, in some cases, be withdrawn tax-free.   Other investments, like a 401k paid out of pre-tax income, can lower your taxable income and actually increase your take-home pay while building your retirement fund.  Do you understand the 401k alternatives?

When you are looking at an investment vehicle, make sure it is legitimate.   Don’t believe get-rich-quick promises and always back away from high-pressure sales tactics.    Always take the time to investigate your investments.