In case you are not familiar, every year there is a pre-approved list of names for tropical storms and hurricanes. This list has been generated by the gang at the National Hurricane Center since 1953. Hurricanes are named alphabetically and this year my sister’s name is on this list! Ahh…….just more material to tease her about. In case you are curious, here is the list of names for 2008—are you on it?

2008 Hurricane Names

Arthur
Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
Edouard
Fay
Gustav
Hanna
Ike
Josephine
Kyle
Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paloma
Rene
Sally
Teddy
Vicky
Wilfred

Most of the “challenges” I hear about are either a Discovery Health “National Body Challenge” related to losing weight or the “We Can Solve It” environmental “green” challenge that seems to part of everyone’s public relations strategy these days.There is another campaign that I wish was more visible and we could all be part of—–a true “Cost-Cutting Challenge” designed to help bring about sustainable frugal behavior.

Not a campaign about being cheap, but a campaign about responsible spending habits that would be good to pass along to our kids. There’s so much “responsible spending habit education” needed —simple things like eating leftovers, saving a percentage of your salary, living on one income and saving the other, etc. I think Suzy Orman and the like definitely helped by bringing the discussion of finances to the forefront, but I think most of those conversations seem to go off on tangents related to stocks and mutual funds. I’m taking about responsible spending as part of everyday living.

So, I went on a hunt of sites that provided some good tips and ideas. Here are a few good ones:

1. SavingsNut.com - Ways to save all around the house.

2. Savingadvice.com - Money management advice.

3. ClarkHoward.com - Living for less, advice on how to get out of a financial hole, and how to avoid scams.

4. Livingonadime.com - Ways to save all around the home.

5. The Dollar Stretcher – More links/articles than you can imagine!

6. Frugal Village – Ways to save all around the home.

7. Frugal for Life - Day-to-day about ways to cut back and live more simply.

8. Pinching Your Pennies – Grocery savings.

9. National Youth Saving Challenge - Great for kids.

You can also refer to my old post about ways to offset gas prices by participating in the Grocery Game. I have saved hundreds a month using this system.

Enjoy–let me know if this was a helpful post. Keep coming back as I will be posting more on ways to save on a regular basis.

So my husband and I saw Nathan’s annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest televised on ESPN.  Have you ever gone to an all-you-can-eat buffet and eaten so much you were in pain and vowed never to return?  Well, let me tell you, watching this hot dog eating contest was all pain and the LAST thing I wanted to do was eat afterwards. It is absolutely gut wrenching to watch grown men and women (of all sizes) stuff their faces with north of 50 hot dog wieners (and buns) in under 10 minutes. The winer was Joey Chestnut —he ate a total 64 hotdogs during the competition.  Can you imagine this?

Anyhow, I am now convinced that watching a video and/or pictures of this contest before a meal, will inspire anyone to stop overindulge (if eat at all!).  Move over Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers—if you’re looking for a cheap way to shut your evil twin from sabotaging your diets, then look up eating contests through the International Federation of Competitive Eating.  You’ll scare hunger right out of your stomach.

As I type this title I feel like a hypocrite—-I am an avid reader of websites like Perezhilton and x17online that are dedicated to giving the latests on celebrities. I suppose my interest in the lives of celebrities is just like everyone else’s—I’m hoping to catch these supernormal people do normal things and especially do something wrong so that I feel better about the fact I am not rich and famous myself.  I hope to be rich and famous—maybe this blog will get me there.  Who knows!  Wishing that for all of you guys too.

There is one famous person I just don’t seem to get tired of though–and that’s Angelina Jolie. Between her UN efforts, adopted international kids, talents as an actress, and amazing presence I suppose she’s the only celebrity I consider beautiful in the inside and out.  I love her edge and her insight on what is really important—-celebrating people and humanity.

The other day my husband came across a video of this very talented kid from Boston named Bo Burnham. This kid, just doing what he loves to do, has gotten over a million hits on YouTube and now is being added to I-Tunes. Please leave comments and enjoy!

When a friend of mine found out she was pregnant with twins and about to become a family of six, she went on a rampage looking for ways of saving money. She found all sorts of great solutions including something called the Grocery Game. It is basically a system that aligns store sales with coupons to maximize your savings. I have never really clipped coupons and was hesitant to try this system but, after daily persuasion from my very pregnant friend, I went ahead and gave it a try. The first time I went to the store I saved $36, then $55, then $80, then $93 and now I pretty much save as much as I spend. The program has been amazing and, depending on the kind of car you have, each of those saving amounts represents about a tank of gas each week! I just read gas is at $146 on the drudgereport.

I highly recommend the program however, if you want to try it, I would wait until next weekend though. The Sunday newspaper for this fourth of July weekend will NOT have the typical coupons included. I would wait to get next week’s Sunday paper.

If you do want to start collecting coupons this weekend, you may want to visit some great sites that give you free online coupons. Sites like coupons.com and smartsource.com. There are others as well, but I like these the best. Happy grocery shopping!

Whether you are a democrat or a republican, there is no question that Bush has absolutely destroyed this country.  Thanks to his lack of leadership, we have a weak dollar, an economic mess, a purposeless war, and a diplomatic nightmare that has made the U.S. both a joke and a target internationally.  Thank goodness for the tireless efforts of Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC who are continuously reminding the American public of Bush’s stupidity.  Thank goodness for members of congress like Rep. Dennis Kucinich who are trying to impeach Bush and Cheney, for citizens like Scott McClellan who were brave enough to write scandalous books like What Happened? , and for people like presidential candidate Obama who wants to insert integrity and intelligence into the oval office.

A friend of mine, who also doesn’t have time to do anything other than work and take care of things at home, recently hired a life coach. Basically the difference between a psychologist of any kind (counselor, therapists—whatever you want to call it) and a life coach is that psychologists help you deal with some second grade trauma you’re still dealing with and a life coaches nag you to get your life in order and get the things you’ve been putting off done.

My friend recommended him and so yesterday I had an introductory meeting with a life coach.  I have so much going on in my head, that the thought of someone helping me sort things out and keeping me on task regarding other aspects of my life sounds great.  I know that several celebrities like Tyra Banks use life coaches, and swear by them.  It’s a luxury though.  Unlike psychologist care, coaching is not typically covered by your insurance.  Even my husband, who works for a large company with fabulous benefits, doesn’t have a package that covers it.  So, it has to come out of pocket and, in this economy, this is a difficult investment.

So, until the day that thousands of dollars don’t mean anything to my household, I am looking for alternative ways to get the support a life coach would provide.  I’ve already found tons of books and even found several software programs.  You’d think that in this age of technology there should be some avatar you can download onto your computer that will be your cheerleader and remind you of doing what you’ve been putting off.  I can picture it now…”Master, have you written on your blog today?”

So, as we approach this long weekend, I am going to go to the bookstore and do a bit of research to see if there’s a way I can do something on my own before engaging a professional.  I will post with more details…stay tuned.

Just when I was getting sick and tired of politics, Bush’s former press secretary Scott Mclellan publishes a scathing book against Bush’s competence (which I am adding to my summer reading) and it turns out McCain’s financial adviser Former Sen. Phil Gramm, was instrumental in the mortgage meltdown we are in. It is amazing to see the Republic party,

One of these days I will take my three year old to the local Memorial Day parades and events to commemorate the soldiers that fought for our freedom.  Until then, Memorial Day in this household is to help this battling mother get an extra hour of sleep and an extra day to procrastinate the shit that needs to get done.  Other signature activities around here—paper plates (not doing the fucking dishes), Disney movie marathons (one TV weekend won’t kill my daughter’s brain cells), Honey-do list making (to keep my husband out of my hair too), and drinking (wine, beer, in any order and with anything in it).

This year we actually did something special—we rented a cabin in the North Georgia Mountains.