Small Savings - Economic Stimulus

So we have an Economic Stimulus plan now....Most people will use that extra money but I am suggesting that you put it aside every week.

So starting in June we are supposed to be seeing an extra $13 in our checks. That gives us 26 weeks to save.

13 X 26 = 338.00

Thats not so bad. A little over $300 to save in 6 months. Thats enough to pay most monthly utility bills.

But, next year, we are supposed to be getting an extra $8 a week in our checks. Thats a whole year to save!

8 X 52 + 416

Thats a little better....what can you do with an extra $416 a year?

Small Savings - Eat at home

Since there is no turn-a-round in these hard economic times, we must still find ways to save money. Since we are already pinching our pennies at the grocery store by using coupons and puchasing items while they are on sale-it makes no sense to spend more money on eating dinner out.

It doesnt matter whether you are eating at McDonalds or an expensive restaurant...you are still spending money.

If you frequent a restaurant/fast food joint more than one time a week, it will take some work to change your habits. Try decreasing the amount of days for a few weeks until you get down to eating out once a week. Even if you "hover" at the once a week mark for 6 months, you are still saving money from your past habits.

Here are some examples for a family of 4 (using averages)
McDs = $30 for one meal
Restaurant = $80 on up

Now do the math for dinner out one time a week and look at how much money you are throwing away!

McDs = $1560 a year
Restaurant = $4160

AND THOSE ARE JUST AVERAGES!!!!!!!
Most families are throwing away a months rent/mortgage on eating at a fast food place once a week for a year! And for those who are eating at a restaurant-well, I think Im in shock!

In looking at those numbers, I think I can find where most families could start saving for their family vacations!

Think you are up for the challenge?

Small Savings - Magazines

Most of us are pinching our pennies and wondering how to cut out expenses that wont "hurt" us. What I mean by that, is cutting out things we wont really miss.

Buying magazines in this economy is a waste. It does not matter if you are purchasing them in the check-out lines or if you have a subscription - this is a very wasteful expense.

By the time you read about something in a magazine, it can probably be heard about on tv. If you have access to the internet, you can peruse these sites for no cost.

By eliminating JUST 3 magazines (purchase or subscription) you can save as much as $300 a year. Again, the savings adds up.

What can you do with an extra $300?

Small Savings - Make your coffee at home

I need to open this post with the fact that if given the opportunity, I would drink coffee from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed! Granted, I do not drink coffee all day-just in the morning.

For those of us who LOVE our coffee and NEED it to get ourselves started....do you make your coffee at home, or buy it at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? If you buy your coffee on-the-go, you are throwing money away!

Since I do not buy my coffee out, I will do some examples with some averages I found on the internet.

For a $3.00 cup = 3*5=15 wk / 15*4=60 mo / 60*12=720 yr
For a $1.50 cup = 1.5*5=7.50 wk / 7.50*4=30 mo / 30*12=360 yr

Even saving $360 a year sounds good to me!


If you are sitting there saying- But, I only drink one cup a day...Well, let me tell you that they sell decent one-cup brewers now. You can brew your cup of coffee in a little over a minute with some of the newer models on the market.

If you make your coffee at home, you can also make it as strong or weak as you like. I feel that is a plus for me (I love a STRONG coffee!)

I am in no way suggesting that you NEVER buy a coffee out. I love to give myself a treat getting a mocha latte! But buying coffee out everyday should be something you cut out of your expenses. The economy is slumping and trimming unneccesary items out of your expense column will save you money.

Some utility bills hover around the $350/mo mark...just cutting this expense out is equal to having a month's utility bills paid. If you think of it that way, you will not have a problem trimming this out!

Lost Theory - Addendum: * SPOILER FREE! * Putting it together in a nice little package

If you read my theory so far, you have a handle on where most of my ideas are going. If you haven’t read my theories, please click on the link in the title.

In preparation of Season 5, I re-watched the Lost series online via www.abc.com As I was re-watching, I noticed several additional things that go along with my theory.

Some of my favorite episodes to re-watch are: White Rabbit (casket, caves), Deus Ex Machina (Locke and Boone), Flashes Before Your Eyes (Desmond), The Constant (Desmond), Theres No Place Like Home.

After viewing the first 3 episodes of Season 5, I am confident that my theory is on the right track. Before you read the addendum to my theory, I invite you to watch the following Lost episodes (or look them up via lostpedia): “White Rabbit”, “Deus Ex Machina”, “Flashes Before Your Eyes”, “The Constant”

Be sure to re-watch the first 3 episodes of Season 5 as well. You will notice some of these things yourself.


HERE WE GO!!

We find out that yes, the island / Losties were moved in time. They see the island in different times. We certainly find out many things, but there is so much information chunked into these episodes.

Let us focus on some specific things I noticed
• We have now seen Ben’s mother, Clare and Penny deliver their children via natural childbirth and NOTICE THAT NONE OF THEM GIVE BIRTH IN A HOSPITAL.
• Desmond & Penny’s son is named Charlie. Is this Charlie Pace? (Will he travel to the Looking Glass in the past?) Is this Charles Widmore? (I do not like this choice)
• Ellie – Is she Eloise Hawking?
• Is Eloise Hawking Daniel Faraday’s mother?
• Is Teresa Spencer the same Teresa that Boone said fell up the stairs/down the stairs? Did Daniel Faraday experiment with time/mind travel with her and make horrible mistakes? Why was Widmore paying for her care?
• While Im thinking about it, why was Christian paying for Claire’s mothers care?
• Why exactly was Charles Widmore funding Daniel Faradays research?
• There is a lot of mentioning of “tumors” in the series. Rose and Ben, and then Sawyer mentioned a relative who died from a tumor. Juliets sister had cancer. “Jughead” is leaking radiation.
• Speaking of Juliet, she mentions that Latin is “The language of the Enlightened”
• The fact that Juliet remains with the Losties instead of being in time with the other Others, leads me to believe that the tattoo they imprinted on her – keeps her (pardon the expression) “lost”.


NOW THAT THAT’S OUTTA THE WAY

CHARLES WIDMORE
I believe that Charles Widmore arrived on the island via the Black Rock. I also believe that the “hostiles” are also those who have arrived via the Black Rock. We have seen Charles Widmore bid on the manifest/ledger. This confirms that thought for me.

I do not think that Widmore turned the frozen donkey wheel to get off the island. I am unsure whether my thought that the temple is the way on/off the island, but I have more confidence that he traveled off the island ala Richard Alpert & Ethan Rom and just couldn’t get the coordinates correct to get back once his “job” was done.


WATCHERS?
Do you remember Cindy Chandler? She was the flight attendant on Flight 815 (she gave Jack the extra bottle of liquor) and she was a survivor of the Tailsection. While the Tailies were making their way across the island, she disappeared. We later see Cindy with the Others (and the 2 children) when Jack is being held in a cage. Cindy tells Jack that they are there to watch.

I went back to the Season 2 Episode titled, “The OTHER 48 days.” The word watch is used several times in connection with Cindy and the children. We later see Cindy speak to John Locke in “others-camp”. They are heading to the temple. What role do the watchers and the Temple play?


WHILE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT OUR TAILIES
We have had several references to our Tailies since their “demise”. What is most interesting is that other than Cindy & the other Tailies who were taken, there are no Tailies left. (I do not consider Bernard a Tailie – he was only in that section to use the bathroom when the plane crashed.)


JUGHEAD
Now, have I got a theory for you!!! So, according to the Jughead episode, we are in the 1970s. This got me thinking to something I saw on the ARG (Alternate Reality Game). The Lost producers, Damon & Carlton, have told us that information gained thru the ARG can be considered canon. Just for clarification, I am not talking about the ARG that recently went bust.

Anyway – after thinking about things, I remembered I still had a link to one of the videos-I think after watching, you will notice where Im going.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNLiTm3mlBc

So, in the late 60s, we had this nuclear issue. The Dharma Iniative / Hanso Foundation are created. We see a bomb on island in the 70s. Can we piece these two things together? Are they related? Does the naming of this bomb have anything to do with the real bomb Jughead during that era?

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_17_nuclear_bomb
Does THAT just blow your mind?

Who believes that Jughead is in The Swan hatch? Daniel even instructed them to dig a hole and fill/cover the thing with lead/concrete. The Swan station was 40 ft down according to Season 2s – “Man of Science, Man of Faith” episode.

SPEAKING OF THE SWAN
Did you know that it takes a satellite 108 minutes to orbit? Well, certain types of satellites…here is a link courtesy of the Utah Education Network
http://www.uen.org/swan/argos.html

Now, WHAT does that remind you of?
First of all, this is a real project. Its about tracking SWANS. Granted, this is in the US, but still – its called SWAN? Any correlation there?

Is this the motivation behind pushing the button every 108 minutes? Is pushing the button the first step in hiding the island from the outside world? Remember all these choices caused other defenses on the island to break down. For example: the radio tower and The Looking Glass Station.

Keep in mind, that Mikhail had the ability to “communicate” with and view the outside world in the Flame. John Locke blew up the Flame in Season 3s – “Enter 77” episode, effectively destroying the station.


MRS HAWKING’S ROLE IN THIS?
Since I already mentioned the Eloise thing, I wont repeat it here. Read on…

We seem to be finding out that Mrs Hawking not only doesn’t want the past changed, but is “holed” up in the basement of a church, studying the rotation of the Earth.

We see a Foucault pendulum. I feel the need to share that in researching what this contraption is, I found ONE thing most odd. In researching WHERE these pendulums are, there was specific mention regarding experimenting at the South Pole. You should have a flash of your own, if you immediately thought of something. Just a couple words, in case you need to be jogged: two guys, chess, alert. These two things may be related. We have seen the same technology being used. Have we just seen an off-island station?


THE EVENT WINDOW HAS BEEN DETERMINED
Is this the 70 hours she was referring to? Is this how much time is left before we are all DOOMED. Is Mrs Hawking a WATCHER?


DESMOND & PENNY
No theory can be without Des & Pen. I have already said this in my main theory, but I believe that they are Adam & Eve (from the caves). The Jughead episode seemed to clarify this even more.

It seems as if it IS Desmond’s destiny to be on that island. Mrs Hawking told him that much. Everything he is doing, is pointing to him returning to the island. Desmond also seems to try to keep this information from Penny. Penny insists on going with him. A we all know that we are not just talking about California here.

My question is: Is it Penny’s destiny to be with him on the island? Now, I have heard a few others speak to this subject…but no one has mentioned the fact that Penny spent YEARS searching for Desmond. YEARS! ON A BOAT! Remember-her father is Charles Widmore.

Small Savings - menu planning, grocery circulars, coupons

In this economy, saving a few dollars on a grocery bill each week, can really help stretch your dollar. This savings adds up over the course of a month/year.


Planning your menu for at least a week out (2 weeks worth of meals) and coordinating with whats on sale at the local grocery store can save on the average, $20 a week. If you combine this savings, with using coupons, you can save about $40 a week. This can save you upwards of $80-160 a month. All you have to do is multiply that those numbers by 12 to get a yearly estimate....($960-1920 a year!)

Now, I dont know about you, but I can really use that money! What can you do with an average of an "extra" $1000 a year?


Some additional hints
I also suggest using AND sticking to your grocery list. NEVER shop when your hungry!

Living Well - Establishing a Routine & Intro to Small Savings

If you have kept up with my blog so far, you have accomplished ALOT! So far, I introduced you to computer housekeeping-I hope to revisit this subject and educate you on some additional computer topics. We have also organized our bedroom and kitchen. Not too shabby for one month!

In order for your house to get and stay in order, you have to establish a routine that will work for you.


Here are some tips that might help you out:

FILING TIPS
- Make sure you open your mail in the area you pay, file, shred, recycle. Toss recyclable junk mail, shred identifable mail/files at least once a week.

- Make sure you shred old bills, once you receive the new one and it has properly credited your last payment.


COMPUTER TIPS
- Make sure you schedule a virus scan at least once a week.

- Make sure you organize your Favorite links as you are saving them. Go thru your Favorites once a month to ensure that your links are current.

- Defrag your computer at least once a week. Schedule this if you tend to forget.


BEDROOM TIPS
- Make sure you put your clothes away after you are done laundry.

- If you add something to your dresser or closet, make sure you get rid of 1 or 2 older items.


KITCHEN TIPS
- Wipe your fridge, microwave, and toaster daily-if you do this when you are doing dishes, its easy to get this to be a habit.

- Vacuum the coils and under the fridge to help with the "maintenance" of this appliance.

- Circle expiration dates to ensure freshness.


I hope you stay tuned for February's topic: Small Savings.
I will be suggesting some ideas that will help you save money. Some of these ideas do not require much in order to save alot over the course of a month-or even a year!