Works for Me Wednesday – Inexpensive Greeting Cards

I’m sure you love the local $ store as much as I do. Inexpensive decorations, baskets, doo dads – all for one dollar?! I’m so there.

But recently, I checked into my favorite store for something else – a greeting card. I am determined to become a card sender, but in order for me to do that, I decided I had to find a cheaper source of greeting cards. At $3 a pop at Hallmark, those suckers can add up.

Someone mentioned that my $ store had some nice cards for, get this, $1. I had to check it out.

Sure enough, they had a whole aisle dedicated to the cards. Birthdays, holidays, just because cards, anything you might need.

Buying greeting cards for only $1 and staying in touch with friends via the old-fashioned mail – totally works for me.

Remembering the milk isn’t always easy

I’m a ridiculously forgetful person. I mean, I would forget my own head if it weren’t attached to my shoulders.

At least four mornings out of five during the work week, I make it all the way to my car in the parking lot before remembering something in the townhouse that I needed for the day.

So I have to turn around and walk back to the door, get my keys out again and get back in the house for whatever piece of mail, bag, or lunch item I forgot.

Remember the Milk doesn’t help me with those items, but it could if I wrote them down and checked them in the morning before leaving the house! But I never can quite seem to do that.

But RTM does other things that help – like remembering when to clean the kitchen floor or when the trash and recycling needs to be put out for pick up.

 

It’s got a great interface for the iPhone (a requisite for me) and a nice online interface as well. The only drawback? It’s $25 per year.

But I figure that’s a small price to pay for my sanity, I think. :) It’s really helped me keep the house in better shape and reminds me to do things on a timely basis.

And that works for me!

 

*I was not compensated in anyway for this review. I just like to showcase websites and products that I use, in case other people are interested in the same things.*

Works for Me Wednesday – Tithing Online

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in Mass, waiting for the service to start. I was reading the bulletin to see what’s going on in the parish, and something caught my eye.

There was an ad for ParishPay.com – a website that allows you to donate to the parish of your choice by debiting your credit or debit card every month. You can even do the special collections or one-time donations on it.

There’s a small portion of the donation that has to go for processing, but the vast majority of the money goes directly to the parish. According to their website, based on 10+ donors, only $1 and 1.5% of my donation goes to ParishPay for the administration of the collection. So most of it goes to the parish and I don’t have to remember my checkbook.

This is such a great idea for those of us who HATE writing checks and really want to help our parish with a little bit of our “treasure” and can never remember to have cash for the collection every week.

Supporting my parish with automatic tithing – that works for me!

*I was not compensated in any way for this review. I simply think it’s a neat idea.*

Works for Me Wednesday – Leave the Cell at home!

Last week, Husband was going out to the ole college bar for the big drinking night. The bar offers big pitchers of beer for only a penny for a refill – needless to say, it’s a big hit with the college crowd from across the street. I tagged along with Husband to see kids we haven’t seen in a while.

But here’s why my tip comes in – I forgot my cell phone. Yes, my beloved iPhone was left in the charger in the master bedroom and I only had my ID with me. Husband had the keys and the debit card so we could get to the bar and pay for our drinks.

BUT.

I couldn’t take pictures of my drinks for this blog. I couldn’t take pictures of the kids playing flip cup. I couldn’t check in with FourSquare and get points for it. I couldn’t check my email… or Twitter..or Facebook.. or play Words with Friends.

I thought I was going.to.die.

And then I got over it.

It was actually quite liberating!

So what works for me? Leaving my cell phone at home to concentrate on having fun with friends. :)

WFMW: My new mail system

We finally came up with a solution to our continuing issue with mail coming into the house and not having anywhere to go. I hope this one lasts for a while and we can both really embrace it!

So, because pictures always hit home a situation, I give you...

Before:

This is the dumping ground for papers and mail. I love that little blue table we found somewhere and repainted to make it work in the room. In order to show it off, we need to get that pile of mail off it!
I have to admit, this is only a few days of mail. YIKES!

During:
We found this magazine holder at the Container Store [honestly, I could spend my paychecks there. I cannot WAIT until my budget allows me to get an Elfa closet solution. Oh a girl can dream!]. We hung it near the door to the "man cave" which is somewhat near the front door but still out of the way so I won't see it right when I walk in.

After:

You can't see it, but I've labeled one section "to file" [for anything that needs to go into the filing cabinet at a later date], "for Husband" [things that he needs to deal with], "for Wife" [things I need to deal with shortly], "Outgoing" [self-explanatory]. This outgoing section also holds return address labels, stamps and a pocket that was clearly for something else but holds our small letter opener perfectly!

After a few days of using this system, we have realized we need a small light in that little nook because the light from either window or the rooms on either side of the hallway just ain't cutting it.

But I'm really excited about this solution - I think it works for me!

WWFM: Taking the day off before vacation

Before we move on to the next Christmas post [and before I jet off to Disneyworld in 18 hours - squeel!], I wanted to put my two cents in for this week's WWFM hosted by We are THAT Family.

This year, I did something out of the ordinary - I took off a vacation day on Christmas Eve Eve. We had so much going on and I was so tired from tons of event at work that I just needed a day to sleep in and pack before leaving for Texas to spend Christmas with my family.

And you know what?

It was amazing!

Seriously.

We didn't end up sleeping in, but got up at my normal work-wake-up time and got to movin'. There were errands to run - the post office, the bank, Target, the library, and a bunch of other places. Then we went back to the townhouse and I started a few loads of laundry while Husband worked on organizing the crap-ola that had to go in suitcases for the trip. I piled my stuff on the bed and went to clean the kitchen while he packed everything for us [he is DEFINITELY the packer/traveler in the family - and I'm happy to let him! :)]. The only thing left to do was to put toiletries in the bag the next morning. Pretty impressive!

We got to bed early, I had my coffee and orange rolls the next morning [to save $ by not stopping at the Golden Arches] and off to the airport we went at the crack of dawn.

Taking a day off from work before leaving town DEFINITELY works for me. I would highly suggest it if you are able!

WWFM – Gift Lists on Google Docs

This week’s carnival is themed – what’s your best gift tip!

Mine is pretty simple and I think many people know it, but I have a little twist.

Some write down their Christmas shopping lists on the back of napkins, some in a notebook and some keep them online. I’ve switched to keeping almost every note of mine in an online notebook – either on Evernote or Google. My Christmas list is hosted on the latter.

Last year, we created a shopping list with a budget on Google Spreadsheets. I tracked how much we spent and what we gave each family member. That made it very easy this year to create a new budget and start shopping all over again. However, it solved one problem I didn’t even realize we would have!

I was looking at ideas for my dad when I couldn’t remember what we got him last year. I was able to look at my previous list and double check that I didn’t give him the same thing!

Keeping my memory online instead of in my head works for me!

You can check out other great tips at the WWFM main post.