Save Some money, NOW!

      Wednesday I started my posts for this year's wrap up, and getting ready for next year. Wednesday was about hitting up boxing day clearances for stuff for next year. Don't expect to get a TON, because stuff is being picked over, but there are always things left. I got a new Christmas tote, and 3 sets of lights...the tote was regular price, but I needed it, and the lights were more than 50% off

     Let's get to today's post shall we? Guess what's coming in another 360 days! CHRISTMAS! You may or may not have just rolled your eyes at me, but there was a point to me saying this. We know it's coming, we know it can be stressful (if you let it) and it can be expensive, so now is a great time to start saving. Hubs said something to me the other day and he was joking, but he made a valid point, only 26 more paydays to Christmas. When you look at it like that, that's not a whole lot of pay days (and today is our payday so we're down to 25). So I thought to myself, what if we saved $20 a pay? that would make a huge difference. I'm not telling you you HAVE to save $20 a pay, but I am saying, start saving now, because it'll save money in the long run. 

Ok, Love ya, bye! 

-Nancy 

Boxing Day Sales

   

Here we are on the other side of Christmas, so now is when we stop and relax right? Wrong! This is when I get ahead of the game. Guess what is coming in another 362 days? Christmas. This is the  point when I don't understand the last min people. You know it's coming again, so why not get a little prepared, and save some cash. Right now you want to hit up the boxing day sales. So I worked a very long day at them yesterday, but a lot of places still have them going, and anything Christmas is on clearance, they want it GONE!

      Right now is an amazing time to get clearance decorations, wrapping paper, cards, storage (I need a new big Christmas tote), and maybe even get started on next years gifts. I had one year I went out on Boxing day, got ALL my Aunts and Uncles done and one set of Grandparents. Do not underestimate starting early, it truly is my super power.  Take a look at your shopping list from this year, odds are most of those people, you're buying for again next year, let those wheels turn.

Sanity basket

      A day late, but here it is. This post will be your friend in just a couple days. Today's post is about the Christmas morning sanity basket. What is a sanity basket? It's a basket with the Christmas morning essentials. Scissors, batteries, can opener (clam shell packaging), tape, ribbons, etc. Get it all together now so you're set on Christmas! If you're looking for a little MORE guidance, check out this link! I've got to go fold laundry and mop now!

Okay, Love ya, Bye!

-Nancy

The last min List!

     Did you think I left you in the final hour? truth was I was thinking of doing a post, but not 100% sure how or when to do it. One week from today is boxing day, which means the Christmas Chaos will be pretty well done for another year. REALLY crept up on me this year. 

     Last night was my work Christmas party, and it basically gave me my second wind, and a little dehydration. 

     This is the point in the planning where things get personal, and case to case. You visualized early what you wanted this Christmas to be like. You got more realistic and simplified, so perhaps your view was changed a little at that point. One of my first posts for this series was make a list, check it twice, then again, then remake it. Hello Remake it! You need to assess what needs to be done still. 

     For me, it's wrapping, just some last min cleaning, and figuring out the timing for all the cooking. Which brings me to this:

WELCOME TO TURKEY THAW 2016!

     If you're not there yet, you should be close. I do like to give the turkey a little extra time, so I am probably about a day earlier than most would do. If you got a fresh turkey, you don't have to worry about this part, but remember to add that in your to do list for the week. I would typically be starting the thawing process tomorrow, but I've had still frozen turkeys to deal with in the past, and I no longer have room in my freezer to be completely honest.

     Next Christmas post is Wednesday!

Ok, Love ya, Bye!

Nancy

What to expect Next Year and a Quick note

     Let me start this post off by saying, if you have things that need to be sent, your deadline is here! do it like yesterday, because it's going to be cutting it close now. 

     So here is what this post is all about, me being open and honest, and as we sit here 11 days from Christmas (yes that's it), I think I have figured out how I want to do this blog next year. When I started in September, I mentioned this year was a trial run, and I would find my own style and decide if I want to do it again next year. I also made reference to 101 Days to Christmas Which honestly has been my guiding light through the process. So very quickly, yes I do plan to do this blog again next year. What I don't plan on doing is worrying so much about what others think when I'm posting. 

     It may not have seemed like I was terribly worried, but the reality is, I was. I like to do stuff early, like REALLY early. But this year I was concerned some people might think I was doing stuff TOO early, and so I procrastinated on a lot of stuff, so I was on par with my blog. As a result, I'm actually behind where I typically am, and this blog series is supposed to help reduce stress...it has actually caused some for me.  Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed it, but I will be doing it differently for next year. How?

1. I will be having at least one Christmas post a month, starting in January. Here is the score, I shop all year for gifts for people, and it typically serves me VERY well. With us buying a house this year, and moving and all the trips in the summer, I was way behind, so there will be monthly progress reports. 

2. There will be posts RIGHT after Christmas to get things started. I hit up clearance Sales, I'll be reassessing, this will be coming up, consider it like a 12 days of Christmas thing (if you know the story of the 12 days of Christmas this reference makes more sense)

3. Next year will be more strict, and much earlier. So here's the score, my holiday baking this year was my biggest casualty. I have bakes chocolate chip, and they came from a tube. Things will be done early so that at this point next year, we will be mostly just cleaning, and doing little fun touches. I will be setting early deadlines

4. It's going to be less about me advising you, and more a guide of what I'm getting done. So clearly as I've been doing this, I haven't necessarily been taking my own advice along the way. Next year instead of me saying, get this done it's going to be more, here is what I did. 

5. I seriously want more pictures. The last step is going to make that way easier, because I can snap it when I've done it. 

Ok, Love ya, Bye!

-Nancy

Down time!

     Does your head feel like it's spinning yet? Well mine does, this is the time we need to make sure we get in some down time. We've been on the ball up to this point, so one of these posts (or two) are allowed to be about taking care of yourself, so here it is. Take an evening and have a spa night, get your nails done, get some relaxing time in.



   Remember back in September when we decided to start planning then to avoid stress this season? It does come on easily, because a lot of people around us are getting stressed. So your assignment right now is to make sure you take some time to de-stress!


Ok, Love Ya Bye!

-Nancy

My Skin is FREAKING OUT!

     It's here, a little something I call my Winter Skin Freak Out! What it basically is is my skin telling me, "I need moisture overload"! My skin goes dry, but also breaks out, and is kind of sore, and gets patchy and it's not fun. I haven't let it get TOO bad yet this year, as a matter of fact, my face looks like an Oil slick right now...on purpose. So as I begin into my journey, I thought I would share my right off the bat go to items I use to battle this, and share what I'm using right now. And if your skin does a winter freak out maybe you'll be better equipped to handle it too.

Step one: Oils

     I discovered that I really like Avacado oil years ago, and it's still my go to facial oil, it's the oil I'm wearing right now. When I'm done in the shower, I don't towel off for a bit, I first slather my face with Avacado oil, and a body oil as well. I've been using Barefoot Venus for several years now...their pretty packaging gimmick worked on me, but I do really like the product. THEN I towel off. I also use my oil as a makeup remover, and then wash my face, it helps too.

Step two: Serum

     Before I ever touched an oil to my face, I used serum, and basically grabbed whatever was on sale. I do tend to not shell out a LOT for skin care, but this one has ruined me. I legit only want to use this Serum from now on, Ole Henriksen Truth Serum. It does everything I want my serum to do, hydrate, brighten and fight fine lines.

Step 3: Moisturize and Protect

     This is the Daily basics of what I have to do to keep my skin from tormenting me all winter, there are other things I do to treat it, but this is what I do daily. So I wrap things up with body lotion (I don't have a go to, I'm using vaseline with coco butter right now), and Eye cream and a day time moisturizer or night time and lip balm. To be honest my moisturizers are really not products I adore, they're good, but I like to try new products, and they're not solid enough for me to never stray. However my lip blam and eye cream actually are. My eye cream (not pictured) is Weleda's Wild rose Soothing Eye cream. My Lip Balm (pictured Below) is Rosebud's Rose Salve. I also use it on dry spots on my hands, and my cuticles. 

     You may or may not have noticed I didn't mention how I cleanse my face this time of year. Mainly because this is the part that requires the MOST tweaking every year. I've been eyeing a product that I will likely pick up today if I get the chance. I'll share my thoughts on that product eventually I'm sure. The big thing I do is reduce my facial cleansing to once a day as opposed to twice, so I'm not stripping natural oils, and drying it out worse. So that's it, what I've started to do to save my skin...ha expression was literal.

Ok, Love Ya, Bye!

-Nancy

Today's Workout Kicked My Ass

   

The title may sound like a positive thing, and I suppose to an extent it is. I'm pushing my limit, and I guess that's good, but unfortunately I think I bit off more than I could chew. I'm 100% aware, I'm in terrible shape, so my starter videos have all had the beginner in the title or somewhere within the first 30 seconds. I have always enjoyed workouts that have me punching and kicking, and so when I found one, I was AMPED. Unfortunately I was SERIOUSLY struggling to keep up, and not like I do with my beginner cardio, I catch up eventually, but this one was leaving me in the dust. I guess I COULD look at this as a set back and get discouraged and kind of ruin the progress I HAVE made...OR I could choose to make this a goal and use it to motivate myself.

     While the thought of variety is super appealing, I need to walk before I can run, and before I can walk, I should probably start with crawling. I plan to stick with the cardio video I've been doing to start, and eventually I'll get to some punching and kicking, but for now, I'll let cardio kick my ass...I can at least fight back with that one.


Okay, love ya, bye

-Nancy

Getting the House all Clean for Christmas!

   

 I hate doing these posts, but they need to be done. We're into the DEEP cleaning of everything now. I'm not going to say that hubs and I are slobs, but we do have points where this house looks...well lived in. So basically now until Christmas, we have a minimum of 3 daily chores. Be them Maintenance cleaning, ie  Dishes, sweeping, dusting, or the larger or overlooked jobs, ie, Cleaning Walls, Disinfecting Door handles...Dusting. The rule is 3 jobs a day, unless it's you're day off, then you're up to 5. The eventual plan is for the whole list to be maintenance cleaning. Unfortunately we're not there yet, there is a bathtub that needs scrubbing :/

How Goes the Battle?

      So last week was of course the week of Black Friday, and I'll be honest, as some one who works in retail, it all went by in a blur. I mean, I kind of realized an hour ago Walking Dead is on tonight... To put this into perspective, if you told me I could only watch one tv show for the rest of my life, it would be a crazy easy decision, Walking Dead, every time... I have a ritual, I have my must haves for EVERY episode...but I digress. My point is, I didn't realize how much time had passed since I was talking about how I lost 5lbs. 

     So I have made some drastic progress, and I'm not talking about on the scale. I did lose another 2lbs, but more than that happened. I find it funny, for so long I've been looking on Pinterest for inspiration to get myself moving. Honestly, I've gotten used to meal prep and it's great, it's made things so much easier, when it comes to making healthier choices, and just convenience in general. However I can be uber lazy, so me getting off my ass to actually move, that's the hard part. I kind of love when you find inspiration when you're NOT looking for it. 

     I stumbled upon a page on Facebook actually, Wellness with Nicole Beers. What makes this different? Nicole is from Moncton, and the local aspect definitely plays a role for me, it also makes her more of a real person to me. I also reached out to her and asked her if it would be cool if I mentioned and linked her page on my blog. She was quick to respond and enthusiastic about me sharing and being motivated by her page.  I wish I could find her post on her page that really got me moving. What I'm going for here is making myself move more, and I want it to become a habit. She pointed out building a habit takes time, and that you should start out small, like instead of a 30 minutes work out, make it 10. Sounds SO simple, but not something I had ever thought about. In my mind, devoting 10 minutes a day to getting moving is not much to ask. Plus the shape I'm actually in, I need to start small. 

     As a result, I've been moving, daily. I have just found short videos on Youtube, and get it done. It makes it a lot easier to commit to. So this is my progress thus far, I'll keep you up to speed!

Okay, Love ya, bye!

-Nancy 

What I'm up to, And Christmas Mailing

     Just a quick rundown of what we have going on in our house right now. Back in the beginning of planning, we talked about ways to save money and one was points. Today was probably our biggest order thus far, and we redeemed our points. I had already condensed my list from 3 parts to 2. We had  Non- Perishables, and started buying them back in September. We also had Frozen, which was just combined with non-perishables about a week or two ago. And the third part was Fresh and we don't touch that until the week leasing up to Christmas. I have 6-8 things left on my non-perishables/frozen list...this is my Freezer right now.

    I also came in under budget thanks to a fantastic App I added to my phone called Flipp. Flipp brings together all my local flyers so I have them all in one place. What's more when I put my shopping list into it (which I can dictate and it organizes my entire list), options of sale prices pop up, so I can easily find the best price, or have the best price to price match (I got half off my gravy today).

    So enough of what I've been up to, what should you be doing over the weekend? Well we're officially in the first couple days of December, you should be taking the time to get your Christmas cards sent. We SHOULD have all the addresses together now, so it's just a case of getting them together and sending them off. Cale and I split the list into his side of the family and my side of the family...and once I'm done mine I go and help him with his. You should also be wrapping up (pun was not intended but fun), the gifts that need to be sent away too, and get on that this week. You'll have plenty of time then to make sure it gets where it needs to go.

     See Ya Later

     -Nancy

Another Wardrobe Experiment

 

 Well I'm at it again. My Wardrobe Experiment is back. So last time I did this I was doing the fall edition. I was batting around the idea for the winter one, trying to figure out if I wanted to do this before or AFTER Christmas for the Winter edition. When I woke up yesterday do I light sprinkling of snow on the ground, I got my answer.

    Before, definitely before. Before Christmas, I don't hate snow. I think how pretty and Christmasy it is, and after Christmas, I'm ready for it to go away. So while I'm still happy to see the white stuff, and not wanting to live in PJ's and hide under a blanket every day, it's a good time to do the next part of my Wardrobe experiment; Winter Edition.

     Fortunately I learned from the last one I did, 3 weeks is basically the perfect amount of time to cover this, and I already have some stuff saved so I can just add on to the already existing list.

     If you didn't see my Fall Wardrobe Experiment let me break this down for you. For the next 3 weeks I will get up in the morning, and using pinterest piece together what I would like to wear that day. I choose pieces from websites I like for shopping, and piece these outfits together. I can't repeat pieces so if an item is already on my list, this is just showing me more value in that one piece. Each week I share what I have discovered, and see how my experiment is going. I do this to better understand my personal style, and actually to help me minimize my current wardrobe so I can filter out stuff I don't actually wear.

     I'll pop in again Next week to update!