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Every Day

Cutting Our Electric Bills

This has been a hot and humid summer yet we have cut our electric bills. We have had three bills so far and we have cut our electric bill and gas bills by $ 115.94 this summer. Most of our summer usage is electric. We use very little natural gas in the summer. Of course we always have to pay for the gas meter and associated taxes and service charges. 

Some of the decrease was because of the 3 days we had broken A/C but that was minimal compared to the big picture.

If you had told me that we would be able to cut our electric bill by this much, I would not have thought it would be possible. You all know that I have always tried to keep our utility bills low. So I would have thought it was not possible to cut it this much.

But this summer, when the days were cooler(70-80), we were diligent about turning our A/C off instead of just leaving it on most of summer. We always did the latter because we knew it would only run when we needed it. 

However, I got thinking about how spoiled we have become. We did not have A/C when I grew up in the city. Nor did we have it when we summered on a lake. Granted we were kids and the heat didn’t bother us much.

The first two years we were married, we lived in a very hot attic apartment with one window fan and we survived. When we bought our first home, we did not put central A/C in for a few years. We survived. In all three of our homes after the first one, we have always had central A/C. I think we just got used to putting that A/C on for the summer. 

We probably would not have survived the heat in Arizona without the central A/C. But we had really cheap electricity out there. In New York, it is costly.

Our utility company, NYSEG, has requested a rate increase of 24% for this coming year. I doubt the PSC will agree to that(time will tell) but they will get a hefty portion of it. They say they need the increase because their costs have gone up which is probably true. We have all seen our costs go up. 

A good portion of the increase they are asking for is to pay for the smart meters that they want to install over the next 5 years in all of their customers homes. Are those necessary? Yes and no. They normally replace a certain number of meters each year because of age. Do they need to replace all meters? I would think not.  But they do not have residential meters that would allow a Time Of Use(TOU) rate. They have not said how that will operate yet. I am very curious about that.

We opted for TOU metering in Arizona and we saved a lot of money even though we were retired and home all day long. That said, I really don’t know how much we would really save here with the extreme temperatures we get in both the summer and the winter. It all depends on how the company sets their TOU hours and rates for that.

But anyhow, we cut back to try to lower the utility bills over the summer and it has been working. We have been very comfortable without it on the days we have turned it off. It is off now at least until Monday or Tuesday because cooler air has come in. We are enjoying the fresh air.

You all know that I do lots of other things to keep our utility bills down as shown in these posts:

 More Energy Saved

Watching The Large Expenses 

How do you cut your utility bills? Do you go without A/C sporadically during the summer or for all of the summer? 

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Every Day

Recession or Not?

Lately when Hubby has the news on which I don’t watch, I am hearing people scaring Americans about a recession coming.

Is there one coming? Probably, but when is another question. There has been a recession about every 10-12 years in the 52 years that we have been married. So this is nothing new and we are due. Things aren’t always good. What is surprising to me is that they are talking recession when the economy is so good. Flooding in the midwest this year could contribute to one along with other factors. Time will tell.

But I don’t worry too much about a recession because they don’t usually affect us much. There were recessions in the early years of our marriage that I didn’t even realize were happening.

Sure the stock market will be affected but what goes down will eventually go back up.  I doubt we will have a depression like the 1929 one. But of course all of this is just my opinion. Everyone should form their own opinion.

One of the reasons that we are pretty much recession proof is that we are always prepared. We have no debt, not even a mortgage. Even when we had a mortgage in the early years of our marriage, we always had an emergency fund. 

I read an article a few years ago that said that 69% of Americans could not cover an unexpected expense of $1,000. To me that is very scary! What do they do if the car breaks down, they lose a job, or the furnace needs an expensive repair? I don’t think things have changed that much since 2017. If they had, the average American wouldn’t have $8189. in outstanding credit card debt which includes bank and store credit cards. And remember, this is an average. Many Americans owe a whole lot more than this and some less and some none like us. This tells me that most Americans rely on credit cards and borrowing if they have an unexpected expense.  At an almost average 17% interest rate on unpaid balances, they just get themselves into more and more debt.

If you do not have an emergency fund, it should be your first priority over the next couple of months. $1,000. will help. But to really protect yourselves, you should build it up to at least 6 months of expenses. You say you don’t know what your expenses are monthly? Well then, now is the time to track a month’s worth and include those expenses that you only pay once or twice a year. Then multiply that by 6 months and you will have an idea of what you should have in your emergency fund to fully protect you and your family. But if you have no fund, building up to $1,000. will help when you have a small emergency. 

The other thing that we do to help during a recession is to build up our stockpile of food. When a recession is coming, you should put at least 6 month’s worth of food away. We try to have a year’s worth. Right now we don’t have that much in our freezer because we have been eating out of it. However, I believe that we could make meals out of our pantries, if need be, for up to a year.  

Yes, we have some gaps that need to be filled but I am working on that with a list I worked up of what they are. You saw that this past week, I purchased 2 cases of canned whole potatoes.  Fresh potato prices are going up here and I pay attention to things like that. These potatoes will also help me not to shop over the winter. You all know that I hate driving in the snow. If I could stay home all winter, I would.

I also stock on food when I believe that food prices will be rising which could happen with all of the flooding. We are already seeing beef and pork prices rising here. By stocking, I insulate our family from these rising prices. Yes, the prices are getting higher but I believe they will go even higher. 


The other choice that we have is to not eat those products that are rising. With beef and pork prices rising, buy poultry. If they rise, buy whatever hasn’t risen or go meatless.

If you don’t have an emergency fund start working on it by figuring out what you truly need. Then start funding it. Next, stock some food in your pantry. If you only have an extra $10. a week, then just buy $10. worth of food. Next week buy another $10. worth. Keep doing that and eventually you will have a stockpile that you can rely on.


By doing this the next time you have an emergency, hopefully you can handle it without pulling out your credit card and going deeper into debt. If you build up your pantry, you know that you and your family will be able to eat.

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Every Day

Frugal Things This Past Week

This is one of my favorite lamps. It resides in our master bedroom. We have owned it for about 30 years. It was starting to give me trouble. It would flicker on it’s own when I turned it on. I was worried about a short in it so I unplugged it and told Hubby. He took it apart and found loose wiring and repaired it. Now it works perfectly. I am so glad that I never considered throwing it out.

I went to the salon and had my hair done. She told me the roots and highlights were fine. She just did a cut for $30.00 plus a $6.00 tip.

Having a lot of eggs in the fridge, I boiled up 11. We used them for a quick breakfast, some snacks and Hubby made egg salad one day.


I cleaned out and sanitized the inside of  my refrigerator checking to see what produce needed to be used up. So it has been worked into my plan for the week.


Rather than take the turkey breast back to the market, Hubby diced it up and we are using it for chicken salad and to make turkey soup. It’s easier to eat in small pieces. I have another turkey breast in the freezer that I purchased the same day as this one. I am hoping it is not tough. I can tell you that I will not be buying this brand again.


I have made a list of items to stock up on in the next few weeks. They are things that I believe may go up in price soon. I already stocked Monday on 2 cases of canned whole potatoes at $ .49 a can. Hubby loves them roasted. I no longer eat any potatoes so rather than buy a bag that can’t be used up before it goes bad, I will use canned roasted or in stew all fall and winter into the spring. 

I washed two loads of wash with cold water. They were hung to dry.

There are so few homes in our town for sale that the two homes that were put up for sale in our development the past couple of days sold within days. People were bidding the prices up. It is good for the seller but it is going to kill us when they reassess us for taxes in the spring. Add to that the new homes that are being built in our development that are selling very quickly and we are in big trouble for taxes. Moral: Sell now if you want to move.

I blanched three of the four ears of corn I bought and froze them so Hubby can have them over the winter. 

My friend who had the party this past weekend makes a dill pickle dip that Hubby loves. She surprised him with a 16 oz. jar of it when we were leaving to come home on Saturday. He is enjoying it immensely. She reuses jars as I do.


I started a list of Christmas gifts that I need to buy. I will be working on those over the next two months and hope to have all my shopping done by the end of October.


I was able to buy a 3 lb. bag of Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener that was $22.99 using credit card rewards.

Since our state is getting rid of plastic bags the beginning of next year, I am still saving every one I get including large packaging like toilet paper wrappers, Amazon plastic shipping envelopes, etc. I use these to empty wastebaskets which saves me from using extra tall kitchen garbage bags or trash bags. I put them in empty tissue boxes and stack them in the basement. When we had a cat, I would save the empty cat food bags for the same purpose. 

Hubby needed a new piece of medical equipment. Fortunately it was covered under our medical plans. There was not even a co-pay. 


We had some tortillas that were getting old. Hubby made himself a scrambled egg, onion, cheese and sausage wrap for breakfast. He also made a few others to put in the freezer and just nuke when he wants one.


For entertainment, we have been watching preseason football games, watching You Tube, reading some free books on our Kindles, and doing a puzzle. 

I have been running the dishwasher every other day using up a container of homemade dishwasher detergent and using vinegar in place of Jet Dry. 


For exercise, I have been walking, going on the treadmill, and going to the gym.


We are supposed to have a cool down today. I am glad because it has been 88 during the days. So I have been collecting scraps of wood at the dumpsters where they are building in here. We will be ready to enjoy our outdoor fireplace in the evenings with the cooler weather.

We needed to stock on air filters for the furnace since we were getting low. We stopped at Lowe’s and the prices were expensive and they no longer carried a package in bulk like I used to get. The guy that checks our furnace for us every year told us a long time ago to buy the cheapest filters you can. He said other filters block air flow and that is not a good thing. So I ordered 12 filters from Home Depot for $.98 each and picked them up there so that I didn’t have to pay for shipping.

What have you been doing frugally this past week?

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Every Day

What We Ate and Grocery Shopping This Past Week

These are the groceries that we purchased the past week.

Top’s:

4 ears of Corn on the Cob- 4 for $1.00
Broccoli Crowns – $ .88 lb. = $1.02


Total OOP was $2.02.

Aldi’s:

24 cans of Whole Potatoes – $ .49 each = $ 11.76
1 Pkg. of Romaine Hearts – $ 2.19
1 Pkg of 3 Colored Peppers – $2.99
Organic Bananas – $ .59 lb. = $1.24
1 Mustard – $ .55


Total OOP was $18.73.


We are eating from our pantries, fridge and freezers. I am starting to stock on items I believe will go up in price over the next year and getting a few things to fill in the gaps to stock us for the winter since I hate the snow and cold. 

Last week we ate bagels(Hubby), eggs, Canadian bacon, regular bacon and ham for breakfasts.

Dinners were:

Turkey with mashed cauliflower, stuffing, and brussel sprouts – 2 dinners

Chicken with SF BBQ sauce and side salads – 2 dinners

Taco Salads – 1 dinner

Choice of Salmon or Haddock and broccoli – 1 dinner

Dinner at the Party – 1 dinner 


I hope to take more pics of what we eat this coming week. It has been hectic here.


Did you cook anything special this past week? Did you get any good grocery deals?

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Every Day

A Little of This and A Little Of That

We had the worst weather this weekend. About the time I left for the hair salon on Saturday morning, the skies opened up and the thunder and lightning was bad. Fortunately, we always keep an umbrella in the car. After I left the hairdresser, I had to run another errand but I was very happy to get home. It was hard to see to drive the rain was so heavy.

I was standing in the kitchen, when a bolt of lightning hit in the woods right behind us. It scared me so badly. More on that later.

I appreciate all of the feedback on my hair dilemma. I did go and this was the result. I even wore a shirt that was 4 sizes too big for me(for occasions like this, for cleaning the house or working in the yard)  so that I could get it off easily to change into my party clothes without messing up my hair. 

It had been 6 weeks since I had been to the salon. My hairdresser on that appointment did something different. I have blonde highlights on the sides and the front. She decided to color my roots the same shade. What a difference that has made!  After these 6 weeks, I did not have to have the roots done. She said there was no gray. She told me I could easily go another 4-6 weeks because it will blend as my hair grows. So since roots and highlights were fine, she only had to shampoo and cut it. She only charged me $30. I added a $6. tip and I was on my way. I was thrilled.

When I got home, I gave myself a manicure. No nail salon for me. 

We had an annual picnic party to go to at a good friend’s home. I went over an hour early to help her shred all of the smoked pork bellies and slice the smoked beef briskets and get them into the large chafing containers. Hubby arrived at the starting time of the party. We had such a good time with friends and neighbors. There was good conversation, good food, and drink. I behaved myself and stuck to my diet food, although I did have just one draft beer.  We look forward to this get together every year. Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun came out about an hour before the party began.

At the party, a neighbor told us that many other neighbors had problems with things blowing out about the time of the lightning strikes. A number of neighbors lost power for a bit. One neighbor had many of their shingles blown off which is what we experienced in a wind storm last spring.

I made a mental note to check my freezer in the basement when we got home to make sure it was running.  When Hubby came to the party, he didn’t arm the house alarm because we were right across the street and could see the house. When we got home, we realized that there was a fault message on the alarm panel. It was one that we had never seen before. So we have our alarm people coming to find the problem today. This may have occurred during the storm. We again had bad storms early yesterday morning and again last night. It has gotten so hot here- upper 80’s that I expect that we will get more this week. I had to put the A/C back on a couple of days ago.


Yesterday was a quiet day at home. We stayed home all day. My family did not come to breakfast because my DIL took West to NYC on Thursday to do some sightseeing and for a Ninja competition on Saturday.


Hubby was happy to watch some preseason football. I looked over all the food ads for this week. There were really no good buys except broccoli crowns for $.88 a lb. and Amaize sweet corn that is 4 for a $1.00. I may or may not get some this week. Hubby loves the corn, so I may blanch some to put in the freezer. I did notice that beef prices are rising. Steaks were up about $ 2.00 a lb. and ground beef that is usually $1.99 a lb. is now $ 2.29 a lb. on sale. Time will tell if Aldi’s raises the price of the 100% grass fed ground beef that I always buy.

For dinner last night I roasted a turkey breast that I purchased at Top’s for $.88 a lb a few weeks ago. It was the worst turkey breast that we have ever had. It is so tough that we could barely chew it. I am going to see if it is more tender cold. If not, I am considering calling the meat department to see if I can get my money back. I don’t know if they will want the turkey back even though it is roasted or not. I will call and find out what to do.

Well, I am off to start my day. I have a lot of cleaning to do. I hope you all have a good one. 

Have any of you returned meat like this? Did they give you your money back? Did you bring the meat back cooked?    

 

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Every Day

Bare Bones: A Dilemma

I have a dilemma tomorrow. Those of you who have read here know that I get my hair cut, colored, and highlighted at what some would think is a high end salon. It really is only a few dollars more than the cheaper salons in my area. Part of my dilemma is that I love my hairdresser because she does a fantastic job. I also enjoy chatting with her because she reminds me of a young me. She is very frugal and has her head on straight when it comes to money.

I definitely need a cut tomorrow and my roots done. But I believe that the highlights are good for another 4-6 weeks. So it will cost much less than normal.

However this is definitely not bare bones. I do pay cash for this each time I go out of my monthly spending money. But it nags at me that there must be a better way.

I am not good at coloring my hair. I make a mess and I miss parts of my head so the gray shows. But I am considering doing it myself and trying to do a better job. I have blonde highlights put in but I have so many that my hair is almost all blond.

So I am thinking that buying hair color in a light shade that kind of matches the highlights would work. I know that I can get some good deals on hair color using coupons. I have also seen hair color on clearance at my local drugstores. But then again I wonder if it really wouldn’t look as good as the highlights do. 

I would then only have to pay for a haircut. Hubby used to cut my hair for me and he did as good a job as most hairdressers. But ever since he developed back issues, he does not want to do it because the standing for any length of time puts him in major pain. There is no way that I would even attempt to cut my own hair. 

So help me with this dilemma that has been eating at me for a very long time. Do you go to the salon or do your own hair? Is the salon worth the price? What do you think? Is it a luxury that is worth paying for? It is so expensive that it nags at me that I should be spending that money on something else or investing it.  

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Every Day

Savings With My Kitchen Aid

One of my very favorite appliances is my Kitchen Aid Mixer. I purchased it refurbished for about $150. many years ago when we lived in Arizona.

I use it so often that I keep it out on our counter. Both Hubby and I use it a lot when we are baking cakes, cookies, muffins, etc. I use it to make homemade frosting, whip heavy cream, or make mashed potatoes.

Over the years, I have purchased some attachments when I saw a great sale on them. I have the food grinder which I use for grinding meat or poultry that I purchase at rock bottom prices. 99% of the time those prices on the larger piece of meat I grind are less than I can buy the ground meat. Over the years, I have ground beef roasts, steaks, chicken, and turkey breasts. Pork chops or roasts make ground pork or sausages. I have also used it to grind nuts and make bread crumbs. I have made pickle relish by grinding pickles. I have ground dried fruits to make cookies. This versatility has saved me a fortune on purchasing these items prepared. 

I have also purchased attachments that slice and shred. Because of this, I have not had to purchase a food processor. I can easily shred my own cheese when I find a chunk cheap. I can shred all kinds of vegetables and fruits. I have also shredded cooked chicken with them. I have made coleslaw. It does a great job making pesto. Making applesauce is easy.

The best thing is that it does not take much electricity to use it. The second best thing is because  I purchased it so cheap that I have gotten my money back many times over the years.

If you own a Kitchen Aid, please share with us what you use yours for.

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Every Day

Frugal Things We Did This Past Week

These are the frugal things we have done the past week.

I already told you about Hubby’s purchase of shelving for the garage. It is all up now except for the bottom shelf which will get put up after they do our garage floor.

My son brought his jack so that Hubby and he could jack up the shed. In the meantime, Hubby was cleaning the garage and he found his jack in a cabinet. They worked on this last Sunday.

My son took my origami shelving unit down into the basement from the garage. I had him place it where I wanted it. I haven’t decided what I will use the shelves for. I think I will be rearranging things down there and then making decisions. I plan on spending an hour a day this week doing that.

I washed a load of clothing once last week using cold water to wash and rinse. I hung everything to dry.

I washed a load of towels along with some guest room sheets. They were dried in my dryer using the wool balls which cuts down the dryer time by 20-30 minutes.

Our A/C has been off most of the past week. It has been cooler and a lot less humid. We have been enjoying the fresh air blowing in through the windows. We have had some nice gentle winds those days. 

For entertainment, we enjoyed watching the Buffalo Bills pre-season football game. We played board games with West. 

I have been doing a lot of walking around our neighborhood. I want to slowly work my way up to 8 miles a day. I have been invited to go to Disney World for their 50th Anniversary in 2021. Now that I am getting healthier, I want to see if I can walk the parks down there and not have to maneuver a scooter. My family walks about 8 miles in a park each day when they go. So by working on this now, I will know whether I can do it or not. If I can, the bonus is that I will not have to rent a scooter for a week.

I am getting low on quart size storage bags. They are wearing thin from being washed again and again. I got a great deal on Amazon . It works out to $.05 a bag which is a terrific deal. Better yet I paid for them using reward points. These are storage bags only not freezer bags.

I got my Rakuten rebate of $ 17.03. I got a mail in rebate of $6.00.

My liquid hand soap order that I told you about in a prior post arrived yesterday. That was about 2-4 weeks earlier than they said it would. I always worry about liquid things leaking in shipment. This was packed so well that it never would have leaked. This 4 gallons will last us a long, long time.

A friend, who started blogging way back when I did, mentioned that she uses fold over blank cards for gifts.  I am getting low on my blank cards that I sometimes use, so I searched on Amazon for these blank cards . They were $24.50+ tax for 100. They do not come with envelopes but due to a bulk purchase 16 years ago when we lived in Arizona, I already have envelopes that will fit them. I am always looking for a cheaper way to do things. This purchase will cut my card using price to less than half of what I normally pay. I can use them for gifts or even just when I need a card to mail. I have many ways that I can dress them up including my stamps and ink pads. 


I bought some more bagels at Panera Bread yesterday for Hubby. They are cheaper for 13 on Tuesdays…just $6.99.  I bagged them up in portions and put them in the freezer. He can just pull one out the night before he wants one. I paid for them with a gift card. 

Hubby made some more homemade cinnamon cream cheese spread for his bagels.


Hubby and I had our teeth cleaned. Two cleanings, flouride treatments, and exams twice a year, for each of us are covered in full by our discount dental plan. Hubby also had some work done and we got a discount of 20% on that.

I repaired a pair of shorts for Hubby.

Knowing that we were going to be out a good part of the day on dental cleaning and errand day, I put 2 nights worth of chicken in the crock pot to cook on low. All I had to do for dinner later was steam some broccoli and make Hubby some rice.

What are the frugal things you have done this past week? Please share with all of us. 

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Every Day

What We Ate and Grocery Shopping

I am being honest when I say that I didn’t take a lot of pictures of what we ate last week. I had a very busy week so this just didn’t happen.

We had our usual meat and eggs for breakfast and no lunches. We had two nights of homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Mine was on homemade zoodles. We had two nights of Cheesy Bacon Ranch Chicken and asparagus which is pictured above. We had one night of pizza while my grandson was here. Being totally honest, I actually ate a piece of pizza. That being said, I was sick the entire next day. It seems the pizza did not agree with me. My body does not seem to like carbohydrate laden food anymore. So I will not be doing that again. The other two nights we had Chef’s salads. I continue on my weight loss journey. 

I went to the grocery store twice this past week. At Top’s, I purchased: 

3 dozen eggs – $ .59 each or $ 1.77
1 All Purpose Flour – -$ 2.99
1 Baking Powder – $ 2.69

Total OOP was $ 7.45

At Aldi’s, I purchased:

Red Seedless Grapes – $ .89 a lb. – $ 2.52
1 Heavy Whipping Cream – $ 1.55
1 Whipped Cream Cheese – $ 1.49
1 Feta Cheese – $ 2.99
1 Irish Butter – $2.49
1 Queso Fresco Cheese – $ 2.49
1 bag of Avocados – $4.99
1 frozen Asian Blend Vegetables – $ 1.69
1 frozen Brussel Sprouts – $ 1.09

Total OOP was $ 21.30.  


I know that I could have purchased the flour and baking soda cheaper at Aldi’s. But I didn’t because I do not like their baking ingredients. They have a funny taste.

When I can get eggs this cheap, I stock. They had a limit of three but if I go near Top’s again, I will get three more. We use a lot of eggs for breakfasts.

I am trying the Irish Butter which Aldi’s now has under their own label. It is exactly the ingredients of the name brand. It is made with milk from grass fed cows. If we like it, I am hoping they have it on sale near Thanksgiving and I will stock up. We still have a lot of pounds of butter that we purchased last Thanksgiving.

I don’t know how much longer I will buy avocados now that they are no longer in season. They are expensive. But I needed them for something this week and I love them. So we will see. 

Did you make a new recipe this week that you loved? Would you share it with us. Did you get any deals at the grocery store this past week?

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Every Day

Attitude

Attitude is everything! Only you have the power to change your attitude. No one can do it for you!

If you are in debt, only you can get you out of debt. Only you can decide that you want to be debt free. Only you can decide that you don’t want the burden of stress hanging around your neck weighing you down. 

If you want to save money for your future for just about any goal that you might have, only you can decide to do that. No one can force you and no one can do it for you!

I can give you every frugal tip to get out of debt but if you aren’t going to do the hard work involved, then you will fail. Hard work you say, yes hard work. Things don’t come easy for some people and then harder for others. It’s all about your attitude.

Just take a look around you. How many times have you seen people buy something because they say they deserve it? Everyone does deserve everything but not if they can’t pay cash for it. Change your attitude.

If you are in debt to anyone, you can’t afford to buy something that will put you more into debt. The burden you are carrying will get worse and your family’s future is at risk. Debt doesn’t go away all by itself. It takes hard work to get rid of it.


So change your attitude! Don’t just read about frugality. Take the time to put it into action. Do the hard work to get out of debt or save for your future.

One of the reasons, Hubby and I have no debt is we made it a goal not to. We did the hard work to pay off mortgages on our first two homes early. We paid the cash for our last two. Was that easy? No! We gave up a lot of things that people buy every day to do that. Things like coffee out every morning. Things like buying lunch when we worked. Hundreds of little things that helped us along the way to get where we are today.

Did we ever feel deprived? Absolutely not. We still had our coffee every morning;it was just made at home. We brought our leftovers or a sandwich to work for lunch. Did these little changes help us get to the freedom of being debt free? Yes but not by themselves. It was everything cumulatively. All of the things we did and do now get us to our goals. It isn’t done by accident or by just thinking about it. We put it all into action.


We knew we could do anything that we set our minds to. We wrote down our goals and we strived toward them every day. We knew how important they were for us and for our family. We were a busy family with jobs, kids playing many sports, and all of the other things that happen in every day life. But we took the time to work on our goals. We had the right attitude. We knew it would all pay off in the long run and you know what happened? We were right!

We didn’t say we can’t do that because we have no time. We didn’t say that is too hard. We didn’t say, let’s charge it because we want it. We had a plan to get where we are today. We said we know we can do it. We will do the hard work to get it done! So change your attitude and change your life.

You all know I have been around many, many decades. I have never met or seen a person who couldn’t do it. They just won’t do the work to get there. Why? They always seem to have an excuse as to why they can’t reach their goals. Excuses don’t get you anywhere. They keep you from getting where you need to be.

So get rid of the excuses and start doing what needs to be done to make things better. Get off your butts and put your plan into action. I know that you can do it and you do to! Change your attitude!