The Penny Hoarder's "Save $1,000 Challenge"

This post will take me a year to write.  We all know how Facebook fills our timeline with ad after ad since that is more important to them than the post my friends make the should be on my timeline.  After all, it is all about money.  This particular ad spoke about how to save $1K and stop living paycheck to paycheck in Massachusetts (must be they knew our name should be Taxachusetts)

Captured from my Facebook timeline on 4/28/2017

Clicking on the ad took you to this page (I'm including the full-length URL):  https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/jobs-making-money/how-to-save-money-when-youre-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/?aff_id=44&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&aff_sub3=Paycheck_420MassachusettsD_6

I read the article and accepted the challenge - save $1K over the next year.  I could easily make the monthly deposits it suggest, starting with $5.00 the first month (although their recommended online bank to use requires a minimum $10.00 opening deposit), oops.

So, today, April 2017 will be my first month following their plan.  I expect to earn the funds each month, trying to follow some of their suggestions.  I'll document where the money is coming from as I go.  The first $10 is coming out of my pocket if I ever get this account opened at Aspiration.com.  Seems much longer than opening a normal bank account and asking questions that actually make me a little leery, but, oh well, I'll go after the Penny Hoarder if this isn't legit.  Since I have to link the Aspiration account to an existing bank account, it is going to take a few days via the little deposit thing they do since none of my banks were listed on their pages.  So, until the deposits are confirmed, we'll wait, I'll see you in a few days.

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April 28, 2017 update
The 2 minimal deposits hit my normal bank account today...  I logged back into the Aspiration Bank to continue on with the process.  As serval more pages of input and questions, I have again been told to wait a couple more days as my part II of the application is processed.  Talk about a slow train to China.  So, I wait a few more days.

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May 9th, 2017 update
My account at Aspiration is finally open and the initial $10.00 has been deposited.  It's not that it was hard or painful....  it was just slow as heck to get the account opened.  Here are the cool things.  The account pays interest, as minuscule as it is, it is still more than my 0% interest at my local bank....  I get a debit card to access my funds with a 0 cost ATM use, I like the sounds of that, however, I don't expect to use it, the goal of this exercise is to bank $1,000 within a year.  If I wanted to, by using their app for iOS or Android, as I can with most banks, I could deposit a check directly into my Aspiration account....  or, I can just do a bank to bank transfer from my local bank.  Now I am just waiting for my Scentsy pay notice for the month, should be today or tomorrow and then I'll make the May deposit as the PennyHoarder suggested.

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as an aside to the post...
Don't think you have the funds to save $1,000, check out the links below, 
I'll guide you through with the way I do it...  let's talk!

With eyes wide open, join me in my Scentsy adventure,
Positive thoughts by positive people

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Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Looking through the Windshield

I have had so many thoughts over the past few years, especially since I retired, thinking of the events in my life... the people in my life... and most importantly, what to do next.  I've run the full gambit, thinking everything from complete failure to one of many successes, from a friend, mentor, and teacher to being a pawn just used by others.  I guess there have been instances of all.  I have mentally worked hard to get past the negative thoughts so I could move forward and really feel accomplished. I've only always wanted to be a positive influence and make a difference to those I interact with. That's been hard to do, until tonight I hope.  I hope Joel Osteen just gave me the words I needed to hear.

The small image of the past is not as important of the wide open space ahead of us

I have to paraphrase, but he spoke of how always looking at the past limits our ability to move forward to the future.  It limits us from becoming all we can be.  My thinking has been that I needed to know how I did, to know whether I was on the right path or not.  Joel talked about looking in the rear view mirror while we drove.  Can you imagine how far we would get if that's where we looked most of the time?  He commented on how the rear view mirror was very small and the windshield was very large.  It's much more important that we spend most of our time looking through the bigger view of a windshield so we can see where we are going and all the possibilities of where we could go, rather than on that little rear view mirror to see where we had already been.  There is a subliminal reason the windshield is so much bigger.

Just as in life, my focus, our focus, needs to be on what is in front of us.  I'm not perfect and I've made mistakes,  but I've also led a life full of positives and success and I'm not done looking and moving forward.  It's time to spend more time of what might be, rather than on what was.  Join me as we move on to the fulfilled life God planned for us.

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With eyes wide open, join me in my Scentsy adventure,
Positive thoughts by positive people

Check out my Scentsy Web store at: http://DanGreeley.Scentsy.us
Want to join my amazing team of consultants?  http://bit.ly/JoinDan

Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Burned Again With A Free Trial I Didn't Know I Had

I certainly am not the first to write about "free trials", but nevertheless, I'm sick of being taken advantage of by companies that offer 'free trails" and then continue to take your money when they know you are not using their product or service...  they don't care as long as your money becomes theirs.  I'd like to think of it under the guise of "theft by deception".  Companies need to be accountable and become honest and trustworthy.

I just discovered I've been taken advantage of, in my opinion, by NetFlix and their DVD.com Service free trial. Unfortunately, I can't even tell how long this has been going on, they only keep a payment history for 12 months, so I need to research my own bank records going back before that. I don't ever recall asking for the trial, I think it came automatically, for free, when I subscribed to NetFlix.  I have never, ever, rented or used the NetFlix DVD Service...  EVER.

Nevertheless, I'm sure DVD.com, NetFlix and others that use the free trial come on, along with numerous others that sell subscription serviced products are doing so with a clear corporate conscious, after all, they'll show you it's all written out in the fine print and legalese, somewhere. Many have written on this issue and have offered suggestions of how to protect yourself.  Easier said than done.

We all should do all that has been suggested, but what about the companies themselves?  I am more on the side of less regulation, but, in this case, I think we need to hold companies to task, make sure they are honorable, trusting, and, looking out for the customers who don't have the time, resources, and sometimes, wherefore all, to know what they should be looking for.

From the Federal Trade Commission

Read more from the FTC by clicking << here >>

All well and good, but I'm all for putting some requirements on the company.  Using my experience with DVD.com, a NetFlix company, that apparently was for DVD rentals for $7.99/month plus $0.50 tax as an example.  I never rented a DVD (or even knew I could).  So far, all I have been able to determine is that they have been charging me for more than a year, month after month.  Why couldn't they be required to confirm with me, or any customer, after a certain amount of non-use of the service, verify if I wanted to continue being and customer before being charged further?  Why not a 2 month or a 3 month limit of non-use to cause the agreement is automatically terminate and charges stopped?  Why not create a simple, easy to find cancel button?  Another company, Sirus XM, requires their customers to call to cancel...  you can not write, email, click a button, you must call, when they are open and it is convenient to them.

When you hear about free trial legislation, support it....  better yet, write your representatives.

The Gift of Yourself

inspired by findings in things my dad left behind...

There is nothing better you can do than the gifting of yourself to others

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Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Make It Up

Today I began tackling a task I have put off for years, going through boxes of papers my father left behind.  I know where I got my "save everything" lifestyle.  The good thing is the memories that have been stirred up, the pictures I've found, WWII memories and stuff I'm not sure why he saved it.  Someone may say that one day about me too.  

This is a poem I found, prettied up for presentation here:

This is what I found in my dad's papers:

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Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Handwritten Thank You Notes - what a concept

When was the last time you sent someone sent you a thank you note?  More importantly, when was the last time you sent someone a handwritten thank you note?

It seems that taking the time to write a thank you has become a lost artifact from yesteryear.  Why is that?  Is life today just too fast paced and digitalized, we don't have the time?  Maybe the reality is that we don't take the time.

Think back to the last time someone actually took the time to sit and hand write you to express appreciation for something you might have done for them.  Thanks for a birthday gift, for helping them on an assignment they were having trouble with, for being their friend, or just because they care.  The list of reason why is longer than the endless list of excuses we may use not to.  Just think how you'd feel if you received a genuine moment of appreciation.

I challenge you to but a box of note cards the next time you visit the grocery store, pharmacy or department store.  A small box of 6 or more, and give it a try.  It might be to give thanks for something someone did for you years ago, giving thanks is just as important today, for both you and the recipient.

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Check out my Scentsy Web store at: http://DanGreeley.Scentsy.us
Want to join my amazing team of consultants?  http://bit.ly/JoinDan

Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

No Matter How Good It Is

A situation beyond my control hit home this week.

No matter how good it is, no matter how you are working at life, things can still jump up and slap you in the face.  No matter how hard you dream and hope that things will be better and enjoyable as they were, another's action can zap your strength and hope away.  

I need to step away, not share the details, just focus regain control and reach out in faith... a faith I lost and need to find it again, so I step away.

Keep me in mind, I want nothing more than to enjoy time with you.