Day 112- Get A Manicure/Pedicure

I got a manicure and a pedicure yesterday. I used an old gift card and treated myself to a luxury that I truly love. My nails are forever breaking, chipping and peeling. No matter how hard I try to grow healthy nails, it is never easy for me. All those ears of biting my nails has had a lasting impact.

I am going to try to start fitting in at least the simple manicures into my routine, maybe once every 6 weeks. Not because I have this need to have perfect nails. But, because my hands are often rough and cracking in addition to the truly unhealthy nails I have. I need to find a clean and sanitary place where I can get my nails done at a reasonable price.

Day 111- Celebrate Getting Older

My husband took me out for dinner to celebrate my 40th birthday. It was a very nice night. Friends from high school came from out of town to help us celebrate. It was a great way to spend the evening.

I need to stop focusing on the number and start focusing on the way I feel. I feel like a very young, vibrant person. The simple number, 40, is not going to suddenly make me an old, grandmotherly person. I am going to stop dwelling on the number and instead start embracing my health, happiness and family.

Day 110 - Take A Deep Breath, Then Try Again

I need to take a test for the job I am going to start in June. I have taken it twice and have failed twice. I need a 70% to pass on 2 parts to pass. I have gotten over a 70% on one half and a 66% on the other half both times. I am scoring high in 5 out of the 6 categories, except 1. I am overwhelmed, tired and frustrated. A year ago, my first impulse would have been to quit. Not today.

I am taking tonight and tomorrow off from studying. Friday afternoon, I am going to start again and I will focus on the one area that I am not grasping. I will not take the test again until I am ready and I will pass the next time. I am a smart woman capable of doing this. I just need to take a deep breath, take a break and try again.

Day 109 - Get A Massage

Today I got a massage. I love getting massages! Nothing relaxes me more than 90 minutes of massage. Most of the time, my massages are very painful, so I know that I am as stressed as I believe. But, the weird thing is that it is a pain that I like because I know that it is working.

I have terrible sciatica, so I have found that the occasional massage helps with working it out. Other treatments have worked for my sciatica, but nothing works as well as an occasional visit to the massage therapist. I want to start making an occasional visit to a massage therapist part of my year of living better and healthier. I really do believe that it helps. Here is a list of things that I have found that say massage is good for overall health and well being:

1. It relieves pain

2. It relieves tension

3. Relaxes inflamed muscles

4. Improves circulation

5. reduces stress

6. gives you a break from daily chores

7. enhances your mood

8. it is a way to pamper yourself

9. makes a great gift

10. it is rejuvenating

11. I have also heard that massage releases toxins. I believe it because I am always a little dizzy after a long massage.

That is a pretty good list of reasons to get an occasional massage. Today I had a coupon, so I was able to get 90 minutes for $40. That was a great price, in my opinion. Well worth the $40. I received the coupon because April is the month of my birthday. I find that more and more businesses are sending out coupons for free or reduced rate items and services during the month of your birthday. I have few more that I am using this week that I will be blogging about later.

Day 108 -Stick To My Skin Care Routine

I have been using the Aveda skin care line on my face for the last several months. It has proven to be really good to my skin. Since starting the products, I have actually, for the first time ever, stayed with a skin care regiment long enough to see the results.

When I started this blog, it was all about my frugality. My goal in life was to save as much money as possible, no matter what the sacrifice might be. While doing that, I would clip every coupon I could find and inevitably buy several different kinds of skin care products. While this saved me money, I never stayed with any one product long enough to see lasting benefits. I was also using products that were probably not the best thing for my skin as well as probably being tested on animals. Sure, I paid $1.99 for soap but I probably did damage to my skin as well as contributed to the abuse of animals. Of course, that is a talk for a different blog.

In the last year, I have let go of my frugality a bit. I am realizing that sometimes it is okay to spend a bit more for quality. Sometimes, in the end, you pay less because you buy quality. My skin care has become a priority for me. Dry skin, blotchy skin and wrinkles are starting to bother me, making me willing to spend more.

As I get older, I will continue to stick to Aveda for my skin as well as my hair. That will be a blog for later on as well.

Day 107 - Start Using Cash, More

Today I went to fill up the gas tank, which created a bit of sticker shock! Wow, $3.85/gallon is a lot by American standards. I say that because Europeans pay a lot more than Americans and don't complain as much as we do. But, I am American, so I will complain. I think that $3.85 is a lot of money for gas. I noticed that if I paid cash, that was the cost. Using a credit card was $3.97/gallon. That was all I needed to see to pull out some cash and pay that way. Of course I saved $.80 for the whole transaction, which my daughter pointed out was not even a dollar. What a disappointment! But, I figure if I continue to pay cash for all my gas this summer, maybe I can save at least $20 to $30 by the end of summer.

It got me thinking, I should pay cash for more of my daily transactions. We use our credit card for everything in order to earn points. We do pay it off every month, but I know that we would spend a lot less money if we used more cash and less credit. This is something that we have done in the past, when we were getting out of credit card debt. Since getting out, we started to use our card again with the promise we pay it off. Of course, this has led us to getting used to having a bit more to spend every month, which we could save instead.

So, starting today, I am going to use cash a little bit more and credit a little bit less.