The following is a staff writer post from Amanda L. Grossman at Frugal Confessions. She covers how to live a frugal decadent life where saving and living in the present are both held in high regard.

If you’re like me, then from time to time you have found yourself bored and looking for a distraction from your present tasks. Perhaps you have already checked out all the usual avenues: seen the new haircut of your friend on Facebook, retweeted a few interesting things on Twitter, and uploaded those photos you’ve been meaning to. Now what?

While I do not condone wasting hours of time on the internet instead of working (*ahem*), I am a big believer in mental breaks. And why not make your mental breaks fun? Below are lots of free online time-killers you might want to check out if you are in need of a break from your task at hand.

Conduct a Genealogy Search

Have you ever wondered about your ancestors? I just finished a Hungarian ancestry project for my family, and can confidently say that while it was very satisfying, it was also very time-consuming. Whether you know tidbits about them, or just a name, there are free websites where you can search for them within the US, as well as before they reached the United States. You may want to start with an Ellis Island search. Ellis Island Ship Passenger Lists can be searched during the years it was in operation (between 1892 and 1954). Other useful, free websites include USGenWeb.org, Cyndi’s List, and FamilySearch.org. Here is a pedigree chart that you can type onto in case you get really interested and want to start your own project. And if you just want to find out if you are related to someone famous, then check out how to do so in this article.

Watch Live Wilderness and Space Coverage

You can watch a live camera set up at a watering hole in the African wilderness at the Nkorho Bush Lodge (located next to the Kruger National Park and Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve). You can also keep that turned on and listen to a wonderful cacophony of animal noises while working or contemplating. If you spot any wildlife you can “take photos” and share on social media, or you can set up an alert to alert you when there are animals present so that you can open up the website and check in.

You can check in on earth and space through the live streaming from the International Space Station (ISS). The images are from cameras mounted outside the laboratory complex, which orbits Earth at 17,500 miles an hour at an altitude of 220 miles. The video is transmitted to viewers usually from about 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. CST. In case the live streaming is off-air, you can also keep tabs on what the astronauts are doing onboard the ISS.

Play Games

There are many games available for free on the computer. Over 300 free games are available at miniclip.com. 1Up keeps a list of free online games ranging from puzzles to adventure, and Kongregate offers a huge listing (over 36,000) of free online games.

You can also download free video game music at www.ocremix.org, which offers both originals and remixes by fans.

Create an Avatar and Cartoonize Yourself

You can play around with software that will create an avatar for you, or your virtual representation in cyberspace. Here is a website where you can “cartoonize” yourself using a choice of various effects. Did you ever wonder what your character would look like in South Park? Play around with this free service to create it.

This looks just like me, right?

Start a Digital Scrapbook

Digital scrapbooking is creating scrapbook pages on your computer. Once created, you can print them out at home, use them in an online photo company service (such as for the pages in a photo book), burn the pages onto a CD/DVD, or share them on social media. Check out these free digital scrapbooking kits to get you started.

Take a Google Earth Tour

I have lived in several different countries, and was elated when I figured out one afternoon that I could type in some of my old addresses and hangouts and see them on Google Earth! One day while fooling around with this on my laptop, I happened to click on a Saturn-looking button. Much to my surprise, I found out that you can also tour the moon and certain planets! How awesome is that? There are little flags of areas of interest, as well as digital placards to click on for information of the particular area you are looking at.

What free online time-killers have you found? Please share for the mental sake of the rest of us!

Mr. BFS and I have instigated the Great Food Fight of 2013 to stay on track since we tend to go a little food crazy. We are aiming to spend $500 or less every month. That sounds really high for 2 people (because we could probably live on $250 or less if we just kept it very basic), but we enjoy eating out with friends and cooking for them at home. So it is what it is.

But we keep choosing to lose the good fight it seems.  I almost didn’t bother writing this month up.

Food Expenditures from May 13, 2013 – June 12, 2013

In order to track our spending without logging into our credit card account every day, we try to keep a running tally on a sheet of paper stuck to our refrigerator. Between the two of us (and by double checking ourselves by logging in to our credit cards), we write down every food expense throughout the month. It’s not the prettiest method ever, but it usually works great to keep our eyes on the prize.  We sort of put this to the side for the 2 months before this update and kept semi-track this month.  I had some blanks to fill in.

Here’s how we did:

I’d like to go on record saying that all of the Jason’s Deli and Steak and Shake (S&S) spending are the Monday and Wednesday dinners of my husband while he is play testing board games though. I usually eat in those nights. That’s about $80 a month that’s not my fault at least, lol.  I also circled the only times we spent more than $20, which I consider an expensive meal.

Eating Out – $462.76

Groceries – $150.46

That comes to $613.22 total.

Honestly, we ate out a lot.  Our friends were getting close to and now are on summer break (lots of teachers, lol), so we’ve been incorporating meals into our get togethers.  That means we are either spending money at a restaurant or extra for groceries since we want to make special stuff for multiple people.  Or we grab food when we are on the road or at someone’s house all day.  It is what it is.

I am also losing weight successfully with Weight Watchers, but I do splurge on more expensive food than normal as a reward…like $7 for a couple of pounds of cherries.  Or a $5 seedless watermelon once a week.  Those are zero point foods on WW, but that’s way more than my norm of bananas at 45 cents a pound.  Also, Panera Bread and Black Walnut Café are way more expensive than my normal fast food but they are great meeting locations for friends and family PLUS they fit into my weight loss plan.  Again, it is a conscious decision, but we are losing the cost battle.

What We’ve Been Eating

Mr. BFS and I have been eating all kinds of stuff this month…

• Salmon off our propane grill
• Restaurants like Panera’s and Jason’s Deli
• Turkey burgers
• Steamed veggies
• TONS of fruit
• Steaks
• Sides like green beans and carrots
• Steak n Shake
• The Egg and I
• Random value menu items all over town
• Peanut butter and jam sandwiches
• Roasted chicken
• Honey Nut Cheerios
• Milk

Overall, we have actually failed to hit the $500 mark 3 out of 5 times so far.  I can’t say that I am very upset though.  I hate writing about failing, but I am happier about my weight loss than I am sad about the extra money we spend because we are using food as entertainment AND I’m eating healthier.  We’ll see how the coming month goes, but this may be the beginning of the end of these food fight updates since I am caring less overall.

I think we need to dial back a little just so we don’t go nuts, but overall, I rather not nag my hubby constantly about food expenses anymore when it is obvious that we both know exactly why we are spending so much and are choosing to do so anyway.  Maybe we’ll come up with a new motivation soon…I think we both want to save a little extra money for fun later this year.  I’ll see if that kick in the butt works for us.

Did you hit any specific goals lately? How is your food budget coming along?

Weekly Updates

• This weekend will mainly be letting my brain cool down since I feel like it won’t stop.  Between the eBook, regular work, and trying to get back into commenting for BFS, it’s been a busy week.  Hope everyone is having a great June!
• Remember to sign up for my newsletter (in the right sidebar) —-> to be able to enter the separate giveaway that I host for subscribers only every month! Plus, I share things in the newsletter that I no longer share here (hint…what do you think happened to my monthly income reports).

Weekly Favorites

• Wealth Informatics with Make some quick cash: 60+ easy ways to earn extra money $100 or more in a weekend  Nice list!
• Buck Inspire with the Bucket List Challenge #1  I went to a gun show for this one…
• So Over This with 5 Things You Should Never Say to a Depressed Person  This is really good to know.
• Sense to Save with Why we hired a kitchen designer  I like the hiring a designer idea for us in the future.
• Live Real, Now with I’d Tap That: Making Life Difficult for Government Spying  If the fact that we are being monitored angers you too, here are some ways to keep their butts out of all of your business.
• Add Vodka with Would You Charge a Friend or Family Member to Be a Surrogate For Them?   Probably, at least for the time I’d have to take off plus medical expenses.
• Money Crush with What I Learned From My $2500 Prescription Mistake  Shop around!
• Eyes on the Dollar with Broke in Retirement: Why It’s Important to Know Where Your Money Is.   Poor lady!  What a punk-ass husband…
• Making Sense of Cents with My Wedding Budget and Plans: Part 1 – Dress and Photos  Congrats and hope you get to stay at the low end of your budget!
• Budgets Are Sexy with guest post from Budget Blonde with Happily Squished: Learning to Live in 270 Sq. Ft.  Yep, just too small for me, lol.  More power to you, Cat!

Guest Posts on BFS

• Kevin at Reward Boost with My Dad Died Happy

Blog Carnivals that Included BFS

• Carnival of Financial Planning at Money Soldiers
• Yakezie Carnival at See Debt Run
• Carn. of Financial Camaraderie at Master the Art of Saving
• Carnival of MoneyPros at This That and the MBA

Thank you!

Giveaways

• The Debt Myth is hosting an iPad Mini and App Giveaway until June 17!
• Surviving and Thriving is hosting an Ode to Crayon and Coloring Book Giveaway until June 18!
• I Pick Up Pennies is hosting a $25 Swagbucks Giveaway until June 20!
• The Amateur Financier is hosting a $175 1000 Post Giveaway until June 30!
• Amanda at Frugal Confessions is offering her Kindle eBook, The CVS Drugstore Game, FREE from June 9 through June 13th!!!

Please let me know if you are running a giveaway so I can add you to the list each week! If you already emailed me and don’t see your giveaway, it isn’t on purpose. Please email me again as your first email must have died a horrid death in my inbox…

Top 10 Referring Sites to BFS from the Last Week:

1. Frugal Portland
2. The Dividend Guy Blog
3. Making Sense of Cents
4. Solving the Money Puzzle
5. Funny About Money
6. Get Rich Slowly
7. Money Life and More
8. The Financial Blogger
9. Evolving PF
10. First Gen American

Thank you! Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions. I’d love to add a few more blogs to my regular reading list or at least give a shout-out for great posts or contests.

As always, thanks to all the bloggers that teach me something new every day. Thanks to all my commenters for making this blog the community I want it to be. Thanks to all my lurkers too.

I hope everybody is enjoying this as much as me!

Semi-secret being revealed…I am attempting to write a second eBook by the first week of July.  It isn’t about a topic as sexy as making money online, lol.  But it was requested by more than a dozen of you over the last year or so.  My plan is to cover how to budget, stay financially healthy, and negotiate down your big bills to manage your monthly nut.  The plan is to be in that exclusive Amazon program, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), for 3 months and then be released all over like my current eBook right before the next Financial Blogger Conference.  But I have stalled.  It just isn’t nearly as exciting to me as it was two weeks ago.  Poop.

How Do You Motivate Yourself?

I’m mainly telling all of you because having accountability partners generally helps me.  I still give up on stuff once in a while anyway, but I accomplish more when others are expecting it.  So here’s the trick up my sleeve – everyone knows now.  I even told my newsletter subscribers last week, so I will at least push myself to finish just due to peer pressure, hahaha.

My second trick isn’t really a trick.  I make myself do things whether I want to or not.  Some days, I might not feel like writing a blog post or checking all of my emails, but that rarely keeps me from doing it.  If it matters at all to me, I can make myself do it even when I rather be zoning out on a book or trying to catch up on my new addiction, Dr. Who.  I was introduced to the 2005 season last week and just started Season 2…

And lastly, I am bribing rewarding myself.  If I finish and have it posted on Amazon by July 4, 2013, I will be able to fully enjoy our 4 day trip to San Antonio way more.  I will also be treating myself to one hell of a meal at some point to celebrate (yeah, food is my ultimate bribe…and hence my food issues…whatever). 

What Say You?

While I am on the subject of the eBook, feel free to chime in with anything that you’d like to read about in this one (or even the a completely different idea for yet another)!  What price would you be willing to pay in general for a short but info-filled budgeting guide?

My goal is to make this one cost less than the last one since it’ll probably be similar in length (short and to the point), but less popular based on the subject alone.  So few really seem to have our love for budgeting and managing their money.    But I am hoping it ends up being just as helpful to anybody who downloads it.  I want that streak to continue, lol.

What do you do to motivate yourself?

You may have noticed that I mention Host Gator whenever I’m on the subject and in my newsletters once in a while.  It’s not just because I am an affiliate.  In fact, I only signed up as an affiliate after I switched to them in late 2010 since Host Monster was letting me down frequently.  Here is my quick history with Host Gator and their coupon code, HG30, to get 30% off if you are interested too.

My Switch

I started BFS in February 2010 on Blogger.com (do any of you long-timers remember that?!).  Within a month, it became obvious that I would grow faster if I bought my own domain name and self-hosted on WordPress.

So I spent the $10 for the following year and officially claimed budgetinginthefunstuff.com, and I signed up for cheap hosting through Host Monster.  The 2-3 week switchover was frustrating and painful for me since I had just learned to use Blogger so well, but in the end, it gave me the site you see now.

Over the months that followed, my site would just crash for a few hours a couple of times a week.  I thought it was because I was getting bigger, but it was actually just server problems at Host Monster.  Poop.

I asked around and got several suggestions to switch to Host Gator instead.  So when I saw a Black Friday sale in late 2010, I jumped on it – 3 years for like $130.  Score!  And it actually worked great for me for a couple of years!  I only had a few issues a year and they all lasted less than 3 hours.  Plus, Host Gator’s customer service actually answered the phone and explained what was going on – always appreciated.

Moved On

But all good things must come to an end.  In late 2012, I finally had grown enough that I needed a more private server to handle my sites.  BFS was just running too slow since it had grown quite a bit and I had 15 other, smaller sites on the same server too.  So I switched over to semi-private hosting with my tech dude, Jesse Michelsen.  My site has never been faster, but obviously, there is a higher expense involved too.  It’s the give-and-take of the world of hosting services.

My Recommendation

All of that said, if you are just starting out or have just a few sites, I would HIGHLY recommend Host Gator.  I personally would go back to them if Jesse ever needs to move on.  In my mind, they rescued me from Host Monster and showed me that my site doesn’t actually have to crash for hours every few days, yay!

If you would like to try them out too, feel free to click on any of my affiliate links (http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=bitfs) or the banner below, AND remember to use the coupon code, HG30, at checkout to get 30% off!

Coupon Code for 30% Off:  HG30

As a few of you read in my last weekly roundup, I got all of my hair cut off again.  About 2 years ago, I sold a 14-inch ponytail on Ebay for $102.  I now have a 13-inch ponytail to work with again.  But this time around, the end result of my look is VERY different.

Making the Choice to Have it Cut

Okay, so here is a before picture of how long my hair was before I had it cut last Friday.

Yep, that’s considered “virgin strawberry blonde” and sells in the open market for good money, hehe!

Yep, I think it was very healthy looking and gorgeous.  I love my hair and have always considered it one of my best physical features.  But the thickness that makes it pretty also makes it hot and heavy to lug around.  And I did not want to go through another Texas summer with long hair.  In fact, I wanted to try something new and wild like a pixie cut.  I have a proportionally long neck for my short stature (5’2″) and thought a pixie cut would thin down my face a bit and show off my neck.

Well, the best laid plans can turn to crap…

The Bad Cut

So I took the leap last Friday and drove to the nearby “hair studio”.  The lady who was available looked young and fashionable and swore she could give me a great, low-maintenance style.  So we got started and she cut off the 13 inch ponytail while all of the ladies working made little sad noises because I was cutting off my pretty hair.  I laughed and told them all that it was okay, I did this every two years or so. 

Once the ponytail was set aside, she got started.  Instead of a pixie, she swore that a low-to-high bob would be my best friend.  I figured we could see and go pixie if I didn’t like it.  But 20 minutes later (the whole time, I’m basically blind without my glasses), she apparently had cut an uneven line in the back of my hair and was having problems making it work, so I was handed off to a coworker.  The second lady finished off the back, blow-dried it a little, and let me have a look.

It was okay.  I asked if I would need a blow dryer since I don’t use one and had told that first lady, and she said “No…but it would look better if you did.”  Great (heavy sarcasm).  I thought it could be worse, paid the $30 total ($20 for the cut, plus tax, and I tipped like $8 which was stupid), and went grocery shopping.

When I got home, washed my hair, and let it dry over a few hours, I HATED IT.  It dried funny and looked like there were stair steps in the back of my head with two long parts near my face.  Like a reverse mullet.  Even Mr. BFS, who usually can talk me down, made a weird noise when he saw me and completely agreed with me…my hair looked weird.

I actually cried a little (a very girly and vain moment for me, but totally deserved).  We only had an hour and a half before we were meeting our friend, Anne, for dinner.  And sorry, but no, I don’t have a picture for you – I only had the cut for 4 hours and didn’t want a camera near me, lol.

Second Time’s the Charm

I got back in my car and headed out to find a place that would still be open at 5:45pm on Friday.  Within minutes, I was in a Supercuts (super cheap chain hair place).  The lady who checked me in, Gloria, listened to my sad tale and asked me to sit down while she made a plan.

She was sweet but blunt.  She let me know that the other place had chopped up the back part of my hair too badly to be able to give me a pixie cut.  It would look like I had bald spots in several places.  So she promised me a low-maintenance cut in the meantime that she hoped I would like more while we waited for my hair to grow out enough to do a pixie cut in a few months.

She spent the next 20 minutes cutting the front to match the back better, giving me bangs again (last time I had bangs was 17 years ago), and re-cutting the back a little to smooth it out and take out the obvious stair-step look.  In the end, I had what I have since named the “Peter Pan” cut.

I even splurged on the Paul Mitchell product that she used on me right there at the checkout, which I would never usually do.  But she did a great rescue job (I wanted her to get props for the extra sale), and I didn’t want to take the time to track down hair stuff over the weekend.  So the cut was $15, the hair product was $16 (still wonder about that, lol), and I tipped $8.  So it was a $40 rescue job in total.

$70 total spent on my hair in one day.  That’s more than I’ve spent on it in 3 years…

My New Look

It’s boyish but cute.  As long as I wear tops that accent my bust and pants that accent my butt, I can pull it off.

I brought this point up to Mr. BFS when I was dressing for dinner, and my hubby is in heaven.  His exact words, “Hold on…so you have a cute new hair style AND you are going to wear boob shirts and ass jeans?!  This is amazing!  Why haven’t we done this sooner!”    And he gives me a goofy grin every time he sees me right now, and then just beams and beams.  So, ummm, he likes it. 

I’m Peter Pan and loving it!

Just another angle…really love this shirt, lol.

And the best part is that it is a wash-and-go look.  I just have to take a comb to it when it is drying and put a tiny, tiny bit of product into it with my fingers to get it to stay in place for the day.  Overall, I’m super happy!  I’ll see if I even want a pixie cut in a few months after all.  If I do, I have Gloria’s info.

Have you had any hair adventures?  How much did it cost in the end?

This is a guest post by Kevin McKee, co-founder of Reward Boost and founder of personal finance blog Thousandaire.  I’ve been reading Thousandaire forever and highly recommend it and checking out Reward Boost today!

—

This is a happy story, I promise.

Yes it does end with my father dying from cancer, liver failure, and a variety of other ailments. However, the days before his death were incredible.

Background

My father was a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war. On one of his missions he was captured and held by villagers hoping to get a ransom from the Vietcong.

After 63 days of being tied to a tree, he heard a helicopter. The US military found him and the rest of his crew and rescued them.

That’s all my dad told me about his time in the service. I may have the story wrong, and heck it may not have even been true, but one thing is certain: my father was very troubled based on his experiences in the military.

When he made it back to the states, he did some work as a military policeman, met and married my mom, had two kids, and they separated soon after. My dad has always been a charming man, but he never did quite figure out how to deal with what happened to him in the marines. I think you would call it PTSD, although I don’t know if it was ever diagnosed.

He drank and smoked heavily every day I’ve known him. It was his way of dealing with what happened to him, but it also drove a lot of people away. He and my mother have never been on speaking terms as far as I can remember. As of 6 months ago, he was not on speaking terms with any of his five siblings.

Then he got really sick.

The drinking, smoking, and possibly Agent Orange caught up to him and he was diagnosed with esophageal  cancer. The tumor got so big he couldn’t swallow solid food or even liquids in his last days. He could barely talk. He was only 59 years old.

You’re probably thinking, “I thought this was a happy story.” That was just the background information. Here comes the good stuff!

The Last Days of My Dad’s Life

My dad was placed into hospice care at the VA hospital in Reno. My step-mom told me well in advance and made travel arrangements to go see him. I just bought a house and I’m saving up for a wedding so I really don’t have extra money for plane tickets. Fortunately though I’m kind of obsessed with credit card rewards and frequent flyer miles.

It cost me 15,000 miles and $5 to fly from Dallas to Reno, and then 18,000 points from a separate rewards account for the flight home. Out of pocket it only cost me $5 to go spend time with my dad before he died. How cool is that?

About a week before I was going to fly out I got a call from my step-mom saying he was getting worse and I should move my flight and get there sooner. If I had bought a regular ticket I would have had to pay $150 change fee plus the difference in the cost of the flight. With a frequent flyer ticket, changing the date only cost $40. I probably saved over $1,000 total on travel with points.

A year earlier my mom had cancer and I used points to fly my fiancee and I up to see her. Again, I probably saved $1,000 on those flights. Points and miles have been incredible to me, and I want to help other people earn as many rewards as possible. That’s why I created a site to help people find the best credit card rewards called Reward Boost. I hope you check it out, because you never know when you might need to see a sick family member and don’t have thousands of dollars to pay for it.

Anyway, back to the happy story. I moved up my flight and saw my dad. He was really happy to see me. Two days later my sister showed up, and he was happy to see her too.

Reconciliation

Then something really incredible happened; his sister showed up. He had recently reconnected with her over the phone but hadn’t seen her in years. You should have seen his face light up when she walked into the room. It was incredible.

Then his brother and another sister flew in a few days later. He had been estranged from these two for decades. No phone calls, no Christmas cards, nothing. They walked in the room and I saw that face again. Whatever happened between them in the past didn’t matter. The four of them were able to spend time together just like they did when they were growing up.

You should have heard the stories they talked about for those few days. I learned things about my dad as a kid that I never would have known otherwise. They didn’t have the best childhood, but they sure do have some great memories.

My dad could have lived another 20 years and probably never reconciled with his siblings. If one of them had gotten terminally ill I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have gone to visit. He was stubborn like that.

But they visited him and he was so happy for it. I know that he passed away with the understanding that his siblings loved him even after all that time apart. There’s something very powerful and healing about reconciliation, especially between siblings.

Wouldn’t Have Missed It For The World

Those few days were some of the most powerful days of my life, and I would have been there no matter what the cost. But it was wonderful knowing that I could use rewards points and miles for my flights and keep on saving for my wedding next year.

My dad is in a better place now, and he went there knowing his family loved him very much.

Crystal’s Comments:  I am all teary-eyed.  This is the most real, sweet, and positive post for credit card reward miles that I have ever read.  I am so very glad those rewards let you see your dad there at the end.

As I wrote about before, I restarted Weight Watchers Online on April 29, 2013 since I gained back 80% of what I lost in 2011. I know why I gained back a bunch too – I stopped caring. Well, hitting 170.6 pounds again was definitely the kick in the butt to lose it all again. So I am now aiming to weigh 150-ish pounds by the end of July 2013.

My Weight Watchers Experience

Weight Watchers Points Plus is a system based on receiving a set number of points a day to use on food and they throw in an additional 49 weekly points for everyone to use. You also earn extra food points when you exercise. Most green vegetables and most fruits are point-free on this system and they expect you to eat a bunch for snacks throughout the day.

I receive the bare minimum, 26 points, per day. My habit is to try to stick to those 26 points Sunday through Thursday and use my weekly splurge points for Friday and Saturday.

Last Two Weeks

I’ve done pretty well these last two weeks. I’ve stayed below my total allowed points both weeks and even had some activity points leftover by the end again. I’ve been walking nearly every day for at least 30 minutes, yay!

Here are my weekly points breakdowns (how many I used of what I received):

May 26-June 1 – Received 231 points, Earned 21 Additional Activity Points, Used 223 Overall. So I had 29 leftover points.
June 2-June 8 – Received 231, Earned 18 Additional Activity Points, Used 229 Overall. So I had 20 leftover points.

Total times I exercised for at least 30 minutes:  13 and two of those times were more than an hour, woot!

My main snacks have become apples, bananas, and watermelon.  My friend, Anne, has even come up with some WW friendly cake and brownies by substituting blended black beans for oil and even banana for egg in some cases (that actually led to a batch of vegan cake on accident, lol)!  My weeks have been pretty laid back and my Fridays and Saturdays are pretty much let-loose days for dinners out with friends and potlucks. 

Weight Update

Starting Weight on April 28, 2013 – 170.6 pounds
Weight as of May 12, 2013 – 166.4 pounds
Weight as of May 26, 2013 – 163.8 pounds
Weight as of June 9, 2013 – 162.6 pounds

It actually said 162.4 before I picked up my phone for the shot, lol. My scale is mean. I even tried counter-balancing by removing my glasses and undergarment, but it stuck on 162.6. Oh well….

I’m down 8 pounds overall in 6 weeks.  I was actually expecting more, but I’ll take it.    I haven’t been cheating on my point tracking, but I am probably eating more zero point fruit than they really intend for someone to snack on, lol.  A fourth of a watermelon in one day is probably going to get some major calories in me even if it is zero points, hahaha.

Onto the end of month two.  Realistically, I am now shooting for weighing 158 pounds by June 30.  Then I can target those last pounds in July…at 1-2 pounds down every 2 weeks, it may take me a little longer than the end of July to hit the 150 pound mark, but we’ll see.

Any health updates you would like to share?

I’ve known Jackie since I started reading Money Crush years ago.  She’s a force to be reckoned with when it comes to innovation and persistence.  And that is why I would highly recommend her Pay Off Debt App if you are juggling multiple debts since it can help you create and use a debt snowball to pay off your debt.

Please enter the giveaway below for your chance to win a FREE iPad Mini and copy of the Pay Off Debt App!!!  The giveaway runs until June 17!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekly Updates

• I cut off almost all of my hair.  Specifically I cut off a 13 inch ponytail to sell again and got a super short, Peter-Pan sort of cut.  I might post a picture next week.  If I wasn’t curvy, I could be mistaken for a boy…but I like it.    It’s sort of cute and goes along with the looking-way-younger theme.  At least I’ll understand why I’m being mistaken for 19 years old now.
• Remember to sign up for my newsletter (in the right sidebar) —-> to be able to enter the separate giveaway that I host for subscribers only every month! Plus, I share things in the newsletter that I no longer share here (hint…what do you think happened to my monthly income reports). I begged yesterday – it was funny…you should check it out and picture me bribing you with candy.

Weekly Favorites

• Dissonance Diner with ASSHOLES & MOVIE THEATRES  Still laughing!!!
• Wealth Informatics with How can I afford everything I want? Should I stop wanting?  It’s hard.  Especially with a new home.
• DINKS Finance with Was Your Education Worth It?  Looking back with 20/20 vision, yes.
• I Heart Budgets with Ultimate Budget Series: Part 3 – Income Taxes   It’s the first thing on our budget now…
• Kevin at Thousandaire started a new site, Reward Boost, and it looks pretty great for finding great credit card rewards.
• Your Daily Finance with PERSONAL FINANCES FOR EVERYONE – EVEN YOU!  Okay, so I may be biased, but I have to love a post that uses me as a reference.    Thanks!
• Live Like a Mensch with If I Had a Million Dollars  I love it when my posts lead to others…
• Evolving PF with Early Retirement Isn’t for Us  That’s okay, I’ll cover your spot for you. 
• FMF has created a new site, Wealth Lion, and here is a taste – Your Career is Your Most Valuable Financial Asset  Very true!
• Fiscal Fizzle with 9 Variables When Making an Offer on a House  Affordability was definitely #1 for us followed by how much we wanted the house compared to how much they wanted to sell it, lol.

Posts on my Co-Owned Sites

• MikeS at Money in the 20′s with How Much Do You Make?
• Natalie at Richly Reasonable with 5 Skills That Save You Money: Creativity
• Libby at Married with Debt with What Do You Do With Your Fun Money?

Blog Carnivals that Included BFS

• Finance Carn. for Young Adults at The Happy Homeowner
• Carnival of MoneyPros at Master the Art of Saving
• Carnival of Retirement at Hurricanes, Panties 
• Yakezie Carnival at Growing Money Smart

Thank you!

Giveaways

• Surviving and Thriving is hosting a More Money Please Giveaway until June 11!
• The Debt Myth is hosting an iPad Mini and App Giveaway until June 17!
• The Amateur Financier is hosting a $175 1000 Post Giveaway until June 30!
• Amanda at Frugal Confessions is offering her Kindle eBook, The CVS Drugstore Game, FREE from June 9 through June 13th!!!

Please let me know if you are running a giveaway so I can add you to the list each week! If you already emailed me and don’t see your giveaway, it isn’t on purpose. Please email me again as your first email must have died a horrid death in my inbox…

Top 10 Referring Sites to BFS from the Last Week:

1. Making Sense of Cents
2. Funny About Money
3. Get Rich Slowly
4. I Heart Budgets
5. Len Penzo
6. DINKS Finance
7. First Gen American
8. Frugal Portland
9. I Am One Percent
10. One Cent at a Time

Thank you! Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions. I’d love to add a few more blogs to my regular reading list or at least give a shout-out for great posts or contests.

As always, thanks to all the bloggers that teach me something new every day. Thanks to all my commenters for making this blog the community I want it to be. Thanks to all my lurkers too.

I hope everybody is enjoying this as much as me!