My Desk, My Life

I have read and done it countless times : leave thoughtful love notes in my daughter’s lunch bag, tennis, swim, and dance bag. A sweet and thoughtful gesture.  Another sweet  note to my ever sweet hubby… but wait a minute… who is leaving attagirl note for ME? Looks like I have to take matters in to my very own pen or keyboard

 have a great day, u may fall several times but “keep walking n ignore d world!”

LOVE NOTES TO ME
xoxoxo
myself

PS: current mood : VERY HAPPY /EXCITED —luv friday ! Yes! opps gota go b4 I fire myself (hehe)

  A sneak peek 2 a simply happy  gaily ME –XOXOjoy

Hi everyone! Just wanna share this , written by my cuz Steff, hope you’ll like it

Fueled with passion
A life driven by obsession
Touching, teasing and taunting
Even when it’s inappropriate
Breeds a culture of indecency, adultery and hate

Striving for a life of luxury
Driven by greed and money
There’s nothing wrong with
Aiming for a life beyond mediocrity
But the moment you loose truth and integrity
It’s the same day you loose your God given identity

Devoid of fear
Boastful and arrogant
We speak, we act
With no censure nor tact

Believe me my brother
Learn to fear and Learn to pray
Because there is a day
You’ll give an account of
—everything you do
—everything you say

Joy — xoxo

I Love Our Life Together

As parents

And partners,

We share

Everything—-

Each joy

And each challenge

That family

Can bring……..

As partners we live

And we love side by side.

As parents we give

With our hearts open wide…….

And that’s why

There’s nothing

That I’d rather do

Than spend my forever

Together with you…….

Happy Anniversarry Hon……….. Thanks for being YOU!

xoxo–Joy

                As a child we always want to please ourselves, focus on our needs and most often get our ways. As a young girl we knew we were loved and don’t even have to do anything to earned our parents’ unconditional love.   

            As we grow up, we realized that the world doesn’t evolve around ourselves. There is more serious stuff than our own selfishness. There are more things that matter the most.

            At some point we need to make transition from a girl to Woman….. (GROWING UP equals RESPONSIBILITY)—

From the book of God Chicks stated that “we become a lover of God when we seek to discover the throne room. A woman comes into the throne room confident of her position. She comes in confident that the Father always meets her needs and yet SHE COMES IN NOT TO GET BUT TO GIVE”

            As a Grown up women we come in to love the Father. We seek His heart, not just His hand and she asks” “what can I get you?”What can I do for you father? What can I do to build your kingdom?”

          Yes, we are princesses ……But let’s be grown up ones………….

PS

Current mood:

No matter how we tried to make our life beautiful, there will always be wicked people who will ruin the fun and it’s up to us to “stand on our ground and “ say : TAKE ME AS I AM”

MyHotComments Joy-XOXO

 I slipped over this while paying my bills today and thought of sharing this to all of you and may this wealthy healthy tips help your “marriage life” happier ever!

Five Smart Strategies for Handling the Biggest Financial Merger of Your Life

Successfully merging your money when you marry isn’t as easy as slipping rings on each other’s fingers. Like marriage itself, you have to work at it. But learning to manage money as a couple can contribute mightily to your own personal tale of happily-ever-after.

“Some people don’t put much thought into that financial merger,” says J.J. Montanaro, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM practitioner with USAA, “and they put no effort or communication into it. Big mistake.”

But you can beat those stats and save your marriage from money battles before they start. Here’s how:

1. Communicate.That’s the key to money success before and after your wedding day. Each partner comes to a marriage with different money management styles. One might be a saver, the other, a spender. “So much of any marital success is based on compromise and meeting in the middle,” says Montanaro. “The same goes for managing money as a couple.”

Once you’re married, financial date nights are essential to regularly talk about your progress and make sure you’re both on the same page about money decisions. Spouses-to-be who discuss their money views and work together on how they can use their pooled resources may discover they enjoy the process — discovering that together they potentially have more financial power.

2. Share your goals. As singles, you probably had some kind of financial goals, whether they were vague, such as retire at the beach one day, or specific, such as own a home in three years. Write down those ideas and compare your lists. Then try to come to an agreement about how those translate into joint financial priorities for your future as a couple.

Your hit list should include budgeting, saving, retirement, debt management and which money decisions will be made as a team and which will be made individually, suggests Karen Goodfriend, a CPA and personal financial specialist.

Include short-term goals, such as buying a house, new furniture or planning a vacation, and long-term goals, such as including college planning and retirement savings. “Recognize there may be different perspectives, which is normal, and there isn’t a right and wrong,” says Goodfriend.

You can take your lists and meld your objectives into a family wish list, which will allow you to create a financial road map to reach those goals. If you have differences of opinion that you can’t resolve, enlist the help of an objective financial planner.

3. Create a spending plan. This plan will help you follow your financial road map. Goodfriend says putting it in writing will make it easier to see where your money is going. You’ll be able to plan for priority spending, eliminate waste and see if you’re on target to reach your goals.

Some married couples use joint accounts to pay the bills, while others use the yours-mine-and-ours approach. The latter might share a joint account for household expenses, and then have individual accounts for mad money, funds to pay for gifts or other surprises.

4. Plan for the long term. Now that you’re working toward the same goals, see if your existing investments complement each other. “Look at all the different pieces of retirement plans and how they’re invested,” Montanaro says. “Next, examine how those plans are going to look together because you’re going to retire together,” says Montanaro.

If you were operating two households as singles and you’ll now be moving to one, your overall housing costs may go down, giving you a way to bump up your savings and investment rates for long-term goals.

5. Consider your credit scores. Make sure you know your partner’s credit history and divulge your own before you say “I do.” This is the time for full disclosure. “If one person has credit issues, the sooner the issues get addressed, the better chance to resolve,” says Goodfriend. “Once married, the couple will likely be taking on joint obligations, and if one spouse has a poor credit history, it could negatively affect the couple’s ability to get credit on favorable terms.”

The spouse with the poorer credit history could even benefit from a credit marriage. If the spouse with solid credit adds the spouse with poor credit onto his or her credit accounts, the poor credit spouse’s credit score may benefit, Montanaro says.

Source: USAA.com

 Okidok that’s it for now. May you all have a nice week everyone!

JOY-xoxo

MyHotComments

 Goodbye to lazy summer and hello Busy Fall! Yes, everyone’s in a hurry these days even my little girl Nicole’s schedule is so hectic with Dance, Tennis and Swimming class yet she’s very happy! She’s always in the move and during her quiet time she’s painting too or doing some creative stuff in her room or in my kitchen.

Anyway, autumn is in the air and everyone is back to school even the grownups and it’s seemed more mommies today are motivated to get higher education or simply take classes to add satisfaction to their day.  John my husband is always in school while I take advantage of free workshops offered by the County and this Month I enrolled in a class that is kind of expensive for me yet I simply like to take for fun, ha-ha and development of course.

Back 2 Skol tips:

·         School clothes: you can shop at eBay for clothes lots and you will be good throughout the year with the changing of season—that is if you don’t mind buying used items.  Most of them are slightly used and new with or without tags.

·         School supply, buying them when the school just ended would save you a lot than buying in season.

·         Get to know your Teacher, attend the orientation and give your child’s Teacher a little gift like flower or chocolates for a welcome back inspiration. I got Nicole’s a handmade card made by her with an organic dark chocolate and she loves it (doesn’t cost any but the smiles it can bring to someone is priceless).  If school already started a little something for appreciation is always welcome, it’s hard to be a Teacher of little kids y’know!

·         Checklistof things to do in your child’s room so she know his or her responsibilities and teach her to be organized.

·         Warm bath at night to give the kids a good night sleep and no need to rush in the morning.

·         Wake up with an upbeat music and a warm sweet scent in the kitchen. I cook pancakes, waffles or French toast and muffins yet most of the time its cereal however I always have “glade” apple candle in the little corner of my kitchen. It sets the mood yeah it does.  We all know kids are grumpy in the morning and the smells of good food are worth waking up for!

·         Lunch bag notes: always write sweet nothings on their napkins to remind them that they are loved or write encouraging words to boost their confidence.  My Nicole likes reading my sweet nothings.

Okidok, that’s it for now. May you all have nice weekends with your kids, busy or just lazing around—  HAVE FUN and seize the moment!

Joy - XOXO

Women today have such busy lives and great responsibilities and many of us forget that life on Earth is a TEST, a dress rehearsal for the final production in Heaven. We, women tried to do it all and focus more on materialism while neglecting what’s important—RELATIONSHIP. Real security can only be found in that which can never be taken from you — your relationship with GOD.

The bible says: “A pretentious and showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is full life”.

“The most important assets in the 20^th century are not gadgets; cars (it’s not what you drive, it’s not what I drive, IT IS WHAT I’M DRIVEN OF) and n so on ….. But RELATIONSHIP”

Relationship w/ God…….. We have to understand that it’s not about us “self centered us” but everything starts from him and He directs our lives……

Relationship w/yourself………… As a woman we have to take care of ourselves that even a simple treatment can do wonder to our skin, looks and spirits (wink) —- got to let our families and friends know that we are  women and deserved being taken care of…..

Relationship w/ your partner, friends and so on…………… two heads are better than one because together they can work effectively . Of course it is fun to be by you—independent women out there however it is fun-er to be with someone and share your joy….

I am truly thankful that in this busy life, I have you all to share my joy and happiness………….If you ever wonder what makes me happy, it is simply having a loving family to love, a simple job to do, friends to appreciate, and a lot more………  above all, having “faith” is what keeps the joy in my heart……..

Happy weekends everyone and may you enjoy it with your family and friends!

Thankful Mum,

JOY—xoxoxo

Keeping your money safe and sound

How to Become a Frugal Spender | eHow.com

Source: www.ehow.com

How to Become a Frugal Spender.

 Frugal living requires that you become a frugal spender. If you have trouble holding on to your money each month, then these step-by-step instructions will help you:

1.    Calculate how much money you make every month. Add up all your different streams of income in attempt to become a frugal spender.

2.    Step 2

Calculate how much money you must spend every month. Add up all your bills, debts and financial obligations.

3.    Step 3

Next, eliminate any unnecessary bills in order to become a frugal spender. Spend less money than you earn to live frugally.

4.    Step 4

Plan a detailed shopping list in order to become a frugal spender. Eat out only when you can afford to eat in restaurants.

5.    Step 5

Walk and bicycle to destinations that are close to your home to avoid spending money on gasoline.

6.    Step 6

Shop at garage sales, consignments shop and thrift stores when you buy clothing to become a frugal spender.

7.    Step 7

Look for free items on websites like craigslist and eBay. Negotiate prices in order to live frugally.

8.    Step 8

Save for family vacations and trip in order to live a frugal life.

9.    Step 9

Cut up any unnecessary credit cards and eliminate monthly payments.

10.  Step 10

Become a frugal spender by spending less than you make.

 Frugal Mom,

      JoY—XOXO

A Real Simple FUN by yours truly:

1.       I can go biking with Nicole and feed the geese on the pond.

2.       I can run/walk with John and stop by Starbucks for a quick sip of iced tea.

3.       Outdoor play.

4.       Grill and Chill in my new updated deck.

5.       Swim and read or simply enjoy the sun!

6.       Families get together.

7.       Manicure and pedicure at home, change nail polish a week.

8.       Wear summer dress, shorts, bikinis, flip flops and sandals.

9.       Wear sunglasses, bold jewelries and accessories.

10.   Little romance w/ my one and Only (not 2 much PDA though)

What’s better way to enjoy the remaining weeks of summer than…Swimming

Don’t we all rush Summer into a busy Fall?

Joy-xoxo