I'll join. In theory, I follow NoS principles and the Med Diet. In reality, I need to get with the program fully. (My brain agrees with it; it is the doing that eludes me too often). However, we are in holiday mode here until after Jan 7 (live in a nation that celebrates Christmas then). Add in Dec. 25th Christmas (my tradition), a birthday, NYE, and NY's day) and I'm ready to reset come mid-January! But being part of this thread now will help keep the non-celebratory days a bit more in check. 🙂

I always make this, but use light Karo because that is what I have along with dark brown sugar: Pecan tart It is all the goodness of pecan pie without the cloying fill part. Regular pie crust, parbaked. Fabulous. A little goes a long way.

Mine is the most plain Jane BuJo ever. I'm not particularly artsy, so thought I would add "color" via stickers instead. Nope. Even deciding to use one is too stressful for me. The littlest of our visiting guests have a good time with them, though. I cannot re-iterate (for those of you thinking about it) to look at the original intent of the creator and watch the videos/read the info from him. It is what made "BuJo" click in my head and see how it might work for me with just enough structure combined with just enough freedom to do things the way my brain works.

This is what I did. Started in Nov, in an already partly used lined notebook. SO GLAD I did. It has been a big help already! Go for it!

I'm keeping a BuJo for the first time this year. I watched videos by the original creator and *they* are what helped me to understand how/why I think it can be a good fit for me. Last year, I used a pre-dated Clever Fox planner which I thought might be a bit BuJo-like but with more structure. But, turns out that the extra structure was good for the first month but after that, I didn't use it/need it. SO, this year will be a plain-Jane BuJo for me, very minimalist which I think is going to work well. Looking forward to seeing others' tips/collections for using it, maybe I'll glean something good for me!

I've enjoyed quite of few of those Love God Greatly guides this past year. In fact, I'm doing one now as a lead up to Christmas.

This can come in handy! About 20 years ago, I was at a picnic type event in a foreign country and in milling around, started chatting with a man who was playing a cool little game on some handheld contraption. Turned out to be speed math something or other. He offered me to play it. I did. I got best score with a rating 5x the second fastest player. I felt especially bad because he was a VP at World Bank. I suspect it grated him a long time to know he was beaten by a homeschooling mom....

I had a Pfizer booster (after two doses of AZ) on Tuesday morning. By late Tuesday afternoon, I could feel some pain at the injection site and my arm hurt a bit to move around. Continued onto Wednesday--nothing unbearable, but noticeable. By Thursday, I only felt a small bit of pain if my injection site was pressed. So, pretty mild reaction (which is my norm).

@Murphy101I haven't either, and I'm all ears as we have a massive stone fireplace. Where do you buy/how do you make lime wash?

Just got my booster shot! Pfizer after two doses of AZ (we live in Europe). Very glad to have done all that I can to safeguard our health and the health of those around us (masking, too, of course!) So far, nothing but a bit of soreness where the jab went in. 🙂

I was once making a tried and true apple cinnamon bread recipe but decided to double it halfway through. Then realized the reason I originally didn't was because I didn't have enough ingredients. Oops! It had double the sugar and apples but not the flour. My kids were thrilled with the result! (I typically make low-sugar quick breads--but still! It was oozing caramel...)

You are doing great, considering you are only one year in! The first year (or two) is all about realizing TRUE expenses. And for each one that you "bring up to speed", the going forward gets that much easier.

This is the position we are in. Two jabs of AZ and eligible for a Pfizer booster as of today. (We are in Montenegro--I think they are following the UKs lead for the most part). Do you know what the current suggested optimal interlude is between 2nd dose and booster? We are just 5 months out from our 2nd dose. I'm not sure if 5 months is the minimum time or the optimal time and am wondering if we should wait just a little longer.

And, once you DO start accounting for these things, it is amazing how even a little bit set aside adds up. We've been putting aside $100 for car replacement. Not very much in the scheme of things, but obviously our 2004 car is going to die someday, so we need to be proactive. And, bit by bit, that category holds nearly $10,000 smackers now, accumulated rather painlessly. Thus, an unexpected car failure will be unpleasant but not disastrous. I *love* the peace of mind (even more than the increased net worth) of using YNAB. Because the converse is that now I can enjoy what we *do* spend our money on. We *can* afford a weekend getaway. We *can* splurge and get the fancy cheese for a delightful mezze & wine meal. So, we end up spending less (overall) and having more enjoyment. Definite win!

Long-time YNAB user here. Love it. Another thing that is different is that, when first setting up your YNAB budget, you mentally count up all your cash money sitting in your checking/savings/piggy bank (but not investments or retirement accounts as those are typically not touchable). You consider it one big pot of money. You make a list of your categories (expenses). Some are monthly, some weekly, some yearly, some wishful. You take your big pot of cash and assign dollar amounts (stuff their envelope) into each one. When you run out of money, you do not assign any more--not the paycheck you are expecting next week, the tax return, the child credit, nothing more. (This initial counting all the moola and assigning all of it is just at the start.) This has the advantage of helping you to see clearly your priorities. Some things must be paid (mortgage, for example). Others have wiggle room. Maybe less into groceries and more into clothing as Jimmy needs new rain boots. No borrowing from the future; we live like our grandparents (great grands?) within the money we actually have. Additionally, we try to be proactive about upcoming expenses. So, we don't spend ALL our money this month but we save purposely: for auto maintenance, new tech, job loss fund, Xmas time, summer vacation, concert tickets, whatever you want (the "personal" aspect of "personal finances"). YNAB eschews generic "savings" and encourages you to save within your categories. Again, this really brings clarity to how we want to use our money. When we started with Ynab, we were not in debt, but never getting ahead. Our net worth has quintupled because we are far more mindful of our money, not because we actually have more money (income.)

Not sure if you are driving or flying to your rental. When we've driven, I make ahead and freeze a few easy meal components and take them in the cooler along with any perishables and drinks for the road. Easy meal components to make ahead/freeze/take that have worked well for us: Mexican meat (cooked and seasoned) to be used however (burritos, taco salad, bowl-style, nachos) Hearty Spaghetti Sauce (served over pasta or used to make French Bread Pizza) Chili Favorite Stew Yummy Curry Dish Meatloaf Hummus (not readily available where we are)--the perfect dip for carrots sticks and red pepper strips Homemade cookies (so we are not tempted by junk food treats) I like the fact that we can come in from being out all day and meals are already half-prepped. We can nosh on the hummus&veggies while waiting for the pasta to cook and the sauce to heat.

This is me every single week! I love fruits and veggies, but I'm overly optimistic--- the amount of prep work gets me every time...

OMG! Yes! I just did this for the first time last night. Felt so 21st-Century about it, too! 😎

This reminds me of the time we flew back from Europe to the States, landing late at night, and my husband was starving. The only thing open was a Drive-Thru Jack-in-the-Box (a place we never went to regularly). Unfamiliar with the menu, my husband quickly scanned the list, and then proceeded to order the highlighted Supreme Burrito but asked if it could *not* have the beans, steak instead of chicken, extra cheese, no salsa but fresh tomatoes, etc., etc., After patiently listening, the drive-thru person gently replied: "I think, sir, that you'd like the Steak Burrito". (Which was actually $1.50 cheaper! What a nice guy!) 🙂

Ooh, if you do, could you remember to tag me and let me know? We live overseas, so I'm not picking it up anytime soon. But, maybe in Nov as a Christmas present to be delivered...

Ooh! Can you tell me if this has a strong/distinctive odor or scent? My husband suffers from dry heels and has yet to find something really good. But he also gets migraines from strong scents..... TIA!

No, don't feel yucky! I'm enjoying rooting for you all! (No chance here: said from MNE which is amongst the worst in Europe. 😞 )

Like a PP, when I was diagnosed with shingles, I initially thought it was bug bites (hot, sticky weather, showed along a belt line). So anti-viral came very (very) late in my case. I *totally* concur to get as much rest as you can. It took me several months to get beyond lying around most of the day and an entire year to feel like my old self. In my case, I believe that back-to-back crises and stresses (6 months straight) led to my shingles episode. To this day, I need to pace myself with how much I pack into a day/week/month/season and actively destress my body (which, as a fairly easy-going personality surprised me as I never thought of myself as "stressed").

If you haven't bought your pan yet, I've had good success with this fairly inexpensiveUSA Bakeware pan: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00127Z4E2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1