AKAs – shemakescents

If I told you the last five days have been a whirlwind, I’m not sure you could even comprehend what I mean. In the past five days I served as a juror on a trial for two days, driven from Atlanta to Jackson, Mississippi, attended a funeral, got back on the road for the six-hour car trip home, just in time to make it to a Sunday wedding for my sorority sister. That being said, I missed last week’s check in and the March recap of the 52 Week BINGO Money Challenge.

Check out a few pictures from the wedding!

For the first week of April, I decided to cross off $23.00 + a bonus of $75.00. My first April contribution, including the bonus, is only $4.00 less than my entire last month’s savings. I’d say I am off to a good start for month. Overall, I have a saved a total of $556.00 that I have been using to make extra payments toward my credit card debt. Every extra payment is helping me shave off the repayment term, shave of compounding interest fees, and is improving my credit score because my debt to credit ratio is increasing. I would LOVE to have my credit card balance under the $500.00 mark by the end of May. With a balance of $2400.00+, only time and discipline will tell. Until then, I will keep crossing off numbers on my BINGO money sheet.

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The connection between debt and stress is obvious. Debt related stress became the subject of an article by Jennifer Soong’s, a contributor for WebMD. In her article, The Debt-Stress Connection, Soong brought up the connection saying, “Gas and food prices are sky-high, the stock market is down, and the housing market is in the doldrums. But can worrying about the health of your bank account really make you sick”? Absolutely, stress can make you physically sick but what can you do to combat it?

Below are 10 ways to de-stress without breaking the bank:

Exercise
Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.
~Elle Woods (Legally Blonde)

Gossip with your girlfriends
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind. ~Dr. Seuss

Try Meditation or Breathing Techniques
After all, computers crash, people die, relationships fall apart. The best we can do is breathe and reboot.
~Carrie Bradshaw (Sex & The City)

Light some candles
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
~Chinese Proverb

Read Something!!!
The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practiced at any hour of the day or night, whenever the timeand inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness.
~Holbrook Jackson

Laugh More
Laughter is the best medicine.
~Proverb

Set aside some “me” time
I restore myself when I’m alone.
~Marilyn Monroe

Take a bubble bath
There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.
~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Detach from technology
Technology has become such an integral part of [our] lives that many of us find it impossible to completely unplug.
~Amy Ziff