I hope you enjoyed this month’s book club read. I know I did.
This month’s read, “About the Night,” had us diving into a love affair between an Arab and a Jew right before the wall in Jerusalem went up in 1947. Two newlywed lovers are forced to find ways to secretly see each other, before it is inevitable that they have no choice but to try and move on with their lives behind their respective side of the wall.
Years go by. One continues to hold a flame for the other, the other decides to move on with life, thinking the other will do the same. For both, they share a special kind of love. This is the type of love people search for their entire lives. It’s the kind of love that carries one through to the end of their life, no matter how long they have to live severed from the other.
Questions.
What did you think of the book? Did you like it?
Did you think this story was realistic? If you found the love of your life and were separated from them, would you wait for them or would you move forward with your life?
Have you met the love of your life? Could you relate to that special love these two shared?
Did the historical aspect of this story help you to relate to the issues facing Israel today? Did you get a sense of the racism and cultural differences between Arabs and Jews? Did it help you to understand the struggles facing an Arab and a Jew falling in love?
Lila is a woman with great strength. When life handed her lemons, she did the best she could do with them to keep on shining, even when they were tossed at her door. In her heartbreak, we see Lila rising above to help people, even if it wasn’t the popular opinion of the people in her community. Did you find her character an inspiration?
Did you think Elias made the right decision after he was beaten by the police? Could you do the same?
What were some of your favorite quotes in the book?
Would you recommend this book to others?
Feel free to leave your answers below, on GoodReads (see the link to the PW book club on the right), or on the PW Facebook page.
One of the resolutions I make every year is to read 52 books a year. At the end of last year, as I started following more and more bibliophiles on Instagram, I was shocked to see that some people read over 100 books by the end of the year. I could never imagine doing that feat. 52 books seemed doable, even though that resolution went to the wayside over these last couple of years.
This year, I wanted to make sure I didn’t just read 52 books, but that I read MORE THAN 52 books this year.
My method of attack is this:
Read 50+ pages every day. On the weekends, read 100+ pages.
While you’re at work, walking, doing dishes, getting ready for work, listen to audio books.
Once a month, do a quick read that’s less than 150 pages.
Finish books you started in the past, but never finished.
After seeing all of the different Instagram challenges, I thought I’d do my own to get people to challenge themselves to read more this year.
Here is how the challenge works:
Choose a Reward for Yourself. Pick out an item that you really want, that you could save for along this journey. Be it a vacation, a luxury handbag, a pair of obscenely overpriced shoes, a class you’ve always wanted to take…pick something that would be considered a serious treat for yourself. You should reward yourself for a job well done. Make sure this is something you’re going to enjoy!
Come up with a pricing system. This will depend on the price of the item you are saving for and what you can afford. For instance, I reward myself if I don’t purchase the book. If it was free, a library book, or a gift, I put away $25 after I’ve completed the book. If it’s a classic (a more challenging smart book), I reward myself $100. If it’s a book for Book Club that I purchased, I allow myself $20. If I purchased the book in order to read it, because I just had to have it, only the retail price listed on the book goes into the reward jar, and the amount I actually paid for the book comes out of the reward jar. Taking the money out of the reward jar to pay for the book is my way of making sure I don’t spend money on unnecessary purchases. The only exception to purchasing the book is if it is for the Book Club. If the book is currently in my personal library, because I am making it a challenge to read what’s actually in my personal library this year, I’m rewarding myself $50 per book completed.That’s the reward system I’ve set up for myself. As you can see, the books I really want to challenge myself to read more of, I set the prize at a higher price in order to encourage myself to read more of those books.
Keep track of what you read. I used to keep track in a journal of what I read every year, including the amount I earned. Now, I keep track in my calendar. I keep stickers handy so I can place a sticker on the days where I completed a book. It’s a good way to visually see my progress and if I’m staying on track with a book a week (at the minimum).
Don’t dip into the reward jar until the first day of the year. I’m speaking from experience here. You are doing two things for yourself…you are working hard towards a goal and you need to learn to save for the reward at the end of the journey. It is no fun if you get to the end of the journey and realize there’s no reward money there because you spent it already.For many people (including myself), saving money can be very difficult when we live in a society where we get what we want, when we want it. We don’t save for the future or save for something we want. Since I started the KonMari method, I have stopped the consumer cycle. I was literally overflowing with stuff. I vowed that if I wanted something new, I would have to save for it using the reading challenge. I’m not allowed to buy the item now. I have to work towards earning the right to have that item, so that I would appreciate it more in the end because I would know how hard I worked to earn that item.Keep the money in a safe place. Keep it safe from yourself (if you think you’re going to dip into the jar). Earn some interest off the money while you save. Just keep plugging at that savings and don’t touch it until January 1st.
But It’s March
Ok. I know I started this challenge for you to join in March. If you’re a bibliophile, you’ve probably already read at least 10 books this year already, so you are on track. If you are starting from scratch, we can go at this in 2 different ways. You can either: 1) fast track (and over the months I’ll tell you how) or 2) do this as a full 52-week challenge, let the challenge run through 2017 and you can access that cash on March 1, 2017.
Whichever method you decide to do, I’ll be helping you along.
For those who are Amazon Prime members, I’ll be making recommendations from the Kindle First collection. If you choose the same book that month, I’ll have a Book Club sign up where we can discuss the book at the end of the month. [Amazon Prime members can choose one book each month from the Kindle First collection. These are books selected by the Amazon editors to read prior to the book’s release date. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, this is part of your membership, no extra charge.]
For those who need to get their extra books in via audio books, I highly recommend Kindle Unlimited. It’s around $10/month to access many books on your Kindle device or app. Just make sure when you select the book to borrow that it says Read and Listen For Free on the tab. If it doesn’t, you may have to pay extra for the Whispersync/Audible audio recordings. What about Audible membership? Audible is $14.95/month and that’s just for one audio book a month. Kindle Unlimited with Whispersync/Audible allows you to read the book and if you need to put the book down, you can switch it to audio and listen until you can read the book again. Audible doesn’t allow that. It’s just the audio book.
The only reason you should have Audible is if you want a book that is not audio available on Kindle Unlimited. I used Audible for Book Club selections when I was having problems getting back into the swing of reading books again after my surgery. 2016 is actually the first time I’ve actively been reading a lot of books since my surgery in 2013. I didn’t want to give up Book Club, so I listened to the books until I got comfortable with reading books again. So if you’re concerned about not being able to read as much, seriously consider audio books. You can listen to them wherever you go when you can’t pick up the physical book.
The March Challenge
So here’s the March challenge. We essentially have five weeks this month. Your focus is going to read/listen to no less than five books. Here are the five books I’ll be reading.
A book about the Circus – Water for Elephants: A Novel (this book is available with audio for Kindle Unlimited members, remember to look for the ‘Read and Listen for Free’ option)
For those not in a book club, I highly recommend joining a book club. You can find these at your local library or bookstore. It’s a great way for you to meet other bibliophiles such as yourself. It gives great insight into the book that you may not have even realized while you were reading. It’s also a good way to meet new people and make new friends. Books are meant to be shared.
If you don’t want to join a book club, since our book club is reading a classic, you can substitute option #2 with a classic or read what we’re reading.
For the Amazon Prime members that choose the same Kindle First book as I do and want to join in our own book club, please comment below, tweet me (@MichelleDoPW or @MichelleKenneth), ping me on Facebook, or tag me on Instagram (@diaryofaperfectionistwannabe). I’ll share the additional details in an upcoming post.
For those taking the March Challenge, ping me on social media using the hashtag #PWMarchBooks so that we can all find each other and share what we’re reading this month. I’ll Repost/Retweet, etc. so we can all connect to each other.
* For those playing catch-up, include a short book of poetry and choose at least 2 books this month that are less than 150 pages. If you can, try to boost your reading by listening to a couple of audio books. You can listen to these in the car, at work, while you’re working out, walking, etc.
Over these past few months I’ve been shifting my financial house in a new direction. I’ve paid off 60% of my debt, maximized savings, maximized my 401k and started budgeting (living by the envelope method). But even though I’m doing what’s best to push my financial dream in a new direction, I’m constantly revising what I’m doing to see if there are better ways of doing things.
So why talk about this on “Diary of a Perfectionist Wannabe?” Well, it has more to do with becoming a little bit better at making financial dreams come true. Here are a few things I’ve come across recently that has saved me time, money, and hassles. It’s made my life more convenient and helped me to reach my goals. It’s also helped me to find new places to get a better deal for the things I love most.
BUDGETING
After all the bills are paid, I set aside a certain amount to spend on food, laundry, dry cleaning, eating out and other miscellaneous expenses. It’s from this budget, I have to figure out the best way to get more bang for my buck.
I joined Amazon Prime this year. I am actually grateful that I did because I’m seeing that there are a lot of benefits to this membership. First, I don’t shop in stores often. I shop online. What’s great about Amazon Prime is that I can order the monthly items (like cat food, treats and litter) for a much lower price than I would find at Target. I don’t even have to pay for shipping, because technically, I already did. It cost me $105.93 for a year long membership, but if you divide it up by 12, that’s $8.83/month. If you think about how much it would cost to ship a 20 pound bag of litter plus 2-3 cases of of cat food every month…you’re actually getting a severe bout of savings.
Normally, I’d have to take a cab or an Uber car to/from Target. That’s $30-$40 round trip. If I have it delivered by a grocery delivery service, that’s a $20 delivery fee, plus another $4.95 service charge. If I pick it up at KMart by Madison Square Garden, I’d have to do all the schlepping plus the cost of using public transit to go from Point A to Point B and go up and down a lot of stairs. Amazon has saved me a lot of money, time and hassle just to get these items to my home.
For those who drive, factor in your car payment, insurance and cost for gas for the entire month. Divide the total to how many times you use your car during that month to get a better idea of how much each trip costs you (not to mention the amount of time you spend in the store and traveling to these places).
Prime customers also get access to Prime Pantry where you can fill up a box of groceries for a flat rate of $5.99. I’ve used Prime Pantry for the 20 lb bags of litter and then added in some additional items on the side (they separate the stuff up into 2 internal boxes inside of 1 big box). I also plan on using this to order and ship boxes out to my brother’s platoon. It saves so much time at all of the stores, going to the post office, etc. and it saves me $10 in shipping costs to ship to an APO. Once again, another cost savings.
Another amazing benefit to Prime is that members get access to Prime Instant Video, Prime Music, Prime Photos and 1 Kindle Book a month.
For those who like streaming movies and TV shows at home or on your devices, you’ll have access to hundreds of thousands of movies and programs. It’s unlimited. Netflix and Hulu Plus both start at $7.99/month…and you don’t get access to free shipping on stuff you’re probably ordering from Amazon already.
I also added Kindle Unlimited and Audible memberships to my entertainment budget. I am addicted to the Books with Narration from Kindle Unlimited. You can read the book, but when you have to stop and bookmark it because you have to walk from one place to the next, just switch it to the narration and you can listen to the book while you’re moving. For those who commute, this is an incredible feature. I was able to get through a 246 page book in 2 days. I usually do 1/2 of that just sitting down to read because I have to keep putting the book down. Being able to switch to narration while I’m walking around keeps the book going.
My goal of getting through 52 books this year is more feasible now.
I added Audible as well because it gives me access to more audio books that Kindle Unlimited doesn’t offer. For me, this is mainly for those Book Club books that haven’t become available on Kindle Unlimited yet (or when I want a book that just came out).
I took the suggestion from a fireman friend who suggested I start listening to audio books, especially since I’m having problems getting back into reading. Audio books have been a godsend because I can actually listen to “War and Peace” instead of forcing myself to sit down to read a chapter. Now, I can just listen to it while I’m walking around.
Another great feature from Kindle Unlimited are the reference and self-help books available to customers. While I’m at the office and have some down time, I’ll read books that help with my job. Like this week, I read “Math Made Easy” (which is basically a cheat sheet on how to do math in your head very quickly), and I read a book on Passive Income. Today, I plan on reading a book on organization. Truthfully, these aren’t books I’d spend money on or take time to take out of the library, but make them available to read online and I’m more apt to read them to better myself.
All in all, by using these new services from Amazon, I’m saving a lot of money and time by simplifying my life in many aspects. Sure, I can get library books and DVDs from the library for free, but the convenience of downloading the book I need where I can both read and listen to it? I’ll stick to these two services. [Note: Audible is only for Audio Books. Kindle Unlimited offers the book/narration option, but not all books offer narration.]
For Movie Going Lovers
Another part of my entertainment budget I keep in is Going to the Movies. These days, it’s about $15 a pop. Even more if you want to go to IMAX. There is a solution to this. MoviePass offers a membership for movie going lovers. It’s $34.99/month. You can see 1 movie per day.
Before signing up, I strongly urge you to see if the movie theater you go to takes this membership. For me, I can use it at every movie theater I go to, including the artsy community one across the street from me. These days, it pays for itself in 2 movies a month. I recommend waiting until the summer months to really take advantage (technically May starts the hot Hollywood films of the summer).
In order to get more bang for your buck, sign up for the movie theater’s membership club as well. Those tickets you’re purchasing through Movie Pass can be turned into points which can be turned into money you can use at the movie theater for concessions and even movie tickets (like if you want to see an IMAX film or use the extra ticket for a friend who isn’t a Movie Pass member).
The downside? You can see 1 movie every 24 hours. They are strict on the 24 hours. It used to be that it just reset itself every night (which was perfect)…and then it went strictly 24 hours down to the very last second. Another downside for some is that you can only watch the movie once. You can’t go see the same movie more than once while it is still in the movie theater and use the Movie Pass card.
How does it work? First, you need a smartphone in order to download the app. They’ll send you a Movie Pass credit card that is activated only after you check in to the movie through the app. You can only use it to purchase that 1 movie ticket.
If you go to movies frequently, I highly recommend this. It seriously cuts down the cost for movie lovers who love to go to the movies but don’t go because it’s just ridiculously too expensive these days. If you go to just three movies a month…the membership is more than paid for. If you went to one movie every day, each movie would cost a little over $1 each. It’s $34.99 for me because I’m in NYC. It will be less for people not living in major metropolitan areas.
FOR THE DESIGNER ADDICTS
I have a confession. I’m a bit of an addict when it comes to buying designer accessories. I have a rather large designer handbag collection. A couple of years ago, I decluttered the handbags down to only major designers, getting rid of all of the lesser names. Now, I just buy what I like to add to the handbag collection.
Currently on my radar is the Fendi fur bag bugs (aka Monster) collection. In my search, I came across a site called Tradesy. I took a look around and let’s just say I went on a bit of a spending spree.
I netted a Chanel, Hermes and Dior bag and purchased a pair of Louboutin and Fendi shoes. My friend did a delayed double take when I said, “So I bought an Hermes bag.” She couldn’t believe it, so I showed her my cart and lo and behold, my closet said I purchased an Hermes bag. No, I didn’t spend $20,000 on a birkin. I found a Herbag for $500. That’s half off what you’ll find at other consignment places.
Luckily, they were having a friends and family event, so I was able to take additional money off. You can get $25 off your purchase of $100 or more by using my special link: TRADESY.
P.S. As of right now, The Outnet is having their semi-annual clearance sale. This is a great time for fashionistas to stock up on all their favorite designers for up to 80% off the retail price. [My major score were a pair of Adidas by Stella McCartney ballet flats for $18. After all was said and done, I’d saved $2,286.75 on my entire order. That’s some serious savings.]
Also, for designer addicts that frequent Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom…trust me when I say you can get your coveted designer accessory for less. For instance, the Fendi monster tote bag is $1500 at Saks. That same bag is $999 at Overstock.com. The exact same bag. {Also, if you’re a Club O member, you can earn rewards from your purchases. I’ve been able to score free Fendi sunglasses thanks to all of the reward dollars I earned from shopping at Overstock.com.}
Other places you should look: Century 21 shops (they have an online store), TJMaxx (yes, they are finally online), Loehmann’s (they may have closed all of their stores, but that’s because they went e-commerce) and Modnique. I’ve found that a lot of these shops have the same merchandise, but you never know if they’ll have a special sale on top of their already discounted prices.
The book is a quick read, so I highly recommend taking a look at it just to get your brain moving in a direction of earning passive income (I don’t recommend doing what he suggests, but it’s worth a read to understand what you can do to grow passive income) [it’s a free read with Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited].
I want to touch on the Education part. This is why I recommend Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited…he suggests putting away 10% of your income to the education fund. I never put 10% away to an education fund mainly because I already had my schooling and frankly don’t have time to do continuing education courses. I also don’t have kids, so really, this was an account I could do without.
I started to think about it and then realized just how much money I’m saving by using the Kindle Unlimited membership, especially if I take the membership fee from the Education account. During the day, I’m pulling up books that will better myself. I even have books written by scientists discussing their various theories. There are even books on Photoshop, photography, etc. that I can read during the day. In other words, Kindle Unlimited has opened the door to a world filled with resources where I can better educate myself.
I spent a lot of time on Wednesday doing math problems just to jog my memory of how to do math in my head. I’m glad I did, because it forced me to re-memorize addition and multiplication tables (something that I had forgotten post-op). By really diving into complex math equations I started looking at the equations and answering them in my head in half the ‘short steps’ the author was suggesting. To me, this meant that math was back in my head again.
In other words, sometimes you just have to challenge yourself, especially when it comes to forgetting how to do things that are as important as math.
There are so many things out there to learn. That was the point of the Education account. You have to constantly challenge and better yourself. If you don’t, you won’t be able to command good salaries or keep working. After all, I’ve seen what happens to people that didn’t learn how to use a computer. They’re barely making it. You never want to be left behind, so continuously better yourself through education. It doesn’t have to cost you a fortune.
Who knows? By all the money I save in the Education account, maybe I can just use it towards an educational trip or an archaeological dig somewhere.
Just something to think about…but I highly recommend reading the Passive Income book. It will give you a new idea on how to budget yourself in order to earn income, and take a hard look at how you’re living. Re-doing the way you do your budget is interesting. It’s the 50-30-20 lifestyle, but that 30-20 is changed to 30% savings and 20% doing whatever you want with the money. Previously, it was vice versa. You’d save 20% and use 30% to do whatever. Personally, I like this new take on budgeting. What he shows you is how to use 10% of that 30% towards increasing your passive income…that’s what makes it worth the read.