Jana Says

Living life from cover to cover

7 inexpensive ways to handle a hangover

by Jana 9 Comments

someecards.com - I consider myself a connoisseur on wine hangovers
I certainly do now.

If you learn nothing else from me, please learn this: 8 glasses of wine in one evening is 6 glasses too many.

I don’t want you to learn the hard way. Like I did. Last weekend.

I’d love to share all the details with you but I don’t remember most of them so I’ll tell you what I remember. I went out to dinner with some friends, then to a bar. I drank wine. A lot of wine, apparently. Then I got sick and when I woke up, I was only somewhat clothed, sprawled out on my living room floor, wrapped in a blanket. But my eye makeup still looked fabulous (major props to Urban Decay on that one). I noticed this when I woke up due to a compelling need to brush my teeth. At 6 AM. Then I went back to bed.

I’ll spare you the rest of what I learned by talking to my friends and my husband because I still want you to like me but suffice it to say, I woke up with a phenomenally bad hangover. Probably the worst one I’ve ever had. Ever. And that says a lot because I’ve had some bad hangovers.

After I finally woke up for the day (at 1:30 in the afternoon) and took a shower, that’s when all the bad stuff started happening. You know—the stomach problems, the shaking, the screaming headache. All the fun parts that you miss when you’re asleep. But I had things to do and couldn’t spend the entire day in bed so I forced myself awake. And I let the home remedies begin.

My remedies for dealing with a hangover are a combination of free and not so much pricey, but they do cost money. For instance, water and sleep? Free. And I consumed both of those in ways that are almost shameful. The Advil I took trying to kill the headache? Free, because we always have some in the house (thankfully).  Don’t get me wrong. These are great. And they are usually enough because I don’t normally consume a gallon of wine.

So I had to bring in the big guns. The stuff we had to purchase. Like greasy fast food (onion rings this time. Normally fries). Soda (for the caffeine. I loathe coffee) because apparently my husband forgot that Gatorade also does the trick. I also had some peppermint tea (for the nausea). It’s not that all of this cost a fortune (under $10, most likely) but it still bothers me that we had to spend money because of stupid choice I made.

But all of this got me wondering: what do other people do to inexpensively cure a hangover? So I posed the question to my DMS Facebook family and got the following responses:

  1. Sleep. I totally agree with this one because it works. And I use it extensively.
  2. Water. Also agree. As I mentioned, I drank this in CostCo sized amounts from those giant sized souvenir cups you get at baseball games.
  3. Milk. Never heard of this one before. I suppose it would only work if you drank stuff that mixes well with milk unless the intent is to make you throw up in which case it probably works with everything.
  4. AlkaSeltzer. An old school remedy yet one I’ve never tried. I’m assuming it works or Pauline wouldn’t have mentioned it. The only reason I’ve never used it? The fizzing freaks me out. But she also mentioned sparkling water. I can probably get behind that one.
  5. Fountain sodas. The Debt Princess recommended this one. Although I prefer Gatorade when I’m hung over, soda does do the trick. The carbonation settles the stomach. I just recommend that you go with something bland like Coke or Ginger Ale. The syrups in the flavored sodas are too sweet and just gross when you’re battling a hangover.
  6. NUUN hydration tablets. This is a completely new product to me. My friend Jenniemarie at Another Housewife says they cost around $5 for 12 tablets, which isn’t too bad. I Googled them and they seem to be a tablet equivalent of Gatorade. Probably something to keep on hand.

But the best tip, tip #7, was from Ashley at Money Talks: avoidance. Avoiding a hangover is an excellent idea. To prevent a hangover, I usually drink plenty of water before bed, take some aspirin or Advil and stay awake until I feel sober enough to sleep (and get rid of the spins. Those? Are the worst).  It also helps to eat a meal with some form of protein in it as well as snack on things like veggies and dip while you’re drinking (if possible).  Or there’s always the option of not consuming any alcohol or consuming a reasonable amount.

Drinking like this is not a common activity for me (shut up, FinCon folks). I’m usually much more responsible than this and honestly, I’m a little ashamed that it got so bad. I don’t plan on letting that ever happen again but if it does, I can handle it inexpensively.

It’s never too late to be an entrepreneur

by Jana 8 Comments

So there’s this guy I know. We’ll call him Charlie because, well, that’s his name. Charlie is an older gentleman (seriously, older. This guy is in his 70s or 80s) who retired to South Florida after spending his career as a New York City bus driver (I know you are in shock that a New Yorker retired to South Florida. It is quite a surprise). He had made a good living, bought an apartment in a retirement complex (again, I know you’re shocked) and was ready to spend the rest of his years in retirement bliss.

Not Charlie. But let’s pretend.

But as Charlie socialized with his neighbors, he noticed that a number of them, for whatever reason, could no longer drive. The trolley and shuttle that catered to his neighborhood only goes to certain places and those places are not necessarily where the more…active residents wanted or needed to go. Also, seniors kind of live on their own schedule and that schedule didn’t necessarily jive with the shuttle.

So Charlie got an idea.

Since he could still drive, liked to drive, and had an impeccable sense of direction from his years a bus driver, Charlie realized that he could start his own car service company. He already had a built in market; all he had to do was advertise.  (It is at this point in the story I make complete assumptions and guesses because I don’t really know the details of how he gained most of his clientele). He found some of his friends, like my grandmother, who don’t or can’t drive and he started offering them car service to their doctor appointment, hair appointments, the mall. He even makes airport runs! Which is amazingly convenient for the seniors and their visiting families.

He then developed a pricing plan, offering discounts to loyal (and frequent) customers. He provides excellent customer service (no joke. When I was in his shuttle, he refused to let me pick up my own suitcase. It was a little weird watching this old man lift my bag but he really wouldn’t let me do it). He’s available when his customers need him and he’ll even make special accommodations. And, from what I understand, he’s even hired a few extra drivers because he can no longer handle the demand on his own.  I also understand that he’s making quite a nice living.

We can all learn some things from Charlie:

Identify a need. And then fill it. Charlie figured out that his friends needed reliable transportation because it was missing where he lived so he started his own car service company.

Ask yourself: where do you see gaps? When you talk to friends, online or in real life, what do they often say they wish they had? What services or products do you think are missing but are necessary?  Once you answer those questions, you have your business idea (or ideas)

Use your skills. Charlie spent his career as a driver. He’s good at it, he likes to do it, and he was able to parlay that into a business because people need to get around.

Ask yourself: what are you good at? What do you like to do? Are your skills profitable? Do people need your skills? Once you answer those questions, you have your action plan (and possible your marketing plan).

Be fair. Charlie understood that his customers live on a fixed income, with some budgets tighter than others. He developed a pricing strategy that was comfortable for his customers but still allowed him to turn a profit.

Ask yourself: what is a good price to charge for this service or product? How can I be fair but still make money? At what point do I raise my rates? How can I make my customers comfortable with my pricing but still turn a profit? Once you answer those questions, you have your pricing structure.

Don’t be an ass. Charlie is so nice and helpful. He likes to talk and tell stories which makes him fun. It’s a pleasure to ride in a car with him (although maybe a little scary. He is around 80 after all).  His customers really seem to like him, too, which is why they keep using his service.

Ask yourself: How do I want to treat my customers? What have learned from both good and bad customer service interactions? How can I put them at ease and make it so they want to keep working with me and recommend me to their associates and friends? Once you answer those questions, you have your customer service strategy (and possibly your advertising strategy).

All of these are great, important lessons to learn. But the main lesson we can learn from Charlie?

It’s never too late to start your own business.

So what are you waiting for?

A few statistics about women and debt

by Jana 7 Comments

This is a guest post from my friend, Suzanne Cramer, Certified Personal Finance Counselor® for CareOne Services, Inc. and a Social Media Specialist. You can follow Suzanne on Twitter where she shares the latest debt industry news, and tips to keep your finances in check @CareOneWorks. Follow Suzanne on Twitter or connect with Suzanne on Google+

As a woman I speak first hand when I say that times are tough! Over the past two years I have gone through a divorce, the diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes in my son, and major surgery leaving me with some hefty medical bills. As a working, single mom staying out of debt is a challenge especially when we are still not on an equal playing field with the guys.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, full-time working women earned 81 percent of what full-time working men earned in 2010 leaving a “gap” of 19 percent between the sexes.

Why?

There are numerous factors that affect pay.

  • Men and women tend to gravitate toward different industries.
  • Women tend to seek jobs with regular hours, more comfortable conditions, little travel, and greater personal fulfillment.
  • Women are willing to trade higher pay for jobs with other characteristics that they find attractive.
  • Men often take jobs with less desirable conditions to achieve higher pay.
  • Women who have or plan to have children are often willing to trade higher pay for a more kid-friendly position.
  • In today’s world women are no longer “just staying home” to raise their children; we are actually working two full-time jobs out of necessity for our family; working outside the home and raising our kids.

Statistically lower wages and more family responsibility make it more difficult for women to get out of debt..

Debt Statistics

Since my friend Jana lives in the fantastic state of Delaware (Go Blue Hens! Jana’s note: I am a proud Blue Hen. Twice. For my Bachelor’s and my Master’s. And now I live here. It’s a little weird.) I am going to share some debt statics for those living in Delaware.

  • Many women are struggling financially and looking for debt relief. According to internal data, from the providers of CareOne Debt Relief Services® women make up the majority of debt-relief seekers in Delaware.
  • The number of woman is on the rise, increasing by 3% from 2010 to 2011, and coming in at 3% higher than the national average.
  • The number of Delaware residents seeking debt relief who claim one or more dependants increased 72% from 2010 to 2011.

These women are not only struggling to free themselves from debt, they’re also raising a family on limited means.

Since the odds are stacked against women it is crucial to their financial health to stay on top of their debt, budget, and think twice before spending those hard earned dollars.

Readers, how do you feel about these statistics? 

Jana’s input: I want to say I’m surprised by the Delaware statistics but sadly, I’m not. We’ve had a number of major businesses leave the state, including several factories and plants. While new businesses are opening on what seems like a weekly basis, I know that they are much lower paying jobs than what was lost. However, I’ve noticed that our mall and outlets are always bustling, as are the restaurants. I can only assume that many of these people are using credit to maintain the standard of living they once had. I may be wrong but I’d bet that I’m not. 

6 ways to handle being overwhelmed

by Jana 18 Comments

Confession: Other bloggers intimidate me.

Within the personal finance blogosphere, as well as the other niches, there exists a tremendous amount of talented, smart, witty, and ambitious bloggers. These bloggers consistently write quality content, and engage with their readers on a daily basis. With quality interactions, too, not just half-assed ones! They can be found supporting other bloggers, big and small, have legions of dedicated fans, see their posts mentioned on major sites, and yet they remain painfully humble. And, on top of that, they are always creating something new–podcasts, YouTube videos, courses, eBooks. They are some of the most productive people I have ever encountered.

What I look like when I’m overwhelmed. Except not a man.

And that intimidates the shit out of me. Because no matter how hard I try, I cannot keep up. Even at my best, I’m about half as productive as so many other bloggers despite the fact that I have a host of projects I’d like to complete. I have the ambition, I have the drive. I’m just terrible at maximizing my time to the best of my ability. When I sit down to work, I’m extremely productive. I get shit done. But I also have a problem of getting sidetracked very easily. Mainly because when I think about all that I want to do, I get overwhelmed. And when I’m overwhelmed, I become paralyzed. And when I’m paralyzed, I stop being productive and decide that I’m not going to get anything done anyway and I’ll never be as good as the bloggers I admire so why bother even trying.

So that’s healthy.

However, I’ve been trying to overcome the paralyzed sensation I get when overwhelmed. When I get like that, it’s easy to cycle back into my depression which would be terrible because we know that I won this round. Since I don’t want that to happen again, I’ve had to employ some strategies that, when I get overwhelmed, I can use to refocus and start working again.

  • Ignore the “be everywhere” philosophy. I know that many disagree, but for me, being everywhere isn’t for me. I can’t do it, and part of what was overwhelming me was seeing how many bloggers are, in fact, everywhere. I admire and respect them for that but trying to do that was too difficult. I would get frustrated that I couldn’t be everywhere for whatever reason and that frustration would lead me to throw my hands up and utter “fuck this. I can’t do it”. So, I stopped trying to do it all. I accepted the fact that I can only be in one or two places and I’m fine with that. 
  • Determine priorities. Once I ignored the “be everywhere” philosophy, I needed to decide what is important to me and what isn’t. I decided I had no interest in creating my own podcast (although being a guest is fun) nor do I have an interest in creating YouTube videos. But I like writing. That’s what I’m good at and it’s what I want to do. So I’ve made writing my primary focus and my priority. 
  • Establish long term goals. I made a list of all the projects I would like start and/or finish. Then I narrowed the list down to the 4 projects that I thought were the most doable and realistic. I wrote them down in my notebook, and now, when I find myself getting off track or becoming consumed with something that’s not related to those 4 goals, I revisit the list and focus myself.  
  • Establish short term goals. I broke this down into two categories: blogging goals and project related goals. My blogging goals include tasks like guest posting more, reaching a certain number of Facebook likes, creating a master list of topics, creating a queue of posts, and some behind the scenes work that I need to finish. My project related goals are more tasks and/or objectives I need to complete in order to achieve the long term goal. For instance, I need to design a website for Bloggers Helping Bloggers, I need to copy and paste posts for an eBook and I’m participating in NaNoWriMo. 
  • Have a to-do list. But make it manageable. I know what my time constraints are; with a kindergartner at home, my life gets really hectic at times. To manage myself, I’ve always had a to-do list. But I realized that I was being unreasonable in the expectations I laid out of myself. I would put more on the list than was practical to get done in a day and then I would get pissed that I didn’t get as much done as I wanted. And sometimes I’d look at the list in the beginning of the day, see there was too much and take a nap instead. I am masterful at avoidance. But that starts the cycle all over again, which isn’t good. As a remedy I now make a weekly to-do list, taking into account my priorities, goals, and time constraints for the week.  
  • Forgive myself. I spent beaucoup time being angry at myself for not being able to keep up with other bloggers. But I know myself and my limitations and I know that no matter how hard I try, I just can’t do it. And I had to tell myself that it’s okay. I had to remind myself that I’m doing the best I can and that’s all I can do. I gave myself permission to stop being so hard on me. 
The other thing I’ve done is follow my own advice. I wrote a post over the summer about just starting somewhere. If you don’t know what to do or how to do it, just do one thing. So I do that. When I get really overwhelmed, I start by reading a few blog posts. Or writing a few paragraphs. Or going on Twitter or Facebook. Or looking at my to-do list. I just do something. Because once I start one task, it’s easier to move on to the next and the next one after that. Kind of like a task snowball.
And eventually, that task snowball starts to tumble down the mountain and knock me out of my paralysis. That’s when the real fun begins.
Readers, when you get overwhelmed, what do you do to break yourself out of it? 

Cat #2: The update

by Jana 3 Comments

I had a pretty intense all ready to go for today but then I remembered that it’s Friday and that kind of intensity should be reserved for early or the middle of the week (because nothing says happy Monday like a serious post). So, instead I figured I’d give you an update on cat #2.

He has a new home!!!

This is what happens when cats run away from Cecily’s house. Oh, and the pic? Taken from her blog at Babble Pets (http://blogs.babble.com/pets/)

Getting him a new home was not as easy as it sounds. We pimped this cat out like there was no tomorrow. The necessity for the rush happened mainly for two reasons: 1) the weather is starting to turn cold and this cat needs to be indoors and 2) my other cat was growing very…snarky with this cat’s presence. Cat #1 is fairly territorial about our house and she did not like having an intruder around. And, added to that, the second cat infuriated my husband’s allergies and the cost of two cats was getting to be a bit more than we could afford.

So we asked everyone we knew. We posted on Facebook, called friends, sent texts, emails. Pretty much everything we could think of short of taking out a billboard or standing on the corner, trying to entice passing cars. Even my mother-in-law was in on the pimping. But nothing worked. I guess we need pimp lessons.

But then… Twitter happened.

I saw a tweet from Cecily Kellogg (Uppercase Woman) that she wanted to drive to her local shelter and adopt a kitten. I quickly intervened with something along the lines of “don’t do that! I have one! For free!” She replied back that she needed to check with her husband and, after a few days of talking back and forth, her husband agreed.  So we arranged to meet halfway between our houses for the transfer of care (I should probably clarify that we only live about an hour apart so meeting halfway wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like I had to drive 6 hours or anything. Also, I got a really good lunch after I gave her the cat so the trip was worth it).

And for the last month, Abby now Jax has been living comfortably with Cecily and her family. This makes me thrilled both for the cat and myself.

I’m happy for the cat because he’s found a home that loves him and is happy to have him (I know this from Cecily’s tweets and pictures). He gets to spend the rest of his life indoors (except when he runs away), where he belongs. He has a killer new collar, a splendid canine sibling, and his gender has finally been determined (male, not female). After what his previous owners did to him, he deserves the life he has now.

And, selfishly, I’m happy for myself because I know I did the right thing. Although it was hard to let him go, I know that giving him to Cecily was best for him. So that made me feel good. Also, it was starting to put a strain on our budget. We already have two (very high maintenance) dogs and the one cat, and affording those guys gets a bit tight at times (this was true even when I was working full-time. Grooming my dogs is expensive and because of their breed, we can’t do it ourselves).  I finagled our budget the best I could but I’m not sure that it was sustainable.

Finding his new forever home came at just the right time.

Looking back, I’m glad I took Jax into my home and family, even if temporarily. It might have cost money we probably didn’t have and put a bit of strain on my other cat and my husband’s allergies, but I’m glad I did it. I’m glad I helped bring him out of malnourishment and kept him safe and healthy. I’m glad I worked as hard as I did to find him his new home.

And, if I had to do it again, I would.

Jana Says on Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

Connect with Me

Subscribe to Jana Says

Jana Says
© 2017 by Jana Says. All Rights Reserved.
Crafted with by sasspurrella designs.