2015: a year of focus (part three: financial and personal goals)

hip, hip, horray! weve made it to the last part of my 2015 goals series, and after today, we can jump back on the exciting new blog schedule that ive been working on!

today im talking about my personal and financial goals, which ive tacked on to the end here because while in past years financial and personal goals have consumed my whole life. but this year, things are different, and im really excited to start a year with way less pressure in these departments. 

but, of course, this doesnt mean that im not going to make financial and personal goals, because theyre still important. just not, as important as they used to be. and without further ado, here we go: 

financial goals: 

1. set a reasonable monthly budget and stick to it. after spending years in bare-bones survival mode, our recent (relative) financial stability has been a HUGE relief. but its also been a HUGE learning curve as weve had to adjust everything that we do as we figure out the balance of fitting what we need, what we want, and saving money for later (seriously, having leftover money for those last two things is completely foreign to me), within an income thats not quite predictable (construction has its ebb and flow over the course of the year). my goal for this year is to find that middle ground (frugal and intentional, but not austere and depriving), and consistently keep it month-to-month. 

2. keep improving my credit score and get a card with better rewards. over the summer i was finally able to get my first real credit card, and i have been using it very responsibly every month, both to improve my credit score (which was nothing) as well as to earn a tiny bit of cash back on all the money we spend anyway (might as well make the bills we pay anyway work for us, right?). now id really like to get a card with nicer rewards to maybe help us save up for a vacation and my credit score is almost to the point where i would qualify for one of the nicer cards (and not get dinged for having too many accounts in too short of a time), so while i wait til the right time, i also need to research my options. 

3. get at least 1/2 way to our emergency fund goal. james and i have been doing a lot of talking about our long-term financial goals. and while there are a lot of things that we just arent ready/able to do much work on (like buying a house, funding our retirement, possibly dabbling in investing), there is one thing we just need to get cracking on: a decent emergency fund that would actually be able to float us out of an actual emergency. we sat down to decide what that would entail (six months expenses plus all our insurance deductibles), and came up with the very, very scary number of $13,500. obviously, we are not going to be able to get there in just one year. but two? yeah, maybe we can. 

personal goals: 

1. stay in school and continue to get straight a's. maybe this seems really obvious and like it should be something i can just do and not something i have to make into a goal, but let me tell you something: im totally a quitter. it is really, really, really rare for me to finish a thing that i start. and well, this is one thing i really want to finish. to learn the skills i need to build my business, to be actually employable should the time come for me to need a real job, to prove to myself that i can finish big things. also, because i was such a crappy student the first time around, it would really be awesome to graduate with honors this time (though, given how few classes i have left, i dont know if that will be possible, even if i do get straight a's in my next eight classes). 

2. maintain a part-time income with jamberry. this is another area where im easily discouraged and prone to want to give up. lots of women are out there making jamberry a full time career, pulling six figures, and going on all-expense-paid incentive trips in cancun. but honestly, my goal isnt to advance in the company, turn this into my career and make the big bucks. i just need a part time job so that we can have some fun money/a little help in the slow months until i graduate/am actually bringing in money with PL. and with jamberry (and the super amazing team of thirteen ladies working with me), this is totally possible. but only if i keep with it. 

3. experiment in the kitchen more and learn some new recipes. im not a naturally adventurous person, and in general prefer to stick to what i know works. especially when it comes to cooking (much to the dismay of my husband). when it comes to the dinners we eat at home, we tend to stick on a pretty solid rotation of the same eight or nine favorites. and its kind of getting old. so this year is going to involve a lot more cook books, a lot more pinterest, and a lot more sucking it up and taking the risk with a new recipe. 

so with that, does anyone have any recommendations for rewards cards or food blogs? 

p.s. stay tuned for next time when i introduce 2015's first regular feature!

p.p.s. dont forget that ALL sponsorships are 50% off with the code JAN15! check my sponsor page for details!

jamberry fall catalog launch giveaway (and why you should totally host a party with me)

i have been waiting a long, long, LONG time to be able to share this with you. and now i finally can: there are some freaking AMAZING things going on with jamberry right now. 

see, the new catalog just came out. and in addition to a few dozen new designs (im talking, over 100) we also have a few other new products that are totally awesome, like:

1. the new purple mini heater: i mean, how cute is this? 

2. stylebox by jamberry: $25 a month for two sheets (one exclusive to stylebox subscribers only!) every month with free shipping? who can say no to that? 

and last but not least: 

3. ALL THE INCREDIBLE NEW DESIGNS: i mean, weve got halloween wraps:

christmas wraps: 

new florals: 

new juniors: 

new sheer tinted wraps: 

wraps that are both a sparkle AND a pattern: 

seriously SO many new designs. 

obviously, you can order anything your little heart desires right here from my jamberry site. and i really appreciate that. BUT! if you want to get even more from this catalog launch, you should totally host a catalog launch party with me. why? 

because you want the new wraps. theres just SO many and you want them ALL, right? 

because you dont want to pay for ALL those wraps. jamberry has just about THE most generous hostess rewards of any "party" company, i mean, just take a look at all the goodies you can get for free: 

(also, the next few hostess exclusive wraps are AWESOME)

because its super easy and ill do all the work for you. there are a few ways we can do this: 1. the facebook party (closed facebook group where i talk about jamberry, answer questions, and send out samples to everyone that participates. 2. if youre not big on facebook, we can do a party on your blog with our new lookbook feature. 3. i can mail you catalogs and samples to do a mini-home party, OR if you live close enough, we can do an in home party at your house!

I'm looking to start parties as SOON as we get back from vacation on the 10th, so please, PLEASE shoot me an email if you want to get started, i promise it will be TONS of fun!

oh, and while were at it, why dont we have a little giveaway? i have a full sheet (good for two manicures and two pedicures with wraps to spare!) of the winners choice up for grabs! the giveaway runs for one week (until september 10th) at which point the winner will be selected and notified. enter through the rafflecopter widget right here, and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

why i LOVE working for jamberry.

today is jamess birthday. happy birthday james. hope you enjoy all of the special surprises that i have planned today (and that you havent figured them all out yet....)!

so obviously were going to be out of the house all day. so instead of whatever it was i had originally put on the blog calendar for today. im just going to take a minute to rave about how much i LOVE working for jamberry. 

i mean really. 

after a less-than-satisfying run as an avon rep when i was in college, i was pretty sure that direct sales wasnt for me. 

but jamberry is different. jamberry is a single, straightforward product (that happens to be AWESOME) at one price point, that basically sells itself once people try it. oh, and once you sign up, there is tons and tons and TONS of help and support and encouragement, not only from jamberry directly, but also from the other consultants. seriously, theres no territorial competition to out sell all the other consultants, instead, theres a genuine, helpful support from all the other ladies that are doing the same thing. its amazing. 

now, i started my first jamberry party about a month ago, and ive ALREADY: 

1. made about the same amount of money id have made from my teaching position at joanns (from home, in my spare time, no less). im not consistently making a full blown part time income, but, ive only just started. 

2. earned $177 in free product from my launch party AND a $75 product credit for completing my first fast start goal, so basically i never have to pay for jamberries ever again. 

3. added my first team member (the lovely jessica from the reinvention of jessica). 

4. completed two parties AND booked three more (with a couple maybes for the future).

5. was able to quit my dead-end job and pursue something with the potential to make more money in the future (and you know, not be super stressed out about spending all my free time making no money at a job i hate, thats a plus). 

6. completely paid back my WHOLE initial investment with my first party alone (consultant kit, business cards, and the ENTIRE book of stamps i used to mail out samples), so its ALL profit from here. 

and 7. gotten a promotion! in all the jobs ive had, I've NEVER gotten a promotion, so this one was particularly exciting. 

but im not sharing all of this to brag.  im sharing all of this because spent YEARS trying to figure out a way to legitimately work from home so that i could stay home with alice and not be stressed out and gone every saturday and be able to take things slow when my fibro is flaring up. its only been a month and jamberry has ALREADY been a HUGE help in this department. 

im sharing this because i want to help. jamberry has been a dream come true for us in so many ways, and i can not just sit on it by myself when i know there are lots and lots of ladies out there in blog land that really could use an opportunity like this. 

so if you, like me, have been looking for a completely legitimate way to work from home, thats totally fun and doesnt take a large up-front investment (i know, it sounds too good to be true, but i SWEAR its not, id never lie to you about this, actually, i was really hesitant to even write about my experience with jamberry until i was SURE that it was worth it), jamberry might be worth your consideration. i mean, theres really not a whole lot to lose. 

and id love to help you get started. 

because who wouldnt want to get paid for talking about nails on facebook? i mean, dont we all do that for free anyway?

march in review (another blogger meet up, an outfit post + weeklywishes)

is it just me, or did march TOTALLY fly by? i feel like we were SO busy ALL month i didnt even notice that it was almost april! since this month has been somewhat of a blur, im especially grateful that i had already to committed to this whole "month in review" thing to recap everything we did, otherwise i might have forgotten that march even happened!

seriously, SO much happened in march:

we got a really bad start to the month when we spent a whole week without hot water and i almost forgot to go to my friends bachelorette party. but then i remembered and everything was ok! 

plus, since my dear friend shannon got married, i got to do some embroidery:

which i really, really love doing but for some reason can only find the time when somebodys about to get married. (conveniently, about eight thousand people i know are getting married right now, so it looks like the future will hold a lot more embroidery! yay!). 

also, poverty luxe turned one year old! this is totally insane because i never thought id be doing this for a whole year. but still awesome. 

we took alice to the zoo for the very first time.

and we welcomed a new member to the meyers family. meet B:

(obviously alice is totally obsessed) remember that time my sister rescued a kitten and named it gaston? well, it turns out gaston is a lady, and one of my moms cats (a fat, lazy, potato of a cat named ronald) apparently CAN NOT handle sharing his litter box with a girl, and despite living in a one bedroom apartment, ive been getting antsy to have more cats. so B lives with us now. its great. 

and in big, exciting, life-changing news: i started college this week AND dove into a new business adventure as a consultant for jamberry nails. 

i really wish i had something more profound to say about starting college again after so many years, but, i dont know, im taking two one unit classes for eight weeks. it doesnt even really feel like im in college right now. come back in september and im sure ill have more to say about it. 

jamberry, on the other hand, i just cant keep my mouth shut about that. dont worry though, poverty luxe (the blog, or the etsy shop) isnt going anywhere. the only thing that might be going somewhere sometime soon though is my job at joanns. i wont say yet that im quitting, but i will say that my first week with jamberry had a rocky, underwhelming start and i still made about what id bring home on a good week at joanns. so...

oh! saturday i got to go to another awesome blogger meet up hosted by melyssa and the bloggers giving back crew! this event was called well boxed: 

 and we had pizza and wine and put together care packages for the troops stationed overseas:

it was an awesome time getting to do something nice for someone that probably really needs it, while also getting to spend some quality time getting to know some other blogger ladies better (AND even meeting some new friends!). 

now, i noticed that amidst all of the crazy busyness of march, i havent been doing much in the way of outfit posts. even though thats totally my favorite kind of post and i swore that id do more of them they just havent been happening. so as of right now, im stepping up my game. heres what i wore to the well boxed event:

                                       

outfit details:

top/bandeau: diy (tutorial coming next month!)

skirt: poverty luxe.

shoes: shoemint

bracelet: vintage (james bought it for me when he was a scrap gold buyer)

glasses: zenni optical

nails: jamberry in diamond dust and cup of tea

i dont really have a whole lot to say about this outfit, other than i did make most of it (and the shoes i won from another bloggers giveaway), so i didnt really pay for any of it, which i guess is neat. also, lately ive really been working on finding different ways to style my poverty luxe skirt, since, you know, actually wearing the things i make is basically the cheapest marketing there is. at the blogger meet up i got a lot of compliments on my top, which was actually a really simple diy project, so stay tuned, because in a couple weeks I'm going to show you how to make one too!

so there you have our highlights for the month of march. 

well, that and yesterday james did that thing we do now and again where we dress up as dr. who characters for no reason and it becomes glaringly obvious why exactly we dont have any adult friends:

(but, i mean, if i was someone else, id totally want to be friends with us)

now dont think i forgot about weekly wishes!

last week i wanted to get a good start on my classes and order my textbooks, and i did both! in fact, i was SO excited about having homework to do that i did ALL of my homework for both classes on thursday. plus i saved like $80 bucks by buying my textbooks used (and ill probably get almost as much as i paid for them when i sell them in a couple months, so stay tuned for a post about how to work the textbook system!)

whats up for this week? not much, really. obviously I want to keep doing my homework early, but my big projects for the week are finishing Aprils editorial calendar (and deciding if Friday posts are coming back or not....) and starting a big list of all the home projects that need done/things that need to be replaced (with James working full time and me NOT working three jobs, we totally have the time and money for projects for the first time in over a year so its already a long, overwhelming list...)

what was your favorite part of march?

my jamberry business launch party ( + a giveaway!)

remember last week when i announced my new business adventure (a term i just coined that you are more than welcome to start using and make a thing) as a consultant for jamberry nails. and i didnt really say much more than that because my official business launch was for another day. 

well today is that day! my facebook business launch party has been going for a couple days now (thats how jamberry does things, real life parties and facebook parties), BUT the lame thing about facebook events, is well, i can only reach the folks that im friends with on Facebook and its really, really difficult to reach a wider audience (which is truly a shame because as far as im concerned, jamberry is the second best thing ever, after cheese, obviously). so, im inventing something right now: blog parties for jamberry nails. 

as far as i know, this is the first one thats ever happened (jamberry is still a baby company, only about three or four years old), so im kind of making this up as i go, BUT i think its going to be really fun. heres how its going to work:

first, im going to take a few minutes to tell you about what jamberry nails are, what makes them so awesome, and why i love them so much. second, im going to talk about all the ways that YOU can get in on the jamberry action (more options than you think). and last but not least, im giving away a FULL SHEET of jamberry wraps to one lucky winner!!!! so stay tuned to the end because you definitely dont want to miss that. 

alright, so lets get started: 

what are jamberry nails? well heres a handy little graphic that has everything you need to know:

now, let me reiterate a few of my favorite key points:

1. theyre heat and pressure activated vinyl nail wraps that cause NO damage to the natural nail. unlike acrylic and gel nails, you DONT have to sand the nail bed in order to get them to stick. 

2. there are something like 300 different jamberry wraps so there is literally something for everyone. also, new designs are added with every catalog AND if youre the artsy type, you can design your own jamberries in the nail art studio. 

3. they last for-freaking-ever. the "lasts up to two weeks on fingers" statement? thats actually a very conservative estimate. let me show you. heres a picture of my nails right after i did them:

and here they are yesterday (ELEVEN days later!), still perfect (this is an especially big deal for me because regular nail polish lasts literally one day on my nails):

4. they are super simple to apply and in about 15 minutes you can have total pinterest nails (with the added bonus of no mess or risk of wrecking them before they dry). heres the official video of the application process:

5. they are way, way cheaper than getting your nails done at a salon. each jamberry sheet cost roughly what you would pay for ONE very basic manicure at a salon. but heres the thing, each sheet gives you AT LEAST two pedicures AND 2-3 manicures. CRAZY. it gets even better though, jamberries are ALWAYS buy three, get one free. meaning for less than $50, you get EIGHT pedicures and EIGHT TO TWELVE manicures. im serious. what does this come out to per application? thankfully somebody else already did the math for me:

(and thats totally not counting all of the leftover bits you can save to mix and match later)

so youre totally stoked on jamberry now, right? and youre all like "tell me how i can get them!"? of course you are. and the answer is simple, just place an order through my jamberry page, and it will be shipped directly to you, none of the usual direct-sales middleman nonsense. its fantastic. (oh, and if youre feeling skeptical and want to give jamberry a try before committing to an order, just shoot me an email at wifeofmeyers@gmail.com and ill get you some samples). 

but wait, you want more? you want to tell everyone you know about jamberry and score some FREE jamberries? host a party! just hit me up and we can make arrangements to do your party on facebook, on your blog, OR (if you happen to be in the la/oc area) in real life. its really up to you!

oh, is that not good enough for you? are you (like me) totally obsessed with jamberry and want your own piece of the action, making money AND earning free product by selling a ridiculously awesome product (that honestly, basically sells itself)? become a consultant! like i said earlier, jamberry is a little, baby company, and there really arent a whole lot of consultants (especially on the west coast, there are currently about 50 reps in all of southern california), so now is DEFINITELY the time to get involved. 

so lets do a quick review here:

1. jamberry nails are the awesomest.

2. $45 gets you four whole sheets (basically a lifetime supply of adorable nails). 

and 3. if you want even MORE, its totally easy to host a party or become a consultant. 

oh, and one more thing, to celebrate my business launch with all of blogland, im giving away a FULL SHEET (two manis and two pedis worth) of my favorite black and white chevron design: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

have you heard of jamberry nails before? what do you think? do you have any questions? ask away in the comments!