Weekly Snapshot of Expenses Brought to You by Spending Diary

My thanks go out again to my good friend Maureen who found this site - http://www.spendingdiary.com/. This chart shows my expenses for the first week of January. This is one example of the style of chart you can create in the "custom report" section of the website. Or, if you prefer more colourful representations check out the barchart:

You can also get a pie chart if you prefer. I like the colourful charts as it gives me a sense of where I'm spending the most and the least of my money - this week it happens to be savings which puts a smile on my face. And I'm glad to see I am getting my "entertainment" expenses back under control. The misc. category consists of my new prescription sunglasses.

Of course this is only a one week snapshot. Can't wait to see it at the end of the month! and the end of the year!

First Post for 2011: THE MEANING OF LIFE!!

Random picture of icicles taken on a walk last week.

This seems to be the year of the icicles.  I really don't understand physics very well as I wonder how the weight of those icicles haven't caused them to fall crashing to the ground!  Don't you love the almost perfect circle made by the sagging icicles?

But I digress...on to the MEANING OF LIFE!! If you know what the MEANING OF LIFE is, please post answer in the comments section.

Just kidding...

I read a lot of blogs every day (see sidebar and this isn't even all of them) and there has been a similar thread over the past week - everyone is feeling very OPTIMISTIC about the coming year - 2011. It seems to be a somewhat magical number as Jolie pointed out today in her post.

I read a lot of daily motivational books and I think I have found the answer to the general feeling of OPTIMISM. Consider the following for January 2nd from Robin Sharma's book called "Daily Inspiration" - from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari:

"Purpose is the most valuable motivator in the world. The secret of passion is truly purpose."

Each of us is feeling such a sense of purpose for the coming year are we not? Whether it be paying off a debt such as a credit card like Niki or moving to a new home like Lisa every one of us is passionately driven to fulfill our goals in 2011. AND we are so excited about doing so.

Could this be the meaning of life? To have a sense of purpose and go about being purposeful in a passionate way?

Tell me, what do YOU feel passionate about?

P.S. Sharing the link love: please let me know if you have a blog and I haven't linked to it yet either by using the FOLLOW button or by adding you to my list of blogs I read daily. And please do the same for me - if you find yourself in my blog list please add me to yours or hit the FOLLOW button. Thank you for reading and giving such thoughtful comments to my posts. I try to post daily and I have learned soooo much from this exchange of ideas and experiences. I absolutely love to read AND write and having this blog fulfills something very powerfully in me - it's come to be a habit that I look forward to EVERY day! Love you guys!!