Yeah, you think I’m kidding, right? Five people (two adults, three kids) eating ACTUAL food - not ketchup sandwiches or tartar sauce packets - on two hundred and fifty bucks a month? I must be joking.

No, I am so completely not kidding you. I know there are those of you who are reading right now saying, “Come on, I eat on less than that. You can do better!” and there are those of you reading this right now saying, “But I spend that much every WEEK for my family!”
continue reading "How We Eat on $250 a Month"

Part One of a 31-Year-Old’s Breast Cancer Journey

February 27, 2008, I received the kind of call you never want to hear: “Alice, you have breast cancer.” In a single instant someone pushed the pause button on my life and pulled a gray window shade down over my eyes. At 31-years-old, my first thought was that of vanity, “Will I lose my hair?” While I tried to picture myself throwing up and bald, people kept telling me, “You’re going to be fine, it’s totally treatable,” like I had strep throat and could return to work after being on antibiotics for 24 hours.

Nothing about having cancer is “fine.” It’s not “fine” to face your mortality or lose your hair or be too tired to have a social life when you are in your early 30’s.
continue reading "Pulling up the Window Shade"

There isn’t any reason to be daunted by selling on eBay – it just takes a bit of planning to be successful. This article will provide some planning ideas and put you ahead in the learning curve and on your way to success.

You will need some basic tools – a digital camera that takes good, clear photos, a seller account on eBay, a listing tool to make managing your listings easier, and a PayPal account or merchant credit card account. This last is a new rule intended to make the buyer experience easier.
continue reading "eBay 101: Getting Ready to Sell"

Mama always said that I should wear clean underwear whenever I went out. “You never know what might happen,” she cautioned, warning me that I could get into an accident. It’s that not knowing what might happen that prompted Alexis Martin Neely work with parents on their estate planning and to write Wear Clean Underwear: A Fast, Fun, Friendly - and Essential - Guide to Legal Planning for Busy Parents.

Did you know that roughly 69% of parents have not documented who would raise and care for their children if they weren’t able? It’s not the most cheerful topic to talk about, some might even consider it depressing, but it’s a conversation we should all have with our spouses, our siblings and our parents.  And if you have children, it’s definitely a necessary topic and one that should be considered from all possibilities and well thought out. This book will walk you through the process and leave you with many valuable plans and tools to help both your children and your family should something go wrong.
continue reading "Giveaway: Wear Clean Underwear!"

We’re pleased and honored to announce that ConstantChatter just got picked up by Guy Kawasaki’s latest project, Alltop.com. Alltop.com helps “you explore your passions by collecting stories from “all the top” sites on the web.
continue reading "Welcome to Alltop"

Most people who say they can’t be hypnotized don’t really understand what hypnosis is. Take Joe, for instance. He had been suffering from insomnia for years. When he came into my office, he was skeptical about whether hypnosis could help. He said he didn’t think he could be hypnotized, but that he was so desperate for a good night’s sleep, he would try anything.

I explained that hypnosis is a natural state of mind, where you are neither fully conscious nor asleep. During hypnosis, the body feels extremely relaxed and the mind is open to positive suggestions.
continue reading "So, You Think You Can’t Be Hypnotized?"

Just in time for Mother’s Day, we’ve got a new giveaway. Keep it for yourself or share it with your mother, we won’t tell.

KLEAN has created an easy way for you to group a selection of KLEAN products together in any combination and any scent that you wish…the KLEAN Kit (a $63.00 value). This is a great way to try the different KLEAN bath and body products or create to create a great smelling travel kit.
continue reading "Giveaway: Time to Get KLEAN!"

For many people, the idea of foreign travel carries the thrill of the exotic. When on vacation in some distant locale, they might sigh, “I could stay here forever!” However, most people do not seriously entertain the notion of living abroad. Naturally, there are practical reasons for this: people’s livelihood tends to depend upon the local market; they balk at leaving behind friends and family; those inscrutable foreign languages give them pause. Yet even if those obstacles do not apply, most people do not leap at the chance to move to another country. There is even a trace of disdain, even contempt, for those who abandon their terra patria for foreign shores. Of course, this disapproval is urbanely concealed behind exclamations of admiration and envy for the footloose wayfarer. Nevertheless, there are those who do elect to expatriate themselves. But why leave everything beloved and familiar behind? There follows a list of what are, from what I have seen, the primary reasons behind the choice to live abroad.*
continue reading "The Real Reason I Live Overseas"

Have you considered working from home? Have you wondered how to do it successfully? Well, I can’t even begin to tell you how to work from home, until I paint the picture of my own home office scenario.

My name is Kari Klein and I am the Manager of Global Performance for a technology company in the Boston area. I live in an apartment in Cambridge, with my neighbors Harvard and MIT. My home office is a small room off of our kitchen at the back-end of our apartment. I have a great desk and shelving setup (courtesy of IKEA), of mixed metal and wood. The shelves cover 3 out of the 4 walls, leaving some room for two windows, a closet door and the entryway into my office (no door).

I have an eclectic mix of stuff on my shelving…everything from business books to old magazines and journals that I’m keeping, folders of information that I once thought was important, binders of materials from my recent graduate courses, office supplies, framed photographs and of course, my treasured Red Sox and Celtics keepsakes. Like anyone else who has a home office, I have combined the professional and the personal information into one large blob of stuff that is somewhat organized all over my shelves. Ironically, I usually can locate things in their exact location, so I guess it’s working for me!
continue reading "What It’s Like to Work From Home"

As Spa Week starts today, we thought this would be a great time to delve a little deeper into what to expect when you go to a spa.

Once you arrive at the spa, turn your cell phones, pagers, PDA’s, and any electronic devices all the way off (not vibrate, not silent, but off!) or better yet leave them in the car so you can truly relax and enjoy your spa time. There is nothing more distracting than the sound of a phone ringing, beeping, or vibrating during a treatment. It brings you back into the feeling of stress in your busy lifestyle and is very counter productive to letting go and relaxing. Remember you are not the only one there, and the other clients enjoying their treatments do not want to be disturbed by the outside world either. Also keep your voice down, using what I call your “spa voice” in order to preserve a restful, tranquil environment for everyone - we all know what it can be like when someone talks a bit louder than necessary.

continue reading "What to Expect When You Go to a Spa"