Check out the Keto in Canada series of blog posts to catch up on what happened during the Keto Reset then watch my first vlog (ever, eek!) detailing the final results of two weeks completely keto while traveling on business.

Would you like to see monthly updates on my weight loss, and specifically keto, journey? Let me know!

Until next time!

I don't know about you but I love reading. I don't have as much time for it as I would like these days unfortunately but there was a time that I had a very large library. Think 'wall of books' in an apartment living room and we'd be in the ballpark. I no longer have all of those books as most were donated to libraries along the way as I moved from place to place over the years (moving is expensive and they charge by weight, yikes!). Buying books can get expensive though so now when I find time to read I typically will look for a cheaper option than purchasing at the bookstore. Often this means electronic reading but if you're a die hard physical books person there are options for you as well.

The most obvious first choice is your local library. Most libraries have online catalogs so you can see- and reserve- your book choices before even heading there but I love looking around at all there is to offer so will often take a gander at the new books area and themed areas when I arrive to pick up my books. With my commute there are also some audio books going into my bag 9 times out of 10 if we're being real. An audio book can be anywhere from 6 hours to 20 or more depending on the book which is longer than when I read them in my comfy clothes on a rainy Saturday like today... but for someone who commutes 3-4 hours minimum per work day that's not long at all and can  provide a much needed change of pace to my morning routine. Getting a library card is easy... just bring in a bill in your name showing you are living in the city and most will accept that as enough. Some do have specific requests on type and number of 'proofs' though so check the website before you head over.

Once you're signed up at your library and are checking out with a nice stack of books, audiobooks, CDs (and maybe the latest Marvel or DC DVD) ask them if they partner with online libraries, inter-loan libraries or other services that can expand your reading potential. The library in my current city is tiny but they have an online library access so I'm able to download books to read or listen directly to my phone or other device for the checkout period. The last library system I was in had multiple locations as well as subscriptions to magazines, journals, e-libraries and more. You never know what they have until you ask. Take advantage of your library system!

Another service I have used over the years are book newsletters. Services like Pixel of Ink, eReaderIQ and Buck Books have regularly published lists of free and cheap books on Amazon. Pixel of Ink in particular sends you an email daily with a new list... you won't be interested in all of them but finding one a week would be pretty simple to do perusing these lists.

If you enjoy reading the classics (or need to read one for a class) check out Project Gutenberg. According to their website,  they have over 57,000 free eBooks including epub books and kindle books. They have just about every classic I can think of for free on their website. You won't find the newest thriller here though as they focus on older works that have expired copywrites. Other options that is similiar is ReadPrint.

More an audio book fan... have you checked iTunes? Not just the paid book downloads (they have those too) you can buy through Apple- or Google, Amazon, and etc. but there are tons of free books out there that have been published as podcasts. The same goes for YouTube! Sometimes an author will post an older audio book on their website and through YouTube in preparation for their newest book release around the corner. I can't even tell you how many hours of content I have gotten through podcasted and streamed audio books... at least 100 in the last couple years alone. If you prefer your books in audio but don't really want to mess with YouTube and podcasting head over to LibraVox for other options.

Need children's books? Done! The International Children's Library and Read have you covered. I used to love listening to books with my Kinders. If that's a love of yours as well (teacher or family) I highly suggest checking out Storyline Online. You'll find quality videos of awesome children's books read by some of your favorite actors there. 

There are literally hundreds of places to find free print and audio books on today's internet from the ones I discussed above to individual publisher's and author websites, browsing the web, trading with friends, and of course... thrift and discount stores. Even your library will occasionally have a book sale with books for under a buck. The one that I was taking a  language lesson at a few weeks back has a perpetual sale of items that are being cycled out of the library as well as donated items from patrons. That sale was 25-50 for paperbacks and $1-2 for hardcovers... hard to beat those prices! 
 
Until next time,

I'm sorry this is so late. It's been a little bit crazy since I got back home. I'll keep this update short and sweet and make up for it with a vlog next week about the final results after the full two weeks which included the second half of the week once I returned home. 

Simply put, this Keto Reset was a success. I had the energy to do as much as I needed most of the days I was traveling- without dips in energy or crankiness. And I am not a morning person, ask anyone. Haha, a little caffeine first thing in the morning to wake up and I was good to go all day. That alone would have been enough of a reason to do this reset but I also lost a nice chunk of weight! 

To recap, I started this reset at 233.2 lbs. Here's what the scale said the morning after I came home...

I'm always looking for new money making apps to review for the blog. Typically I will work for about a month before deciding if I want to keep them on the list of things I will personally use going forward and I never post a review until I've come to that conclusion. I don't want to jump the gun and give you guys bad advice. If you read my monthly financial updates you will have seen that a new logo showed up for August- Poshmark. I tried out Poshmark for the blog and actually sold a couple of items! Woot! 

Poshmark is a clothing resale business with two parts- "Closet" sales and "Boutique" sales. I want to start by saying that I did not start a boutique so cannot give a thorough review of how much you could make by doing so but I think that you can get an idea of the work that would go into running a boutique on the platform to see if you may be interested from my review. I didn't start a boutique for a couple of reasons:

1. I don't have the space for storing bulk clothing items in my current space.
2. I am trying to pay down debt so am avoiding anything with large outlays of cash.
3. I am not interested in starting a clothing boutique... not just a Poshmark boutique but any brand. Clothes just aren't my thing. Looking good is my thing obviously but beyond that I don't really care to be in clothing stores browsing so I definitely don't want to sell clothes. (Shoes though... oh how I love shoes.) Most of my clothes are purchased very selectively when I need to replace something or have an event to purchase for... and most are from discount stores or clearance racks.

When I stumbled across Poshmark it was around 10:00 PM and I should have been sleeping (oh, insomnia... how are you old friend?) but of course I was scrolling through Facebook. I jumped up and decided right then that my closet needed some thinning. I've been losing weight so have plenty of items in my closet that are too big, on the edge of being the wrong size or were pulled out from the last time I was this size and aren't my current style. I found ten items that looked like they could go up on the site based on the items I had seen advertised. Posting was very easy: simply take photos of your items, fill in the descriptor boxes and you're done. I didn't have awesome lighting, mannequins, or an awesome camera but I thought that would make a great test for if the average- non store owner- could make any money reselling items on Poshmark.

I sold a couple of within the first week... and nothing after that. To be fair, I did have to put my closet on vacation hold for a couple of weeks while I was traveling for work so that may have lowered the number of people who looked at my item, Since I wasn't selling as much as I wanted to get rid of I did a lot of research while I was gone both on Poshmark and the internet in general. Here's what I learned during the six weeks, from personal experience and research:

• Photos do matter, a lot. Have good lighting, accurate colors and show any defects up front. Your cover shot should draw people in and 
• Be specific on your listing descriptions.
• Brands matter... if you are trying to sell items that are not brand names you have a lower chance of selling unfortunately (unless its a great deal... I had a belt with no brand on it that sold for $6. Compared to the $28 sale price of my white lace Lane Bryant dress that's a pretty low amount... but still more than at a garage sale! 
• Be prepared to haggle. People on Poshmark want a good deal (who doesn't!?!) so give them a great deal. Put the original sales price in that blank when you can and try to maintain a 50-60% off discount from that price for your asking price.

This dress sold for $28. I earned $22.40 from the sale from Poshmark.

Now into the process of getting a sale. Here is what the app looks like. Once you post an item for sale you will begin "sharing" it to your followers and in "Parties" for people to find and contact you about. Followers aren't just people you know. There are requirements for boutique and ambassadors to meet for number of shares, follows and etc. so you will get an initial influx of followers right away and many will share your items. Sharing someone else's items may inspire them to return the favor as well. Putting a discount on your closet for multiple item discounts may also garner views and increase purchases. The main way of getting attention to your items though is simply sharing them yourself. I was in the app several times a day sharing my items as well as joining parties to share my items too. Long term this isn't something I want to be doing so, while it will stay on my phone and I will continue with a once daily share, I won't be making Poshmark into a large side hustle for myself.

Once you make a sale you simply print off the prepaid label (the buyer has purchased shipping of your item through Poshmark), wrap the item in pretty paper for a better review, possibly add a quick note to the the buyer and send it off through priority mail. The most money you will spend here is in the wrapping and note as everything else is paid for. Make sure that you use a priority mail box so that it doesn't get sent back or you have to pay for a box. Priority shipping boxes are available for free at the US Post Office. 

 TheYou have three days to ship your items but I suggest you do it as soon as possible so that you get a higher review. Nobody wants to wait longer than they have to for something they bought- myself included!

You do not receive your part of the purchase price until it has been received and accepted by the buyer. They have three days from receipt to do this or Poshmark will automatically accept it for them. This gives the buyer a change to inspect your item(s) for damage and ensure it matches the description. When they accept it they will give you a 5 star review that will let other buyers know that you are a good seller to buy from and funds will be available within about 24 hours for you to either purchase clothing from the app or request a direct deposit to your bank. Sneaky sneaky Poshmark, you know that we like clothes so you let us use our earnings in app... nope, not me! I had them send me the money so that it could be used  towards my financial goals. The whole process from purchase to money in my bank took a little over a week due to shipping and waiting for the buyer to accept the items.

I wouldn't use this method if you need money tomorrow but if you have clothes that you need to get rid of and don't mind giving it a little time and effort its certainly worth a try! 

If you want to try out Poshmark please use my referral code "songbirdheather". You and I will both get $5 to spend in the app when you do. It's not cash in our pockets but it is free money towards already discounted quality items. Yes please! They have cute stuff on there (after all, its people like you and me on there selling) and I keep finding stuff I want, I know you will too. Until next time, ciao!

​Here's the first couple of items that are in the exchange store currently. The biggest one that I currently see available is a $50.00 e-gift card to Amazon.

September has officially arrived so it's time for a financial journey update. In this series you join me in tracking my side hustle income, debt payoff, notable savings moments (or downfalls) and more. August was a really good month on this journey as I was able to pay off over $1,000 in debt!

​First up... side hustle income. For tracking purposes, only income that hits my accounts during the month is counted here rather than income earned that I will receive at a later time.

This month didn't see a lot of extra side income hit my bank account but I did have an 'extra' paycheck come in. My employer uses a biweekly system which means that I receive 26 paychecks per year. This was a pain to figure out how to budget for at first but now I find that it works much the same as a semi-monthly (or any other) budget... simply budget for what you need to pay before you get paid again! Since my budgeting & debt payoff is still in its infancy after restarting I was not able to take full advantage of having an extra check since I needed most of it to pay my early September bills. I anticipate feeling the 'extra' check surplus a bit more in September for this reason.

Notable Savings
The first things I did this month was cancel a couple of subscriptions that I simply didn't need. 

• Ipsy: $10.83
• DirecTV Now: $10.83

I don't have cable, and haven't for years, but I do subscribe to both Netflix and Hulu as well as Amazon Prime- though not for the TV & movie part of the subscription, that's just a perk- so I really don't have a need for DirecTV. Especially with my current schedule, its not being utilized enough to justify the monthly expense. Ipsy was simply a need verses want discussion with myself. That nearly $11 per month translates to $129.96 annually that could be helping me accomplish my goal. Little bits here and there add up quickly so I cancelled the subscription. Between the two I saved $21.66 per month going forward or $259.92 annually that's going straight towards making my financial goals a reality.

The next item on my to do list this month was to lower my phone bill. I was getting pretty frustrated seeing my 'unlimited' plan slowly creep up in cost each month- not by a lot but a consistent increase nonetheless- so when the advert for a plan similar to the one I am already on but cheaper came up I jumped. While in the store I also inquired about cancelling the data plan I have on my tablet. Unfortunately that later was not possible without fees (always read the fine print people, I obviously missed something when reviewing the terms of purchase) so I simply lowered the data plan and manually turned off the data usage on my tablet so that I won't go over. The net result of my visit was $11.40 savings on my next bill with a larger chunk to be saved going forward. 

The final thing that saved me a substantial amount of money this month was actually my last minute business trip. While the trip was exhausting and meant not attending an event I was really looking forward to as well as rescheduling two doctor's appointments I count it as a success. I learned a ton, we accomplished quite a bit and I was able to make a little progress towards my goal as an added bonus. A win for sure! Since I wasn't in town and therefore needing to drive into the office or around town on errands I was able to save money on both fuel and tolls in August. Further, I was able to slim down my food and entertainment budget lines. There was a few hundred dollars saved here!

Progress Update
OK, progress update time! This month was great, as you read at the beginning I was able to pay off over $1,000 in debt this month. Here's the stats:

Student Loan Principle: -$204.92
Car Loan Principle: -$352.21
Credit Card Debt Change: -$709.56

My assets went up by $381.92 this month through retirement and home purchase savings plans. Both are quite small at the moment as most of my money is going towards debt to get my credit score as awesome as I can before I purchase a home. 

My net worth is still negative but went up $1,606.63 and my credit score by 2​ points. *