It’s the end of the year, which is a time I like to look forward instead of back. That means looking at my social media schedule, as well as the things I know I will have going on with my life. I also need to take other things into consideration: specifically, my elderly parents and their growing neediness. I need to look at my reality.

So there will be a few changes to my social media presence in  2019. Nothing too drastic, but changes that I hope will make managing my social media easier and quicker so I can focus more on the writing.

Happy New Year!

The darkness is about to fade, little by little each day, allowing the light to return to our lives.

Don’t be frugal with your light. Don’t be frugal with your love.

December is one of those months where it seems like there is no time to:

• A) sleep
• B) breathe
• C) recuperate

When you know there is going to be a stretch of time that is going to require massive chunks of your life, it’s smart to schedule down time. I have a lot of friends who are really into the holidays and who make themselves crazy with baking, decorating, trying to create perfect memories–and they’re too frazzled to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Here are a few time-saving tips:

• Say no. There are things to which you cannot say no, like your children’s holiday performances. But you don’t need to go to every party. If you feel you must, put in enough time to say “Hi” and “Bye” to your host, then leave.
• Cheat. I have lots of little cheats, from using frozen chopped onions in my cooking, to buying my pies from the local bakery. I don’t need to make/do everything myself. Plus you’re giving work to someone else, helping them pay for their holiday. That’s a good thing.
• Use a spreadsheet to keep track of ingredients for holiday baking and holiday meal planning. It really is helpful.
• Use Google Spreadsheets for gift giving. Each person contributes a wish list, which is shared with everyone. As gifts are purchased, the purchaser deletes the wish. Still anonymous but no chance of duplication.
• Online shopping. Amazon has to pay its employees the same as your favorite brick and mortar retailer has to pay theirs. The difference is that there are fewer employees. However, UPS, USPS, and sometimes FedEx all benefit from online shopping. You save gas and aggravation.

My husband likes movies. He was a cinema major in college. He buys movies. Nearly every week, a package comes in the mail. More movies! We will never be able to watch all the movies in our house that are still in their cellophane in our lifetimes. We’re too busy trying to watch what’s on the DVR so he can record more.

Me? When there’s a movie I really want to see, I check the library’s website. That way, my tax dollars continue to work for me, I’m supporting a wonderful service to the community, and I don’t have to find a place to store the DVD after I’ve finished watching the movie.

I’m a voracious reader. But I’ve become very selective about what I purchase, as I have run out of space for books. Yes, I have an e-reader. Right now, I have three of them, not counting my Kindle for PC. Doesn’t matter. It makes more sense to borrow a book from the library. I can download from both my local library system and the New York City Public Library system.

Using the library costs me nothing but my tax dollars, which I have to pay anyway. Why not take advantage of it?

The #UpbeatAuthors theme for the month of December is thriftiness. It’s a timely enough topic, what with the major gift-giving season upon us.

My family–parents, sibs, nieces/nephews–came up with a way to have holiday fun without breaking the bank.  Once a person hits the age of 21, there are no more individual gifts. They become part of what we call a White Elephant. I don’t know if what we do is a true white elephant, but we have rules and we have fun. The point is, no one goes broke buying gifts for everyone. After the final unwrap and stealing has happened, we then try to guess who purchased the gift we ended up with.

The true joy comes from finding a gift that everyone wants to steal. (There’s a limit on how many times an item can be stolen.) And no one goes broke.