Manage Your Financial Life by Nancy Doyle Review and Giveaway

The full title is Manage Your Financial Life:  A Thoughtful, Organized Approach for Women and it published by The Doyle Group.

The author, Nancy Doyle has 30 years of experience in wealth management, finance, investments, and consulting.  She believes that when it comes to money, independence and objectivity are essential.  She neither works for nor partnered with any financial firms.  She received her MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.  She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Managing Your Financial Life is a debut book for Nancy Doyle.  It addresses a common problem for most women--their financial lives have become complex.  Many women want to have more knowledge regarding their financial affairs, but don't know where to start.

The book is written in 4 parts and 13 chapters and also includes a Preface and Introduction.
Most prefaces and introductions are short, but Doyle's are 19 pages total, leaving nothing out on her reasons and purpose for the book.

Part 1 will help you get organized.  Here is where I really need help, and definitely a first step to getting your finances in order.

Part 2 is how to analyze your financial profile.  Budgeting might be the short word for it as she goes into detail on creating your financial statement, evaluating your cash flow, evaluating your debt, a plan to pay off debt and much more.

Parts 3 and 4 are all about investing.  These are the parts that interest me the most.  Over the years I have wanted to invest.  I've read many books and articles on the subject and always leave confused.  I really like how she explains the terms in simple English.  Each term that you need to know is even in bold as you read.

I appreciate that the book is written to be geared towards women, but I can see that any man would also gain from the book.  I know I intend to read many parts of it out loud with my husband, even though I also intend to use the book for myself to learn how to invest the little that I earn for the future.

To find out more about the book you can visit:  http://manageyourfinanciallife.com/
To read more about the author visit: http://manageyourfinanciallife.com/about

You may purchase the book from amazon:



One lucky Marsha's Spot reader will win their own copy of Manage Your Financial Life.  Just enter using the rafflecopter form below.  Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Disclosure: I rec'd a copy of the book for the purpose of this review and giveaway. I was not compensated in any other way and any and all opinions are my own. Post does contain affiliate links.

WIP Wednesday -- At Least Something Done

I got the yo-yo's back out after putting them to the side too long.  I'm sad that I didn't keep up with my 365 of making 3 each day of the year.
I made several then I bagged them by colors and counted them.   My plan had been to start putting them together but forgot to put in my paper with the measurements that I need and a measuring tape.  Both are now in my box.  The picture is before I separated them, so next week I will show that.

I went to a bunch of yard sales over the weekend and found some needed items for projects.  One of those was a large piece of red felt for my penny rug.  I got to thinking that now it's warmer out and soon hot and I won't want to work on it.  However, I get cold when the air conditioner comes on, so that blanket I am sewing them too will come in handy  LOL
I can't find where I put the bag of extra circles I had cut, but while looking I found a stack of felt.  I'm busy getting more circles cut so that I can start sewing them together and then on to the blanket.

That's all I have to report for this week.  I'm itchin' to be stitchin' so working to find more sewing time!

I link up with the following blogs:


Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- This Week's Savings

Let's see what deals I can find for my readers today.

Looks like you can get English muffins at Target for just $1

English Muffins at Target for $1 with Cartwheel

Blink contacts eye drops for just 49 cents

Blink Contacts Eye Drops at Walgreens for $0.49 with Coupons

Here are some good coupons to print

**************Don't forget today's Friday freebie with Kroger affiliates!

Free Yoplait Dippers & Tortilla Chips for Kroger & Affiliates


Here are some sweepstakes you might want to enter

Win a Dooney & Bourke Purse for You and Your Mom

Win 1 of 5,000 Pairs of Movie Tickets Instantly

Enter to Win a Wireless Canon Printer

Win $500 and a Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes Gift Pack

Good luck!

Where's Kitty? Dot-To-Dot-- Just in Time for National Pet Month in May

Are you up to the challenge of finding Kitty in over 30 global destinations?  

Where's Kitty Dot-To-Dot is one of Thunder Press' newest adult crafting books, published in March 2017.

Each puzzle has over 500 dots, some close to 1,000!  Challenging is a good word for them, but they can also be very relaxing just like the adult coloring books.

Everyone that I showed the book to had the same reaction...."Holy _____".  Fill in the blank with all kinds of words, because that's what I heard.

One friend started the Statue of Liberty as shown on the front cover.  I worked on it a bit too.

My youngest daughter (age 20) completed the Big Ben puzzle.

These are fun, and again, I will say challenging.  The numbers are small, and some overlap each other.  I actually am working on the Holly Wood sign puzzle.  I've had to get out my magnify glass a few times to make sure I was seeing the right numbers.

Do you want to give it a try?  I think this book will make a great gift for yourself, or for any adult on your list.  I also think that teens would really enjoy it.  It might even keep a teen off the gaming system or their phone!





Disclosure:  I rec'd a copy of the book for the purpose of this review.  I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own.  Post does contain affiliate links.

WIP Wednesday-- Quilt Retreat Report

As usual, I had a wonderful time at the quilt retreat and I feel like I got a lot done with all those hours of dedicated sewing time.

The first thing I made sure to get done was my President's block for the outgoing President of our guild.

I then got out the red string blocks and got those finished.  I plan to start putting the quilt together after getting one more color of string blocks made.

I then did some fixing and adding to my guild challenge.  I'm very pleased now with how it is----and it's ONE out of 17 of the 17 UFO's in 2017 that I can actually say is done now.

Then it was time to bite the bullet and finally get this Charming Stars top worked on.  I am pretty proud of myself for sandwiching it and then actually taking the hours it took to machine quilt around each star.  Hopefully I really will finish it in the next couple of weeks.

Last, but not least, I was able to get 2 more rows on to my black and white with a little red quilt.  Again, I didn't have enough black and white to make all of the blocks.  I'm anxious to finish this and really hope that it won't take me until the next retreat to work on it!

Haven't stitched a thing since Saturday night, but cross your fingers for me that I get the yo-yo's out when I am babysitting this week and get some work done on those!

I link up with the following blogs:



Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

Kidecals--Personalized Labels for Both Kids and Adults

When I was going to kidecals.com to place my order, I was wondering, just which of my 11 grandchildren I would get labels for.  
When I arrived on the website I found out that kidecals offers so much more than just labels for your children's items!    Oh, there are plenty of those to choose from, whether you want to mark their belongings for school, camp, sports, or anything else.   About any design you want that fits your child can be found.  The choices seem to be endless.   I had so much fun looking through the site to decide just what I wanted.
I could have gotten a name sticker for each of the 11 grandchildren.  A sticker for their bedroom door, for example.

The site name is kidecals, but don't let that fool you!  There are stickers and decals and labels for everyone--from newborn to parents.
There are labels for every occasion even including canning and organizing.   Elder labels, camp labels, luggage tags, fun stickers and so much more.

 You can order keyboard stickers in so many cool designs (Created for Mac (Apple) keyboards only. Printed on premium quality removable vinyl with a non-residue acrylic adhesive that's ideal for delicate surfaces. Easily removable and won't harm keys).   Unfortunately I don't own a Mac as I would have ordered a set for sure (once I finally made a choice of the many designs available).  Here is just one of the many choices:

I went to the mommy section for my choices.  It was so much fun getting these stickers for my daughters.
My youngest daughter needed this one--fits her perfectly.  It's on her bedroom door, and you better not wake up little Amelia once she gets to sleep!

I bought the hush.....sleeping baby one for my oldest daughter who will give birth to her 6th child in September.  The Property of Mom Hands Off and Property of Scary Mommy I will let each of my 3 daughters have one of each.....and I plan on keeping one for myself.

This sign is just for me and right on too  LOL  (Me and wine is a big joke between myself and my children.)  It's now on my front door.

When you first get to the kidecals website you can sign up for their newletter and will receive 10% off your order.  Special for my readers is a 15% discount for using the code: kidecalslabel.

I also want to mention that the stickers are waterproof, laundry safe, BPA free, and cute!

I hope you check out kidecals and let me know what you think---and what you order for yourself.

Disclosure:  I rec'd gift credit to order products in order to do this review.  I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own.

WIP Wednesday-- Almost a Finish

I finished my challenge quilt for quilt guild, but I can't mark it as finished yet.  There are so many mistakes and I need to rectify those.....especially before it would hang in a quilt show!  The plan is to have a section at the Wichita quilt show next year to display our guild's challenges.
Here is mine, still counting as a WIP since I'm going to work on it more.

Sadly, the only other thing that I managed to work on at all last week (while trying to finish the challenge) was to get one step further on my red string quilt blocks.  Obviously I'm not going to be doing this months color at the soscrappy blog (which isn't really a color, but instead to use up the fabrics that have so many colors you don't know what color they really are)

The good news is that I will be at a quilt retreat Friday and Saturday.  My trunk is packed with my machine, projects, and supplies.  I can't wait for those hours of dedicated sewing time!!


I link up with the following blogs:


Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

Snack Code Extravaganza (US & Canada) Wednesday, April 26!

Who's hungry? Swagbucks is having a "Snack" Code Extravaganza to mark the occasion, which is one of the easiest ways to earn SB! What are SB you ask? SB are points you earn on Swagbucks, a website where you can get gift cards for the things you do online - I've gotten loads of amazon gift codes and paypal as well as Walmart gift cards  with Swagbucks! These are the best days to start! 

It takes place Wednesday, April 26th at 7am PDT and goes until 5pm PDT! All you have to do is look out for the Swag Code notifications, enter the code, and you earn SB (which can be redeemed for gift cards)! There will be 6 Swag Codes throughout the day worth a total of 40 SB! 

Look out for the Swag Codes all over Swagbucks!

Sign up here to grab as many Swag Codes as you can and get your first gift card even faster!

Frugal Friday -- This Week's Deals

I'm going to start out this week with a reminder to get your Friday Freebie from your local Kroger store.  I have actually forgotten for 3 weeks in a row and I just can't believe I have!  My Friday's have been different.  I now have a note on my papers for each Friday.  Today's freebie is a box of Annie's Macaroni and Cheese.

Here is a good deal on Hefty Slider bags at Dollar Tree.  Just 50 cents a box with this coupon.  So far I'm not having any luck finding the products at our Dollar Tree that are supposed to match up with coupons, but I keep looking!  I've printed my coupon out.....wish me luck.

Hefty Slider Bags at Dollar Tree for $0.50 with Coupon

If you have a Winn-Dixie in your area then you won't want to miss this deal:

FREE Suave Professional Shampoo at Winn-Dixie with Coupon

This offer is only good for 2 more days, but it's a good one to get in on!  We love cleaning with the Clorox Disenfecting Wipes.

Free Clorox Scented Disinfecting Wipes with TopCashback

Here are a few sweepstakes you might want to enter:

Win a Samsung Galaxy S8 Smartphone

Win a Burt's Bees Gift Bag from ExtraTV.com

Win an iPad Mini 2

Win a Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Gear

Win 1 of 10 Rachael Ray Cookware Prize Packs worth $227 each

• Sign up for the Petcentric Newsletter today!
• Get all the expert pet care tips and information you want - plus exciting special offers, new product information, and plenty of adorable cat and dog photos.
• Sign up now!

• Print coupon to save $1.00 OFF on any one International Delight Coffee Creamer.

WIP Wednesday -- At Least Something

I didn't end up putting up a post last Wednesday and I just really hadn't gotten anything done.
I sure haven't done much this past week either.
I am way behind on making my yo-yo's now....so much for that 365.  I didn't even think to take a picture of what I do have made.

I did finish one thing this week....not in my 17 UFO's in 2017 challenge.  A lady at the bowling alley requested that I make her bags for her bowling shoes.  Working on the fly with no pattern, they came out pretty well and she loved them.

Last week was sewing day at church and I got just a few more polyester 9 patches done on the top I am hand sewing.

Friday evening was sit n' sew at the quilt shop.  I got out the Arkansas Crossroads quilt top that I've not worked on for months now.  I had to reorganize, but did get 7 more blocks made for it

I have over half of the hand quilting done on my challenge for quilt guild.  This is a must to finish by the end of this weekend as it's due on Monday!  Wish my luck.

I link up with the following blogs:


Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

17 UFO's in 2017: