Time for a New Year! Time for a New You!

Each New Year, one in three Americans vows to make new year resolutions that better their lives with a fresh start. We talked to lifestyle expert, Emily Kaufman, about how to make changes in your finances, make a difference, and make more your of free time.

Question: Are people looking to get a fresh start on their personal finances this year?

Emily: After the holidays, finances are on everyone’s mind especially if you were overly generous and charged a lot of gifts on credit cards, but that holiday debt can start to feel like a crushing weight.

So, if you’re looking to get your finances in order in the new year, I suggest consolidating your debt at a lower interest rate and into one monthly payment with a personal loan from LendingClub. Their customers save almost $300 dollars a month on average and that’s money you can put into savings to re-invest in yourself. If you apply with someone who has even better credit than you like a spouse or friend, you could qualify for a larger loan or a lower interest rate. To find out more, go to LendingClub.com.

Question: What’s a great way to make a difference in the new year?

Emily: I think a lot of people want to help change lives and one of the most powerful and personal ways to do that is sponsoring a child through World Vision.  Your gift of $39 a month not only helps a child, but also their community with access to life-changing resources like healthcare, education and child protection.

You also have the opportunity to get to know your child personally through progress updates and letters.  It’s such a positive step to make a difference in the new year.  You can find out more at WorldVision.org.

Question: What are some of the most popular New Year Goals that can change your life in 2018?

Emily: Some of the most popular News Years Resolutions are spend more time with your family, take better care of yourself, and to travel more.  If any of these are on your list I’ve got the perfect place for any or all of those things – Huntington Beach California.  Known as surf city USA- this ocean front destination is filled with options for healthy living with active options like stand up paddle boarding, bike riding, yoga on the beach, beach volleyball and of course surfing.

Huntington Beach, California.

There are plenty of spas to choose from where you can pamper yourself – and if your family includes dogs, you can bring them along because Huntington Beach is super dog friendly with their hotels and dog beach. Go to SurfCityUSA.com to learn more.

Have a Happy New Year!

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Household Problem Solvers and Easy Ways to Save Time & Money

Many family budgets are squeezed to the max. Grocery bills are increasing, gas prices are on their way back up, and keeping the family connected is costing a small fortune. Lifestyle expert, Emily Kaufman, has some problem solvers for the household budget and shares some solutions including easy ways to save – from how to get the most value for your mobile phone to apps to help you save time and money to easy ways to eat healthy when you’re pressed for time with today’s busy lifestyles.

Use Your Tax Refund to Save on Your Monthly Wireless Bill. According to a national survey conducted by Straight Talk Wireless, nearly 70 percent of taxpayers anticipate they’ll get a tax refund of $500 or more and 80 percent consider tax season as a time to think about ways to save money. In fact, monthly wireless spending is an area where Americans want to save more money with 25 percent stating this is a big expenditure they would like to reduce. One way to maximize your tax refund and cut back on expenses is by switching your wireless phone plan. Straight Talk Wireless has the latest wireless devices and a no-contract plan with Unlimited Talk, Text and the first 3GB of data at high speed for just $45 per month. You can get their phones and service plans exclusively at Walmart. Find out more at straighttalk.com.

Smartphones are Your Ticket to Savings. Smartphones are a great tool that can save you time and money and here are a three FREE apps for you can get for your iPhone or Android that do just that. Grocery iQ is a must-have app for busy families or for anyone trying to keep their grocery budget under control. You can you build grocery lists by searching through tons of products and use voice recognition or barcode scanning. Also, RetailMeNot puts thousands of coupons in your pocket for hundreds of stores and you don’t have to print them, just show your phone at the register. Finally, gas prices can be a major headache and the GasBuddy app finds the cheapest gas prices closest to you and the app remains extraordinarily up-to-date on your best gas deals.

New Smart Way to Eat Healthy On The Go. If you want an easy and healthy​ snack for busy lives on the go, Crispy Fruit is a convenient grab ‘n go option that’s 100% natural and kids and adults love them. It is a single-ingredient crunchy fruit snack option with less than 55 calories per serving and comes in seven flavors including Apple, Banana, Mango, Pineapple, Asian Pear, Cantaloupe, and Tangerine. Crispy Fruit is Non-GMO Project Verified, has a light, crispy texture and, since it’s freeze-dried, there are no preservatives. Since you know I travel a lot, I love that it is also TSA friendly and you can toss in your carry-on, purse, backpack, or gym bag. they’re just $1.50 a bag and you can get then at local stores or online at CrispyGreen.com.

Positive Changes & Fresh Start Solutions for a New Year and a New You

Each new year brings new opportunities for positive change and lifestyle expert, Emily Kaufman, has some ideas to get a fresh start with a brand new year from finance to health and other lifestyle changes for you and your family.

Get a Fresh Start on Personal Finances in 2015. According to the recent Bank of America & USA Today Better Money Habits Millennial Report, even though 80% of millennials 18 to 34 think they’ll be better off or the same as their parents, the majority say they are actually living paycheck-to-paycheck and many are falling short when it comes to saving. To get your financial life on the right path this year, Bank of America and Khan Academy have partnered to design a free website that takes the complexity out of personal finance at BetterMoneyHabits.com. The site has short videos that make personal finance topics easy to understand plus some hands-on tools for your personal financial goals. Content is organized around goals, such as reducing credit card debt or getting ready for tax season, so it’s relevant to what you want to achieve. You can get started on your desktop, tablet or mobile device.at BetterMoneyHabits.com.

Good Health is About Much More Than the Scale. Losing weight is always one of the top resolutions on everyone’s list whether it’s five pounds or fifty, but good health is more than just diet and Sam’s Club wants you to take control of your health this year. That’s why they’re offering a free health screening open to the public on Saturday, January 10th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help people keep their New Year health goals. The free screening is valued at $250 and tests health indicators like your blood pressure, body mass index and cholesterol levels. This is one of 10 free screenings that Sam’s Club offers nationwide throughout the year from now through October that cover a wide range of tests to help assess and manage your health. You can find out more at SamsClub.com.

Get Kids on Track to Healthy Eating with Fruits and Veggies Disguised as Snacks.   New Year’s resolutions for better health are not just for adults. Most parents want to make sure that they’re kids are eating more fruits and vegetables in the New Year and what better way to that than to give them fruits and veggies disguised as snacks. Bolthouse Farms Kids™ Fruit Tubes are real fruit puree blends in squeezable, slim tubes with no added sugar or preservatives. You can eat them chilled or frozen and they come in two flavors: Mango Meets Banana & Pineapple and Strawberry Meets Banana. You’ll find them in produce sections at grocery stores nationwide including WalMart and Giant Eagle for just $3.99 for 10 fruit tubes. Bolthouse Farms Kids™ also has fruit smoothies and veggie snackers that have NO added preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup, or artificial flavors. You can find out more at Bolthouse.com.

Finally, don’t forget that the most important secret for succeeding at your new year goals is to get started and stick with it. It’s the sum of the little things you do everyday toward your goals that help you achieve your plans.

New Year: Positive Solutions for Busy Lives

Jodie Watson

It’s a new year and it’s time to focus on making some positive changes to our busy lives.  Instead of letting life control you, it’s time to take control of your life and achieve the goals to improve your health, career, finances, self-esteem and more.  This is the time of year that everyone looks for solutions to everyday issues and problems that can make you healthier physically, financially, and more in the coming year but have fun too. Author Jodie Watson has some helpful tips today in all these areas so let’s start with fun

Make travel easy with new App from Expedia. If you’re looking to save time and money when making travel or vacation plans, think about travel the same way you bundle your phone, internet and cable together to save money.

At Expedia, you can book your flight and hotel at the same time and save up to $525. Another tip for taking the stress out of our busy lives is to take advantage of the chance take a short trip when travel deals come up.  Expedia’s mobile app makes being spontaneous easy by helping you find a hotel for that weekend getaway quickly and saving you up to 40 percent on your room. Go to Expedia.com for all the details.

Don’t let a busy schedule derail your weight loss goals.  With the new year, almost everyone has a resolution to shed a few pounds and Atkins is an option for quick and easy weight loss.

Atkins is the leading low-carb eating plan that provides quick, satisfying weight loss with an easy to sustain approach to stick to those goals in the New Year. The New Atkins Made Easy book simplifies the traditional diet with tools like its Carb Ladder that helps navigate through the plan ensuring weight-loss without feeling hungry. If you’re on-the-go, the book has shopping lists, easy recipes, and meal plans plus tips for dining out.  They also have new low-carb, sugar-free, bite-sized Chocolate and Chocolate Peanut candies so you can satisfy cravings without the guilt. For a FREE Quick Start Kit and download the app for smartphones and iPads Go to Atkins.com.

New tools to mange your personal finances. You can get simple tips for better money management with easy to understand videos at BetterMoneyHabits.com, a site that Bank of America and Khan Academy have set up to help you better understand your credit, saving, budgeting, and more.

You’ll learn that it’s all about taking small steps, like paying those bills on time!  This habit will strengthen your credit score, which is your financial identity. A better credit score makes things like getting a car loan easier and less expensive.   Also, set a budget. This sounds simple, but so few people actually put a budget together and live by it.

Jodie Watson is single working mom and an organizational expert who knows all about helping clients with a fresh start by advising them on how to let go of the old systems that aren’t working and usher in new solutions. She is the Founder and President of Supreme Organization and was a regular on Real Simple, Real Life, a lifestyle make-over show on the TLC Network where she helped women identify their day-to-day organizational challenges. Jodie offers realistic solutions that save money, save time, clear the chaos, and make lives less stressful and more manageable.  After working in the entertainment industry for many years including Joan & Melissa River’s Rugby Productions, she launched Supreme Organization in 2005.  She’s a member of the National Association of Organizers (NAPO), Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPO, & has a roster of celebrity clients.