Guest Post from "Smile As It Happens": " What to know: From Military to Civilian Life"

I hope everything had a fabulous Fourth and is ready to enjoy the weekend!

Today I am collaborating with Emma Banks, from Smile As It Happens.

Emma is a military spouse who contacted me and offered to write a post with some of her military insight on some of the difficulties of, as well as myths concerning, making the transition from military life to civilian life, particularly in regard to finding and keeping employment. In Emma's words: "The article discusses the importance of helping our country’s service members find employment either during station changes, or once they have either finished their active service, or become disabled while serving and thus been forced to end active duty."

Emma currently seeking a career in life and career coaching and she has some really helpful tips on the matter of going from military back to civilian:

What to Know: From Military to Civilian Life

Here are four myths that, if you buy into them, may kill your confidence in finding a post-military career. I’m here to counter these myths with truths that will make sure that you are as prepared as possible to be successful in your post military transition.

Myth #1: It is difficult to find non-military jobs after spending so many years in the service.

Truth: As a veteran, there are many jobs that you are more than qualified for. There are programs available that are designed to help you in your job hunt. A group called 100,000 Jobs Mission works specifically to provide information on open positions that former military will be well qualified for. This resource also provides job outlook, qualifications needed and salary expectations.

 

Myth #2: Most companies do not care about applicants.

Truth: While employers are definitely looking out for their own interests, they do care about potential employees. Just as you are attempting to make a good impression on your potential employer, the company similarly desires to impress you and make applying for a job as easy as possible. In order to streamline the application process many companies have started to partner with services like JIBE, a mobile recruiting company. These services allow you to upload your resume and various job-related documents instantly from your smartphone or tablet.

 

Myth #3: There are not any companies that are specifically looking to hire veterans.

Truth: Many companies are looking to hire former military members. Companies that are run on-base such as military credit unions or insurances are a great place to start looking. Additionally, several websites annually list companies that specifically look to hire veterans. Among those are GI Jobs and Military Friendly. Visiting these sites regularly will keep you up-to-date with the latest job availability and will help you in your quest for future employment.

Myth #4: Job seekers do not need to promote themselves to prospective employers.

Truth: Even though veterans are highly sought after in the civilian world, it is still very important that you, as the interviewee, sell yourself. Mention any awards and promotions you have received and what you have accomplished during your time in service. Remember, you are most likely one of several people who want the same job, and making sure the potential employer hears about all you accomplished is necessary to give yourself the best chance at employment.

Emma is a mid 20-something year old with a passion for life, love, fitness, and helping others. She loves to be active and get involved in as many sport and community activities as possible. Emma is currently studying to become a Career & Life Coach, and loves to network with people from around the world! Check out Emma’s blog at http://smileasithappens.blogspot.com/! 

Thanks, Emma! Check out her blog for more tips and show her some love! I hope those that info is helpful to some of you! My husband is still active duty air force, but in the not-so-far future he will be making that ever-so-important transition and I bet some of these tips and truths will be helpful to us as well!

Stay tuned for my future guest post on Emma's blog! I'm working on a great summer-time recipe post for her and her readers! Coming soon!


*All article content: Emma. All photo content: my own.

Hiking Point Defiance

My husband had the day off on Friday so we took a nice long hike/walk in the beautiful Washingtonian woods. We had visited Point Defiance Zoon and Aquarium Park in the past, but on Friday we got to finally explore the gorgeous Point Defiance Park. 700 acres of water, wildlife and old growth forests (including huge sequoias!). They also have several beautiful gardens, as well as recreational fields and boat rentals in the marina (excited to go back and try those!). It was absolutely lovely. And I hauled my camera the entire way.

We started with a nice picnic lunch and then headed onto a trek through the woods...

 Apparently if you follow a specific trail you can hike the park in about 5 miles/2 hours. However, we only sort of followed the trail and made lots of our own, so overall we had something like a 7 mile hike which took us 4 hours. And it was glorious! I'm so very glad to have someone to explore miles of woods with me!

 

Thrifty Thinkin': On Eating, Food Budgets and Couponing, Etc...

When I moved out here in December, finally able to live with my husband and do exciting dreadful things like grocery shopping I had utterly no idea how much food two people would need in a week, or a month, or a day for that matter, or what a food budget for 2 people trying to eat reasonably healthy should look like. And I loathed grocery shopping, which didn't help much.

I grew up in a frugal family. But I knew not-too-much about grocery shopping. I am good at money saving, but rarely did my homeschooled past teach me about buying grocery staples for two. When there are 10 people in your family it is not common practice to shop in a grocery store, you see. My mom shopped in bulk 98% of the time- Sam's Club, B.Js, etc and belonged to Natural Food Co-ops where food came by the crate. I don't know what my family's food budget was, but come checkout time it was usually $200-$300 + for a single trip.

This left newlywed me slightly confused: what does like...1 item, such as a jar of salsa cost...instead of like 15 of them. How much milk do two people need; probably not like 5 gallons a week. Only my husband eats meat; how much meat does he eat? And on and on...also, I had no idea how to cook for only two people, but that's another story.

Disclaimer: I am still newly married, only 22, and truly probably have no idea about anything. But I'm learning and this post is simply a reflection of those recent learnings.

I live on an Air Force base and I do all my shopping at the commissary here (with an occasional natural food store or farmer's market trip). It is close, convenient, tax free (sale tax in WA is over 9%). Every month my husband and I are allotted ~$348.00 as our allowance for food (aka: "BAS"- we love a good acronym for everything...). Initially, I had no idea if that was enough for two people. Was I supposed to spend all of it? Half of it? Was it only half of what I needed for us?

The first couple shopping trips I was baffled. The first couple months I was way over our BAS. But every month since December I have whittled down our food budget (in our defense, the first month or two we had NOTHING and had to buy all the basic staples. Items like ketchup, all the spices known to man, baking powder and salt. Now we are well stocked).

I have now discovered that our $348 a month toward food is MORE than enough and we are able to put a large chunk of that into savings each month. I aim to keep a well stocked pantry and freezer, and always make sure we have enough fresh foods for a week or so. The pantry and fridge are kept clean and organized so we (I) know what we have.

We don't have a specifically set food budget other than I'll be in trouble if I go over $348, but I try to keep each shopping trip (3 per month) at $80 or less. Meaning, at most $240 a month, which is a savings of about $100 out of our allotted amount. I try and keep the month spending between $200 and $240. That works for us and a newlywed couple (with one furbaby). Obviously this is a slightly different number than what it would be if I was not shopping tax free (and commisary prices are a tad cheaper as well), but hopefully this gives you an idea.

Here is what I have learned in the last couple months of being the chief grocery shopper and cook:'

1. Make a list. Better yet, make the list and bring it with you. And use it. Cross items off as you go. And don't buy extra stuff unless it is extremely justifiable (if I see they are having a sale on a nonperishable/something we eat regularly, I will stock up. Things like that.) I use a pen and paper, but there are also Apps which you can download for grocery lists. Trying to shop without a list is just asking for troubles. You will forget things. You will buy other things you don't need. And then you will have to make another trip to get the stuff you forget, and subsequently buy more things you don't need. Which leads to...

2.The more trips you make, the more you will spend. Simple Concept. I am amazed by some people who can do one grand shopping trip for the entire month. You can save a lot that way, but it also requires a lot of freezer space, which I do not have. I have managed to knock my trips down to 3 times a month, rather than weekly though. I try and plan what I need for meals in advance and shop for a week and halfs worth of food. I am able to freeze some fresh produce and I freeze all of our breads, bagels, etc, as well as our meats so everything keeps as long as possible.

3. Don't bring my husband. Generally he and I are happy to do any boring/tortuous activity together. However, grocery shopping it better alone. He is a bit of a whiner. He is also one to add things to my cart not on my list. Plus, if he is there I am distracted and I forget things. I love him whole-heartedly but it is better to just leave him out of this one.

4. The more junk food I manage to purchase, the more we will eat. This is more of a health tip than a shopping/frugality tip. I have simply noticed if that we have 4 bags of reese's in the pantry they will be eaten up very quickly. If they aren't in the house, we cannot eat them in ridiculous amounts. Simple.

5. Try and shop the outer aisles the most, and the inner ones sparingly. Most of my shopping trips consists of fresh produce, or things like eggs, milk and meat. I try and limit our processed foods in takes pretty seriously. Yes, those items are cheap and on sale, but it isn't worth it for what it can do to my health. I don't buy any freezer meals, premade-anything or ready-made mixes. Convenience costs, always. It may take a bit of time and effort, but making foods from scratch can save a ton! I am not one to try and stick to a diet or certain way of eating, but we try and eat as much fresh, whole, unprocessed, clean, good-for-us food as possible. I always try to make sure that the items in the cart are in majority healthy. Fresh veggies are actually cheaper than microwave meals!!

6. Don't shop on a military pay day: the commissary is a nightmare. This is just a military side tip. I've also learned I much prefer shopping on a weekday afternoon (usually Tuesdays) than I do a weekend or evening. It's a lot calmer; I already hate shopping without having to play bumper-carts with other shoppers. This works with my currently unemployed schedule and it means I get to spend more time on the weekend with my husband. Matter of preference.

7. Buy in bulk, but only when it makes sense. As I mentioned, I know all about shopping in bulk. I can compare unit prices like a boss (a price comparing boss...). However, there are only two of us. Shopping in bulk only make sense if you can eat the item in the amount of time that it is still fresh/ you won't be sick of it from having to eat it daily. I buy all my baking items, flour etc, in the largest quantity available at your average grocery store. I buy large quantities once a month of chicken and beef and carefully freeze it. When buying items like, tomato sauce, I buy the largest jar and keep it in the fridge after opening. Today I bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes (we love 'em!) for 99 cents. If we can eat it before it goes bad then yes, we buy it in bulk. I never want to be throwing out rotten or expired food because I bought too much of it; that isn't savings at all!

8. USE COUPONS! Yes, I am a couponer. Not like *those ones on TV*. Just...a practical one. Couponing for healthy foods is a little tricky. Generally if a company is big enough to offer manufacturer's coupons then they are probably not the best for you. A lot of the stuff is processed and has an eternal shelf-life. However, when possible, I use coupons.

I love Coupons.com. You select coupons you'd like and print them at home. I also use (exclusive to military) the Commisary Rewards program, which allows me to select and load coupons to my Commissary Rewards card to be scanned at checkout. I don't get a newspaper, but my kind mother sends me nice notecards full of clipped coupons from home that she thinks I might like. It's fabulous.

I am not getting food for free and I don't have any sort of "stock pile" going, like the TV couponers, but I do save money every trip. Usually only like $5 (off products like Coconut Milk, shredded cheese and bacon), which may seem small, but it adds up. Since beginning my shopping adventures in December I have saved, to date $81.00 in coupons. For us, that is equivalent to 1 weeks worth of food paid for in coupons. And that makes me happy. I have a goal to save at least $200 in coupons by this years end. Again, it is not a lot, but it counts.

I bought a shopping list with file-folder type pockets at Target and I use that for all my list making and couponing needs. In the back I keep a tally of what I spend per month and what I've saved in coupons. It works for me!

Hopefully this post winds up helpful to someone. I've learned a lot, but I am still going to keep learning and trying to better perfect our food spending each month!

*end note: I grocery shop with a debit card. Yes, paying cash is a great technique to keep to a budget, but I am pretty good as calculating costs in my head and making sure I stick to my desired amount. We never, ever shop with a credit card as we are determined to live debt free! We do have a couple, but rarely are they used and they are always paid off by the month's end.

*end note 2: I am not really sure how this effects our budget, but I only buy meat for 1 person-my husband- as I am a vegetarian. I do buy some Morning Star and Boca-type products but I try and get my protein elsewhere. I would *imagine* this keeps our costs down as well.

*end note 3: we rarely, rarely eat out, save for the occasional Friday date night. At most, I'd say twice a month. I enjoy cooking homemade, and JoJo likes eating it. This saves us a lot. We do go out, we are able to use what we are saving on our food budget for a nice dinner.

*the end for real.

Hand-Painted Art for My Kitchen: "Where You Invest Your Love..."

This post has been a long time coming. This project was finished a couple weeks ago, but I was waiting to get it hung up (with the help of my husband) before posting.

As you know, I live in a little cook-cutter, white walled, baby house on an Air Force Base. Base housing is far from character-filled...in fact it is a little stark white and very un-personal. We are allowed to paint or hang stuff, but it must be returned to the state we found it in upon leaving, which being in the military, you never can be sure when that will be. Someday we will live in an old house, full of charm and character, but for today we don't. For now, I am trying to make my little baby house as homey, charming and personal as I can without investing to much into it, as it is, after all, only temporary (only probably a year or so).

We were able to purchase plenty of furniture for our house together and now I am left with the task of doing the little ("girly") tasks of decorating. I'm not a huge fan of white walls, and white walls without art are super sad. I, however, have trouble finding art that I like within our budget, so I have therefore be doing the DIY thing (which I do anyway but..).

About a month back on a weekend, my husband and I were at his shop (he works in a Civil Engineering Squadron doing Structures). They have a bin of junk wood and scraps. He was throwing some stuff in there when I spotted this...cabinet door-like thing...

I am still not sure what it was. Looks like a cabinet door, but it has 6 weird little hooks on it, and no signs of and hinges ever being there so...it's a mystery. But I liked it. It looked like it wanted to be painted on. I waited another week of it being in the scrap bin before I ..*pilfered* it for my own.

I decided on painting some of my favorite song lyrics on it. "WHERE YOU INVEST YOUR LOVE, YOU INVEST YOUR LIFE." (Mumford and Sons: Awake, My Soul). If I was the sort to get tattoos, that would already be on me somewhere, but as I am not quite that sort I figured painting it as art for my kitchen was a close substitute. I pondered getting some stencils to make the letters crisp and precise, but that is not really indicative of myself. Instead, I free handed it. I did pencil in some lines to help keep it all straight- I have an horrible inability to make straight lines without ruler guidance.

 Lyrics alone don't make a painting for me, so I bordered it in some Hungarian-inspired flowers. Hungary has some gorgeous embroidery which has always been part of decorating my family's home (my grandfather was from Hungary and one of my sisters is adopted from there), so I decided to bring some into mine.I am incapable of embroiderying such beauty, but painting it is fun.  I considered painting flowers to also mimic Polish paper art (called Wincynanki), to honor my Polish heritaged husband. But it is incredibly detailed and when I practiced on other paper my flowers looked awful in paint, so I scratched that plan and stuck with my own roots. When I finished my couple days of painting it, I sealed it with spray varnish.

I am pretty pleased with how it came out. It's unique, I think. That's probably why I like it so much. JoJo helped me get it screwed into our kitchen wall and it now is hanging over our little dinning area. Just one more little bit of homey charm to our house!

Still a little stark and sad, but getting happier! If you can't tell, I'm a fan of color. You can't see the rest of my kitchen in this photo, but all the colors present in the flowers are basically the color scheme of my kitchen. Anything with a folksy print, bright color, or vintage vibe is welcome. I suppose salvaged cabinet door wall art fits in nicely.

 

And that's all my phone has to say about that:

Saturday we spent the day with my husband's public speaking class.

The kind professor is also a local pastor, and he brought the class out of their classroom and to his church to use the mic in a big space. Then he had us all to his beautiful home and fed us. Not like the usual hot dog cook out- an entire Salmon! I brought cookies.

 

Customary never-ending fascination with boxes which all cats possess.

 

Knitting a blanket.

I've crocheted many, but knitting is much slower going for a project this big. Been at it for months and only 45 squares in. By fall I WILL have a nice Queen sized stripey blanket. I love how it looks so far!

 

This mama's boy has to get himself into everything I do. He is such a good helper.

 

Been learning to drive stick on my new (used) car. Finally, we are a two vehicle family!

Husband bought it from a friend relocating to Japan.

 It's a Teal 1996 Nissan 200sx. (haven't gotten pictures, but this one here is what it looks like)

 I tried to learn driving standard at age 17 and failed but I'm happy to say with my husbands help I'm doing much better this time around and there has been minimal stalling.

Also, my previous driving experience has been my family Suburban, my Durango, and my husband's Dodge Ram. A little car is a new thing to me. 40 mpg is nice though!!

 

Tip: don't make the same mistake we did. You don't need both a cat and a paper shredder.

 Most cats are willing to help with shredding (not being serious, but he sure is a good shredder)

 

Been dehydrating fruits in my oven (post to come).

I think they are super delicious. JoJo does not.

 

Meal planning: it is a good thing. But we are pretty routine people. Tacos on Tuesday, Breakfast for Dinner on Wednesday and Fishes on Fridays. Only have to get extra creative on Monday and Thursday. It works for us. (and yes, we do eat on the weekend, but I don't try and plan it.)

Somehow the Word of God always seems to make more sense and impact me more when I am outside.
Ive been talking walks in the lovely weather (praying as I go- something my friend Jeri taught me)down to a pond on base and doing my study (this one from my church!) there.
I always take notes and doodle when I read the Bible. It just works for me.

seriously wish I could sleep in a literal ball like this.

out for a spring time walk. Finally some sunshine around here! Weather in the 60's!
 (anyone know what type of tree this is? blossoms were all...fluffy and pompom-y...not a cherry tree?)

Not sure how it got there but a section of our garden area by the front door is FULL of mint (because mint will do that. it takes over everything). Brought some inside and been making tea!
 

Blinds are super ugly, but a nice sunset peaking through makes them a little bit better.

 

 

**Wanna apologize if these posts are super random, but they are more for the benefit of my folks back home than anything else. Hope they aren't annoying you too much. Just try and tolerate me and my excessive cat photos, please.

Cat Comics: "Please pet me so I may then bite you" addition

Cat logic cannot be argued with any more than it can actually be explained. Here is a display of "please pet my belly...oh this is so nice...nevermind... *bitebitebitekickkick*" cat logic as displayed by Trinkilo.

(to see better:)

And that is that, people.