How I Can Control Small Expenses

Personally, it is really easy for me to control my small expenses. At the moment I’m trying my best to save every penny to buy a good quality camera. So, technically you could say at the moment I have enough money to go on a shopping spree. But then I would just be throwing all my money out the window. If I kept doing that I would never have the amount of money to buy a camera. The cameras I’m looking into aren’t just 100 dollars. So every time I earn money I think of it as one step closer to my goal. I always imagine myself buying the camera I want and thinking of how proud I’ll be when I purchase it with my own money. In the past I know that feeling because there has been experiences where I’ve bought something myself and it felt so good.

There of course are times when I’m in a store and I look at something and I consider dropping it in the cart. But then my Mom reminds me, “You’re buying it with your own money”. At that point I pause and think of things like, “Do I really need this?” and “Do I absolutely want this?” Most times I put it back and walk out of the store without anything. I am a big crafter too and craft stores are my weakness at times. Yes, there is things that I have on my list to get and sometimes I go straight to the thing I need and not look at anything else because that will just have me consider buying some other items. Experiences like that are easy for me, especially knowing that you are buying everything with your own money. I remember when I was little I used to want lots of things without knowing the value of a dollar. Of course at that age you never understood the cost of things. All that changes when you earn your own money and actually have to start saving for things.

In general I don’t really put much of my spending into small stuff. Of course there’s some days every once and a while when you see something in the store and you have your heart set on it and you buy it but for me I check the price of things and know if it’s worth it or not. I have small experiences like one time I was in the grocery store and I wanted a muffin. So my Mom said get one muffin. At that point I stopped and looked at the package of four muffins and checked the price. It was actually cheaper to get the package of four muffins instead of getting just one.

Another time I was in a clothing store and I had a gift card. Every time I walk into a clothing store it reminds me of how expensive clothing is! That’s why my Mom is smart and looks for coupons and sales. I don’t really look for coupons that much but I do look for sales in the stores. Anyway, we went to the clearance rack (which isn’t really that bad they sometimes have really nice stuff in that area). I found a really cute top so we went to the cash register. My Mom and I both thought it was going to go over the gift card and I’d have to pay the leftover with my money but it ended up having the top be free! That’s the plus side to purchasing from the clearance rack. In experiences like that I remind myself about the big item I’m saving up for and it helps me not spend as much.

What Lessons I Liked This Year and What I Liked About The History Course

The lessons that I really liked in this year’s history classes were all about the New England Colonies. I thought it was very interesting especially because I live in Connecticut which was one of the colonies. It was really fascinating learning about my state back then when it was a colony and the others around me. Of course our world is now completely different then how it was like back then. We now have electricity, technology, and more efficient inventions that help out with our lifestyle. But I think I would still like to go back in time and see what life was like in colonial times. Learning about their life back then makes me extremely grateful for the type of lifestyle I have now.

It was interesting learning about every colony and the purpose each of them had. Like for example, Georgia was a colony that in a way kind of helped people get back on their feet. So, each colony had something unique of their own that made them have a purpose for being there. But, there was something unique about Massachusetts that personally, I would not have liked to experience. They had what was called the Salem Witch Trials. Cotton Mather was actually one of the people who really had a big influence on constructing the trials. The Salem Witch Trials were basically about people who were accused of being a “Witch” and therefore they were executed. What they meant by a witch is that if they showed any signs of witchcraft or “the devil’s spirit” then they would be accused of being a witch and they would have to go to court and try to explain why they aren’t what they were accused of being. After that the decision was all in the hands of the court judges. It was very interesting learning about this. But even though it was fascinating I completely disagree with the cruelty they were creating and that would not be a colony I would want to live in back then.

All of the colonies basically served other countries in Europe. The crops they made, the money they earned, a portion of everything they created went to Europe. The people of the colonies had to do that because Europe supported them and kind of owned the land technically.

I thought it was cool seeing all the colonies grow and learning about what colony got established first and last.  And, like the beginning, the colonies didn’t have electricity and all the technology that we have today. For lighting in their houses they used candles which I have experienced before in storms where we have lost power and I personally think it is really fun to take a break from all of the technology we have and kind of get a feel for how it was like back then. They didn’t have video games that you can play on a flat screen TV or any TV at all.  They had games like chess and ball and jacks. Some games that they played back then we still have in our lives today. They also played baseball but they didn’t have as much structure and rules to it like we do now. I think it’s awesome to play some of those games today and imagine that years and years ago people played the same type of games then.

The children of families back then had a lot more responsibilities than kids have today as well. Some of the chores they had to do we do today but some of them aren’t really done as much now. Like the dishes we still have to do of course because we can’t eat off of dirty plates all the time….unless you use paper plates. But then there are some that don’t really need to be done like fetching water. Today, you don’t even have to walk that far to turn a switch on and water comes out. Back then you actually had to go out of the house, go to a pool of water (it has to be clean of course) and fetch it. So chores like that are not even chores today because it now doesn’t really take that much to do those tasks.

Growing up meant different things if you were a boy or girl. If you were a boy, you were expected to move out and go to college. But if you were a girl you were expected to get married and move out to have a family of your own. Women weren’t really expected to get an education as much as the men did. That, of course is very different today now that women have more rights and they could go to school, get an education, and go to college. I believe that women are no different than men. We are all the same humans if you think about it.

I liked lots of different aspects of these history classes. One thing is the clarity. I thought everything was explained thoroughly and each lesson was very easy to understand. The second thing is I loved the way it was set up with the last lesson of the week having a writing assignment. I actually thought the writing assignments were really fun (it also helps that I’ve always loved writing). I think having me write about a subject makes me understand it even more and helps a lot along the way even to look back on it for reference.

I had a lot of fun with these history lessons and it’s made history my favorite subject. I can’t wait to enroll in the next lessons!

Africa

Africa is one of the well-known continents of the world. It is pretty large and contains lots of different weather climates. Some areas are extremely hot and desert like and others more humid and jungle like. The continent includes lots of famous landmarks that had a big part in our world history and some are still standing today. During the history of Africa you can tell that they wanted to become more of an independent continent then relying on other countries that try to colonize some of their land. One of the famous landmarks is the Nile River that had a huge impact on how some civilizations lived. People lived around that river because it was a great source to help out with their crops and of course, to receive some water.

Not many people talk about most of the countries in Africa but when they do it is most likely about Egypt. Egypt is one of the most well-known countries in Africa. It is located more towards the top of the continent. This country in fact, was one of the civilizations that lived more around the vicinity of the Nile River. Everybody knows Egypt as a hot, steamy, desert, which is completely true so that’s why the people that originally lived their decided to live closer to their water source. But even though during the day Egypt is extremely hot, it is completely different during the night. When it is nighttime that area tends to get really cold, unlike when the brutal sun is out.

Egypt also had a government side of course so they could keep their civilization going. But, the way there was a ruler then was a little different than having our President today. Back then they had what was called Pharaohs. Pharaohs ruled for most of the time during history. The Pharaohs claimed that they were their land’s God, and they acted like kings.

Egypt, was stable in the beginning, but then other areas tried and tried to rule over their country. First, the Persians took over. But luckily Egypt was able to get their freedom back from them. Even though they were successful, that wasn’t the end. Later on the Romans took over and ruled for quite a while there. They ruled from 31 BC to about 476 AD.

Later, Egypt caught on to a new religion which was known as Islam. That religion did turn out t be very successful and was quickly growing throughout history.

There is one other well-known country located in Africa and it is called Ethiopia. They lived along what is called the Red Sea. Again, that location was good because they had a source of water. Although there was something a little different that went on in Ethiopia than other countries. They decided to incorporate other cultures into their lifestyle than just their own which was an Arab style. Other cultures that they incorporated was Egyptian and Greek. Unlike some other countries Ethiopia was rather rich and had strong and successful kings.

Africa during history wasn’t really brought together by all the countries. They mostly stayed apart from each other and kept to themselves and didn’t really have anything to do with one another. It came to the time where Europe was trying to colonize around Africa to boost the Slave Trade because Africa was a great target for it. Another reason why Europe wanted to colonize there was because Africa had a lot of natural resources they could use.

So, Africa still looks for independence from the other countries but they still are a land that needs help and can’t be on their own.