The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have it.

Hi.  My name is Marianne. And I am a social media addict.

What does that mean?  Well, I check my Facebook each and every morning for new messages, notifications, and events. I flip through my friends’ photo albums. I write cute quips on their status updates. I write up my own status, announcing my displeasure at the pain of working out, or expressing my opinion on a recent news article. Then, I check my Blackberry for Twitter updates.  Now that I have two Twitter accounts, I have to make sure that I don’t miss any @mentions.

I repeat this not once, twice, or even thrice, but multiple times throughout the day. If I’m bored sitting in traffic, I’ll scan through Facebook updates. I post my workouts via SportyPal to Facebook and twitter. Some nights, when I have nothing to do, I’ll just waste a couple of hours on Facebook.

But I’m finally kicking the habit.

I still love Facebook, because it allows me to create events, share images, and interact with my friends.  But do I need to be checking in so often?  No.  I love Twitter, because it allows me to interact with the blogosphere, share ideas, and see what interesting articles are being written. It also means that I am instantly alerted if Financial Uproar starts getting creepy. Of the two, Twitter is definitely the lesser evil, since Twitter does me a favour by limiting my interactions to 140 characters.  However, it too can be a time-leech.

Last night, when I had to work on a paid writing project, I finally forced myself to install free software called FB Limiter.  The basic, free level allows me to block Facebook and Youtube for as long as I want. It’s password protected, which is kind of useless if it’s only one person, but great for parents or companies. If I were to pay $9.99, I could upgrade to another level, which would allow me to block other social media such as twitter, and would also allow me to block it for specific timeframes.

Usually, when I’m working on a writing assignment, I’m very good about shutting down all distractions and using the time purely to focus on the assignment, which is important because I am paid by the hour. However, last night, I was really struggling with connecting with the piece and the person I was writing for.  I had wanted to start around 6pm, and instead goofed around online procrastinating for another two hours. At 8pm, I’d had enough.  So I installed the blocker and had at it.  I finished the assignment in approximately 1 hour, which is less than half of the time I had spent surfing the web.

As I’ve written before, your time is an asset. Procrastination, in particular surfing social media, can be a huge time-and-energy suck. I don’t even want to calculate how many hours I’ve spent on Facebook. I could have used that time to read, work a part time job, write, learn an instrument, clean, exercise, spend time with friends in person, etc. The “what ifs” make me shudder.

So while I’m not quitting cold turkey, I will be withdrawing from it significantly.  I can’t afford to be addicted to social media.  I have a full time job, two blogs, a book to write, a part time writing job, and a Half Ironman to train for. Each minute I spend on unnecessary surfing will cost me, either financially, physically, or professionally.

Knowing myself well enough to install a limiter was a huge move forward. Next step will be actively using it, and channeling my newfound time into productivity, such as finally learning the guitar (which I bought nearly three years ago), working on youtube vlogging, exercising, and cooking.

Does Social Media eat up your free time?  Or have you learned to use it productively, as an asset to your business, blog, etc?

Having sufficiently gorged myself this past weekend, I’m almost relieved to be back at the grindstone, both professionally and physically. For non-Canadian readers, this past weekend was Thanksgiving long weekend, and in addition to having absolutely gorgeous weather (getting up to 27 degrees Celsius!) I also fell prey to the many pies and colourful dishes that decorated our dining room table. Extra dollop of whipped cream on my pumpkin pie?  Ooh, yes please.

I always prefer to drive home to the family farm on a Friday, even if it means braving city traffic.  Fully anticipating a hellish departure, I popped by the Esso station around the corner from work on my lunch break, so that I could fill up and get the heck outta Dodge.

Just as I selected my fuel grade, I was politely accosted by a young guy wearing a bright orange construction vest.  I’m going to do my best to recreate our conversation here:

Him: “Hi there!  How are you doing!”

Me: (city dweller, now immediately on my guard) “Good, thanks.”

Insert pleasantries.

Him: “I’m offering this incredible CIBC Esso credit card that will allow you to save up to 10 cents per litre of fuel!  Isn’t that amazing?  Think of how much you could save over the course of a year!”

Me:  “Mm-hm.”

Him:  “Blah blah blah, sign up here, blah blah, we’ll send you all the information, blah blah, no obligation.”

Me: “Actually, I write a personal finance blog and there’s no way I would suggest signing up for a card like this on the fly.  So I’m going to pass thanks.”

Him:  “Oh, really?  Why?”

Me: “Because if I signed up for every card that promised me a good deal, I’d have over twenty cards, each with individual balances that needed to be paid. I think cards like this encourage consumer overspending because you *think* you are saving money. I switch between gas stations all the time and I’m not signing up for a card with another bank for a specific station, just to save ten cents. I have my own rewards card that I use and it works just fine for me.”

Him:  (valiantly trying to save the conversation) “Well, as long as you had a good accounting system in place, and paid off all your bills, there’s no reason why not to have a bunch of different credit cards!  Just pay them all off, you’ll save money at the pumps, at the grocery store, wherever! AND you’ll expand the amount of credit you have available to you, which looks good on the credit score!”

Me:  “I think I’m still going to say no.  But thank you for your time.  Happy Thanksgiving.”

Personally, I can’ t stand the thought of loading up my wallet with more credit cards.  Currently, I have two.  An RBC Rewards Visa (which I only have because if you close a Visa card, it erases your credit history) and my standard TD Rebate Rewards Visa. This is the card I use on a regular basis.  I don’t get huge rewards, because I prefer to purchase things through debit whenever possible (if I don’t have the money, I shouldn’t be buying it).  But I will get cash back at the end of the year. I also have a line of credit, which basically means the total amount of available credit that I have is $12,000.  

I am eligible for many promotional Visas and Mastercards, since my credit score is pure as the driven snow, but the thought of carrying a card for gas, a card for groceries, a card for entertainment, a card for (insert whatever) makes me a little queasy.  Especially since I’ve moved so much in the past two years, I’d hate to sit down and call each company to do the change of address. However, pushy credit card guy did have a point.  In theory, carrying a bunch of different credit cards, as long as you’re extremely careful about keeping track of them, could save you money.

So what do you think?  A bunch of credit cards with different rewards, or a single cash/points rewards card?

P.S.  I’m still hoping to unveil my new blog by the weekend.  I have to admit, I had a wordpress savvy friend help me set up the majority of this blog, so I’m desperately trying to remember how he set up the social media widgets, the analytics, feedburner, etc.  It’s more complicated than what I remember!!!

Every morning around 4am, the deals start to roll into my inbox.  There’s WagJag, Groupon, DailyDeals, Teambuy, and LivingSocial. They’ve offered me everything from discounted gas cards, to 50% off of caskets. Every morning I comb through them carefully, and on average, I’ll purchase one once every three or four months.

Lately, they’ve all been so juicy that it’s taken a hefty amount of restraint to turn them down.  In the mornings I feel like Gretel, being lured along a candy-coated path of inexpensive deals towards the gingerbread house of overspending (pardon the gratuitous metaphor).  Yet I receive them by choice.

Seriously, Gretel, this is the best idea ever. Let's glut ourselves with absolutely no consequences! Tra la la!

My first deals were through LivingSocial.  I bought 6 belly dancing classes for $30, and only went 3 times. I then bought two tickets for the Comedy Bar with $26 worth of food for the price of $21.  I have yet to use it, and it expires December 1st. Since those two first deals, I’ve only bought two others: my Fit Factory Fitness Bootcamp voucher, which gives me unlimited classes for 30 Days for $30, and 6 passes to the Dynamic Conditioning Centre for $20 ($120 value).

This morning, one of the deals was for a month’s worth of rock climbing and equipment rentals for $55.  I LOVE rock climbing. However, I just signed up for the Goodlife Gym around the corner from my place, and am paying $18 bi-weekly inclusive of tax. My gym membership ensures that I have everything that I need, fitness wise, within walking distance. I don’t need rock climbing. It’s a want. The rock climbing would be really awesome, but I had to ask myself, would I buy this if it were full price?  Answer: no.  And that’s what keeps me in check whenever visions of me as a parkour climber dance through my head. Want, yes. Need, no. But oh, how I wanted it!!!

Even though I have to exercise a huge amount of willpower to not buy into these deals more often, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop receiving them.  So I’ve shifted my strategy; I’m on the hunt now for specific things only, and I dutifully slog through my messages each morning, trying to find them. One deal I’m hoping to score in November is laser hair removal.  I’m on the beach all the time in the summer, and nothing is more annoying to me than waking up early and shaving my legs and underarms.  Luckily, these laser hair removal deals are pretty common, and I’ve seen incredible deals where you can pay $100 for unlimited laser hair removal for the year.  Cheaper than waxing and infinitely less annoying than shaving every other freaking day.  It’s a luxury, but something that would mean a lot to me and to my active lifestyle.

What are your thoughts on Group Buying deals?  Yay or nay?