*************************************************** Hula Hoop Hoopla By Deborah Shelton

Which favorite toy pastime is fun for all ages and makes adults nostalgic for their childhood? Hula-hooping, of course! Stock up on inexpensive hula hoops and try your hand…er, hips…at these silly games.

1. Hula Hoop Contest: Challenge your mom, dad, best friend, and even your little brother to a hula hoop contest. Turn radio on to upbeat music and watch clock. The person who can hula hoop longest, wins!

Let's face it. The day to day drudgery of trying to figure out how to best spend your money isn't most interesting aspect of our lives.

Let me see if I can make budget process a little more appealing to you. I don't have any magic or secret process to tell you about but I do have a method that will show you why a budget doesn't have to be boring.

I can do this with one word. GOALS

When we think of goals most of us look far into future to our retirement. That's problem. It's hard to imagine when your 20 what you will need when you are 65.

Accomplishing your goals doesn't have to take a lifetime. Even when they do you can set milestones along way to break it up and get a sense of accomplishment much earlier.

If you have problems staying on a budget try setting some short term goals. We can start with an easy one. Try to save $100 without missing it.

Unless you have no income at all this is easy. Don't spend any coins for any reason. If you buy something for 25 cents break a dollar. Then all you have to do is put change out of your pocket or purse in a jar every day.

This sounds simple enough and you've probably heard about saving change before. If you are a skeptic like I was you probably think that this isn't going to lead to any real savings at all.