I listened to a podcast recently that blasted January’s public relations company for making everyone feel bad about themselves. Instead of promoting “New Year, New You,” the podcasters honor “New Year, Same You.” Although we’ve entered into 2022, we have the same mind, same body, same soul. 

The dawning of a new year brings a surge of energy and opportunity. If there’s ever a time to reassess financial plans and goals, it’s now. Below are five suggestions to save big in 2022. 

Let’s kick off 2022 with a bunch of books.

By Sabrina Matheny • Rumble Contributor | The New Year is a reset for many of us. We KNOW that this is the year we will….(fill in the blank). Whether our goal is improving our health, our wealth, our relationships or our space, we might feel like we’re heading to the racetrack and facing the “long odds.” However, if you follow my advice, you can count on this year’s pick to be a sure thing!

In February 2020, I was in New York City attending a children’s book writing conference. My boyfriend attended the conference with me. We both remember watching CNN while in New York as the journalists talked about a new mysterious virus attacking China but also making its way into other parts of the world. The feeling we had was ominous. It’s no secret that we’re all globally connected. We knew the germ would infiltrate America. We just didn’t know what that would mean. 

It’s that time of year! We’ve gorged ourselves on turkey, ham, stuffing, casseroles, cakes, pies, cookies, and eggnog — now we’re ready to commit or recommit ourselves to our health with a new diet and exercise routine. It’s easy to start out strong Jan. 1, but many of us aren’t choosing a diet plan that is sustainable and we lose motivation to continue by mid-February. Rumble reached out the Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath to give us some tips for healthy eating habits that can last all year long. 

When I was a little girl, my dad would make huge snack trays on New Year’s Eve and pour sparkling grape juice in crystal flutes for my sister and me. He and my mom had their own flutes brimming with champagne. Once we watched Dick Clark count down in Times Square, we’d clink glasses, spin noisemakers and state our resolutions for the coming year. 

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in a November 2003 edition of The Smoky Mountain News.

When I was a boy, mother had to force me to eat cooked greens. But the older I get the more I have looked forward to eating them. 

When I was in my teens, I was so skinny that people winced when they saw me. The local druggist offered to buy me a cheeseburger if I would eat it in front of him. Imagine if God had left the making of humans to a fourth-grade science class supplied with nothing but a box of coat-hangers and a bag of hair. That was me, all sharp angles and a mop of light blonde hair. I looked like a walking geometry problem.

I tried eating more, but no matter how many times I loaded my plate with spaghetti, or mashed potatoes and roast beef, or chicken and dumplings, I just could not “fill out.” I messed around some with weightlifting in physical education class, but I was so weak, I could barely lift the bar by itself, let alone with any plates on it, even the small ones.

In a year of turmoil, trepidation and tragedy, thankfully we can retreat into the one thing that can shift any emotion back to that of positivity and progression — the sound of music. 

Below are a handful of the finest releases of 2018. Seek these albums out, immerse yourself in the power of song and dance, and pass along the melodic happiness to those known and unknown. Remember, we’re all in this together.