I admit it--I play the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes every day. I am well aware that I have a better chance of being struck twice by lightning than winning any jackpot prize. However, recently I've been thinking about how my life could have been very different (financially speaking), as there was a time when I was so close to winning but I didn't know it. Let me explain....

From May to August of 2009 I was in Alaska. My sister, who is in the Air Force, was getting ready to deploy to Iraq, and she needed someone to help my brother in law with their 3 kids. One day I was playing around on my sister's laptop, and just for fun I went to the Publisher's Clearing House website (www.pch.com). There was a game on there where you had to click on some cards to turn them over, and if a card had a prize you would win that prize. The big prize for this particular game was $1000 per week for life. I had x amount of chances to try for a prize. For some odd reason my eyes were drawn to this one particular card, but I kept ignoring it. It turned out that all the cards I had clicked were duds, no prize. I had used up all of my chances to win a prize, so I clicked on the card I had ignored, and there it was--$1000 per week for life.

Ah, regrets, don't you just love them? If I had followed my gut instinct I would have won that big prize. I wouldn't have lost everything and been "couch homeless" from 2008-2013. I could have kept my condo, my car, literally everything, and been able to stay in Colorado.

I still play the sweepstakes, mainly just for fun, but also to see what would happen if I did enter every day. If I win, that would be nice, but (more likely) if I don't, well then that's nothing to worry about.

It's tax season in the US, and I just learned something very interesting. Just for giggles I printed out my last pay stub of 2015 and looked up my 2014 W-2 form so I could get an estimate of any possible tax refund. Using that information I went to Turbo Tax's website and entered it all in. Well, guess what? Turbo Tax allowed me to file my taxes early, so they are already done for this year! One less thing on my to do list. The IRS will begin processing returns on January 18th.

I admit it, I'm a Dave Ramsey fan. I listen to his radio show whenever I get a chance (thank you iHeartRadio) and love his common sense advice, especially the 7 Baby Steps. For those of you who are not familiar with the Baby Steps, here they are.

Step 1: Save $1000 in a starter emergency fund. (I'd personally go with one month's income.)

Step 2: Pay off all your debts except the house from smallest balance to largest.

Step 3: Finish your emergency fund to at least 3 to 6 months of expenses. (I'd personally go with one year's income.)

Step 4: Put 15% of your pretax income into retirement.

Step 5: Start saving for your kids' college (or yours if you plan on going back to school).

Step 6: Pay off the mortgage as quick as you can.

Step 7: Build wealth and give to charity.

I am happy to say I am currently on Step 4. The interesting thing about this is once I finish step 4 I will automatically go to Step 7. Why? For one I have no kids nor a desire to go back to school. Second, I currently am renting where I live and hope to save up enough money to buy a place with cash. (Going through that foreclosure scared the living daylights out of me so if I can avoid a mortgage I will.) And no, I don't have a large income, in fact I would definitely be considered low income. The key for me is that I do the best that I can to live on less than I make (being without an income for 5 years also scared the living daylights out of me and finally knocked some financial sense into my head). Having money in the bank gives me so much peace of mind that words can't describe it.

I read a comment on another blog that I have a feeling will stick with me: "Don't spend all your money in one go, but save some for another time." It's so simple yet it's so obvious and that's why I love it.