I have put myself on a budget in an effort to save part of each paycheck. After adding up the expenses that come out of my paycheck, I now have a weekly allowance for "spending money". Up to now I have been going paycheck to paycheck and not keeping up at all with what I'm spending on. Mostly food by way too much unnecessary stuff. So, a specific amount in cash for the week and when it's gone, I'm done spending!
Found an interesting website that encourages saving by not spending. PiggyMojo lets you set a goal for saving money and then text or tweet the $ amount whenever you decide NOT to make an unnecessary or impulse purchase. Fun concept though I didn't sign up since it'd be just one more thing to keep up with. But, hey, just thinking about not spending as saving is proving helpful to my Small Money efforts because I'm choosing not to get the junk food or whatever more often than before.
Another Small Money effort is getting by on $30 gas / week for the car. Some weeks it's a stretch but it's been 4 weeks and so far so good. I'm more intentional about what I go and do. I spend less on stuff I don't need or really even want because I think twice before going out. I really want to see if I can keep it up so I've checked the bus schedules and it looks like that will work out fine for the 2 days/week I have classes during the day. (Classes start tomorrow) And I save by not spending because the bus is free with a student ID! There will be a new car trip for a once a week evening class so we'll see how that fits in.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Still flying
Today is day 4 of the Flylady beginner steps. I've kept my sink clean, gotten dressed to my shoes, read emails and made of list of those things on a post-it that's been put on the bathroom mirror. Adding 1 more thing each day makes sense and feels easy. So that's all good.
I can now see some more floor in the bedroom and even a bit of baseboard. At this rate it'll be months (years?) before I'm clutter free but...I did more today than yesterday and more yesterday than the day before. Feels like progress. Reminding myself: progress, not perfection.
I can now see some more floor in the bedroom and even a bit of baseboard. At this rate it'll be months (years?) before I'm clutter free but...I did more today than yesterday and more yesterday than the day before. Feels like progress. Reminding myself: progress, not perfection.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Small Steps
This Flylady experiment is going to be interesting! I got a bunch of emails today and apparently this happens everyday. I just scanned and deleted most of them. They were very perky and encouraging and a little bit annoying. I am not a perky person these days. Apparently, shining up my kitchen sink, which was the first task, will lead to all of the de-cluttery / organizational changes I want to make. So I shined up my sink and since I already have a habit of having the dishes dealt with before I go to bed it feels totally do-able to keep it shiny.
The bedrock of Flylady is changing habits by doing "BabySteps" something I have had trouble with in the past. On the other hand, nothing I've done on my own has worked long term so I'm keeping an open mind...at least for the next 30 days doing the Beginner BabySteps (I cringe even saying the B-S word). Today was shine the sink. Tomorrow is get dressed for the day, all the way to my shoes. I generally don't wear shoes in the house so we'll see if that makes a difference.
A friend surprised me with a back to school gift of an engagement calendar filled with inspirational quotes about living a simpler life. An example:
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. Andre Gide
This feels particularly true in this moment.
The bedrock of Flylady is changing habits by doing "BabySteps" something I have had trouble with in the past. On the other hand, nothing I've done on my own has worked long term so I'm keeping an open mind...at least for the next 30 days doing the Beginner BabySteps (I cringe even saying the B-S word). Today was shine the sink. Tomorrow is get dressed for the day, all the way to my shoes. I generally don't wear shoes in the house so we'll see if that makes a difference.
A friend surprised me with a back to school gift of an engagement calendar filled with inspirational quotes about living a simpler life. An example:
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. Andre Gide
This feels particularly true in this moment.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Small Stuff - plan B
Well...that didn't work.
After a trip to Boston where I had a wonderful time but bought things I didn't need, I came home, ate a lot of cr** to fake feel better (like that ever works!) and fell into a big fat funk. After 5 seasons of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix I got up and paid for my fall semester classes, ordered my textbooks and got re-motivated to keep going on this Small Life Big thing.
June's advice to just do 10 minutes of decluttering has been helpful so that all progress was not lost during the funk. A bookcase got sorted with most of the books being donated. Currently working to get my little corner of the bedroom with my desk cleaned up before classes start. All my hobby/craft stuff was also in this area so I made a place in another room for that. I'm not sorting it now, just putting it all in one place. I'll be spending my decluttering minutes this week finishing getting my study area ready. That's way too many "ing's" in one sentence.
Seriously, I look at the different areas of clutter and feel so overwhelmed. While on vacation I read The Secret Lives of Hoarders by Matt Paxton. While I am nowhere near buried under clutter like some of the extreme cases he writes about, I do have a problematic relationship with my stuff and need help getting a handle on how to clear this stuff out and then maintain order. I know people who have good things to say about Flylady so I had a look. It takes a baby step approach to first setting up simple routines and decluttering then learning to be organized about maintaining order. Seems like a place to start.
After a trip to Boston where I had a wonderful time but bought things I didn't need, I came home, ate a lot of cr** to fake feel better (like that ever works!) and fell into a big fat funk. After 5 seasons of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix I got up and paid for my fall semester classes, ordered my textbooks and got re-motivated to keep going on this Small Life Big thing.
June's advice to just do 10 minutes of decluttering has been helpful so that all progress was not lost during the funk. A bookcase got sorted with most of the books being donated. Currently working to get my little corner of the bedroom with my desk cleaned up before classes start. All my hobby/craft stuff was also in this area so I made a place in another room for that. I'm not sorting it now, just putting it all in one place. I'll be spending my decluttering minutes this week finishing getting my study area ready. That's way too many "ing's" in one sentence.
Seriously, I look at the different areas of clutter and feel so overwhelmed. While on vacation I read The Secret Lives of Hoarders by Matt Paxton. While I am nowhere near buried under clutter like some of the extreme cases he writes about, I do have a problematic relationship with my stuff and need help getting a handle on how to clear this stuff out and then maintain order. I know people who have good things to say about Flylady so I had a look. It takes a baby step approach to first setting up simple routines and decluttering then learning to be organized about maintaining order. Seems like a place to start.
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