Category: money
Four Simple Goals
Following in Elsie’s footsteps, I decided to post four simple goals that I will be dedicating myself to for the remainder of the year.
1. Spruce A Space once a week: We are a typical family with typical “piles” in unsightly places and little non-beautiful messes. I would like to take time once a week to clean at least one little nook of dust and randomness. If I really want to impress myself, I might even add something beautiful in its place (a scented candle, a picture? We’ll see). *Reward for finishing: one small Etsy print purchase
2. Find Balance (in my checkbook): This is a boring one, but one I constantly struggle with and wish to overcome. Because, you see, my wellbeing depends on a balanced checkbook. When I have handfuls of receipts poking out of nooks in my purse and have that uneasy feeling of not quite knowing where we’re at, I feel unnerved. Even though its boring, this goal is dedicated to my personal happiness. I’ll sleep better, believe me. *Reward for finishing: a new checkbook cover
3. MOVE: I have a desk job and I often find myself coming to the realization that I haven’t moved from the time I punch in until lunchtime, except to take a bathroom break (oh, that sluggish feeling!). I need to get up at least once an hour to rest my eyes and move some blood around. This is a simple goal that I know I can do, I just need a silly written commitment like this to make it happen. *Reward for finishing: a new tea flavor
4. Art Journal Date: I signed up for Art Journal All Year, one of Elsie’s classes, at the beginning of the year and have yet to finish more than, um, three pages. I don’t want this to become a chore, so I’m changing the curriculum a little bit and making my art journal more of a dream journal where I make lists of things I want to accomplish and ways to bring them to fruition. The thing is, the process of journaling my dreams and making pretty pages is cathartic, stress-reducing, and productive. I also believe the process of dream planning leads to good things. It’s funny how those things you love the most get pushed to the side first.
*Reward for finishing: a new roll of washi tape
I am not only posting these goals here and submitting them to A Beautiful Mess, but I am also tracking them on DailyFeats, along with a few other achievable goals. The site encourages you to make healthy habits stick by creating little goal “triggers” like “after I brush my teeth, I will drink one cup of water.” They also offer a built-in rewards system for each feat that you accomplish every day/week. Tangible prizes like $5 off coupons make really good incentives to make your life a little better. Hopefully these rewards will coincide with the rewards listed above (i.e. a $5 coupon to buy a new checkbook cover).
I encourage you to take Elsie’s challenge or just dedicate a little time to some “Daily Feats” that you’d like to accomplish. Being stagnant is suffocating. Taking action will transform your life.
I’ll meet you back here to follow up as I achieve these goals.
Last Year’s Christmas Money
There’s something you need to know about me. I NEVER make impulse buys. I like to think on certain purchases for quite awhile before I hesitantly hand over my debit card. Even today, I told Hubster that I didn’t appreciate being bullied into going out to eat. He said, “That’s the only way I can even get you to go out.” And he had to give me the weekend to contemplate changing internet/cable providers. I just like to weigh the importance of things and make sure I’m not making rash decisions.
So, remember when I told you Hubster and I had a laugh about how he’d be through his Christmas money before New Year’s, and I’d have mine gone by June? Well, close… Mine was gone in August. Ha!
But the wait was sooo worth it. Meet my new favorite “gadget,” my 3-in-one Crosley CD player/record player/radio. I’ve been wanting a record player for years. I had a thrifted one in college, but a friend “borrowed” it for forever and returned it in “not working” condition. Forgive, forget, buy a new one. A beautiful one that totally goes with the antique chest it’s displayed on.
Oh yes!
Peanut and Hubster even got a little involved. Hubster chose a few Dean Martin and Christmas records at a rummage sale and Peanut dances to Rolling Stones with me.
My other “Christmas” in August purchases? A Bon Iver record, Feist CD, Noah and the Whale CD, Exercise and Nutrition textbook (geek alert), pretty washi tape, and my very own copy of Born to Run. Could this get any better?
Do you still get “Christmas money?” And what do you usually buy with it? This is the only time I allow myself to buy superfluously. Of course there are always things around the house that take precedence, but special money doesn’t count, right?
I Know, I’m Full of Ideas Lately
A woman’s purse is an empire.
I mean, seriously, you can find anything in there. A woman could rule the world as long as she had a nice satchel standing loyally beside her. And she’d be pretty darn lost without it. It holds practically everything we could ever need, and in emergencies everything to rig together, McGuyver-style, what we don’t have.
A woman’s purse also holds all sorts of mysteries. My mother used to chastise us if we ever looked in her purse without telling her. It gave our little imaginations something to toy with every time. I mean, what could possibly be in there that would merit such a response from her? Did she have some dirty little secrets, some little black book that we could potentially come across and accidentally betray her supposed innocence? Birth control? Another credit card dad didn’t know about? Oh, the suspense.
Perhaps it’s the delicacy of the whole money subject that makes us guard our purses with militance. If our checkbook happened to open to a particularly delicate page or the number of credit cards betray our bad habits. What then? Some deep private secret could be revealed inside a gum wrapper. Entire personalities can be gauged by what’s inside and we sure don’t want everyone knowing how much we make.
Here’s a lesson for men. You MUST condone a woman’s desire for choosiness when it comes to her empire. She will have you covered when you pop your pants button. Her entire identity rides upon the shape, style, size and material of her purse. It’s essential that she find the perfect one, no matter the price tag.
Here’s what you’ll find in my favorite Green Monkey purse, a very revealing list, I would say:
1. Moist towelettes (I have a son and I wear makeup, what more can I say?)
2. Pocket mirror
3. Cinnamon Gum
4. Nail Clippers
5. Lip gloss
6. Small notebook with to-dos and shopping lists in the front and family gift ideas and favorite (baby/character) names in the back.
7. Checkbook
8. Cell phone
8. Several envelopes of money to differentiate the baby’s Christmas money from the leftovers from the water bill, because I’m really bad at keeping it all straight.
9. Sunglasses
10. A ton of pens, because where I work, we could fill buildings with pens
11. Stamps
12. Pocket knife (dare I tell about how I forgot to take this out of my purse on the last flight I took?)
13. Various gift cards (did I mention, I’m a big saver?)
14. Various receipts (and also a tracker of every cent spent?)
15. Card holder for all my membership, insurance, credit and debit cards with a few pictures of the fam mixed in.
16. A cute change purse with lots-o-change.