Monthly Check in: January 2014

This month has been trying for a lot of reasons--work functions, restlessness, feeling down, and just plain boredom has tested my resolve. I am happy to say that I have successfully declined all of the temptations this month, but not without some bumps along the way.

Best Practices

• I am truly happy that I am no longer bombarded by sale emails any longer.  My first instinct on any email that I receive now is, "Do I need to get this? How do I unsubscribe?" I feel like a lot of pressure has been lifted off of my shoulders now that those emails aren't in my face letting me know what they know I'd love to buy.
• I've successfully gone through the last month without using my credit card. I think the main reason why I haven't used it is because I'm holding myself to the promise that if I use my credit card, I have to go home and pay for that purchase out of my savings.  If I can't afford it, don't buy it.
• I did not touch my savings in January for any silly purchases.  I did have to dip into it to pay for a yearly eye appointment and new glasses, but necessary purchases like that are going to come up.   

Still Needs Some Work

• Food purchases continue to be the most difficult thing for me to say "no" to. Refusing myself a meal or snacks for the house seems wrong. With many work functions and a family reunion this month, I haven't been very good about coming up with planned meal ideas with the boyfriend, and he's picked up the slack for when my food budget went dry. I really want to work to get better at planning meals, declining going out and spending my boyfriend's money, and asking for help in cooking when I feel too pooped.  The boyfriend may go to school and work all day, but we both have to pitch in and I know he wants to help.
• The house is a bit of a mess after the holidays and the first month of the year.  I want to work on putting more energy into simplifying my home so I can feel calm, comfortable, and at peace when I get off of work. 
• With my focus on paying off debt and giving myself some future security by boosting my savings, I had not expected the void and sadness that I feel in the absence of buying, buying, buying shiny things. When I was sad or feeling a lack of control in my life, I planned what things that I would buy to make me feel better. Buying that new comforter would make it all okay. That dress would totally calm me down.  Without the quick and easy outlet of buying things, I am feeling down these days. Down about my future, down about what control I have over it, and down that I'm in this position to begin with. I've realized that while I'm making a lot of goals about my financial future, I'm thinking about it so much that I'm putting myself down. I have to realize that debt is a part of life. It's okay. What's not okay is when you have no regard for how much debt you have. While my focus on simplifying my financial situation is very positive, I also have to give myself a break. I'm doing the right thing and it's human to be in this pickle. And while it's unfortunate that I have to pay off X amount of debt every month instead of putting it into savings and planning for the future, the positive thing is that I am addressing it now before the situation gets too big and scary.

To going easy on myself, but keeping resolve in February!

Being Creative with Needs: California Drought Emergency

Governor Jerry Brown just declared a drought emergency in the State of California.  This Fall and Winter in California have been unlike any I can remember.  I can literally count on my hand the times it has rained in the last six months. While calls for water conservation are voluntary at this point, I wanted to research a few ways I can begin cutting down on my water usage since these habits will have to be learned slowly. If I can make do with less things around me, I can definitely try to make do with less water.

WaterUseItWisely.com lists a bunch tips for water conservation both indoors and out. These are ones that I think I can take a shot at:

Kitchen

#5 Designate one glass for your drinking water each day, or refill a water bottle. This will cut down on the number of glasses to wash.

#6 Soak pots and pans instead of letting the water run while you scrape them clean.

#16 Collect the water you use while rinsing fruit and vegetables. Use it to water house plants.

Bathroom 

#24 Shorten your shower by a minute or two and you’ll save up to 150 gallons per month. Or time your shower to keep it under 5 minutes. You’ll save up to 1,000 gallons per month.

#27 Put food coloring in your toilet tank. If it seeps into the bowl without flushing, there’s a leak. Fix it and start saving gallons.

#32 Turn off the water while you brush your teeth and save up to 4 gallons a minute. That’s up to 200 gallons a week for a family of four.

#36 Turn off the water while lathering your hair and save up to 150 gallons a month.

#37 When washing your hands, turn the water off while you lather.

#43 While you wait for hot water, collect the running water and use it to water plants.

Inspiration: Matt Walsh Blog

In response to Rolling Stone's recent article, "Five Economic Reforms Millennial Should Be Fighting For," blogger Matt Walsh wrote his own opinion of what our generation should be doing to secure their own financial futures.  While I disagree with him to a certain point that sometimes there really is someone to blame for jacked up student loan interest rates, ludicrous bank fees, and unattainable medical benefits--I do agree with him that ultimately it is up to me to be conscious of my own financial reality and to make decisions that reflect where I am and where I want to go.

Here at Matt Walsh's five pieces of advice for Millenials seeking financial stability:

1. Don’t go to college unless you actually need to be there.

2. Don’t buy things unless you can afford them.

3. Work hard.

4. Develop a marketable skill.

5. Save money.


Easy peasy, right?

Working On the Wants: 2014 Calendars

 

One of my favorite rituals of the new year is taking down last year's calendar, penciling into my new calendar important dates and birthdays, and hanging that sucker on the wall.  It makes the new year feel real and, most importantly, manageable. It helps kick off the new year for me in a positive, motivated way.

Around mid December I considered doing some shopping around for a new calendar. I also thought about asking for a calendar as a present. But in the back of my head, I knew I could turn to the internet for a beautiful calendar that wouldn't cost me anything except for paper and ink.

Here is a sampling of some of the most beautiful FREE 2014 calendars that I found around the web.  I especially love the second option because it lists veggies and fruits in season.  This comes in handy now when I am looking for dinner ideas for the week--I just look to what's in season!

Wants:

• 2014 Calendars : Found free printables online.

Inspiration: "Little Women"

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott has always been on my list of books to read ever since I saw the 1994 movie starring Winona Ryder, Christian Bale, and Susan Sarandon. This holiday season I resolved to read the behemoth 600-some-odd-pages. It took a little while to get used to the rhythm of the writing, but I am glad that I made the commitment to read it.  As I made my way through, I found several quotes that called out to me and helped encourage me in my journey to learn to "simply make do." 

"Once upon a time, there were four girls, who had enough to eat and drink and wear, a good many comforts and pleasures, kind friends and parents who loved them dearly, and yet they were not contented. These girls were anxious to be good, and made many excellent resolutions, but they did not keep them very well, and were constantly saying, 'If only we had this,' or, 'If only we could do that,' quite forgetting how much they already had, and how many pleasant things they could actually do. So they asked an old woman what spell they could use to make them happy, and she said, 'Whenever you feel discontented, think over your blessings and be grateful." - Marmee

"Well, I am happy, and I won't fret; but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants, doesn't it?" - Meg

"You laugh at me when I say I want to be a lady, but I mean a true gentlewoman in mind and manners, and I try to do it as far as I know how. I can't explain exactly, but I want to be above the little meannesses and follies and faults that spoil so many women." - Amy

"Now, if she had been the heroine of a moral storybook, she ought at this period of her life to have become quite saintly, renounced the world, and gone about doing good in a mortified bonnet, with tracts in her pocket. But, you see, Jo wasn't a heroine, she was only a struggling human girl like hundreds of others, and she just acted out her nature, being sad, cross, listless, or energetic, as the mood suggested. It's highly virtuous to say we'll be good, but we can't do it all at once, and it takes a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together before some of us even get our feet set in the right way."

New Years Resolutions

When Emergencies Arise: Happy New Year, You Have Fleas

Let me preface this by assuring you that we are not bad pet owners. We take our cats to the vet, we don't consciously overfeed them, and we most certainly make it a priority to make sure that we keep them happy and comfortable (case in point: Santa brought all of the cats toys and cat grass this year). The boyfriend is studying to become a veterinarian, so there is no way we don't take great care of our animals. That being said, we are currently (hopefully?) at the end of an epic battle with fleas.  Our third battle in five years.

Our apartment complex is the home to many irresponsible people who either refuse to treat their cats and dogs for fleas or don't know that they should in order to keep their pets and all other pets in the area happy and healthy. We only let our male cat, Binx, go outside occasionally. And we make sure to keep up with treating our cats so that should he inevitably bring some buddies inside with him, they'll bite our cats and die a horrible flea death and that will be the end of it.

Our hypothesis is that the fleas have evolved or mutated and are no longer fazed by the flea treatment we give our cats.  We've changed medication several times to try to outsmart the fleas, but every year and a half or so, the fleas win.

We noticed that fleas were slowly taking over on Christmas Eve. My belly was covered in little welts.  They don't touch the boyfriend, they only like me and I am very sensitive to them. And upon closer examination, our poor cats were itching up a storm, too. Knowing that the problem would just get worse if we didn't start then and now to fend off the fleas, I had to make some hard decisions.

I didn't budget for fleas. I didn't budget for this to happen during Christmas. And while fleas are miniscule, they absolutely count as an emergency. I had to get the credit card out and charge away to help the problem go away as quickly as possible.

Operation Kill Fleas cost me the following:

• $58.75
• Carpet steam cleaner rental
• Used a coupon to save $3.00
• Carpet steam cleaner solution
• Used a coupon to save $1.00
• Carpet spot treatment

•  $40.00
• Cost to wash all blankets, sheets, clothes, and linens that could have come in contact with fleas

• $10.52
• Laundry detergent

For a grand total of $109.27, I waged war on the fleas and I hope that I won. I ended up charging some of it, taking a little from my savings, and using some of my grocery money to try to spread the damage around. I also made sure to find as many coupons as possible to lessen the blow.  I also researched simpler, natural cleaning methods using items I already had in the cupboard--like using an apple cider vinegar solution to disinfect furniture, walls, and floors and to obliterate those fleas. It's still hard not to feel guilty about spending the money. I'll admit it and I realize that that is silly.  It was necessary. If I tried to ignore the problem, it would only end up costing me more money and frustration in the long run. When I started this experiment, I realized that emergencies would happen. I was just not expecting one to happen as I was watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas," dammit.

To a year free of fleas and accepting that some things are out of my control. Hello, 2014!