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19 for 2019

Happy New Year and welcome to…oh shit, we’re 1/6 of the way into 2019.

So that ship has sailed! Which is fine, because I hate New Year’s resolutions anyway. Last year I tried something new and did a series of monthly experiments instead of year-long resolutions. While that was fine, it was also hard to build any momentum. I don’t like the focus on “new year, new me!” that tends to come with resolutions in January, but there is value in tracking goals for a longer term/over the course of the year, rather than moving on after a month.

So this year I’m trying another new thing and doing a kind of bucket list for the year (credit to Sarah at Smile and Conquer for the idea). And 19 for 2019 sounds catchy, so 19 bucket list items/goals for the year it is!

First up, money things because I am a personal finance blogger. Continue reading “19 for 2019”

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Twelve months of experiments: it’s the end of the year already?!

I’ve taken a few months off of explicitly doing a monthly experiment. September/October were unofficially me decluttering my life and slowing down (ahem, a work in progress. I don’t have some big announcement to make concerning that) and I’ve been doing a no-spend month for November (tune in next week for the spending report to see how that went!). But for this last month of the year (!!?) I’m back to doing a monthly experiment in the vein of my previous ones. In December I’m doing a 30 day yoga challenge.

Yes, you read that right. And trust me, I’m as shocked as you are that I’m saying this. Continue reading “Twelve months of experiments: it’s the end of the year already?!”

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Family and suboptimal decisions (and lots of traffic)

Friday evening was not the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.

I left work early so I could head out of town early and hopefully miss the usual traffic, but even leaving slightly before 3:00, I ran into residual traffic very soon after leaving the city (it’s not summer anymore, what the hell is up with there already being an accident and traffic at 3pm??!?). Over an hour and only 40 miles later, it started raining. It actually started pouring, and it didn’t let up for the rest of the trip. I-95 is not only a nightmare traffic-wise, but it turns out it’s not graded terribly well, and I hydroplaned in a couple of different spots. Continue reading “Family and suboptimal decisions (and lots of traffic)”

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Breaking my clothes shopping ban two months early

I own a lot of clothes. For years I was a serial clothes-buyer, accumulating a piece or five here and there at a low-level but steady rate whenever the urge struck to get a flowy summer dress or an oversized comfy sweater (y’all, I’m fighting that urge HARD right now, now that it’s finally fall in DC) or a cute new scarf. And then, last November, I got sick of paying off those transactions on my credit card and I just…stopped. (Stopped buying clothes, that is, not stopped paying off my credit card!)

I didn’t even realize until earlier this year that I’d been on an unofficial clothes buying ban, at which point I decided to make it official for the remaining six months (or beyond) of the year.[*]

But I broke my ban and bought clothes in September, two months shy of a full year. I was so close to making it a year! Here’s why. Continue reading “Breaking my clothes shopping ban two months early”

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Adventures in decluttering, round one

Since January I’ve had a box in my room designated as the place to put things I’m getting rid of, and I’ve slowly been adding to it, one item at a time. And eventually that box got full. Hooray!

But said box then continued to sit in a corner of my room for months. I’ve mentioned it here multiple times, saying I need to empty it.

Why was that? One simple question. Continue reading “Adventures in decluttering, round one”

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Decluttering more than things

Hey, y’all. Long time, no post. I spent much of the last few weeks in an exhausted stupor post-Glacier and then post-CampFI Midwest (Military Dollar, I blame you for part of that since you were in town and making me be sociable right before the exhaustion of CampFI!).

And last week while I was recovering from CampFI, my personal life kinda…threw up on me. That has zero relevance to this blog (because good lord am I trying to keep my blog persona and my offline life from completely melding), other than that on a day I ostensibly should’ve been writing, I was dealing with some things instead.

I think it’s a sign of maturity that instead of trying to push out posts like I probably would’ve done in the past, lately I’ve recognized that some nights I just need to get the hell in bed more or less on time instead of forcing myself to unproductively stare at my cursor blinking at me while I struggle to write (and likely stay up too late without even being able to finish a post).

Or maybe it’s laziness. ?‍♀️

Either way, I haven’t written very much in this last month, and, as it turns out, that’s exactly what I’m talking about today. Continue reading “Decluttering more than things”

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Tiny houses and letting dreams evolve

Last weekend I went with Military Dollar to the VA/DC Tiny House Festival, despite being someone who does not want to live in a tiny house. Conceptually they’re super interesting! But they’re not for me. Mainly when I think about tiny houses I start feeling claustrophobic and restless, and I’m not signing myself up for that! Why am I so anti-tiny house? Continue reading “Tiny houses and letting dreams evolve”

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An update on my unofficial clothes shopping ban

Oh hi, friends. It’s Thursday. Despite my best attempts to keep at a normal posting schedule, things keep getting in the way, and Tuesday posts are particularly taking a hit for some reason.

This week, which was supposed to be quiet, unexpectedly turned into a shitshow Monday night. It involved both me witnessing an attempted serious crime/spending the evening talking to the police (serious to the level of I wrote everything down afterwards so I can remember in case it goes to trial and I’m called in. ETA: I am fine though, don’t worry!) AND the arrival of both my youngest sibling and car troubles that started happening an hour before they arrived here (thank goodness the previous owners of my car bought it new and therefore I know they took care of it, plus I still get a free oil change once a twice a year from them, aka my parents!).

I got up early both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to be at the mechanic right when they open before going to work, and you know how I write posts the night before they go up? I was too tired last night to stay up as late writing as I normally do, so I got up way too early in order to finish writing this on Thursday morning because I AM GOING TO PUBLISH A POST TODAY, DAMMIT.

Let’s talk about something that’s not attempted [serious crime what the fuck] or car issues, shall we? Continue reading “An update on my unofficial clothes shopping ban”

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Learning to stop and smell the roses

I love my mother dearly, but I have always been kind of terrified of growing up to be exactly like her. Some things I have no control over, like the ever-so-delightful combination of anxiety and perfectionism. It also never ceases to amaze me how much looking at old photos of my mom is like looking in a mirror. But there are other things I have control over—my reluctant struggles with minimalism (lite), for one, since I’ve got maximalist and pack rat tendencies in my blood. I think it’s pretty normal to look at traits present in immediate and extended family members and vow to yourself you’re not going to do that thing or think that way, so I’m hardly alone here.

But it turns out being my mother’s daughter is not always a bad thing. Let me tell you about two things my mom does that I used to be embarrassed about. Continue reading “Learning to stop and smell the roses”

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Revisiting trade-offs and consciously consuming time

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the ever-present trade-offs in my life; this latest round of soul-searching was prompted by the fact that I spent multiple days last week too exhausted to do anything. Everyone needs a day off here and there, but half a week spent on the couch? That’s obviously an opportunity to start questioning the choices that led me there (although to be fair I got a lot of reading done!).

I’ll be the first to admit I’m still not great with time management on a day-to-day basis. That’s a constant work in progress. But I’m starting to think that there are two big things I’ve been doing with my time that aren’t necessarily worth it. Curious what they are? Let’s dive right in. Continue reading “Revisiting trade-offs and consciously consuming time”