The Challenges

The challenges:

1) I have no set work days. Usually I only find out the afternoon or evening before that I will be working. 

2) I travel often on visits, or to assemblies and conventions. This is often disruptive to my habits and scheduling. 

3) I get the winter blues and these can bleed into spring if the sun is slow to banish them. My motivation is very scanty when I am depressed. 

4) I struggle with being a perfectionist. If I can't do something perfectly I don't want to even attempt it. Fear of failure is paralyzing. 

5) I've had back pain for the last year that has varied between irritating to agonizing. It makes being active as I wish more of a challenge. 

6) I have repeatedly attempted and failed to get into a schedule. So failure makes me less confident in my next attempt. It also means I have less of the initial exhilaration to get me started. 

7) I get distracted and forget what I should be doing. 

8) I am just so tired all the time. Many times it is easier to stay in bed another hour... Or three. Or to just crash on the couch after a physically exhausting day at work, or mentally exhausting day otherwise. 

9) I also have to factor in my darling D. His schedule is also very unfixed. How to coordinate get both of us to meet our goals.

Next I need to figure out some strategies...

Virtual Accountability

This blog will be my accountability assistant. I have so many ideas and dreams of who I want to be. But then I don't follow through. Now if I publicly announce them it will hopefully keep them in the forefront of my brain and gradually turn them from dreams, to goals, and, finally, to reality. 

So what are my goals?

1) To write everyday. 

Writing is an absolute joy for me. I love taking words and making them come alive. I have some skill at this and want to develop it further. 

2) To exercise daily. 

Feeling how strong and confident I am when I exercise regularly is enough of a reason to do this. But I have such a hard time making this habit stick. 

3) To eat healthfully. 

Good food just makes me feel good, and a bonus is I look better too. 

4) To live by a schedule. 

Efficiency is so beautiful to me. Why is it also so elusive?

5) To study deeply. 

Studying makes me feel calm and yet joyful. If I was more scheduled I would know when I'm supposed to be studying. 

6) To be a better friend.

I enjoy my own company. My brain is a very happy playground for my thoughts. But I dearly love my family and friends. I need to make serious efforts to get out of my own brain and into their lives. 

7) To become skillful at something. 

Seriously I want to be good at something. Anything. 

8) To waste less time. 

Time is so very precious and goes so very fast. Once it is gone you can't get it back. If I burned money like I burn time...

9) To wake-up early and use the mornings productively.

It feels like such a victory to have the important things taken care of before I even leave the house. 

10) To memorize more scriptures.

This can only make me a better person and will also be a great protection. 

11) To be a more effective and compassionate teacher. 

To teach others is a very great privilege and a heavy responsibility. I want to be the best at it that I can. 

12) To have a clean organized home. 
We live in 300 sq ft with a little dog. Without constant attention it can easily descend into chaos. 

13) To have a simple wardrobe filled with only clothing that I love and that looks nice on me. 
Again our small home means little storage. I only want what I need and love to be taking up what precious space we have. Also clothing that is a great deal is not necessarily worth buying.

Next is to identify the challenges...

The Ninth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $82.13

Food: $57.00

Entertainment: $20.41

Clothes/Gifts: $46.15

Everything else: $87.00

This week is going to fly by.  That will be good since that means we won’t have any time to be spending money.  At the beginning of next month we have a bit of a road trip ahead of us to attend the funeral of friend’s father.  It will be much better if we can spend as little money between then and now.  Hopefully, we will buy our tickets to California this week, or the beginning of next and that will be the biggest expense overcome.  Time is already running out on us for preparing for this trip but we’ll get it all done and paid for before we go.

End of Week 8

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $30.13

Food: $2.00

Entertainment: $0.41

Clothes/Gifts: $36.15

Everything else: $64.00

We really are living close to the edge with our food budget lately.  This past week we spent most of the budget on day one.  But because we were wise with what we purchased we didn’t need to really do any more shopping for the rest of the week.  We even had enough money to do a beer and pizza night when it was too hot and I didn’t feel up to cooking.  Overall it feels like a fairly successful week.

The Eighth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $87.08

Food: $58.37

Entertainment: $28.47

Clothes/Gifts: $36.15

Everything else: $64.00

This week should be a pretty dull week spending wise since we don’t have anything planned.  Not going anywhere and if we have anyone come over it will be simple and relaxed.  There are plenty of meals that are great to serve to company that don’t cost much.  Maybe next time I’ll do sliders.  Why do little burgers just taste so much better than the full sized ones?  Then we can have a huge assortment of toppings to make them amazing! 

End of Week 7

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $35.08

Food: $3.37

Entertainment: $8.47

Clothes/Gifts: $26.15

Everything else: $41.00

This week we kinda tapped all the jars except the “Everything else” one to put together a really nice dinner party.  It was worth it.  We still ended the week with money in all the jars and were able to entertain some friends.  Not being the type to do the dishes by hand (or even do them at all some days, domestic goddess I am not) we also had to lay out a big chunk of change for dishwasher pellets.  Having bought cheap detergent before I know that it is just another example of false economy since you end up having to wash them twice to get them looking half decent.  

The Seventh Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $129.08

Food: $55.43

Entertainment: $30.27

Clothes/Gifts: $52.38

Everything else: $41.00

Deciding to live on the jars is probably the best financial decision we have ever made.  If only we had done this years ago!  But now when we look back ten years from now we’ll be so grateful that we started now.  You can’t change the past but you can definitely learn from it.  Love the jars!