It is December 22 as I type this (yes, with ALL my fingers and my thumbs because I am old and learned to type in school....with a typing teacher...Mr...what the hell was his name?...anyway, he had a horrible case of cradle-cap and chunks of his bald pate would fall on your keyboard if he came over to tell you what you were doing wrong or to type faster. It was a great motivator...type fast and accurately and DON'T get scalp skin chunks all over the keyboard and your stuff) and Dec 21 was Solstice! Woot woot.
I had dinner out with friends to celebrate.
All holidays should involved binge eating. We had fantastic Thai food and candy. Then more candy. And more candy.
Here's a surprise, I don't feel good. Oh well. Maybe that whole tube of instant crescent rolls I made in a skillet on the wood stove will make me fill better especially topped off with the burnt percolator coffee.
Or not.
For me, today is the first day of the new year.
Here are the resolutions.
But first...my resolution theory. This is the current theory.
A FEW resolutions that I can probably keep. I used to do a litany of resolutions that mostly reflected how much I hated myself. That didn't seem to get me anywhere. My first attempt, years ago, at this was swapping "lose weight" out for "change weight"...you can't lose if you decide to "change" your weight. It's bound to change. I actually lost weight that year. Or so I choose to believe.
This year:
1) Breath work. I'm taking yoga classes on breath work and it helped the asthma and the night time teeth grinding so I intend to do some breath work each day.
2) Drink 2 cups of water first thing in the morning. Drinking all my water later in the day means I am up and down the ladder all night peeing. Perhaps shifting that to the morning will help.
3) No Amazon in 2020. I don't like their labor practices or the new enormodome of crap people don't need that opened by Spokane and will no doubt provide a few crap jobs for people who need a job. I doubt my dropping the 5 or 6 orders I was still making each year will change much. I think I ordered 3 things from there this holiday season and I could have gotten them elsewhere if I'd tried harder.
4) Donate weekly to the food bank or Kiva. I like Kiva a lot and have given kiva certificates as gifts to various folks. It is microlending so you usually get the money back and a bit of interest. I re-invest or donate to the organization to cover their administrative costs and keep it going. It's like simple investment training for me. I have had 1 loan go bad. The country fell into civil war and obviously basic survival should take precedence over paying back the loan on that cow that probably got blown up. I've already been donating pretty much weekly to the local tiny free pantries in Moscow. I buy 10$ of food and put it in there. Folks who might need it take it without any administrative oversight. You walk up, leave or take food as you like. I personally like to put together something that makes sense...ingredients for tuna casserole, or oatmeal-sunflowerseeds-raisins. A meal. There are lots of random cans of outdated olives that are "food" but not terribly nutritious. I think the whole canned chicken (5$) with noodles (2$), cream of celery soup (50cents), mixed veggies (50cents), canned pears (1$) and cobbler mix (1$) is my favorite. It's a meal I wouldn't mind eating. Chicken noodle casserole with veggies and pear cobbler. Anyway, I get my grocers and drop and extra 10$. I can usually shave my own grocery budget by 10$ so it's not an extra expense. Last weekend I took some dry white beans in a ziplock out of the free pantry as I dropped in my food. It had been there for WEEKS and clearly no one wanted those nasty beans. I'm going to plant them and see if they grow. Maybe they will give the gophers gas when they eat the shoots.
There it is. Minimal resolutions that are easy to keep.
Happy New Year.
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
17 Things
So, I need to procrastinate hence...blogging.
I saw an article on "17 Things Frugal People Usually Don't Do"
https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/17-things-frugal-people-usually-dont-do
Let's see if I'm "usual"
1) Finance cars
Nope. I pay cash for used. No interest and certainly not putting it on a HELOC
2) Overdraft bank accounts
Nope. Don't do that. That just costs fees and nonsense.
3) Compromise dietary health to save money
Nope. I DO compromise dietary health, but I know it is a treat and a splurge and not frugal. It's not frugal to eat cheap crap and get sick. I mostly eat organic or local or no-spray stuff, but today there was a Nutty Buddy by Li'l Debbie because I wanted a sugary treat which is not healthy anyway.
4) Carry credit card balances
Nope. Don't do that. I did in the past and it sucked. Part of that was getting enough income and a few windfalls to pay it off and then not starting again. I log on and pay it every couple of weeks and all the "rewards points" are just cash back applied to the card.
5) Keep up with the Joneses
Nope. The Joneses next door bought NEW toilet buckets but I'm still using last years' buckets which I probably found at the recycling center.
6) Hang out with losers
It seems the author means spendthrifts when she uses the term "loser." Not all my friends are thrifty or frugal so I don't know about this one. I'm sure at least one of my siblings will need to point out that I am the loser hence don't need to hang out with them.
7) Take fancy vacations
Nope. I take vacations but not fancy in the sense of cruises and concierged hotels and all are prebudgeted carefully. My recent trip was on a 66$ plane ticket for the round trip. I bunked with a friend, and had 75$ per day set for spending and meals for the 3 days. Not fancy but super fun.
8) Forget to price compare
Oh hell no! You always have to price compare. I stop at 3 grocery stores on my weekend food run to hit the best consistent deals on my staples. 2 stores are walking distance from each other so no extra gas expense and the other is buy a thrift store where I check my hardware, clothing and office supply needs list before hitting retail outlets (or just waiting to see if the stuff shows up at thrift later) hence no extra gas there either.
9) Automatically opt for employer-offered health insurance.
I do carry that because there aren't really other options where I am so I guess I did do this one. Maybe it wasn't automatic since I checked for other options.
10) Fail to contribute to 401k or other retirement options.
Nope. I don't fail to contribute. I put in the amount the employer matches and put the rest toward a debt free retirement situation.
11) Stop learning
Nope, I don't stop learning. I try to pick up new practical skills when I can. If you need heat tubes run on rebar for a concrete slab pour you call me! I got that one down this fall.
12) Skip life insurance.
Nope. I carry enough to get me in the ground.
13) Waste food.
This one I am weak on. I do my best but it's damn hard not to waste food. I compost or feed scraps to critters but without a kitchen it's tough to control things like left overs. Sometimes I do well, and other times the compost is a bit salad-rich.
14) Fail to keep a stockpile
Well, I don't know. I stock some things like office supplies and I can now keep 4 rolls of TP dry and clean in the wee shed, but space is at a premium. I guess having a couple pounds of dry beans and grains and 12 tins of canned fish probably does count as stockpiling given my space. I also try to keep lunch food at work. And I keep a gift bin going for unexpected gift obligations. OK, apparently I stockpile.
15) Pay full price.
RARELY RARELY RARELY do I pay full price. I keep a running list of general things I could use and get them when I find them. Until then I try to get by. First option is find something else to use (need a hammer..use a rock). Second option is to borrow, especially single use or rarely used items. Third is yardsale, 2nd hand or thrift (jeans, shirts, many tools). Fourth option is on sale at a retail store. Like if I haven't found a tool in a year it's good to hit father's day sales at hardware stores. LAST option is full price. This did happen once this year. I really needed a reciprocating saw and the beg, borrow, 2nd hand options were exhausted or crap. A job had to be done THAT DAY. So I bought a good one that uses the same batteries that go on my other tools from last year's fathers day sale purchase. It's a really good saw and should last me forever. I used a free-credit reward dealy from the hardware store to stock up on blades and have used the saw frequently so it seem.
16) Forget to shop car and homeowner's insurance annually.
I do generally remember to review those each year and drop unneeded coverage on the vehicles and ask about more discounts on things.
17) Spend emotionally.
What are these "emotions" of which you speak?
I saw an article on "17 Things Frugal People Usually Don't Do"
https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/17-things-frugal-people-usually-dont-do
Let's see if I'm "usual"
1) Finance cars
Nope. I pay cash for used. No interest and certainly not putting it on a HELOC
2) Overdraft bank accounts
Nope. Don't do that. That just costs fees and nonsense.
3) Compromise dietary health to save money
Nope. I DO compromise dietary health, but I know it is a treat and a splurge and not frugal. It's not frugal to eat cheap crap and get sick. I mostly eat organic or local or no-spray stuff, but today there was a Nutty Buddy by Li'l Debbie because I wanted a sugary treat which is not healthy anyway.
4) Carry credit card balances
Nope. Don't do that. I did in the past and it sucked. Part of that was getting enough income and a few windfalls to pay it off and then not starting again. I log on and pay it every couple of weeks and all the "rewards points" are just cash back applied to the card.
5) Keep up with the Joneses
Nope. The Joneses next door bought NEW toilet buckets but I'm still using last years' buckets which I probably found at the recycling center.
6) Hang out with losers
It seems the author means spendthrifts when she uses the term "loser." Not all my friends are thrifty or frugal so I don't know about this one. I'm sure at least one of my siblings will need to point out that I am the loser hence don't need to hang out with them.
7) Take fancy vacations
Nope. I take vacations but not fancy in the sense of cruises and concierged hotels and all are prebudgeted carefully. My recent trip was on a 66$ plane ticket for the round trip. I bunked with a friend, and had 75$ per day set for spending and meals for the 3 days. Not fancy but super fun.
8) Forget to price compare
Oh hell no! You always have to price compare. I stop at 3 grocery stores on my weekend food run to hit the best consistent deals on my staples. 2 stores are walking distance from each other so no extra gas expense and the other is buy a thrift store where I check my hardware, clothing and office supply needs list before hitting retail outlets (or just waiting to see if the stuff shows up at thrift later) hence no extra gas there either.
9) Automatically opt for employer-offered health insurance.
I do carry that because there aren't really other options where I am so I guess I did do this one. Maybe it wasn't automatic since I checked for other options.
10) Fail to contribute to 401k or other retirement options.
Nope. I don't fail to contribute. I put in the amount the employer matches and put the rest toward a debt free retirement situation.
11) Stop learning
Nope, I don't stop learning. I try to pick up new practical skills when I can. If you need heat tubes run on rebar for a concrete slab pour you call me! I got that one down this fall.
12) Skip life insurance.
Nope. I carry enough to get me in the ground.
13) Waste food.
This one I am weak on. I do my best but it's damn hard not to waste food. I compost or feed scraps to critters but without a kitchen it's tough to control things like left overs. Sometimes I do well, and other times the compost is a bit salad-rich.
14) Fail to keep a stockpile
Well, I don't know. I stock some things like office supplies and I can now keep 4 rolls of TP dry and clean in the wee shed, but space is at a premium. I guess having a couple pounds of dry beans and grains and 12 tins of canned fish probably does count as stockpiling given my space. I also try to keep lunch food at work. And I keep a gift bin going for unexpected gift obligations. OK, apparently I stockpile.
15) Pay full price.
RARELY RARELY RARELY do I pay full price. I keep a running list of general things I could use and get them when I find them. Until then I try to get by. First option is find something else to use (need a hammer..use a rock). Second option is to borrow, especially single use or rarely used items. Third is yardsale, 2nd hand or thrift (jeans, shirts, many tools). Fourth option is on sale at a retail store. Like if I haven't found a tool in a year it's good to hit father's day sales at hardware stores. LAST option is full price. This did happen once this year. I really needed a reciprocating saw and the beg, borrow, 2nd hand options were exhausted or crap. A job had to be done THAT DAY. So I bought a good one that uses the same batteries that go on my other tools from last year's fathers day sale purchase. It's a really good saw and should last me forever. I used a free-credit reward dealy from the hardware store to stock up on blades and have used the saw frequently so it seem.
16) Forget to shop car and homeowner's insurance annually.
I do generally remember to review those each year and drop unneeded coverage on the vehicles and ask about more discounts on things.
17) Spend emotionally.
What are these "emotions" of which you speak?
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