Reading Update

Last night I laid out some intentions with Andy around my cell phone usage. I basically want to stop using it at home, meaning, no aimless staring at any social media apps, and only using it to make calls, send text messages, or listen to music. With that, I asked him to keep me accountable, which also led to me expressing my desires to read more. After our conversation, I read 100 pages of a book I picked up in mid-November, Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Oh my goodness, this book is great! I had only read about 40 pages prior to setting it down, and blazed through a lot of it last night. It is funny, witty, and a quick read so far. Andy has already read it (we'd set out to read it book-club style, but I didn't keep to my promise), so I'm excited to finish it and talk it over with him.

Change Making/Brain Dumping

Oh hey, my blog! I haven't forgotten about you, but I hardly ever check my feedly feed to catch up on my blogs. It's all Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter these days. Lately, I can't stand looking at Facebook; I miss the normalcy of kid/food/cat photos, random check ins, and the not-so-often call to action for support of this, that, or the other. Now that our political landscape has changed drastically, every freaking post is a link to a news article, a call to action, an angry diatribe about the shitty state of it all, and the random post outside of my echo chamber from folks trying to defend the new administration. I hear you. I feel you. You do you! I also contribute by posting links to protest videos, instructions on how to contact your elected officials, and subscribe to a few activist groups to see how I can work more closely with our local elected folks. I know I'm not helping the situation. :/

Last June, I was reading up on being intentional. It seemed (at the time) that it was the hash tag du jour. I seem to recall using the ol' google machine to search for answers, and came up with this link.
Here are my thoughts around the major bullets, and why I thought about being more intentional with my life:

• Intentional living is being willing to take a step back and evaluate the things you're doing.
• What am I doing? I have a new job, a more relaxed schedule, less stress and anxiety... (as of June 2016). My schedule is still relaxed and my work stress is non-existant (which is a huge relief). 
• I'm taking the time to work from home, from new locales (coffee shops, libraries, etc.) (still doing this!)
•  I'm trying to pause more before speaking/reacting (daily, weekly, monthly)
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• Intentional living is about doing the things that are important to you even when they’re not easy.
• Spending time with my family is important, but making it a priority can be difficult. It is easy to make excuses about work schedules and other commitments.  
• Reading is important, but my cell phone gets in the way. How can I detach myself from my phone at night? Should I set limits? Leave it out of the bedroom? Power down at a certain hour?
• Crafting is important. I have definitely started getting more involved with using my craft stash, rather than letting it sit on shelves and in boxes, in hopes of spreading joy throughout the world as much as a I can. My latest endeavor includes participating in InCoWriMo. I've already completed 6 postcards/cards and sent them out! Woo! 
• Practicing having conversations with Andy is super important. We are committed to talking to each other, face to face, with no distractions, for at least 15 minutes per day. 

•  It also means being willing to ask other people for their input and even to look for the truth in criticism, however harsh it may be. Intentional living is about evaluating the advice and examples of other people and taking from it what works for you. 
• Andy and I are committed to working on and bettering our relationship. We sometimes hit rough patches (like any other couple), but know every time we've tried to make things better, we end up back in the same cycle. With that, we're back in counseling (we tried it about 7 years ago), and have found after one session that our issues with communication are super common among a lot of people. We've listened to this audio tool and have a copy of the road map, and are putting our boots on the ground, working daily to make sure we're not diverting off course. It's tough, and sometimes we want to throw in the towel... but we're doing the leg work. We want this for each other, for our relationship, and for our family.

GOALS

• Go on dates with Andy (we're really bad about making this a priority)
• Choose my reactions (Time to learn/relearn/re-re-learn)
• Read more books
• Read the books I own!
• Write
• Write anything, even if it's merely a brain dump
• LOOK! I wrote a blog post
• Make time to craft on a weekly basis
• Even if it's for 15 minutes, every couple of days
• EXERCISE!
• Go for a run, you silly goose!
• Running makes you feel good; you are always amazed at how clear your mind is after a run
• Your body can run long distances; it will take a bit of practice to sustain 30-60 minutes of exercise
• Pick a race, sign up, and start training (give yourself 3-4 months before the race date)

Thanks for reading! :)

State of our Debt

As a transitional housing case manager, one of the dozens of tasks I may be working on includes educating my clients on creating a budget. Some components of budgeting may include keeping a spending journal, saving receipts, pulling a credit report, debt repayment, and (hopefully) saving money. When our families first learn about program rules and expectations, we talk a lot about money killers and money takers. When asked what these phrases might mean, clients will often mention credit card debt, rent to own furniture, and expensive cell phone contracts. We highly emphasize need vs. want when making purchases and discussing any big financial decisions with a case manager.

For Andy and I, this last year has seen some major money grabbers: buying a house, moving expenses, travelling here and there, gifts, home maintenance, new furniture, eating out... just to name a few. To give you a brief summary of what has worked for us (and for me while I was single), our bills are always paid on time, and credit card/car/student loan payments are often much more than the minimum required. I believe that just knowing and mapping out when your bills are due AND how much is due is paramount to budgeting. I take on the role of household bill payer and utilize an excel spreadsheet to do so.

Our biggest issue is our "fun" money, which usually tends to go toward food. As I mentioned earlier, we eat out for dinner a LOT. On some occasions, 3 times/week. I fret just saying it, but there; it's out in the open! Granted, we make many visits to Muchas Gracias (cheap Mexican food), the sushi train restaurants, Sweet Tomatoes (always with a coupon), or dine in for a cheap bowl of of pho. Any "expensive" meals (and I am talking over $30) are more limited  (every two weeks, give or take). Still, we could be meal planning and saving quite a bit. We both eat breakfast at home and take our lunch to work. We also buy coffee beans at the store and grind them at home. Dinner is our downfall!

I could blame the busyness and emotional draining of my job, but seriously...  as I manage 18 households and take on extra projects (helping folks apply for health insurance, social security, or trying to rapidly rehouse the homeless), the last thing I want to do is come home and cook. Andy also works 40 hours/week, but he works well with direction and easy to prepare, ol' standby meals. Plus, we take turns and are bad enablers so there's that as well...

Enough of this pity party! It is time for this team to buckle down, stick to a strict budget for the next four months (at the very least), and pay down our debt. Because we've acquired a few new credit cards in the last year, our goal is to have 75% of the debt paid off by mid-April 2014, and the remaining amount in mid-May! To break it down, we'll be using a debt snowball model (paying the smallest balances first). Money has been budgeted on a weekly basis for food and gas, and we have a small buffer in between paychecks for emergencies. If we eat out, it will only be once per week and the money must come from our food budget. I'm going to print out our debt repayment spreadsheet and put it on the wall next to the calendar so it is always in the back of our mind. I figure if I check in on the blog regarding the state of our finances any time we're paid, I'll be able to update the masses and hopefully have a bit of accountability to boot. Here's to debt repayment in 2014!