I do occasional once-a-month-cooking days still, but I've started to work out a few tricks to make it a bit easier lately.
The biggest trick I've figured out is that you save a lot of time by not cooking specifically for just the next month. Instead, you cook a lot of similar meals, but you are cooking 1/3rd of the meals you will eat for the next 3 months. Cooking similar meals is a major timesaver, cuts down on the number of ingredients and prep-steps you need to do, and most meals that can be frozen for a month won't have any issues if they are in a deep freezer for another two months.
So far, I've figured out a few groupings of meals that work well for my family and have similar preperation steps: Bean soups and chilis, pizzas, marinades and meats, stir fries, and pasta sauces.
At this point, I've done this style of once-a-month cooking with bean soups and chilis, and with pizzas. I got a lot more done in the same amount of time. Now I'm trying to decide what I want to do for next week. I'm leaning towards marinades, but meat is expensive and our budget is tight right now. I do have a lot of fish already in the freezer, so maybe prepping marinades and marinating the fish and seafood this week, then buy and marinate some beef and chicken next week? Stir-fry could be fun instead, but pasta sauces would probably be really easy and something lighter sounds good right now.
Maybe I'll just reorganize the freezer so it's easier to get to what we already have. That might be more useful in the long run.
My long-term dream is to eventually be able to do this with friends, as a potluck-style party. Something like, have everyone bring 10 cups of pre-soaked beans and one other item off of a list of ingredients, and then enjoy making bean soups together with what everyone brings. Or "bring your own crusts and some toppings" and make pizzas together.
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
New debt ticker
I'm stealing another thing from Annaberri's blog - the Debt Ticker! Look to the left side-bar and you'll see ours. It's for non-mortgage debt only, BTW.
We're apparently already 8% of the way over the mountain of debt - mostly due to the unemployment check finally arriving. It filled up our "monthly expenses" account, our $1,000 "emergency funds" account, and then took out one entire (albeit small) credit card's debt and scratched at the edge of one of the two big credit card debts.
We still have yet to see how much we can chisel off each month. At first it will probably be something like 1 to 2%, but we should be able to roll little additional amounts of money into that.
We're apparently already 8% of the way over the mountain of debt - mostly due to the unemployment check finally arriving. It filled up our "monthly expenses" account, our $1,000 "emergency funds" account, and then took out one entire (albeit small) credit card's debt and scratched at the edge of one of the two big credit card debts.
We still have yet to see how much we can chisel off each month. At first it will probably be something like 1 to 2%, but we should be able to roll little additional amounts of money into that.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Squeezin' the budget
Here is where I post our financial details. In public. Because I have no shame, and very few people I know read this anyways :-) I wrote this post in parallel with the last, so you might want to read that one first.
Our expenses are:
Category-by-category, here is how we can trim:
Anyways, these changes should help us move from a budget where expenses slightly exceed income to something that will allow us to pay off a couple hundred dollars of debt or more each month. If anyone sees something we missed that could save us money, please leave a comment!
As for clothing, gifts, etc. - not in the budget. Freecycle, trades, begging from friends, and other free methods only! Home repairs are a potential biggie not in the budget, and I know this. We'll be keeping one month's expenses plus $1K in our bank accounts once we build it up, but anything bigger will have to be handled with yet another loan. The best way to be secure against major repairs is probably to keep doing what we are doing, get rid of debt, and try to get 3 to 6 months' savings stored up. Health co-pays and other health costs fall into the same area. We might want to put bus passes or bus fare in the budget - need to examine this more, though, as we might just walk and bike everywhere if it's too expensive to bus. I'm not sure if we missed anything else that should be here. let me know if you see something!
One more section: Goals. These are all temporary, and will be modified as our situation changes (our long-term goals are still in flux, as DH may or may not become the sole income). But here is the current draft:
1) Save 1 month's expenses.
2) Save $1K emergency fund.
3) Pay off credit card No. 1.
4) Pay off credit card No. 2.
5) Pay off student loan.
6) Re-work budget - add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (like maybe the car).
7) Save up month 2 & 3's expenses in savings.
8) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (maybe increase groceries to include special treats).
9) Save up month 4 through 6's expenses in 3-month CD's.
10) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts.
11) Start retirement savings.
12) Start "life plans" savings for pre-retirement funds - children's college supplementary funds ('cuz I don't want to fully "pay their way") and "lose the day-job / start a home business" funds.
I like the idea of scheduling in the points where we can modify our budget - of course, major life changes would also get a modification. But this way it's like enrolling in health insurance: We've signed up, and we can only change things at the pre-determined times or something big changing our circumstances. Of course, DH still hasn't signed off on everything - so it's not 100% locked in yet.
Our expenses are:
- food & groceries
- phones
- Internet
- Water/sewer
- Electricity
- Gas (PSE)
- Garbage
- Mortgage
- debt
- car insurance
- gas
- car maintenance
- health insurance
- taxes
- charity
Category-by-category, here is how we can trim:
- Groceries: I'm in charge of shopping and pre-prepping dinners. Our current strategy is to only buy at Cash 'n' Carry, excepting milk (which we need to buy a little more often), hygiene, and pet care stuff (the last two aren't at Cash 'N' Carry). Since we're planning on retiring the car for a bit (see below), we'll shop there about once a month with a shopping buddy (probably my MIL, as this will be mutually beneficial) who can help us out with a car - in return for help scouring ads or a frozen meal. I'm pretty good at combining low-$$ with high-nutrition, and handy enough with spices and sauces that things still taste good - so we will be going pretty cheap. I can't say how much this will save us - I have $400 budgeted for groceries (including personal hygiene & pet stuff) at the moment and that's been pretty accurate in the past, but it will take time to figure out how much lower this gets us. Savings: Unknown, hopefully $100 / month. Schedule: Already started.
When we have a bit more time, we can night-potty-train the girls so we can quit buying diapers. They are pretty much ready, but we the parents need to be prepared to get them up in the middle of the night to go potty until the girls are prepared to handle that on their own. And handle the inevitable accidents that will happen until they can remember upon waking that they are no longer wearing diapers and need to go to the potty. Savings: $20 to $40 / month. Schedule: Need to discuss with DH; hopefully 1 month, April 17th - Phones: We have two phones right now - a VoIP land line, and a cell phone. The VoIP line is just over $30 a month. THANK HEAVENS we were smart, and did a Pay-As-You-Go cell phone plan! Saving money on our phone bills was as simple as stopping automatic payments for it - no contract!!! In fact, we like it so much that we may switch to two pay-as-you-go cells and no land line. First, we need to figure out how much a cheap cell phone for me will cost. Then, we need to estimate how many minutes per month we use our landline for to be reasonably sure we'll actually pay less (Pay-as-you-go doesn't have free minutes) and guesstimate how long it will take to recoup the costs of the new phone. Finally, we can then continue to reduce our phone costs by reducing our minutes - by using alternate communication methods, like a public blog for friends and family (my family doesn't know about this blog, or I wouldn't post so much personal info . . . funny, huh?). Savings: Guessing $10 to $20 / month, after recouping costs of new cheap cell. Schedule: Start the process in one week - March 30th. Be done with it in two more weeks - April 13th, in time to go car-free.
- Internet: We may be able to switch to DSL with Verizon. We need to see if they have service in our area, and what the costs of quitting Comcast and starting with Verizon are. We might be able to negotiate on start-up fees or use a lower-cost option to negotiate with Comcast. Savings: $20 to $30 / month. Schedule: Start looking into this with the phones, and be done on the same timeline (March 30th to April 1st).
- Water / sewer: Water-saving will take a lot of effort and habit-building for us, as we are not extravagent users. It would take a lot of discipline to save $10. This isn't something we worry about until later. I think sewer is a flat fee, so no thoughts there. When we do get to water, some things to look at: Rain barrels, for yard care water. Washing dishes by filling up the sick. We could probably cut down water in the girls' baths, but not for DH and me - we're already pretty low-water for self-cleaning.
- Electricity has some of the same problems as water: It requires habit-building. This is slightly higher-priority than water, as there is more we could do with less effort: Turn off computers and monitors each night. Maybe do an inspection of our lightbulbs and see if we could switch to lower-energy bulbs. Get a night-light for the cats instead of leaving the garage light on all night (they weren't using the litter boxes when it was too dark in there, and the motion detectors don't pick them up).
- Gas (for heating & cooking): We've done most of what we can easily do here. The house gets heated to 70 degrees at 6 AM for people to wake up. It gets heated to 65 degrees or so at 7 PM for baths and bedtime. The rest of the time, it's allowed to cool down to . . . I think 50 degrees. Maybe 55. We could adjust by 5 degrees here or there, and may be able to use space heating - but this is lower-priority, between electricity and water. We're not gong to try and reduce cooking gas.
- Garbage: Someone mentioned being able to change size of containers and pickup frequency. Not sure if this is available to us. It's worth looking into once we've handled everything else not low-priority on this list as it is very simple. Savings: $5/month. Schedule: 5 weeks to start - April 27th. One more week to conclude - May 4th.
- Mortgage: We might benefit from some of the new programs being rolled out. A superficial check with our mortgage holder said that we will probably be eligible for both of the programs they are offering (but might need to pick one). I'm not counting on this, but it's helpful to keep in mind. It might also allow us to sell our house (probably upside-down on the mortgage due to dropping real estate values and no-down-payment mortgage right now), although DH and I have only considered that option in passing. I think DH would rather keep this house, and not sure if he is willing to give it up so that we can live off of his income when he returns to work. Obviously, we're making this pretty high-priority right now! Savings: Up to $650 (current mortgage - 38% of our income) under one plan, and not sure about the other. Schedule: ASAP, as fast as Countrywide or Bank of America (whoever owns the mortgage right then) will allow.
- Debt: Yeah, yeah, we know how to reduce this already. Dave Ramnsey, debt snowball, yadda yadda. Been there, done that, ready to do it again. We're starting with minimum payments on non-mortgage debt of around $200 ($40 for college, $160 for credit cards), and that will be going down to $0 as we pay off debt with all the money we're saving with all these changes we are making. Savings: Up to $200 in minimum fees, plus something like $150 / month in APR being added to our total. Schedule: ASAP, after 1 month's expenses and $1K savings in bank
- Vehicle costs (insurance, driving gas, maintenance): If we go "car free" (quit paying insurance and quit driving, leaving the car in the driveway and using it as outside storage) we can get rid of insurance, gasoline, and maintenance. Yes, we know what we are looking at in terms of effort; we've done this before. We have a P&R about 1 mile from our house, so we can still take trips into the world for the cost of bus fare. I'll have to research commuter / reduced car use incentives that may apply - we might be eligible for free bus passes, etc. The biggest change will be giving up Rosary Group, but I even have a plan for handling that (I am crafty!). I will probably send out an email later this week. Savings: $100 to $300. Schedule: In 3 weeks - April 13th - to give time for my new commute to settle down.
- Health insurance: We will be only insuring me with my employer; DH and the girls will instead join a larger-deductible individual plan that we found online. The girls may qualify for cheaper state insurance, but that will take a couple of months to get working - if so, we can change their and DH's insurance plans (without waiting for an enrollment period, or having coverage gaps!) and save about another $40 a month. Seriously, I had no idea individual insurance like this was out there. eHealthInsurance - if you want to check it out. Savings: $168 / month. Schedule: DH and the girls have already applied, and should be insured April 1st. I need to get my application in by tomorrow, and should be insured April 1st.
- Taxes: Right now I'm having an extra $15 a week withheld to cover taxes from my unemployment. But we should probably drop that, and focus on our current expenses. We're likely to be getting a small refund anyways, so paying extra probably doesn't make sense. I think I've taken all the deductions I can on my W-4, so that will help. And yes, we've already received this year's income tax refund.Savings: Well, not technically savings, but $15 / month right now instead of either a refund or payment at next year's tax time. Schedule: Ugh, should give this time to avoid paperwork snafu's. Let's say, 7weeks: May 11th
- Charity: This is new to our budget (because we are selfish, selfish people *shame*), but something we need to start planning for (and, to be honest, I promised God we'd do this once I got a job . . . before looking at our budget). Under these circumstances, understand that I am *not* mentioning this to brag, LOL. Rather, I'm putting it up here so that I will feel committed to it and will see it as part of our monthly "expenses". Since we are out of "treasure" right now, we will be donating time and talent - time will be proportional to my working hours. We are creating a schedule for this right now. I has me some fun ideas about how to "spend" this *grin*. Not sure if DH is willing to help with this beyond the support role, but he could also "spend" some of this time on a charitable cause he wishes to support. Savings: $0 (new to our budget). Schedule: Start immediately with planning, try to get in our "donation" of time for this week by EOD Saturday.
Anyways, these changes should help us move from a budget where expenses slightly exceed income to something that will allow us to pay off a couple hundred dollars of debt or more each month. If anyone sees something we missed that could save us money, please leave a comment!
As for clothing, gifts, etc. - not in the budget. Freecycle, trades, begging from friends, and other free methods only! Home repairs are a potential biggie not in the budget, and I know this. We'll be keeping one month's expenses plus $1K in our bank accounts once we build it up, but anything bigger will have to be handled with yet another loan. The best way to be secure against major repairs is probably to keep doing what we are doing, get rid of debt, and try to get 3 to 6 months' savings stored up. Health co-pays and other health costs fall into the same area. We might want to put bus passes or bus fare in the budget - need to examine this more, though, as we might just walk and bike everywhere if it's too expensive to bus. I'm not sure if we missed anything else that should be here. let me know if you see something!
One more section: Goals. These are all temporary, and will be modified as our situation changes (our long-term goals are still in flux, as DH may or may not become the sole income). But here is the current draft:
1) Save 1 month's expenses.
2) Save $1K emergency fund.
3) Pay off credit card No. 1.
4) Pay off credit card No. 2.
5) Pay off student loan.
6) Re-work budget - add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (like maybe the car).
7) Save up month 2 & 3's expenses in savings.
8) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (maybe increase groceries to include special treats).
9) Save up month 4 through 6's expenses in 3-month CD's.
10) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts.
11) Start retirement savings.
12) Start "life plans" savings for pre-retirement funds - children's college supplementary funds ('cuz I don't want to fully "pay their way") and "lose the day-job / start a home business" funds.
I like the idea of scheduling in the points where we can modify our budget - of course, major life changes would also get a modification. But this way it's like enrolling in health insurance: We've signed up, and we can only change things at the pre-determined times or something big changing our circumstances. Of course, DH still hasn't signed off on everything - so it's not 100% locked in yet.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I need to stop disappearing
Just a quick update on our family.
The main reason that there haven't been many posts is that I've been sick ever since the last time I posted - first with a cold, and then with what seemed likely to have been bronchitis. Between getting healthy and looking for work, I've been out of energy long before I ever get to posting on this blog.
However, I have started on another blog, called "Homeschool Bright and Early". Very simply, it's about homeschooling toddlers and preschool-aged children. So far I'm just getting started, but I'm building up posts and ideas very quickly, and am very excited about it.
Part of the motivation is to share an important part of my life (the raising and education of my children), and the information I learn while trying to do that, with others. However, I have another, ulterior, motive: See if I have what it takes to build up a good blog and maybe even make a little money off of it. I hear rumors of a few bloggers making significant amounts of cash, and am wondering if I could do it. Yes, I recognize that this isn't the most lucrative subject matter - but it's economical with my time, since I would be doing the research I do for the blog anyways for our own family (but perhaps not in quite so much depth). Plus . . . it's something I care about.
Meanwhile, DH and I are looking for work, making several job contacts a day each. We're learning that, unlike previous job searches, the phone might be our best friend in this economy. I've had two recruiters express thankfulness that I called them to get their attention just today alone. We both hate talking on the phone, especially to strangers, so . . . yuck.
Today was the kickoff for 40 Days for Life. Last time I was pretty much invisible, praying and offering a very small fast and only giving an hour of my time in vigil outside of the local Planned Parenthood. This time, I plan to be much more involved. At least until I get a job.
Now that I'm starting to feel healthier, I'm also starting to remember how to get myself to accomplish more on, say, my job search: Hold myself to higher standards across the board and keep busy. If I don't take on enough activities, I will do worse at the few I do take on. I don't get it either, I seem to be weird this way, but pouring effort into one area of my life seems to have a synergistic effect on every other area I want to pour effort into. Of course, there is a saturation point, and if I cross that line things do go downhill a little - but I'm generally better off taking on too much rather than too little (when I am healthy - which I currently am).
So, I currently have a job search, 40 DfL, a homeschooling blog, mothering my children, and . . . Lent. I like to write down my Lenten commitments so I know what I'm holding myself to, so here they are:
1) A rosary a day for 54 days starting on Monday (two days ago) and ending on Divine Mercy Sunday (or maybe the day before .. . I forget) offered for the conversion of my beloved husband. Yes, he knows about this. It's become a tradition :-)
2) Participation in 40 DfL
3) Giving up leaven (yeast, baking powder, baking soda) and products made with leaven (leavened breads, etc.).
There is the possibility of a 4th commitment, but only if my friends decide to give it a try with me. Rikki-san, that's the idea you came up with during the homeschooling meeting BTW. If you and / or Annaberri are doing that, let me know so I can join in!
I still feel like this isn't really quite enough for me, so I'm also going to be starting a garden next week, helping DH build closet bunk beds for the girls probably the week after, and possibly rejoining the choir. And I'm also seeking out volunteer opportunities for my technical skills.
The biggest problem with my job search so far has been a lack of energy, I suspect. Hopefully getting more active will help a lot with that. Of course, finally getting over bronchitis should help as well.
You know how you can tell this was a quick post? It's very long and wordy. My short posts are the ones where I've heavily edited myself and polished my words. The long ones are the equivalent of frenetic scribbling, jotting, and brainstorming and take very little time to produce. If you visit my homeschooling blog, you'll notice the posts tend to be a lot shorter.
The main reason that there haven't been many posts is that I've been sick ever since the last time I posted - first with a cold, and then with what seemed likely to have been bronchitis. Between getting healthy and looking for work, I've been out of energy long before I ever get to posting on this blog.
However, I have started on another blog, called "Homeschool Bright and Early". Very simply, it's about homeschooling toddlers and preschool-aged children. So far I'm just getting started, but I'm building up posts and ideas very quickly, and am very excited about it.
Part of the motivation is to share an important part of my life (the raising and education of my children), and the information I learn while trying to do that, with others. However, I have another, ulterior, motive: See if I have what it takes to build up a good blog and maybe even make a little money off of it. I hear rumors of a few bloggers making significant amounts of cash, and am wondering if I could do it. Yes, I recognize that this isn't the most lucrative subject matter - but it's economical with my time, since I would be doing the research I do for the blog anyways for our own family (but perhaps not in quite so much depth). Plus . . . it's something I care about.
Meanwhile, DH and I are looking for work, making several job contacts a day each. We're learning that, unlike previous job searches, the phone might be our best friend in this economy. I've had two recruiters express thankfulness that I called them to get their attention just today alone. We both hate talking on the phone, especially to strangers, so . . . yuck.
Today was the kickoff for 40 Days for Life. Last time I was pretty much invisible, praying and offering a very small fast and only giving an hour of my time in vigil outside of the local Planned Parenthood. This time, I plan to be much more involved. At least until I get a job.
Now that I'm starting to feel healthier, I'm also starting to remember how to get myself to accomplish more on, say, my job search: Hold myself to higher standards across the board and keep busy. If I don't take on enough activities, I will do worse at the few I do take on. I don't get it either, I seem to be weird this way, but pouring effort into one area of my life seems to have a synergistic effect on every other area I want to pour effort into. Of course, there is a saturation point, and if I cross that line things do go downhill a little - but I'm generally better off taking on too much rather than too little (when I am healthy - which I currently am).
So, I currently have a job search, 40 DfL, a homeschooling blog, mothering my children, and . . . Lent. I like to write down my Lenten commitments so I know what I'm holding myself to, so here they are:
1) A rosary a day for 54 days starting on Monday (two days ago) and ending on Divine Mercy Sunday (or maybe the day before .. . I forget) offered for the conversion of my beloved husband. Yes, he knows about this. It's become a tradition :-)
2) Participation in 40 DfL
3) Giving up leaven (yeast, baking powder, baking soda) and products made with leaven (leavened breads, etc.).
There is the possibility of a 4th commitment, but only if my friends decide to give it a try with me. Rikki-san, that's the idea you came up with during the homeschooling meeting BTW. If you and / or Annaberri are doing that, let me know so I can join in!
I still feel like this isn't really quite enough for me, so I'm also going to be starting a garden next week, helping DH build closet bunk beds for the girls probably the week after, and possibly rejoining the choir. And I'm also seeking out volunteer opportunities for my technical skills.
The biggest problem with my job search so far has been a lack of energy, I suspect. Hopefully getting more active will help a lot with that. Of course, finally getting over bronchitis should help as well.
You know how you can tell this was a quick post? It's very long and wordy. My short posts are the ones where I've heavily edited myself and polished my words. The long ones are the equivalent of frenetic scribbling, jotting, and brainstorming and take very little time to produce. If you visit my homeschooling blog, you'll notice the posts tend to be a lot shorter.
Monday, December 15, 2008
More on debt and investing
We are going to be able to pay off our debt more quickly than I thought. Which is good, since we probably won't get much of a tax return. Even without making the slightest attempt to curb our spending, we are chipping away at the debt. In the spendiest part of the year. While stocking up on meat and freeze-dried goods on top of the holiday spending.
As for our tax return being small, I took the maximum amount of exemptions that we qualified for, and have paid very little in income tax. With buying the house, we may get something back. I'm just not sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone wisely commented on how I really should have more $$ in savings on my last post - about 10 times more - and wondering how I could feel more secure with investments than savings. Well, it's not entirely rational, but there is a psychological reason I prefer stocks: I am less likely to touch them than savings.
Let's face it, the biggest risk to my savings isn't the economy or Microsoft's stock price. The greatest risk is my own bad spending habits. I am unlikely to lose even half of my savings from market volatility. If I did, though, I'd still have 50% of the money I set aside in the market. On the other hand, there are much higher odds of me spending 100% of my savings for a non-emergency if it's just in the bank. Then I am left with no savings at all, nothing but some stuff - or, more likely, memories of eating out unnecessarily and some extra pounds around my middle.
I get emotionally involved with saving through investments in a way I just don't about savings in the bank - something about the gambling nature of it all, the possible big win someday. Paying off credit card debt has a similar emotional force for me. In the end, that emotional force matters more than a set 3% rate of return in an online bank or the potential 20% loss due to market volatility and needing to withdraw at a market low. I just can't trust myself to keep $$ in the bank for very long, once I get past about one month's buffer. But I'm darned if I'm going to sell stock at a loss for anything less than an emergency, or keep paying those credit card APRs forever! For that, I will be the most frugal gal in town!
Plus I get a 10% discount on MS stock through the employee purchase plan that can help offset volatility. So that also helps me feel more secure about buying MS stock. Yes, I know I should diversify, but I really can't try to do this perfectly right now until our household gets more organized and I have more time. And that 10% buffer is too enticing. Then, too, the odds of MS tanking and wiping out all of my investments are really low - although anything is possible. So I'm putting all of my money there, until things calm down and I have a chance to think and say, "What do I really want to do with this money I'm saving each month long-term, now that I'm used to setting it aside?"
As for our tax return being small, I took the maximum amount of exemptions that we qualified for, and have paid very little in income tax. With buying the house, we may get something back. I'm just not sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone wisely commented on how I really should have more $$ in savings on my last post - about 10 times more - and wondering how I could feel more secure with investments than savings. Well, it's not entirely rational, but there is a psychological reason I prefer stocks: I am less likely to touch them than savings.
Let's face it, the biggest risk to my savings isn't the economy or Microsoft's stock price. The greatest risk is my own bad spending habits. I am unlikely to lose even half of my savings from market volatility. If I did, though, I'd still have 50% of the money I set aside in the market. On the other hand, there are much higher odds of me spending 100% of my savings for a non-emergency if it's just in the bank. Then I am left with no savings at all, nothing but some stuff - or, more likely, memories of eating out unnecessarily and some extra pounds around my middle.
I get emotionally involved with saving through investments in a way I just don't about savings in the bank - something about the gambling nature of it all, the possible big win someday. Paying off credit card debt has a similar emotional force for me. In the end, that emotional force matters more than a set 3% rate of return in an online bank or the potential 20% loss due to market volatility and needing to withdraw at a market low. I just can't trust myself to keep $$ in the bank for very long, once I get past about one month's buffer. But I'm darned if I'm going to sell stock at a loss for anything less than an emergency, or keep paying those credit card APRs forever! For that, I will be the most frugal gal in town!
Plus I get a 10% discount on MS stock through the employee purchase plan that can help offset volatility. So that also helps me feel more secure about buying MS stock. Yes, I know I should diversify, but I really can't try to do this perfectly right now until our household gets more organized and I have more time. And that 10% buffer is too enticing. Then, too, the odds of MS tanking and wiping out all of my investments are really low - although anything is possible. So I'm putting all of my money there, until things calm down and I have a chance to think and say, "What do I really want to do with this money I'm saving each month long-term, now that I'm used to setting it aside?"
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Getting organized
I'm starting to finally make progress on the pile of disorganization in my life!
I'm using a system called "Getting Things Done" (GTD), described in the book by the same name by David Allen. I like it because it gets to the heart of what I like about most organization systems, and because it works well with computerized tools.
What I like about the basic structure of organization - the list - is that it gets things off of my mind - but until I read GTD, I didn't realize that fact. What I normally don't like is that I don't follow up with my lists, because it's so hard to find the information I need without reading the whole list and sorting through it mentally. GTD has some ways to handle that. and with an online system like "Toodledo" to help, I'm now able to look at my to-do list and, at the top, always see the things that are most important to me right now. With computer features like filtering and sorting, GTD becomes very, very powerful.
For example: The main question I ask at work is, "What should I be doing right now?" I look at my GTD list, and filter by context (work), date (I don't want to see anything that can't be started until tomorrow), and actionability (I have items in my todo list that can't be started until something else is done, and they are labelled to reflect this). Once I have all the actionable items I can do today at work, I sort them by due date and priority (Toodledo rolls these together into one concept called "Importance", and so I just use that), and then by how long the work will take. I do the shortest tasks first, just to get them off of my mind.
The flip side is that I need to regularly add items into my list. I handle this by writing everything down in a notebook when I am away from my computer, and then adding it into my system once a day (I have a repeating top-priority todo for this that is automatically added every day for me by Toodledo). The final part I haven't done yet, but it is to go through the system once a week or so and make sure the list is in order - delete outdated items, readjust due dates, and generally clean house.
So far, this system looks good. Someday I'll read back on this post with 20/20 hindight, and know if it really worked for me or not - maybe I'll leave myself a comment?
Hrm, a benefit to the online diary: I can write notes on my entries when I look back at them from future years. That's a fun idea.
I'm using a system called "Getting Things Done" (GTD), described in the book by the same name by David Allen. I like it because it gets to the heart of what I like about most organization systems, and because it works well with computerized tools.
What I like about the basic structure of organization - the list - is that it gets things off of my mind - but until I read GTD, I didn't realize that fact. What I normally don't like is that I don't follow up with my lists, because it's so hard to find the information I need without reading the whole list and sorting through it mentally. GTD has some ways to handle that. and with an online system like "Toodledo" to help, I'm now able to look at my to-do list and, at the top, always see the things that are most important to me right now. With computer features like filtering and sorting, GTD becomes very, very powerful.
For example: The main question I ask at work is, "What should I be doing right now?" I look at my GTD list, and filter by context (work), date (I don't want to see anything that can't be started until tomorrow), and actionability (I have items in my todo list that can't be started until something else is done, and they are labelled to reflect this). Once I have all the actionable items I can do today at work, I sort them by due date and priority (Toodledo rolls these together into one concept called "Importance", and so I just use that), and then by how long the work will take. I do the shortest tasks first, just to get them off of my mind.
The flip side is that I need to regularly add items into my list. I handle this by writing everything down in a notebook when I am away from my computer, and then adding it into my system once a day (I have a repeating top-priority todo for this that is automatically added every day for me by Toodledo). The final part I haven't done yet, but it is to go through the system once a week or so and make sure the list is in order - delete outdated items, readjust due dates, and generally clean house.
So far, this system looks good. Someday I'll read back on this post with 20/20 hindight, and know if it really worked for me or not - maybe I'll leave myself a comment?
Hrm, a benefit to the online diary: I can write notes on my entries when I look back at them from future years. That's a fun idea.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Savin' gas
Like everyone else, we're trying to cut back on gas. Our plan is pretty simple:
- Create a budget, in terms of total miles per week. We're aiming to stay under 100 miles per week (they will 'rollover', so we can save miles for a big trip to visit family). For us, that's around 5 gallons of gas per week, or $18.95 per week in last Sunday's gas prices.
- Remove the back seat. We're getting an extra mile per gallon that way. 18.4 to 19.3 mpg or so.
- Use cruise control when possible. We get about 1/3 extra mpg - so up to 19.6 mpg (highway). This is a minivan, btw.
Longer term, we'll probably try and cut back even more. However, we do need to take the occasional trip to pay homage to the relatives who have helped us so much during the past couple of years (and even before then).
Other ideas that may help us eventually lower our gas budget:
- Getting things delivered. Good ol' CSA's can handle most of our groceries, for example - thanks to the friend who reminded me about the Klesicks'! Who are delivering our produce today *squee*!
- Running all of our errands on one day. We need to get a bit more organized to pull this off well. Also, Sunday is a natural day for this since we need to drive to church anyways - but do we really want to be working on Sundays? I guess it depends on the nature of the errands. A library trip on Sundays would be great!
- When the overpass is completed, we will be walking distance from Silver Lake Park (1 mile). And yes, we know how long 1 mile is when walking with twins - that's how far it was to the affordable grocery store when we didn't have a car.
- Using the electric scooter for errands. Because carrying things in the bottom of a double stroller just isn't that much fun.
We're in an unusual place in that we are far less dependent on our car to begin with than the average family of four. So we don't feel the pinch of rising gas prices the way other people do - we just change the flow of our lives a little and move away from gas. We will probably lose some of that flexibility as our children get older (and, dare I hope, more numerous?), so I'm going to enjoy it while we have it!
- Create a budget, in terms of total miles per week. We're aiming to stay under 100 miles per week (they will 'rollover', so we can save miles for a big trip to visit family). For us, that's around 5 gallons of gas per week, or $18.95 per week in last Sunday's gas prices.
- Remove the back seat. We're getting an extra mile per gallon that way. 18.4 to 19.3 mpg or so.
- Use cruise control when possible. We get about 1/3 extra mpg - so up to 19.6 mpg (highway). This is a minivan, btw.
Longer term, we'll probably try and cut back even more. However, we do need to take the occasional trip to pay homage to the relatives who have helped us so much during the past couple of years (and even before then).
Other ideas that may help us eventually lower our gas budget:
- Getting things delivered. Good ol' CSA's can handle most of our groceries, for example - thanks to the friend who reminded me about the Klesicks'! Who are delivering our produce today *squee*!
- Running all of our errands on one day. We need to get a bit more organized to pull this off well. Also, Sunday is a natural day for this since we need to drive to church anyways - but do we really want to be working on Sundays? I guess it depends on the nature of the errands. A library trip on Sundays would be great!
- When the overpass is completed, we will be walking distance from Silver Lake Park (1 mile). And yes, we know how long 1 mile is when walking with twins - that's how far it was to the affordable grocery store when we didn't have a car.
- Using the electric scooter for errands. Because carrying things in the bottom of a double stroller just isn't that much fun.
We're in an unusual place in that we are far less dependent on our car to begin with than the average family of four. So we don't feel the pinch of rising gas prices the way other people do - we just change the flow of our lives a little and move away from gas. We will probably lose some of that flexibility as our children get older (and, dare I hope, more numerous?), so I'm going to enjoy it while we have it!
Monday, April 28, 2008
There must be 50 ways to help the planet
I found a link to a nice list of 50 Ways to Help the Planet while dinking around on the web, and thought it might be fun to go through them and see how many I'm doing and make to-do's (for months out - too busy right now) to change some of my habits. However, 50 is a bit much for one post, so I'm going to do 10 at a time until I get bored.
Here are today's 10:
1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
This one is about switching to CFC's instead of incandescent lighting. We've done this in the past, although since we've moved I don't think we've switched out all of our bulbs. We do have CFC's on hand to replace lights as they burn out. I actually already have a to-do to look into LED lights - supposedly longer-lasting, lower-energy than even CFC's, and without that stressful hint of mercury. Also more expensive up-frount, however. Since we have CFC's on hand an a related to-do, I'm marking this "In Progress".
2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
We could do better about this one. We often leave the laptop, as well as other electronics, on 24/7 when they aren't needed. I just created a to-do for this.
3. DON’T RINSE
This falls into my husband's area, as the dishes are solidly his responsibility. However, I created a to-do to ask him if he is rinsing, and recommend that he try seeing if we really need to with our new (to us) fancy dishwasher that came with our house. This saves time and money and is green - so definitely a habit worth changing, if our dishwasher can handle it (our old one couldn't).
4. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN
They do mention the exception for baking. I generally already do this when I'm the one cooking. This is my husband's area more than mine, so I'll bring it up and let him decide - to-do created. We don't oven-cook that much, so it's not really a big deal for us anyways.
5. RECYCLE GLASS
We do this. Recycling is so ubiquitous here that I can't imagine anyone not doing this - especially when you don't even need to sort your glass from the rest of your recyclables in this area!
6. DIAPER WITH A CONSCIENCE
Use cloth or environmentally-concious disposables for this one. We used cloth for two months, but couldn't afford the nice diapers that change quickly. Taking two to four minutes longer for a diaper change is a big deal with twinfants, since one baby is usually crying the entire time that you are changing the other. We used cheap generic disposables for a while, but once we were able to afford Seventh Generation we gave them a try and haven't gone back - great quality! For our next child, I want to give Fuzzy Bunz a try - they look quick and easy. But we're so close to potty-training now that we can't really justify the investment until we know we'll have another baby to use it with.
7. HANG DRY
Also Bjorn's area. I don't think he'll be willing to do this, especially since we live in such a damp, wet part of the country (greater-Seattle area). I think I'll put this down as something to consider for summer, 2009. Honestly, I'd really like to talk to people who actually do this in the local area before I try it - especially since it means I need to take on the laundry.
8. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
We've already reduced out meat consumption some - enough to fulfill this item on the list - but I'd like to get to just preparing a meal with meat once a week (leftovers will probably last multiple meals). So I finally got around to creating a to-do for that. We also have a to-do in similar vein about looking into buying local, grass-fed beef from a CSA to reduce impact.
9. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
This is about not using the hot/hot for clothing. We already do this, using hot/hot about once a month for whites (if anyone remembers to wash them on the special setting), and otherwise wash using cold / cold or, for the very messy, warm / cold.
10. USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN
This inspires three or four to-do's. First, get cloth napkins at home. Second, quit using paper towels (may need more cloth towels, or just easier access to the cloth diapers we use). Third, store a kit of re-usable napkins and silverware in the car for fast-food dining.
So there are 10 items analyzed for today. I may or may not go through another 10 later. I came up with seven new to-do items for our list out of these ten green ideas. Hopefully we can gradually make these small changes to live a greener (cheaper!) lifestyle - like good Christian stewards should!
Here are today's 10:
1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
This one is about switching to CFC's instead of incandescent lighting. We've done this in the past, although since we've moved I don't think we've switched out all of our bulbs. We do have CFC's on hand to replace lights as they burn out. I actually already have a to-do to look into LED lights - supposedly longer-lasting, lower-energy than even CFC's, and without that stressful hint of mercury. Also more expensive up-frount, however. Since we have CFC's on hand an a related to-do, I'm marking this "In Progress".
2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
We could do better about this one. We often leave the laptop, as well as other electronics, on 24/7 when they aren't needed. I just created a to-do for this.
3. DON’T RINSE
This falls into my husband's area, as the dishes are solidly his responsibility. However, I created a to-do to ask him if he is rinsing, and recommend that he try seeing if we really need to with our new (to us) fancy dishwasher that came with our house. This saves time and money and is green - so definitely a habit worth changing, if our dishwasher can handle it (our old one couldn't).
4. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN
They do mention the exception for baking. I generally already do this when I'm the one cooking. This is my husband's area more than mine, so I'll bring it up and let him decide - to-do created. We don't oven-cook that much, so it's not really a big deal for us anyways.
5. RECYCLE GLASS
We do this. Recycling is so ubiquitous here that I can't imagine anyone not doing this - especially when you don't even need to sort your glass from the rest of your recyclables in this area!
6. DIAPER WITH A CONSCIENCE
Use cloth or environmentally-concious disposables for this one. We used cloth for two months, but couldn't afford the nice diapers that change quickly. Taking two to four minutes longer for a diaper change is a big deal with twinfants, since one baby is usually crying the entire time that you are changing the other. We used cheap generic disposables for a while, but once we were able to afford Seventh Generation we gave them a try and haven't gone back - great quality! For our next child, I want to give Fuzzy Bunz a try - they look quick and easy. But we're so close to potty-training now that we can't really justify the investment until we know we'll have another baby to use it with.
7. HANG DRY
Also Bjorn's area. I don't think he'll be willing to do this, especially since we live in such a damp, wet part of the country (greater-Seattle area). I think I'll put this down as something to consider for summer, 2009. Honestly, I'd really like to talk to people who actually do this in the local area before I try it - especially since it means I need to take on the laundry.
8. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
We've already reduced out meat consumption some - enough to fulfill this item on the list - but I'd like to get to just preparing a meal with meat once a week (leftovers will probably last multiple meals). So I finally got around to creating a to-do for that. We also have a to-do in similar vein about looking into buying local, grass-fed beef from a CSA to reduce impact.
9. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
This is about not using the hot/hot for clothing. We already do this, using hot/hot about once a month for whites (if anyone remembers to wash them on the special setting), and otherwise wash using cold / cold or, for the very messy, warm / cold.
10. USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN
This inspires three or four to-do's. First, get cloth napkins at home. Second, quit using paper towels (may need more cloth towels, or just easier access to the cloth diapers we use). Third, store a kit of re-usable napkins and silverware in the car for fast-food dining.
So there are 10 items analyzed for today. I may or may not go through another 10 later. I came up with seven new to-do items for our list out of these ten green ideas. Hopefully we can gradually make these small changes to live a greener (cheaper!) lifestyle - like good Christian stewards should!
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