Week 5

Five down, 47 to go. I will say that March has been easier (?) now that I’ve gotten the hang of how to balance things a bit better. I’m crushing my OTF, Yoga, Meditation and Strength Training goals so far – things that I failed to achieve in February. Making time, not giving it too much thought and just doing it have helped. For instance, not that I typically have a lot of down time, but last Friday I got home from work around 5:00 p.m. and had nothing planned the rest of the day. It was a day that I was scheduled to do some Strength Training, and although I wasn’t feeling it, I had a pep talk with myself: I could either spend 30 minutes on this and feel good that I accomplished the goal, or spend 5 hours sitting on the couch reading, watching TV and perusing the internet while essentially waiting to go to bed. I went with the former and I am now 75% done with my Strength Training goals for the month – and it’s only the 10th!

I’m also on-target to reach all other goals as well, but have had to make a few adjustments to the financial goals I set for myself. I got the opportunity to go on a 10-day European trip in May 2019 for the commemoration of D-Day. What a lot of people don’t know about me is that I have a fairly substantial interest in all things WWII, and this was an opportunity that I didn’t want to pass up. Considering it was so far away, the financial burden wouldn’t be too incredible as I had enough time to break up payments over a 14-month period. Now…. I know what you’re thinking – “But Connie, wasn’t the whole point of this Give It Up challenge to stop making purchases and pay off debts?” Why, yes it was/is. However…. Because another part of this challenge was also to get in the habit of being more mindful of my spending, and to allocate more money to experiences rather than things, I thought I’d give myself a mulligan on this one. Plus, I’m still on target to pay off my debts right around the time this trip happens, regardless of the extra money I’m having to spend on the trip itself. Yes, I am having to put in a few more hours at work than what I originally allotted, however, I’m lucky in that, within reason, I am able to work (and make) as much or as little as I want. To me, the extra time spent in the office was worth this trip.

Another tweak I’ve been thinking about making to my initial plan is the leniency on what I am allowed to spend my “Spending Money.” Currently, I give myself $80 a week to spend – and that goes to any extras from a pack of gum at the store to expenses not fully covered by what’s in my savings account (i.e. $14 of a recent race fee was paid from my Spending Money allotment as I only had $25 in my Race Fee savings at the time). Because the money is an allowance, I’m not sure I want to restrain WHAT this gets spent on; as long as I don’t go over the amount given, does it really matter where it goes?

It’s amazing, however, how quickly this money gets eaten up. Although I technically have it set up to take this $80 out in cash every Friday, if there was something I had paid for with my ATM card, I deduct that amount from what I take out in cash so that I’m sure not to overspend. I also keep track of ALL spending on a spreadsheet so, at the end of the month, I know exactly where the money went. I must say – it’s a good thing I love my dog as much as I do because those treats are EXPENSIVE! Luckily, in the 5 weeks I’ve been doing this I haven’t broken the budget. Here’s hoping I don’t blow a tire or the clothes dryer goes on the fritz!

Next week I’d like to share the changes that I’ve made to the way I’ve been using social media. My goal for February was to get off all social media for the month, but that wasn’t quite the way things worked out - but for good reason.