Frugal Pleasures

Back to Frugality

2010-03-22T06:59:00.003-05:00

I am finally back from Europe, my trip was business, but I managed to turn a good bit of the time into personal pleasure. I am very grateful that my work is a pleasure as well :).

Busy - busy - busy - excuses
There is so much going on and so much to do at home that I've simply not had the time to post an update. Next week end I am traveling to Miami for a wedding, the week end after, family from Vancouver are visiting. I simply do not have time to think, much less document my thoughts. Let me rephrase this, I am simply not well organized enough to blog and still continue all my other pursuits as I like to do.

There is Italian class which I must complete and try to get as much out of as possible, not just about getting an A - as much as it is about learning to speak - read- write.

There is my beloved yoga practice which has definitely taken a back seat, with travel, family, and classes pushing it to the back of the stage. This is not good because I consider yoga my sustaining life line. I must reposition this pursuit center satge now that I am back. My life's quality is very much directly proportional to the amount of yoga I practice. Simple fact.

Family, they are of course built in, as I live with them, thankfully :).

Friends and hobbies, I lump these together because some of my hobbies such as painting, I do with friends, so it is both creative time as well as friend connecting time. Remaining connected with my friends is vital for me and for my well being.

My home also continues to need its tender loving care, I have a number of improvements in mind, some needed, some simply creative ideas I want to execute. Along with my home there is my garden, it is wild from a long winter. I think it will take 5 days of working outside ALL day to get it to presentable. Not beautiful, but presentable. This year I also want to resussitate my herb garden. We shall see.

I will stop here, though there is certainly more to list. My remedial ability to properly organize my time and to make best use of my time shows. It shows in my ever growing list of to dos and creative projects on the back burners. The travel does not help with this situation, but I assure you that I use it as much more of an excuse than it really is.

I continue to look for ways to improve every aspect of my life, and at this time it seems that "time management", and organization are clearly at the epicenter of my mission. I do know one thing, to be sure, all of my "tasks" need to be fueled by a well rested and well fueled body. I need to exercise, as that fuels my energies.

Wish me luck as I get myself back into my day to day life, and special project rhythm. My goal is to be able to keep a balance, do a little of everything, includig a bit of nothing, keep some harmony in the pursuit of life.

A Frugal Pleasure of Sorts

2010-02-24T21:33:00.001-05:00

Well folks, I'm out of town on a business trip, and this is the first time I've had a free moment to write. I really am not totally enamoured with traveling, people all seem to love traveling.

I do travel a good bit internationally due to the demands of my work. I tend to be a very happy and cheerful person, so I am loving exactly where my feet are planted. Just enjoying the moment.

I did take the week end to meet up with my best friend who lives in Milan Italy. We had some quality girl time, and that was such a blessing. Such a pleasure. A little chalenging having a best friend who lives on another continent.

Presently I am in Amsterdam, It's a great city, I love the history and the art, culture. But I come here all the time, so it is not new to me, but over and over again, I ADORE the museums. Looking forward to getting home though.

Some of the perks of business travel are eating out at phenomenal restaurants, and no house work :). I am thoroughly enjoying being away from my "projects", yes I am.

These trips make it quite easy to stay on my newly adopted "unemployment budget" because I can live extravagantly for FREE. Does not get much more frugal than that does it? So this too is a frugal pleasure.

Well bye-bye for now, till I'm back state side.

Action Plan - Check-in

2010-02-15T22:48:00.002-05:00

Once again posting my action plan has proven to be a fairly successful strategy for accomplishing my goals. My cleaning that was scheduled to take 1 hour 15 mins. actually took the better part of the day. I decided that a couple of spots needed love, namely my stove top and grates, my fridge, and my walls, my whole kitchen actually. Then I decided my master bath also needed deep love.

So I spent a good bit of time in the kitchen, but now it sparkles as it really should, and there is not one teensy weency bit of clutter. Have I mentioned that I detest clutter? This includes the ever popular "decorative clutter". More on that later.

Every square inch of my kitchen is as I want it to be. I even scrubbed my kitchen floor. Every drawer is organized, every cupboard neat, my pantry usable. There are a few minor improvements I want to make in there, but that's for another topic.

Oh, almost forgot, I still need a permanent place for my microwave, and on top of a counter is not an option, this is something I detest. I need to figure out where it can be built in. I will lose a drawer or 1/2 a cupboard, but that is ok with me. For now it rests as the endcap of one counter, not bad, looks sort of "built in".

My master bath received a very deep cleaning, and the closet was finally organized - yippie - that closet has been my nemisis for a long time.

I did not stick to my timeline, but I got more accomplished than I'd planned, so I'd say the weekend of work was a success.

I also have all my material for my Italian test down to a science, and I even relaxed quite a bit with family celebrating carnaval.

Taxes were not completed due to some missing docs, and healthcare spending account organizing also did not happen.

I did cook, but nothing very special, I'd say this weekend was mostly cleaning and organizing, and I am super happy about that. I also did a good bit of "me time", which I need and crave, and relaxing.

Action Plan for Weekend 3

2010-02-13T10:02:00.001-05:00

Today:
Coffee (having it now - relaxed planning & writing)
laundry to basement -- start load

speed clean my home (use a timer)
redistribute "stuff" that's left its home (7- mins)
swish all toilets w' cleaner
spray all sinks & tubs (2 - mins)
make my bed (3 - mins)
feather dust bedroom/ LR/ DR (7 - mins)
clean baths & shine (15 - mins)
vacuum upstairs & stairs (10 - mins)
vacuum downstairs & beat rugs (15- mins)
spray and shine stove top (7 - mins)
wipe down and shine counters (5 - mins)
scrub kitchen sink (5 - mins)
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DONE = 1 hour 16 minutes

lunch - turkey on wheat

Afternoon
- these 3 items will take 2-3 hours
- finish assembling glass inserts - kitchen cabinets
- mount cabinet doors
- fill cabinets w' stemwear/ vases/ glasses

frozen eggplant parm into oven
yoga class @ 4:30
home 6:30PM
dinner of eggplant parm & salade
1 hour of Italian
8:30 -til - - exhausted - - - - SEWING

SUNDAY:

coffee & relax
1 hour of Italian
health care spending account
Taxes
lunch - left over eggplant parm
organize photos for clothing assessment
blog work - categorize & organize posts
cook for the week (Feijao Assado &Meat Lasagne)
dinner - whole wheat nan pizzas
1 hour of Italian
build a fire and relax in front of fireplace in good company

Monday:

- coffee and relax

- 1 hour of Italian

- yoga class

- spend the day as I wish - could be sewing, taking a walk, time with nephews, a craft project, some movies, reading, blog stuff, trying a new recipe, organizing something, hanging out with my sister

- Bubble Bath

- a final hour of Italian - test Tuesday

Motivation - Action Plans - Goals

2010-02-13T09:27:00.025-05:00

Motivation - waiting for it to arrive is not a good strategy
Once again I find myself with little to no motivation. There is so much that needs doing in my home, and I am not motivated. The hope is that by posting my week end action plans, I will get things done, and still have time remaining to just relax. This strategy has worked beautifully for the past few weekends, so I will continue it.

Long Range Goals
My big overall goal is to have my home just as I want it, every nook and crannie by late winter, mid March. At that time weather permitting I will tackle my attic and garage.

Once spring is here, I have much work to do in my gardens to get them to acceptable. They've been given little attention for the past 3 years, so this year there will be a few weekends, and potentially a few vacation days of pure indentured servitude to my garden.

All this work will be worth it, because there is nothing like eating a freshly picked tomato, or picking a bunch of flowers to make a vase for a friend. There is nothing better than preserving my bumper crops for winter.

A need to get away
I'd forgotten it was a holiday on Monday, so I did not plan any special get away, had I remembered, I may have planned to go someplace warmer for 3 days. At this stage of winter I do feel a craving for warmth. I have free rooms at Sheraton & Marroitt and lots of free miles for flying, all due to business travel, so it would have been free. What's better than free for a frugal life?

The Immediate
But back to my action plan. I will post an update on my status Monday night.
Here is my overall goal and strategy. I'd like to get all the manual type labor done by this afternoon. This evening I'd like to study about 1 hour of Italian. As a reward for my day of work, in the evening after a nice yoga class, and in the happy glow of my sparkling home, I look forward to spending some qualiy creative time communing with my new sewing machine.

Tomorrow AM I'd like to do 1 hour of Italian, then do my taxes and my healthcare spending account. Spend another hour Sunday evening on Italian, then relax by the fire in my sparkling clean home, after a simple but delicious meal.

Wish me luck, just writing this increases my motivation.

2010-02-12T21:53:00.001-05:00

This is a long weekend, and I have a LONG list of ToDos. Ive already gotten grocery shopping out of the way this evening, so that's a great begining. I do have to study because I have an Italian test on Tuesday, and the material is getting more and more difficult, so I expect to put in a good 4-5 hours into that effort.

Tomorrow morning, early I'd like to get the remainder of the new glass front cabinet doors hung, and fill the cabinets with glasswear. I want to give the kitchen and baths a deep cleaning, and get my fridge and pantry all refreshed. There is laundry, cooking for next week, and decluttering of at least one drawer.

I also want to spend some time completing all of my health care spending account expenses, and I have to do my taxes. I already have everything organized for these 2 administrative tasks. Got all papers organized last week.

I want to do yoga at least two times, and I'd like to get my new sewing machine set up so I can start creating, or at least playing.

I have no social obligations this weekend, but to perhaps hang out with my sister and nephews, but this is impromptu.
So tomorrow AM first thing I will post my specific plan. Posting my plan and then checking in at the end of the week end is doing wonders for my productivity. I love that.

Sometimes I am Cursed

2010-02-12T08:22:00.002-05:00

Here's an example. Sewing, simple right, look through pattern books, find something you like, buy the pattern, buy the fabric, and make the item? Oh non, not me. I rather prefer to make patterns, not that I know how, nope.

In my essence I am a mathematician, I do not like to follow directions for anything. I like to create as I go along. Find my own way. This is precicely why I am not a good baker, I change the recipe mid way. This is the kiss of death in baking which requires precision.

How can someone, anyone, simply always follow patterns? This idea gives me the creeps, gives me anxiety. I like directions as a basic road map, but then I unfortunately/ fortunately always deviate as my insticts call me to do.

credit: Portager

I do believe that in the making of clothing, it is best to be an expert pattern follower, then deviate as one may wish. Still this belief does not at all inspire me to become a pattern follower.

Oh why am I this way? It would be so much easier to simply be a happy follower, looking for the right pattern.

Gratitude

2010-02-11T22:55:00.000-05:00

We are so lucky to live in America, but most of us do not realize it. Many of us have never seen or known any other life, so we have little to compare it too.

Today I feel very grateful for all that I have. Indeed I have so much. So many things, so many possibilities, so many opportunities, good people all around me, good health *(that's actually #1), enthusiasm, creativity, a good job that I love, a man who loves me, a healthy happy son who pursues his dreams and appreciates what he has been given in life, family, good friends, a warm home, a thinking mind, a grateful heart.

We need to be grateful every day.

Credit Cards can Bring Servitude

2010-02-10T20:05:00.002-05:00

One should think before they charge.

A New Sewing Machine

2010-02-10T19:51:00.001-05:00

PHOTOS COMING SOON!

Some of my earliest momories are of sewing. I used to cut patterns out of newspaper to make dresses for my dolls. I took an existing dress and traced it onto the newspaper , cut it out, then stitched it up. I was around 3 years old. Yes my aunts allowed me to use needles. I was even good at threading.

Over the years I've sewn here and there. For the last 10 years I've been the owner of a badly functioning sewing machine. It sounds like it's a car that only runs in first gear.

Things are changing today. I purchased a new sewing machine. I have so many pieces of clothing that need taking in, they fit, but not quite how they should. Fitted skirts that hang off my hips because I am not at all hippy or large thighed. These perfectly good skirts look somewhat frumpy on me. I will refashion them to more clsosely follow my own personal curves, and not the curves of the average size 5.

There will surely be much more to come from the world of my sewing machine, but for now, I just wanted to announce how happy and creatively excited I am to have made this purchase.

Sunday ToDo List & Check-in

2010-02-07T00:21:00.002-05:00

Well - here's my update.
I went to yoga first thing Saturday AM - got there for an 8:30 class that actually started at 8AM. That ended that endeavour, so since I had my cabinet doors and shelves in the car to take to the glass cutting place to get door inserts and glass shelves, I did just that... Went to ACE Hardware.

The man there was so amazing, he was so helpful, and he cut me beautifully fitting glass inserts for my cabinets, and 2 perfect shelves.

Whilst I was out that way, I decided to go the the BMW dealership to see about an oil change for my car. That was a super productive trip, as I discovered my car only needs oil changes ever 15,000 miles (yes - you read that right,) this is a great car, and the BMW dealership is the picture of professionalism. I adore dealing with those people. I suppose I'd have known this detail (about oil changes) had I read my owner's manual. Note to self - read owner's manual.

At home I proceeded to put my new kitchen cabinets together, this was not on my Saturday list because I'd felt it was too ambitious, but I DID IT... The cabinets are set. I did break one insert, so tomorrow I am back to my glass cutting friend for a new piece.

I did make the shrimp for girl's dinner, it was delicious - served with brown basmati cilantro rice. The girls loved it. One of these days I'll post the recipe here.

Sunday - today, I studied Italian (feel good about the material) yeah... Then I cleaned my kitchen, cooked a couple of simple things for lunches. Finally went to my sister's place for dinner, then back home for a bubble bath.

All in all I feel OK about my accomplishments. I could have been a lot more productive. For instance I made no progress in setting up my creative studio or my sewing area. This evening whilst in the tub soaking, I had a number of ideas for creative projects. Once this much needed room is up and functioning, it should get a lot of mileage.

OH DID I MENTION THAT I BROKE A TOE JUST BEFORE LEAVING TO MY GIRLFRIEND'S PLACE SAT. NIGHT? I DID. IT IS ALL BLACK AND BLUE. There will be little to no yoga for a few days.

Tuesday next I have another Italian test, and this one I feel very good about. Happy to report that.

I need to become better at squeezing bits of productivity out of a few minutes here and there, be it organizing - house work - creative endeavours, I need to learn this skill.

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Up at 7AM
coffee
harvard
assemble glass shelving in cupboards
add cupboard doors with glasss
stock shelves with glassware
ace hardware
finish setting up creative studio space
laundry
yoga
make lunches for week & dinner for class nights (not sure what yet)
wash down counters
vacuum & wash kitchen floor
gather all taxes "stuff"
study Italian
bubble bath & relax
read a good book
visit with family in evening

My Goals for this Week End

2010-02-05T22:53:00.003-05:00

Since I had such success with my level of productivity by posting my action plan last week end, I wanted to continue a good trend, and post my plan again this week end.

The thought of reporting back failure on Sunday night with no acceptable excuse, frankly sort of scares me. Hey - whatever it takes. This blog has to serve me - right?

Saturday Plan:
1- Up 7AM- start laundry
2 - Café laté -study Italian
3 - Pickup - make beds & surface cleaning -30mins.
4 - Yoga class
5 - Grocery Shopping & put away
6 - Cook Shrimp Mozambique for girl's dinner
7 - Start arranging creative space in guest bedroom
8 - Recover sewing box from garage
9 - Shower and head out to girl's dinner

**not to stay out too late because I have big plans for Sunday too.
Stay tuned...

Food Waste Friday

2010-02-05T08:51:00.000-05:00

As you can see this week there was a ton of food wasted at our house. I will not list all the details, as a picture is worth a 1000 words or more. Saddest of all, home made sauce, and home made chicken stock, home made soup. The Greek yogurt ended up way at the back behind mayonaise, and I'd obviously missed it for weeks. I don't have much to say, other than that this week I have obviously failed.

My Walls

2010-02-04T21:59:00.000-05:00

I have lived in my home for 12 years, it is a rather lovely home and I am grateful to have it. All of my walls, every single one, is antique linen white. I am sure you can see this sad reality from prior posts.

I plan to change this - finally. I am inspired by all the blogs I read. I will eventually put a list of them (blogs that inspire me) here. It's true, they have inspired me - no end.

My goal is by spring to have painted at least 3 spaces. Now I must meditate on my color choices. I have tremendous difficluty making such choices, I am a mathematician, and wall color choices are not my thing - I guess. This being said, I am also a painter of canvas. some still life and some abstract, so go figure what exactly makes me tick.

I think I just have an aversion to the permanence of paint, what if I do not like it? Well at this stage I downright hate antique linen white.

I will change, I will read and educate myself, and I will even attempt to paint at least one space myself. I love the feeling I get from the satisfaction of DIY.

I have so many projects in mind for my home, all of them frugal, creative, and potentially enjoyable to do. I am starting small by organizing. I need to be patient with myself.

Rome was not built in a day, and I have a job to also give my time to.

Buon Giorno

2010-02-04T09:16:00.001-05:00

Tonight is my first Italian test this semester. I am not well prepared, I never feel well prepared. I am happy to get a B+ or A- to be truthful. Below that might be disgraceful, an A would be great, as there are no A+, 100% is still an A. Anyhow, this is probably more boring info than you really wanted to read - sorry.

At any rate here are some nice tulips at the Via Borghese. They are a nice reminder of what's to come soon...very soon... spring!

Wish me luck, I think I spent all of 1 hour studying, and did none of the homework.
Definitely wish me luck.

Absolute Essentials in my Pantry

2010-02-03T13:37:00.004-05:00

Some items I simply cannot live without in my pantry. Many are canned or dried and therefore keep long, some are fresh and must be used accodingly. Always having these things on hand allows me those lazy times when I simply neglect to plan, or get off my organized trolley. No matter how busy things get, we can still have a delicious frugal meal because my pantry allows me to skip grocery shopping for a week.

Soon I plan to start a weekly series of recipes that are straight from my pantry. You'd be surprised the myriad ways to recombine these pantry staples into absolutely fabulous meals on the fly and without planning. I keep a list of quick easy meals taped to the insde of my pantry door in case I'm also short on creativity and ideas.

Dried beans (various kinds)
Dried lentils (a bean I suppose)
Canned beans
Marinated artichokes
Crushed tomato canned
Anchovies packed in oil
Italian tuna packed in olive oil
Canned wild salmon
Whole wheat capellini
Sobe noodles
Olives
Pickled onions
Dried musrooms
Flaked coconut
Coconut milk
Olive oil
Vinegar
Sea salt
Spices
Garlic
Onions
Soy sauce

Freezer

Shrimp
Spinach
Peas
Limes
Whole wheat nan
Ginger root
Canned Italian tuna packed in olive oil
chopped cilantro
chopped parsley

Stay tuned for my pantry recipes series.

Today Update

2010-01-31T23:56:00.002-05:00

This is an update on my mission for the day, the following were my goals this AM as I set out with little to no motivation:
1 - Clean my home - surface cleaning/ no decluttering/ no nooks & crannies
2 - Cook (for class nights & lunches for work)
2 - Do 1.5 hours of hot yoga at the studio - to bring me back to my center
3 - Come home - wrap up my cleaning
4 - All followed by an evening of self care - roots touchup/ face mask/ O.O. treatment/ pedicure/ bubble bath with a good book

I am happily reporting that I've completed all the work, actually I've done more than planned. As an unexpected bonus, I decluttered my dining room which had been filled with boxes of kitchen cupboard "stuff" while some small kitcen sprucing up project has been under way. The kitchen project is not 100% completed yet, but is far along enough that I could reclaim my cupboards. Yeah!

The moisturizing mask is on my face. Roots are touched up. My master bath is sparkling. I attended a hot yoga class and it was one of the best ever. I was in good, even excellent form. Hey, I even made 4 whole wheat Nan pizzas, and this was not one of my ToDos.

Pretty good for a girl who completely lacked motivation this morning at 9:30, no?

Here is a nice photo of my sparkling bathroom as it awaits me for my bubble bath which I will take just as soon as I'm done with this lovely post.

The Lesson
In my declutering missions, I'd let the surface cleaning go just a bit for my taste. As I purge and declutter, I must keep up with my surface cleaning, otherwise my home feels mighty unpleasant. An unpleasant home is NOT a frugal pleasure at all, is it?.

This is a very important lesson for this decluttering season/ phase. It cost me a bit of stress as I saw my dining room looking like it did here. I think it demotivated me from keeping up the all around home caring. Not good.

Here it is now. Presentable, what a relief. I have big plans to make over this dining room, but for now I am very happily settling for neat and uncluttered.

Creative Space or Guest Haven?

2010-01-31T23:00:00.003-05:00

I am participating in Our Suburban Cottage Organizing for LUFFs Party.
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The tiniest bedroom in our home was my studio for creativity projects. Here is what it looked like before I repurposed it as a guest bedroom, and soon to be closet studio.

Not a very desirable space to create was it? In fact I'd not created there in over 18 months. Sorry to say.

Introducing my guest bedroom.

I absolutely love what I've done here because it prevents me turning it into a catch all for "stuff." All my "creativity stuff" is neatly packed in rolling tuff containers by category. Eventually, this room will serve both as guest bedroom and creative space.

For now I am still working on this room - my goal is to transform the closet into a sewing, craft, art studio, office. Stay tuned.

I used to think that a permanently set up "creative studio" was the only way to be creative. I am sure this is true for many creative people. For me at this time, with the spaces I have available, a permanent studio did not seem to work. That space became a messy catch-all for putting junk. Eventually my creative studio simply became a space I avoided. It was used for nothing, least of all creativity.

My creative juices flow much better in order and tidiness. Now I have created order and tidiness for myself. Soon it will also be my "crative space" as well as my guest bedroom.

What about you? What is your ideal creative space?

Today

2010-01-31T10:31:00.001-05:00

Today I plan to spend my day caring for my home. Basic caring, not anything that delves into nooks and crannies. I need to cook a couple of things to eat during the week and take to work for lunches. Last week I ended up eating in the work cafe a couple of times, and this is against the guidelines of my frugality plan.

I will cook and clean most of the day, at 4PM, I will break for a much needed yoga class, then I will return home to wrap things up. I'll pack some lunches, put finishing touches on my cleaning, and make my ToDo list for the week.

The remainder of the evening will be spent in a "self caring" routine, perhaps touch up my roots, a nice face mask and olive oil treatment, a long bubble bath with some relaxing music in my tidy and sparkling bathroom.

Menu for this week:

Monday: Pork with eggplant server with brown basmati cilantro rice

Tuesday: Leftovers - this is class night

Wednesday:Whole wheat angel hair with garlic shrimp & sauteed spinach

Thursday: Leftovers - this is class night

Friday: Whole Wheat Nan Pizzas with cucumber yogurt salade

Saturday: Chicken enchilada with tomatillo sauce

Sunday: Pork Roast with home made fries and green salade

So I think I'll report back at the end of today on my exact progress. I feel a certain lack of motivation, and the idea of posting a failure may be just what it takes to keep me focused and on track. Lack of motivation is a difficult space to reside in.

I have to remind myself to just get started and focus completely on the task at hand, on what my hands are doing, then the mission will take on a life of its own.
Wish me luck.

To Overwhelm or Not

2010-01-30T07:25:00.002-05:00

Sometimes we need to make decisions, to choose, we simply cannot do it all and have it all. I am taking my Intensive Italian & Intensive French classes, so I decided that since I am at the campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays already, why not take a couple of other classes that seem interesting.

I am thinking of taking an Ethics class, and a History class. Both of these are intensive writing classes, and each had about 7-8 books of required reading. I will think about this option during this week end. I definitely love the 2 classes while I am sitting in them, however, the amount of work will be overwhelming at best.

I will need to weigh the pros and cons, and I will have to make s decision about these classes by February 7th. If I decide to take these classes, I will need to become extremely efficient in all that I do, and I will need to simply pare back all that I do.

I am tempted by the challenge. Sometimes I hate when I get this way, all ambitious, and curious, and eager. Taking on too much is the kiss of death for a happy life. Then I am doing a lot, but doing absolutely nothing with any degree of relative consciousness, or percision.

On the other hand, sometimes being over jammed with "must do" things to do, and deadlines, makes me much more efficient, and completely eliminates procrastination. For me procrastination is sometimes a derivative of a certain degree of boredom, and unfocused "spare time." I create overwhelm, by putting off to tomorrow what I should do today.

There is a fine line between a rich and full life, where I feel engaged,challenged, and thriving, and a life of the crazies lived in constant overwhelm mode.

By the way, how is taking these classes even come close to being "frugal?" Good question. Well, I am lucky that my work offers a very generous education package, they pay 100% for the classes. So at least while I am in class and in the subsequent writing, reading, and thinking frenzie, I'll not be spending money.

Food Waste Friday

2010-01-29T07:16:00.003-05:00

Last night I gathered for my food waste, and all I really had were some shriveled apples. How do apples go mushy in a house of people who love apples? I'd relocated the fruit bowl due to a small kitchen renovation, and think folks sort of forgot about these.

So I decided to make the best of the waste, this in no way excuses the wasted apples. But it does give them one final purpose, and brought my family olfactory pleasure, and water in the mouth (as the Brazilians say) this morning.

Here's what I did:

Mushy apples
2 cups water
3 cinnamon sticks
Crockpot on low

This AM I woke up to the most delicious smelling house...Yummmm!

Tomorrow they will be compost.
By the way - I love that Kristen at Frugal Girl keeps me on my toes when it comes to wasting food.

Ha - Now I just need somebody to whip me into decluttering my night stand drawer, better managing my time, and, well, the list goes on. Little by little, as long as I don't go backward, I'm getting there. It's a process.

Doing Many Things - Persuing a Rich Life

2010-01-27T08:39:00.000-05:00

Right now I am doing a lot, some might say, too much. But I thrive on it all. One thing I do NOT do is watch TV.

Let's see, I have my family and home to care for, which at minimum means cooking, grocery shopping, and some basic cleaning. Everbody picks up after themselves, so I am not cleaning up after others, just general cleaning. This is a blessing. Presently no tiny children, but I'd love one soon, and hope God blesses me with a little one.

I also have my career, and it is a career, not a job per se. I've mastered this front though, once I leave the office, it all stays behind, however, while I'm there, I'm 100% turned onto it. I love my work, it is intellectually challenging, creatively engaging, and emotionally rewarding. It is also financially rewarding, which cannot be overlooked.

I practice yoga pretty passionately, it brings so so much to me for the time I dedicate to it. This is very much time I dedicate to me, to my essence. Yoga is one of the sources for my essence, for the building and maintaining of the essential me.

This is the kicker though, I think. I'm also presently signed up for 2 classes, Intensive French, and Intensive Italian. Yes, both at the same time. I already do speak both, so these are higher level classes to perfect grammar and intensive conversational, and translation. Why am I doing this you ask? Good question, because I do get a wee bit stressed when there is a test in both all on the same night. uhrrr....

The short answer is that I love both of these languages, I feel a little bit of a high when I am in class, it just feels good to be there learning. I have a long range goal, just for my own intellectual pursuits, not for my career. My goal is to study comparative literature, centered around the middle ages. So there you have it.

At the very top of my list though, is spending quality, intentional connected time with my beloved, this is "a must." Neither of us is needy, but both of us recognize the importance of prioritizing our "love gathering time." and remaining connected.

So there you have it, those are the "must dos," then there are my many artistic endeavours, my ongoing decluttering goals, my "12th year house sprucing" projects, and time with friends and extended family.

I feel a deep deep gratitude that I am fully awake and alive and able to pursue all that my soul presently feels a need to pursue. I am grateful that my beloved is 100% supportive of all my endeavours. I feel so so grateful for my health, and for my enthusiasm, which to my mind is a key facet of health.

A Beautiful and Appreciated Woman

2010-01-25T20:09:00.002-05:00

Are you a woman? Do you feel like a torn and tattered dish rag or a beautiful fluffy wash cloth?

A long, very long time ago I personally used to feel like a dish rag, but I became a soft fluffy monogrammed wash cloth. How? One day I decided to dedicate a day each week to simply taking care of myself, putting my self first. After a good 4 months of my weekly self first ritual, I started to assess my love relationship to see if it was supportive of dish rag territory or fluffy wash cloth land. It was the rag world, my relationship was not supporting my inner beauty, it was not supporting or appreciating my outer beauty. I concluded that it needed to either change, or go. But he was such a good man, a quality man, top quality. How could I ever send away such a good man?

Love, romantic love, any love really, it needs to support us, our essence, our beauty. Romantic love certainly has this task as one of its primary duties, no?

I am a woman, and I need a man who loves and encourages my woman-ness. Sad as the reality was, my relationship, it had to end so that I might thrive inside, as a woman. As I said, he was a good man, a top quality man, and I love him to this day. But my essence was systematically battered and diminished waiting to be appreciated, waiting to be really wanted, I suppose in that little tiny nuanced way that he simply did not have in him.

I am not at all a needy woman, quite independent indeed, but there is a baseline that can only come from our deep connection to our romantic mate. The universe provides us with our mate precisely so that we can reach that higher plane that we'd not reach alone. When romantic love cannot be shifted, improved to make this level a possibility, then eventually romantic love needs to go in exchange for our essence.

Once I was alone and past the pain of the loss, I bloomed, I stood up straighter, I breathed deeper, I started to care more for myself, appreciate myself, take care of my physical, emotional, spiritual needs. I will never again be with a mate that, despite his kind and gentle nature, and through no fault of his own, leaves me neglected and feeling like a dish rag instead of a soft fluffy monogrammed wash cloth.

Today I am with a mate that appreciates me as a baseline. It is very low maintenance love affair, but that depth of appreciation is understood and felt by my essence, by my cells. Today I thrive as the soft and fluffy wash cloth that I am meant to be, and love being.

This is frugality and best use of my spirit, emotions, energy, and my sense of wellbeing.

Frumpiness Patrol

2010-01-21T07:36:00.002-05:00

Even if I am on vacation this week, just hanging around town, but still vacating from the office, I am reminded that I still need to look presentable. Being home is no reason to dress like I am going to be cleaning the garage. Make sure my hair looks fluffy, and for heaven's sake curl my eyelashes.

Eyelash curling takes 35 seconds, and it gives us a day of beautiful eyes. I will not wear any makeup, but if my eyelashes are curled, and my hair is shiny and fluffy, I look fabulous. A nice pair of stylish jeans, comfy properly fitting sweater, and I'm good to go.

Oh, and no sneakers please. Those, contrary to popular belief in this country, are for sports. In Italy you will not catch one single person wearing sneakers around town. I have plenty of attractive shoes/ boots that also feel rather comfy. Save the sneakers for jogging and tennis. Just hanging around the house and doing errands, is no reason to become a frump.

Essentials of Home Keeping

2010-01-20T19:57:00.002-05:00

Let's see - what is on my mind today?

I've been thinking about housekeeping and what my best options are. A very reasonable and simple rule of thumb that makes a gigantic difference is to always make sure all surfaces are clear, by simply assigning each and every item in our world a home. A place where it belongs (not on a visible flat surface.)

Then keep items exactly where they belong with very short and focused daily upkeep. I set a timer for evening tidying up. The timer seems to do the trick of motivating me to just do it, get it done.

Here are some of my daily tasks:

Daily clean up w' a basket - moving items to their home
Kitchen swept daily
Leave sink clean nightly
Make bed each and every morning
Place clothes back on hangers/ hamper when undressing
Launch the morning the night before

Organizing and perfecting of closets, drawers, etc. is then left for when there is time or for a scheduled routine. Keeping all surfaces clear of clutter and clean, is the first level of feeling like I live in a clean tidy home. Perfecting the hidden places is the next level.

I do not need to stress out if my bathroom vanity is not perfectly organized, that can be on hidden places schedule. The open visible surfaces on the other hand cannot be on a schedule, these need picking up daily.

How do you approach home keeping?

Projects - Stuck in the Planning

2010-01-20T08:04:00.002-05:00

Did you ever feel stuck in the planning?

I am afraid that is exactly what is happening to me. As has already been established in earlier posts, the epicenter of my clutter is garage and attic. Inside my home it's rather tidy actually, but for some drawers and closets which I want brought into perfection as a starting point.

It is a bit too cold to properly tackle the garage and attic, but perfect to reorganize my master bath closet, it needs it. It's true nobody sees my master bath closet, but I do, and its messiness causes me distress.

My kitchen is undergoing a tiny renovation (sprucing up). It's still not 100% completed, but since one side is done, I need to start pulling it together by refilling the cabinets.

Well for the kitchen -
Here is a short list of the ToDo items that quickly come to mind:

Get glass fronts & shelves for cabinets
Dig out formal glassware from hall closet
Dishwash all stemware
Set up new glass shelves
Sort through all boxed items previously in cabinets
Trash/ donate/ pantry
Figure out where the new location for microwave
Finalize with carpenter all the cabinet drawers

Do you ever get stuck in the planning, especially when one particular item doesn't seem to have an easy answer? For my Kitchen project, the microwave is still an orphan. I cannot figure out where its new location should be. I really do not like counter top as a home for microwave.

This one open item seems to be keeping me from completing the things I can complete. I'll post some shots of the landscape later today, maybe someone will have a brilliant idea of where that microwave can go. In the meantime, I may need to suck it up and live with it on the counter for a week or two.

I definitely need help moving this project along to completion.

Did you ever get stuck in the planning?

When plans go Bad

2010-01-18T17:14:00.005-05:00

My chicken dinner at Josh's ended up having to wait till Sunday night. By the time I made it to his place, it was too late to cook, we had plans to meet up with other friends in town, and dinner had to be taken en restaurant. I had a most delicious Pad Thai, actually much better than usual, super tangy, Josh had a Vietnamese pork and veggies. Later at the venue where we went to listen to music, we shared a rich yet fluffy cheese cake. Josh paid for everything so I have not blown my spending plan.

Sunday I ended up making my chicken dinner, and since I forgot a couple of the ingredients, I completely improvised with what was on hand. In place of white wine I used tequila and skipped the onions all together. I swear it was even better than the original recipe. Next time I make it I will take photos and post the recipe here. Quick, easy, and tastes like it was complex and involved.

Today my plan had been to make 3 meals for the week, and do some needed de-cluttering and organizing. I woke to friends unexpectedly knocking on my door, so instead of cooking, I opted to hang out and be a hostess. Hopefully I will not succumb to eating in the cafe at work.

Ok - here's my anti-cafe Plan for this week's lunches:

tuna sandwiches
ham sandwiches
fried egg sandwiches
oranges/ bananas/ greek yogurt/ kefir

Sandwiches are not my ideal lunch, but they are an acceptable go to when my schedule does not permit making fork and knife dishes.

For our dinners this week I've selected all quick fix meals. I need to use some of my after work time to catch up on the organizing and decluttering. Each meal takes no more than 1/2 hour, some take less than 15 minutes to prepare. I LOVE having an arsenal of easy go to meals for busy or general under the weather weeks, or for when the best laid plans redesign themselves.

Here is my plan:

Monday - left over soup
Tuesday - shrimp mozambique w' brown rice and sauteed spinach
Wednesday - salmon patties w' cucumber and Greek yogurt side
Thursday - flat bread pizza
Friday - pork empanadas w' marinated avocado and tomatoes
Saturday - lobster served with sweet potato fries & bearnaise sauce
Sunday - Portuguese boiled dinner

Later tonight, if I feel the inclination, I will throw some dried peas into the crock pot along with a couple of bratwurst. Then at least I'll have a soup to go with my dry sandwiches the rest of the week for lunch. I will not succumb to the cafe.

Groceries & Dinner

2010-01-16T17:11:00.003-05:00

Just returned from market where I spent $103, I hope these groceries last 2 weeks. I believe they will. I may have to cook form the pantry 2-3 times, but that's just fine. Sometimes I cook from the pantry just because I am in the mood for a simple pasta.

Tonight I am going to my friend Josh's place for dinner, I will bring most of the ingredients, since I will be cooking. I cannot host him at my place because our kitchen is being worked on, and it is all too out of sorts to host guests.

We will have chicken breast sauteed in a sauce of bacon onion and wine, it is finished with a tad of fresh cream. It will be served with whole wheat cappellini smothered with sauteed shredded zucchini, lots of garlic, and a bit of lime juice. This is a delicious meal, quick and super easy.

For dessert I will make a super super easy decadent chocolate budino. Milk, heavy cream, vanilla, bit of espresso, and 60% cacao chocolate chips all melted and cooled in fridge, with a dollop of fresh whipped cream on top. Creamy and decadent to be sure. Small but delectable portions :)

Haiti and Us

2010-01-15T21:28:00.004-05:00

Yesterday the Haiti situation had me a bit tied up in knots. The devastaion and death is of course surreal. Then I started to focus on the poverty. The sheer level of poverty. I've lived for a good chunk of time in a third world county in poor conditions, not abject poverty, but meager, a very modest existence living off the land. There was no electricity or hot water, if I wanted a bath I had to heat up a huge cauldron of water.

It occured to me today that those were the most pleasurable bubble baths of my life. Baths taken by kerosene light, my body ached from a day of physical work, that water felt so good. There were times I'd fall asleep in the little tub, and still today I adore the scent of kerosene lamp.

It was such a pleasure to pick ripe fruit from the fruit trees, all that juicy sweetness, and subsequent stickiness. Oh and those little evening sing-alongs that the villagers hosted every night, remember no electricity, no TV, no TV people gather and talk and sing and tell stories, laugh and connect, all the time.

I found myself longing for that time. Then I realized that my reaction of yesterday, essentially wanting to sweep all the material "stufff" from my life in one sweep, was really a dishonoring of the source that has provided all this "stuff" that is in my life. Fact is all this "stuff"/ clutter I am longing to rid myself of, it is abundance. It is abundance that I sometimes squander in my quest for simplification. I realized I need to stop and appreciate all that I have, really appreciate and give deep deep thanks for all the blessings in my life. Our health, our love, and yes, our stuff too.

It does not mean that I should not simplify and streamline, I want to, and I will continue to do it. I feel a deep need to do it. I do think I will be more careful what I send to trash, I will attempt to give more away.

I will try to consciously honor all the material things in my life as I pass them on to someone who can make renewed good use of them. I no longer want to "declutter" in an aggressive "get rid of" way. Now I long to gently pass along, and give new life to all the things that are asking to be loved elsewhere by someone new.

Food Wasted

2010-01-15T08:20:00.003-05:00

I've decided to participate in Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday's. Seems to me I do waste food, and this will be an excellent way, if nothing else, to potentially shame me into using up what I have before it goes to compost.

This week it's pretty bad really, red pepper, and cabbage. Cabbage takes eons to become unusable, so this means it's been in my fridge for more than eons. Perhaps I should give the fridge a good emptying and major scrubbing.
Oh and it all could have easily been cut up into a zip lock baggie for the freezer, say, a week ago. Shame indeed.

Haiti

2010-01-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

Watching the footage of the natural disaster in Haiti, I quickly became filled with a sense of grief. We need to help however we are able to. My company has organized a fund drive, and they will match our donations, so for me this is the best place to give.

In additon to the devastation, I am struck by the poverty, and by the beauty and warmth in the Hatian people's faces, their eyes speak so much.

I've traveled all over the world, so abject poverty is not foreign to me. But we can so easily get lost living in our life of affluence, because, the poorest of us here in America seem quite affluent by comparison to the Hatians. More and more I am questioning whether I need or even want the level of "lifestyle" we (our family) have.

Little by little I am chipping away at it, hopefully over time, I will hone our lives to become the simplest of perfections. At the moment, juxtaposed against what I've been watching, so much of what we have feels like completely unappreciated waste. I feel like disposing of it all in one sweep, but this is not practical. is it?

We shall see.

Frugal, Healthy & Handy Snacks

2010-01-09T10:56:00.006-05:00

Frugality means avoiding convenience store snacks. With the busy lives we seem to lead these days, planning for satisfaction on the run is important because stopping by the corner store regularly to grab a snack can be both a money drain, as well as a bad health habit.

I am more concerned in this instance with the health implications, thought the few bucks here and there most certainly threaten to add up.

Nightly I add a handfull of almonds, a handfull of pecans (or any other nut,) and a handfull of plump raisins or 60% cacao chips into a baggie. This healthy snack goes to work with me as my GoTo snack for the day. Satisfies every time.

In our home there are no sodas, with the exception of gingerale which is sometimes used for a tummy ache. We drink filtered tap water into which we sometimes squeeze lemon/ lime ro berry juice. With week end dinners, we serve typically seve wine.

Tap water flavored with a squeeze of citrus is so refreshing. According to my cousin the R.D. it also detoxifies. I just love the taste.

Frugalpleasure

2010-01-03T22:49:00.002-05:00

Now this is a frugalpleasure -
A warm bowl of Oat Bran - I adore oat ban - seems everyone and their cousin eats oatmeat which to me tastes much like wet warm unflavorful cardboard. Sorry to my oatmeal lover friends out there.
----------

Here's how I love it (sometimes I skip everything but the milk)

1/4 cup oat bran
1/2cup milk
a teaspoon of raw honey
1 dash or 4 of cinnamon (sometimes also add raisins...yummm...)
all in a large bowl - lest it boil over -- zap it in the microwave for 4 minutes -
stir - add a little more milk - zap another 3 minutes (it should be smooth)

- - comfort food of the highest frugalpleasure order.

Try it - let me how much you love it or not...

Here's the cost: .50/ serving
and here's the nutritional value:

De-cluttering - my pantry

2010-01-03T20:53:00.001-05:00

Frugality means being able to cook from my pantry should I need or want to. My pantry is to me one of the keys to frugality when it comes to feeding my family delicously and nutritiously.

My path to frugality starts with my food budget, I am so lucky to have a lovely walk-in pantry. This being the case, I do wonder how I let it get out of hand, but out of hand it got.
Here's the shameful state:

Well today I gave it a quick once over. This is not my final pantry cleaning, but it definitely has it back to usable, and useful. I can now find what I need when I need it. Finding what I need when I need it in my pantry is a sure money saver, and therefore very frugal. Plus, this pantry now makes me happy, I like to just open the door and stand there gazing into it's shelves.
Here is my pantry now - - ahhhh...

Faces & Costs of Clutter

2010-01-03T10:29:00.002-05:00

Up until I undertook this blogging eneavour, my goal had always been to keep my home tidy and clean with less regard for the clutter that hid behind closed doors. Oh once in a while I'd de-clutter the pantry and drawers, but this was generally confined to the kitchen and an occasional closet upstairs.

I have a master bedroom with a walk-in closet, and always kept that walkable. Everything looked excellent to visitors.

This is no longer acceptable, looking good to visitors. Originally my decluttering plan under this simplification mode was to declutter my "secret clutter places," garage and attic.

This priority has little by little shifted. Before I tackle the epicenters of my clutter, I need to take care of every closet, cupboard and drawer inside my home. Surface neatness is no longer sufficient.

Frugality means having access to all our things when we need them.
Money is lost when I have to buy a new measuring tape because I cannot find one of the 3 I already own. Until I have every nook in my home organized and de-clutterd, I will simply borrow from my sister what I need. No worries, she will force me to return it straight away.

Behind closed doors, all of my things have strayed from their homes and are hard to find. A good de-cluttering of closets, drawers, and cupboards during these cold months will serve me much more than attacking the garage and attic just yet.

There is plenty to thin out and organize right here inside my cozy warm home. I plan a space a day. Pantry done!

Wish me luck.

Snow Removal & Frugality

2010-01-03T09:49:00.007-05:00

As I write this, I am sitting pretty on my bed actually with a steaming cafe late that I just brewed. I hear the plow guys outside clearing my driveway. This little luxury will cost me $35. Now this is not a huge amount of money, but when there is 10" of snow, well then it costs me $75. Plus there can be many snowfalls in NE that require removal.

Last year I spent at least $750 on snow removal. I am considering buying a good snowblower which costs about that same amount. I confess I am scared on many levels. Since my beloved travels a lot, I'd often be stuck handling the machine all by myself, they look so big and I am smallish; maintaining the machine looks daunting; storing the machine, my garage is already the epicenter and as yet untouched capital of my clutter issue.

Surprisingly all the neighbors, even those who would never cut their own grass, have a blower, they are all men though. One of the men is flimsy, he's had a heart attack. I should be at least as capable as he is. No? oh, I don't know, it's not the expense of the blower, I am just scared to own such a big machine. What if it breaks? How will I even get it home? I'm sure Home Depot delivers. Actually one of my neighbors is a single woman and she handles her own blower nicely, she is 3X my size. I am 5'6" weighing 119 lbs, she is 5"5" weighing maybe 225lbs. She packs a good bit more power than I.

I admit to having difficulties handling any domestic things going wrong. I keep my home in tip top shape because I am literally frightened of more than one thing being broken at once. Disrepair and dilapidation gives me panic. A "fixer-upper" would never be in my cards. I would make an excellent "Hotel Resident" don't you think?

Meanwhile I sit here deliberating, my hard earned money flows, or is literally plowed from my door. I think I need to buy this monster of a machine. Stop making girly-girl excuses, be a woman, invest in the machine, and happily snow blow my driveway.

Frugality means sometimes spending to save. Over the years, how much have I already spent on snow plowing? I could have already bought a truck with a plow.

To be sure, all my emotional barriers aside, the purchase of a snow blower makes excellent fiscal sense. But I am in the process of simplifying, not adding big mean machines to my cluttered garage. Well, better a few useful machines than the useless clutter that now resides there. Poor garage.

Hopefully I can allow my intellect and good sense to override my emotional barriers. As I write this, my barriers seem sillier and sillier. We shall see.

Do you have panic over owning too many big machines, things that are not liftable? Is it just me with these issues? Is it just me that feels safer with junk than machines?

Creative Clutter - my plan

2010-01-02T21:22:00.001-05:00

I am a creative person whose creativity has become a sort of curse. I have attic and garage dedicated to my "creativity clutter," there are sundry items that are destined to become creativity projects. Here are some examples:

jars/ bottles that will be re-made into votive holders & glasses
fabric fabric fabric - for so much sewing
old clothes - for remaking
yarn - you can imagine
carpentry tools - because i love to make the old new again
paint/ sand paper/ rags - for all my "painting projects"
art supplies - becuse I paint canvas
newspapers - I want to make handmade paper
...and much much more

My plan for this clutter and disorder is to containerize by topic starting with the creative project for which I have the least amount of "stuff". The glass art is the first candidate. Having this clutter containerized transforms it into "creativity supplies" and allows me to pull it out whenever I want to work out some creative juices.

Once I am done I need the basic discipline and respect for my space and for my craft to simply put all the materials back into their proper container. This will keep my work area neat and organized and I will not dread working on my creative projects and avoid my "creative studio."

Prior to this, I just kept accumulating project items and putting them wherever, garage, attic. it created a situation where I felt nothing but untapped, and unsatisfied creativity. I was always living in the possibility instead of the moment. Now I can make bottle art whenever I feel like it. I can create in and be in the moment.

I plan to do this kind of organizing for all my creativities one at a time. It's a slow process, next is my painting/ art supplies.

Here is my "glass art supplies" before and after.

Remaking a Luxury on a Modest Budget

2009-11-15T11:34:00.002-05:00

My beloved and much appreciated self-pampering routines:

Over the years I've grown to very much love my "taking care of me" rituals. I expect that for "pampering routines" that I so enjoy today, I will need to get creative. Perhaps organize a "girlfriend's gathering where we learn to give one another facials, manicures, pedicures.

I can certainly create a little spa for one - me.

If I do it with the girls, it can be a nice "bonding" time. It can be made into an evening with excellent food, wine and girlie movies, maybe even a sleepover for complete relaxation. We can light a fire on a cold night. I certainly have the space and nice bath facilities to host a littl "home spa".

Hell I even have a nice collection of terry bath robes. I love this idea & I may execute it soon.

Living on a very modest budget does not mean I have to give up the little luxuries I adore, it simply means I get to reinvent them.

What luxuries do you create for yourself?

Living Well on Unemployment

2009-11-10T09:00:00.004-05:00

An idea -
Recently I blogged about a brainstorming session where I strategized a plan for my finances and life in the event of a job loss. Out of this exercise came the feeling that I deeply want to start living as though I were already unemployed, execute my strategy, now, while still employed.

I am one of the fortunate ones that for the time being is still employed. There is no such thing as job security. In preparation for a possible job loss, I've decided to start now "living as if" - as if I were already unemployed.

Here it is:
If unemployed, I would be eligible to collect 674$ per week for 100 weeks. I realize that for many, this is a lot of money. We live in a very high cost of living east coast city, where this amount does not go far at all.

Figuring it all out -
I have calculated, backwards & forward, and designed a plan to scale back my life to be able to easily live on the $654 per week - my unemployment benefits. This is $2,834 per month, I personally know many people who pay this for their mortgage or rent here is our beloved city. Many.

I was able to easily outline a scale-back plan for my life because I have no debt other than my home mortgage. I have lived debt free all of my adult life. I learned this value from my parents who never used the word debt free, they simply lived the example.

Since most of my expenses are discretionary, for the next 100 weeks (which is the amount of time one can presently be on unemployment,) I will voluntarily live my life as though I were already unemployed. The difference in my pay will automatically be transferred out of my checking account into an "unemployment preparedness account" I have set up at ING direct.

A sobering reality -

I am under no delusions, these funds could very well be a saving grace should unemployment come calling at my door, and it very well could. Presently it looks like I have a job until the end of 2010, barring a would be war III or calamity of that magnitude, let me rephrase that, I will be paid my current salary until the end of 2010. After that, it is not at all clear. This experiment, challenge, could end up being a saving grace. In the upcoming 100 weeks of saving I will accumulate enough to pay off my mortgage. Imagine that.

Here's a very high level look at my plan

Things I am cutting out completely: In recent few years, because I have no debt, I've little by little added tiny luxuries. They are nice, I appreciate them, but they are by no means needed. I will eliminate them all. Go back to living how I used to when I was saving to build my home.

House cleaner - this will cost me much time and effort. I like my home to be impeccable, and this is a good bit of work. I have researched this topic in detail, and I've settled on a system that I think will work nicely for me. There will be posts on this to come.

Landscaper - I will clip my own hedges & cut my own grass. In addition, I will also be growing all my flowers from seed at home. I will also be increasing my kitchen garden. I am sure I am underestimating the amount of labor, we shall see, I will of course post many updates.

Cafeteria meals at work (though this is no great sacrifice) - this is such an interesting topic that I have a post dedicated to it. Essentially, in summary, eating in the café at work is the single biggest rip-off there is.

Spa treatments (facials, manicures, pedis etc) - for me self care and health is a top priority. I will be learning to give myself facials, I also plan to experiment with herbals instead of always buying creams & products. Should be an interesting journey. Stay tuned.

Hair dresser - not ready to have grays - so I will experiment with color & technique - I am even considering signing up for an esthetician's course.

Clothes & shoes shopping - well - this is a gift because I definitely do not need any new clothes. There will be many posts on this topic. I have so much that can be retouched and made gorgeous. I will be creating a lot of what I need instead of buying.

House things shopping - I will make use of various Good Will stores. I did this before, but have not stepped in a Good Will for some years. This alone should be interesting. I've been inspired to do this by some of my favorite bloggers.

Vacations - these will be taken garden side - yup - toiling in the earth - I have 5 weeks available to me for vacation as well as an extra week I can spend dedicated to charity. I am lucky to presently be employed by a very generous corporation.

Restaurant meals - these will be very limited to special occasions & I will eat dishes I'm not likely to make at home.

Season Tickets to Symphony - I will go only a couple of times per season -these will be carefully selected

Other things I will be focusing on/ cultivating/ doing:

Focusing on health & wellbeing & learning
Going more & more green
Simplify
Focusing on personal growth
Experiencing deeper gratitude
Connecting better and deeper with people
Becoming more sensuous
De-cluttering - yes this is a huge money saver
Reigning in my scattered creativity
Becoming much more creative
Exploring new frugal hobbies
Shopping only thrift stores (as little as possible)
Eliminating fluff
Streamlining & organizing my house
Streamlining my kitchen
Streamlining & optimizing my pantry & freezer
Eliminating food waste
Reducing my trash & recyclables
Cooking - lots & lots of it
Reducing my energy consumption
Reducing my food budget drastically
Reworking my land line & cell phone
Eliminating cable
Limiting gasoline budget
Implementing modified envelope spending system
Taking care of & pampering myself more than ever
Using the library - lots and lots
Riding my bike in 3 seasons
Entertaining creatively on a shoe string
Learning new languages
Giving more of my time
Exercising strict discipline by choice
...and much much more….

Things I will NOT be doing:

Giving up my yoga studio membership ($1,000/yr.)
Giving up my late model BMW- paid for - has 40K miles - insurance expense - only drawback
Changing oil/ repairing my car
Washing used baggies (I will try to eliminate them)
Dumpster diving (expt. interesting pieces - furniture to make over)
Getting things for free on freecycle to sell on ebay
Any illegal or questionable practices

I am excited because I feel this is a much needed shift in my life. I plan to learn a lot, and become more and more resourceful as I refocus my attention onto the details and blessings of consciously running our life.

I look forward to the extreme simplification that this will introduce back into my life. Already the planning has been transformational. Despite doing this by choice, I am fully committed.

The byproduct of this endeavour is that if I do become unemployed, I am that much more ahead of the game, both in savings as well as in resourcefulness and abilities. Just imagine, by implementing and following this plan, I will save enough in the 100 weeks to pay off my mortgage, should I choose to do it. This is no small consequence.

my place of inspiration far away

2009-11-01T20:28:00.002-05:00

This is the veiw from my front porch at dawn.

My Strategies for Maintaining a Debt Free Life

2009-09-21T23:52:00.011-05:00

A debt free life is a relaxed and truly pleasurable life.

I've never been a big spender. Got my first job at 13, saved regularly. Essentially I have a history of being financially grounded. As a single mom raising a child by myself, I became uber-responsible in terms of fiscal matters.

I am lucky, very lucky to be in a high paying profession, but at the start of my career, I earned very little. Despite low earnings I was able to save a 20% down payment to build a nice home in an expensive city. After that purchase I still had a very comfortable financial cushion. This cushion included a comfortable savings account, a fully funded emergency fund, and fully funded "spending" accounts for car repairs, vacation, etc. How was I able to accomplish this on one income while simultaneously raising a child?

None of my measures were novel ideas, just uber-practical and executed with unbending mindset. In my mind those are key component, steps - plan - practicality - execution - mindset.

Focused and unbending mindset:
Not caring much at all what other people thought, and when I fell into caring, quickly bringing myself back to my goals. Believe me there were times that I looked at how my colleagues lived, and I questioned my own sanity. They drove BMWs, while I drove old Dodge Colts. It helped that my parents had, through example, demonstrated clearly that living below one's means is the very best way to go. It also helped that my sister was always a buddy in practical living.

Found a buddy - In my case it was my sister. We need at least one good friend/ relative who thinks we're brilliant for living how we are.

Patience - Rome was not built in a day, and quick schemes are - just that.

NEVER EVER bought -anything I was not prepared to pay in full at the end of the month. This included cars, vacations, furniture, outings, everything.

Lived in a tiny, old, cheap & unluxurious apartment - it had no heat, I used space heaters, 4th floor walkup, fairly ugly entryway, fairly ugly yard with a dumpster in the back, nice light because it was on 4th floor, a bit embarassing to entertain in, a nice old crab-apple tree, I made preserves. It cost $350/ month - unheard of cheap in our city.

Made my cheap apartment more enjoyable - good sound system, sanded the floors, painted top to bottom, kept it super tidy, pretended the old claw foot tub was in a spa. It worked, sometimes while soaking in bubbles, it felt like I was at a spa.

Drove cars worth less than $1,000 - usually $750 - Dodge Colt anyone. I swear by these ugly things as a tool to financial freedom.

Taught my son to appreciate life and not "stuff" - we went to museums, symphonies, traveled the world, explored nature almost daily, swam, bike rode, camped, made crafts, cooked. He did not have an abundance of toys or a perfectly decorated bedroom.

Kept mindfulness - each day that children need love and attention, not "stuff".

Kept my son's toys to a minimum - Leggos, wood blocks, logs, wooden train set, board games (lots), tent & camping stuff, garden tools, sand toys, bike, kites, books-books- books- books...
generally santa brought 1 - 2 toys - also socks, unddies, winter coat etc... we made the holidays pleasurable by making cookies and delivering them, hosting family etc.

Didn't allow guilts to take root - all around me parents were innundating their kids with "stuff", living elaborate life styles. I had to be unwilling to let the Jones' shift me. Hard at times.

Prioritized with percision - to enjoy some luxuries - a little travel - symphony - sushi - yearly beach vacation in a tiny cottage.

Cooked at home from scratch 98% of the time - we did a lot of it togehter, and he loves my cooking. I never got takeout, ever. As a treat we did picnics - lots of picnics...

Kept on track by tracking - monthly reviews and fine tuning of my progress toward saving for my house - fine tuning budget/ spending as needed.

Aligned my hobbies with my goals - most of my hobbies were in preparation for getting my home. I learned to garden, refinish furniture, reupholster, thrift shop, make preserves

Made health a top priority - daily exercise - mostly walking - eating well - getting plenty of sleep - taking care of my self.

Automatically deposited savings to brokerage from payroll -this was probably the simplest and most key tool for staying on track with my savings goals. Out of sight out of mind.

Contributed max to 401K - keeping the long term in shape was important too. And if something happened to me, it would serve as a nice nest egg for my son.

Raises & Bonuses - automatically to savings - I simply did not increase my cost of living when I got these

Conscious daily spending - at each expenditure point - I asked - do I want this more or my planned vacation to Peru?

Lunches from home - for a good bit our cafateria at work was subsidized, once it became full cost, I took my lunches daily

My little carefully crafted life certainly did not impress anyone, well, at least not positively. But during the 5 years we lived this way, I actually on more than one occasion lent money to some who had more impressive lifestyles, one who'd previously at times somewhat questioned my lifestyle, or at least my unfortunate choice of cars. At the end of the day it allowed us to have a lovely home without going into "house poor" mode.

I would not change a thing were I to have to live this phase over again. Well, maybe I'd be even more focused in my single mindedness, and even more sure of myself and my choice of cars...hee..ha...

It is a process...

2009-01-13T21:47:00.000-05:00

... and this is a little chronicle of my journey in the life I am designing, creating, aspiring toward. It is a simple life lived on a modest budget. My goals are to as much as possible be motivated and rewarded by enthusiasm, creativity, gratitude, and the simple pleasures of life. In my mind, getting to and staying at a true level of simplicity and gratitude starts with the very basics. I will cover my basics here. Life and home organization, the house of finances (order, smarts, frugality, empowerment and peace,) the pure joy of all my creativities (they are many, and ever evolving,) and my ideal of vibrant health. It will all be chronicled as it naturally flows in my life. There will likely be struggles, challenges, experiments (I am an experimenter by nature,) successes, joys, triumphs and pains. Hopefully more of the joys and enthusiasms than the rest. I am by no means an expert, I am just grateful to be consciously in the process, it is a process that brings me great pleasure. It is my hope that this chronicle of mine will, as it moves me along on my paths, perhaps also, if not inspire, at least amuse my visitors.

A Dumb Financial Tactic

2009-01-12T08:05:00.001-05:00

This year I am expecting a check from the IRS totalling $10,352.43. Like many misguided individuals, I've always seen this voluntary tax method as a "forced savings". I give the US government a 0% loan for many many years now.

It would be so easy to simply change my witholdings, and automate the difference to an interest bearing savings account at Emigrant Direct. Instead I will continue to loan the government my hard earned money interest free.

Perhaps when I've reached personal finance nirvana, I will make this intellingent shift. I certainly encourage you to make the shift.

Becoming Financially Conscious

2005-04-10T11:32:00.000-05:00

I have never been out of control financially, but I must say, I have also never been 100% financially conscious and on top of every detail. Essentially, what came in was always more than what went out, but I decided I wanted a much tighter control of the expenditures. To achieve this goal of detailed financial monitoring, I created myself some spreadsheets customized to my personal lifestyle.

I bought myself a tiny notebook and kept it with me at all times, recording each and every expenditure. I recorded even a cup of coffee.

At the end of the month I categorized all of my notebook entries into a category in my spreadsheets, this gave me totals spent by category. Tracking Phase: My variable expense categories were as follows: (tracked in notebook)

House (incl. maid/ house items/ repairs/ gardener/ garden supplies)
Personal/HBA
Entertainment
Food
Car (repairs/ maintenance)
Education

My fixed monthly expense categories were as follows:

Mortgage (incl. Insurance & Taxes)
Electric
Gas (heat & hot water)
Car insurance
Cable
Internet
Phone
Town (sewer & trash pick up)
Donations

Next comes the all important ANALYSIS PHASE.