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Money reconsidered
May. 10th, 2011 08:02 amCertain changes precipitate others. The act of decluttering my apartment over the past two months coincided with reading In Defense of Food (the previous change facilitated more consistent consumption of books), and led to an unplanned, healthy shift in my behaviour around meals and food preparation.
The next change, for May and June, was supposed to involve planning weekend hikes, however another change has rendered it unnecessary. Last fall I worked on developing a career plan, which turned out to focus on nature writing. As a result, during the winter I began walking outdoors after work several days a week. The original purpose of the hikes was to give myself more exercise, bring me closer in touch with the natural world, and provide meaningful material for writing. This is already happening.
So for May and June should concentrate on something more pressing: my spending habits need more work. Last spring I concentrated on refinancing my debt and developing a budget, but did not have enough time to work on my day-to-day behaviour with money. It improved somewhat, but not consistently. Most weeks my spending goes $20 to $40 over budget, which I simply can't afford.
I must review my budget to consider actual income and expenses over the past year. That will come later in the month. For starters I need to work at sticking to the budget I already have.
On Friday, as usual, I will withdraw my spending money for the week. That's all I get. This weekend will be a tough one, because I'm going to meet my daughters and take them to The Met Live in HD. Tickets are already paid for, but we'll have to go for a meal, which will consume a good chunk of my grocery budget. It shouldn't be a problem because I'll have plenty of food in the pantry to get through the rest of the week.
The real challenge will be emotional. I may not have an eating disorder, but a grocery disorder. Buying food makes me feel secure, for the moment. Meanwhile, overspending and waste consume my savings. This is the biggest foundation I have to alter between now and the end of June. Meanwhile I'll try writing about my relationship with food and money in my morning pages.
This afternoon I will create a new icon for this change.
The next change, for May and June, was supposed to involve planning weekend hikes, however another change has rendered it unnecessary. Last fall I worked on developing a career plan, which turned out to focus on nature writing. As a result, during the winter I began walking outdoors after work several days a week. The original purpose of the hikes was to give myself more exercise, bring me closer in touch with the natural world, and provide meaningful material for writing. This is already happening.
So for May and June should concentrate on something more pressing: my spending habits need more work. Last spring I concentrated on refinancing my debt and developing a budget, but did not have enough time to work on my day-to-day behaviour with money. It improved somewhat, but not consistently. Most weeks my spending goes $20 to $40 over budget, which I simply can't afford.
I must review my budget to consider actual income and expenses over the past year. That will come later in the month. For starters I need to work at sticking to the budget I already have.
On Friday, as usual, I will withdraw my spending money for the week. That's all I get. This weekend will be a tough one, because I'm going to meet my daughters and take them to The Met Live in HD. Tickets are already paid for, but we'll have to go for a meal, which will consume a good chunk of my grocery budget. It shouldn't be a problem because I'll have plenty of food in the pantry to get through the rest of the week.
The real challenge will be emotional. I may not have an eating disorder, but a grocery disorder. Buying food makes me feel secure, for the moment. Meanwhile, overspending and waste consume my savings. This is the biggest foundation I have to alter between now and the end of June. Meanwhile I'll try writing about my relationship with food and money in my morning pages.
This afternoon I will create a new icon for this change.
