Happiness Project: February Topic! Finances

Welcome to February, friends!

I'd been mulling over what my "Happiness Project" topic would be for February. I'm going to admit, I was completely set on "Body" until about two days ago. With taxes coming due, and with the constant money discussions at our house, I changed my mind. Finances are top of mind for me ("top of mind," is that an ad agency term? Does anyone use that phrase in real life?).

I'm going to admit up front that my finance situation would probably be considered pretty good. I have no debt, other than the car I bought two years ago. I made the decision to take on a loan at that time because 1) the rates were so low that it made sense (we locked in at .5%) and 2) we had a baby on the way and I had a hunch that we'd want to keep some of our money available for unexpected costs. It was the right decision, for sure, as that year alone we paid (are you sitting down?!?) $14,000 in health-related expenses AND we had decent health insurance.

For the month, I have a few upfront goals:
- move my multiple 401(k) rollovers to a single location. finally.
- check out the investment options for the 401(k) accounts  and make a decision already
- look at our spending and try to identify if we can save in a couple of key areas. Right now I know our water bill and electric bill seem really high.
- assess the feasibility of .... buying a house this year. whoa. (Um, and how uncanny is it that a friend sent me a recommendation for a good realtor AS I am writing this post? synchronicity, people!)
- do more research on coupons. Is there a way to make couponing work without having to buy a ton of stuff or buy stuff I don't usually use?

I'm also really hoping to learn more, share more, and get a better sense of how I spend and why I spend.

Will you come along for the ride? What tasks are you going to tackle this month to help straighten out your finances? Big virtual high fives for turning your attention to a few financial issues with me!
Paula

Happiness Project: Energy: Lists and Tackling a Nagging Task

Since I'm taking queues from Gretchen Rubin's book "The Happiness Project," I knew I'd need to address a few of my "nagging tasks" this month. Those are the things that sit in the back of your mind, you know you need to do them, but honestly, they are no fun and who the heck wants to do them, anyway? I'd rather sit down and watch Martha Stewart, instead. (who ironically probably already has her nagging tasks complete, done perfectly, and announced in a press release on personalized stationery.)

Here's what my list looks like, usually on multiple sticky notes and scattered around in my purse, stuck to a notebook, sometimes in my pocket. I get the urge to write these things down but then I don't really end up doing them.

Well, enter my list tool - Cozi Calendar. I started using it this month and it's been awesome.

For this part of my project, I did a brain dump of all those that have been lingering in my mind, and on random sticky notes, in a single place at Cozi. 


This isn't life changing, "bucket list," I-want-to-visit-The-Great-Wall type stuff. This is the nagging-stuff-that -never-gets-done kind of list. Now that it's all in one place, and a place that's always accessible, I find myself using spare moments to get these things done. I pull them up at my desk, or on my iPhone, and get 'er done.

We ordered the mattress and a new platform bed (already crossed off, so it didn't make the stickies above). I've already found a well reviewed dermatologist, I just need to make the appointment. As soon as I decided WHO I wanted to see, I added that number to my Cozi post, so it's accessible.

What tips do you have for keeping yourself accountable for these nagging kinds of tasks?


Might be a nagging task, I just haven't added it on Cozi yet

Getting those nagging tasks done,
Paula

Podcast Review: Bethel Church: A Lesson From My Dad

In my daily commuting I like to listen to podcasts. This one, from Bill Johnson at Bethel Church, blew me away. The life stories and the history of the Bay Area are a great listen. Bill's clear understanding and sense of purpose is inspiring. Truly, being an example in all ways, planting the seed for others, his message is so close to my heart. It is my wish to learn to be more mindful about how to place these inspiring seeds for others, without being pushy, without any expectation, but with the knowledge that someday someone may remember a small thing that was said, a little act, and feel and understand the love that was presented in that moment.

Please, go take a listen to Bill Johnson's "A Lesson From My Dad."

Happiness Project: Energy: Living it With Routines

I've been trying my hardest to live my Energy month as "high energy" as I can. Here's some of what I do each day, many of which are routines that make good sense for anyone, really. I've just been trying my hardest to keep them in practice.



Source: Etsy via Pinterest



At night:
- set the coffee maker to automatically go off at 6am (seriously, I wake up most mornings with the jingle of "The best part of waking up...." in my head when I smell that coffee)
- pick out an outfit, down to shoes and jewelry, and pick a sweater/cardigan as well
- plug in my phone so it's charged and ready for the next day
- wipe down the kitchen, putting the dishes in the dishwasher, starting the dishwasher if it's full
- do a quick clean up of the living room (key thing here is putting away Zoom's toys)
- do one of the Flylady Flight Plan items or de-clutter an area
- think about lunch for the next day, do I have something I need to pack up?
- read in bed for a few minutes to slow down from the day
- get to bed by 10pm

In the morning:
- Shower, dry hair, eat, get out the door
- If I'm taking Zoom to school, I get him out of the house as well
- check Waze (iPhone app) before hitting the road to see what route is best
- load a podcast before leaving the driveway so I have something interesting to listen to (Joyce Meier is a standard favorite, she has a new podcast each day)

During the day at work:
- Pull up my Cozi To Do list, so if I have time at lunch or between meetings I can tackle a personal task
- Log in to Weight Watchers, knowing that I'm more likely to log my points and pay attention to what I'm eating if it's already on my screen
- drink water
- eat lunch and have a fruit snack at some point
- go weigh in on the scale in the work gym

What kinds of habits have you developed to keep yourself on task?

Having the Best Year Ever,
Paula

Happiness Project: Life Lessons, My List of the "Secrets of Adulthood"

As part of the Happiness Project, I've been thinking about some my favorite "life lessons." Here they are, true, funny, real...and here I am, dancing in my front yard to celebrate :)

Read the instructions all the way through before you start
Measure twice, cut once
Speak your mind, even if your lips tremble
Don't rescue anyone who isn't asking for help, and if you do, don't expect them to thank you for your "help"
Work with and for people you respect and who respect you
Don't drink beer through a straw
If you're not sure if you need it or will use it, don't buy it
Call your parents, and listen to them. You need each other.
Re-read books that you have loved to remember why you loved them
When it looks like you might be headed towards a fight with someone, ask yourself if it's better to be right, or happy?
Look for ways to be better, not bitter
Take the time to hem your pants, and buy a sewing machine if you don't have one
Stop taking yourself so seriously
Cherish and take time to remember those people who have passed away, and think of how they inspire you
Listen to your gut reactions about people, places, and events
Let people fail, let yourself fail - it means you are learning
Tell people you love them

Memorize and internalize the Prayer of Saint Francis
Practice Centering Prayer
Follow your passions
Treat everyone the way you would like to be treated
Take chances
Love un-apologetically
Relationships work when both people look for ways to make them work
Pack a pair of undies in your carry on, along with saline, a swimsuit, glasses, a snack, and a book
Instead of feeling sorry for yourself or feeling alone, plan something with and for your friends
Pa always says "Money on the barrel" - don't live in debt, and save for the things you want

Do you have any great tid-bits to share? Please spill the beans!

Dancing the night away,
Paula

Happiness Project: Energy: Sleep and a New Bed

One of the primary things I identified in my "Energy" month is sleep. There are a couple of aspects of sleep that I wanted to tackle; both the amount of sleep I get and the quality of sleep I have been getting.

Source: thedesigninspiration.com via Elaine on Pinterest

So the first trick has been attempting to get to bed by about 10pm each night. This is not easy for me. I try super hard to limit my time online, or watching TV, or even doing chores and pick up. But with a 16 month old in the house, evening quickly becomes the only time that I can take either enjoy a little "me time" or take care of stuff that just needs to get done.

I picked 10pm for a couple of reasons. During the week, I need to be up by about 6:30am to get to work on time. And on the weekends (well really every day), young Zoom often wakes up by 7am. With a little buffer time in there, it means I CAN get 8 hours of sleep.

The other issue at our house is our bed. Egads. The queen size mattress we currently have is almost TWELVE years old. No joke, I wake up multiple times a night with my arms and legs tingling, and often wake up with any number of odd pains. It's terrible. So terrible, in fact, that we have moved into the guest room and are sleeping on a futon.

That's about to come to an end. We are going to be buying a new mattress this week, and will be getting a new platform bed! Last week we went and checked out the Savvy Rest organic, all natural latex mattress and it is amazing.

Golf Ball Art for Toddlers

Zoom and I did a little art project today. We used golf balls and finger paint and created some pretty cool paintings.

For supplies, we used finger paint in primary colors, a box leftover from Christmas gifts, and paper. I cut the box so that it acted like a tray to hold the paper.

We used some paper bowls to coat the golf balls with paint.

And then Zoom picked which colors to use, and we dropped in the box, and let 'em roll!

He held one side of the box, and I held the other. We laughed as we raised the sides and made the ball roll around. We also talked about what color we were using, and talked about putting the ball "in" and taking it "out" of the box.

We finished four before it was time for dinner!

 

What fun projects have you tackled this week?

Paula