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Cosmic's Corner of the Space Time Continuum

Category Archives: Minimalist

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Visualizing the Ideal Lifestyle

02 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by cosmichomicide in Changes & Progress, Health, Home, Minimalist

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books, goals, home, minimize

So a friend posted a link to a New York Times article on Marie Kondo’s book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing.  Several years ago I read a decluttering book based on Feng Shui (hate away, it was great) and it changed my relationship with much of my “stuff”.  Not all of my stuff, but a great deal of it.  As such, I was drawn to this one, hit the Kindle buy nearly immediately and started to read.  Normally I would plow through the “how to declutter” book, pick a few neat ideas I’d not read before (which are getting fewer and fewer) and move on.

Not with this book.  It’s a little odd, slightly eccentric, has a distinct cultural cant to it and is positively engaging, indeed downright charming.  Reviews tell me that there will be parts that don’t translate to the American lifestyle, but I rather expected that – I also don’t feel a need to race to “the good stuff”.  It tells me that it will take 6 months to tidy my space and effect a permanent change, I’m giving it all of 2015 since my space includes three people, three dogs, a cranky cat and attics full of things from not only my previous marriage, but previous owners.  I also firmly believe in recycling, donating and selling rather than just discarding where possible, so that will likely extend things.

The first action reads more like the start of a philosophical journey than a cleaning marathon, but I expected that as well.  The idea is to create a joyful space in which to live rather than a spot to store accumulated stuff.  So the beginning is to visualize my ideal lifestyle and, out of that will come the desire and motivation to create an environment that supports it.  Gosh, what a concept. 😉

I work at home, so I figured outlining a perfect day would kind of cover it – one workday, one weekend day.  I also decided that I needed to include things that I don’t do now, but would dearly like to be able to do.  This is supported by the client story used as an example in the book.  A perfect workday would start by waking up from a good night’s sleep, eating a good breakfast, exercising, taking a shower and getting dressed, making the bed and managing the critters before going to my home office.

I would then spend the first work hour getting my day in order (I do this already and it rocks), clearing email, prioritizing and planning while sipping morning coffee.  After three productive hours of work, downstairs for a good lunch and a little reading.  Three more productive hours and then an hour of taking a course or reading something work related to end the day.

The evening would be filled with a delicious dinner, a walk with the dogs (or downtown) followed by relaxing with da fambly, catching up with friends online and so on before grabbing a good book and a hot cup of tea and going to bed.  Weekends would be similar but part of the day would be spent on the yard or house with the other part dedicated to something out and about – a class, errands, events, writing and so on.

I can tell you that right now, while this is a glimmer on the horizon after several years of focused decluttering, life is more a chaotic march forward to stay ahead culminating in a collapse after staring at a to-do list than a joyous adventure.  So there you have it, Marie – let’s see what we can do about it. 🙂

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2014: Let the Goals Begin!

27 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by cosmichomicide in Changes & Progress, Health, Home, Minimalist, TEDTalk

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bucket list, certifications, goals, health, home, money, organize, TED Talks

Last year frankly worked pretty well with smaller monthly goals, so we’re gonna continue with that method though we are going to fiddle with the categories a bit and add one for “Habit of the Month”.  This came out of an earlier post about a TEDTalk that suggested doing one new thing for 30 days.  Some things are going to be prescheduled since the big fitness goal for this year is the Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon in November 2014.

Happy-New-Year-2014-Celebration-Black-WallpaperDaily habits I’d like to develop or improve upon include writing/journaling, exercising, reading for pleasure, taking a picture and so on.  I don’t know if I can come up with 12 right off the bat, but I’m expecting more to grow out of the initial ones.  The big financial goal is 3 months of living expenses in the bank on top of the money the heir will need for college, so we’re going to continue with the cost cutting.  We did pretty well last year, but we had a few major expenses and we can do better I think.  We shall see.  And we will, of course, continue with the decluttering and the home improvement with the long term goal of being “ready to go” should we decide to sell the homestead at some point in the future.  Professional development will continue to be on the list, though I’m shifting focus from technical to process and management.  And, of course, at least one bucket list item marked off.

New for 2014 I’m going to try to think out for a quarter so that if I see an opportunity to complete/trade off a later goal, I can.  I’m also adding “clean up” months or “bye rounds” throughout the year to catch up on goals that were perhaps a bit more than they seemed and to manage the months that just fly by.  Plus, it seems more sane and realistic.

So, let’s take a look at January:

  • Fitness – Hit my Fitbit goals for the month (yep, Christmas present)
  • Professional – Complete the ITIL 2011 Intermediate SOA qualification
  • Habit – Fitness and Food Journaling
  • Home – Guest bedroom
  • Financial – 401K and retirement accounts
  • Decluttering – File for 2013 taxes, set up 2014 files
  • Cost cutting – Insurance review

And February:

  • Fitness – Sign up for the NC Half Marathon Twilight 5K in March
  • Professional – Complete the ITIL 2011 MALC (Expert) qualification
  • Habit – Take or draw a picture every day
  • Home – [month off to catch up if needed]
  • Financial – 2013 Taxes completed and filed
  • Decluttering – Scan/Shred old records
  • Cost cutting/saving – Cut dining out to one dinner and one lunch per week

Finally, March:

  • Fitness – Complete the NC Half Marathon Twilight 5K
  • Professional – [month off to catch up if needed]
  • Habit – [decluttering habit, see below]
  • Home – Front porch and walks (getting ready for spring!)
  • Financial – update wills
  • Decluttering – Declutter one thing per day (sell, trade, donate, recycle, repair)
  • Cost cutting/saving – Utilities review (gas, power, phone, internet, cellular, TV, etc.)

Looks doable.  Here’s to having some fun, simplifying my life, and rocking 2014!

2013: Reflections on a Year Gone By

26 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by cosmichomicide in Changes & Progress, Health, Home, Minimalist, TEDTalk

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certifications, goals, health, home, money, organize, TED Talks

Perhaps a bit early for the 2013 post, but I’m feeling reflective, so… It’s been a really great year!  Just a few of the highlights:

  • New job with a terrific company.
  • New (old) car that I love.
  • The heir got accepted to his (only) college of choice.
  • The heir was named VIP of the rugby team (as a junior).

    No, no - it's not New Year's Eve yet.  I'm just behind on posts and ahead on reflection. :)

    No, no – it’s not New Year’s Eve yet. I’m just behind on posts and ahead on reflection. 🙂

  • Repainted the house.
  • Zero debt other than the mortgage.
  • The consort got a new job.
  • Spent a weekend on the lake outside Toronto with old friends.
  • Spent a week in Vegas with my best friend.
  • Completed 2 more intermediate ITIL certifications.
  • Added a new dog to the herd.
  • Finished the guest bathroom.
  • Both the Braves and the Panthers made the playoffs!

There were some downs (though not many) – my old workplace had gotten pretty chaotic and stressful, we had a few unfortunate appliance and car meltdowns, I didn’t complete some of my 2014 goals (though others stepped up to the plate) and so on, but overall 2013 was a wonderful year!  Bring on 2014, we’re ready!

January Update – Taxes & Paper

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by cosmichomicide in Changes & Progress, Cheapskate, Minimalist, Paperless

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minimize, money, organize, paperless

More updating of completed stuff plus some new things added in along the way.  Back in January, I set out to get the finances in order to make tax preparation (and everything else) easier.  Traditionally I was sitting in the midst of paper in April dreading sorting, totaling and organizing so that my taxes would be fast and (relatively) painless.  This year, believe it or not, I succeeded.  The January goals were:

Finances – Tax Preparation

  • File all 2012 receipts, bills, etc. for tax filing. – done
  • Shred all unnecessary old records by schedule. – done
  • Set up 2013 file folders. – modified
  • Save online statements as needed to archives.  (No paper) – done

Last year I went mostly paperless.  This year I was nearly 100% with the exception of medical bills and I still haven’t figured out a way to get those digital nor do I think I ever will without a complete overhaul of the insurance and medical system.  As a result, there was nearly no filing other than to put the supporting documentation for what went on the tax form into the “tax binder”.  Every year I start with a 1/2″ binder labeled for that tax year – deductible receipts and “important tax information” goes into it as it is received.  What I discovered is that I didn’t actually need the majority of my 2012 folders, nor did I need to set up 2013 folders – I did have to set up a CD to save off critical tax records and put a CD sleeve into the tax folder.

Shredding is always fun, but I’ve been consistently shredding for some time – the key thing is to know what records to keep and what to nuke.  Most people keep things that just aren’t necessary.  Example – unless you are claiming a home office, why are you keeping your utility bills?  Unless you are running a kennel or showing and breeding dogs is your occupation, why are you keeping vet receipts (other than rabies certifications and pedigrees)?  I’m down to one filing cabinet and working on emptying it with the goal of eventually having nothing but my safe deposit box, home fire safe and a collection of CD/DVDs with cloud backups.

Truth is – paper is time.  You have to organize it, file it, staple it, sort through it, think about it.  If no one has asked you for your vet bill from 5 years ago, they aren’t going to – get rid of it.  Find an online guide to retention schedules and use it – ruthlessly.  Feel sentimental about a piece of paper?  Scan it or take a picture.  Lighten your load and make it easier to find what you actually need.  Free up the time to analyze what you need to do.  Paperless is truly excellent – save what you need, let someone else send the reminders (or, if you can afford to, set auto-payments – I do love auto-payments) and focus on how to reduce or eliminate the bills instead of how to store them.

In any event – this goal seemed correct in light of previous years, but turned out to be nothing more than a day of shredding and scanning and an afternoon of filling out, signing and mailing the tax returns.  I am setting as a follow up goal for later this year to put each major expense category into a month and use that time to check competitors and analyze bills for ways to save money – I’m pretty sure I’ve not squeezed everything out of my bills yet, though I did refinance and change cellular providers this year, which saved substantial amounts and let me pay off two loans and my credit card balances.

The major long term goals are to make sure that my son can go through college without coming out with massive debt and that I can retire with a paid off house and a living income.  And that still needs some work.  Like finding about $1000 per month either through increased income or reduced expenses.  Which will be the topic of the next post as I start looking for the soft expenses to cut.

Packing Up the Holidays

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by cosmichomicide in Changes & Progress, Home, Minimalist

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home, minimize, organize

Last year the first thing we accomplished around here was clearing out the Christmas clutter and cleaning up the storage organization.  This year we had the decorations up, presents wrapped and the holidays ready to go (inside and out) in one day with everything easy to find.  All the lights worked, all the ornaments had hangers, all the wrapping stuff (boxes, paper, ribbons, bows, tags, tape) were in a single box.  In short, smooth and simple.

Today we are reversing the process and it is going just as quickly and smoothly. 🙂

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2013 Reading Challenge

2013 Reading Challenge
Karen has completed her goal of reading 65 books in 2013!
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65 of 65 (100%)
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2012 Reading Challenge

2012 Reading Challenge
Karen has completed her goal of reading 70 books in 2012!
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81 of 80 (101%)
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2011 Reading Challenge

2011 Reading Challenge
Karen has completed her goal of reading 75 books in 2011!
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87 of 75 (115%)
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