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January – It’s Just a Day Away

31 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Cheapskate, Health, Home

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January

  • Fitness – Hit my Fitbit goals for the month
  • 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

I just got my Fitbit Flex for Christmas and so far I’m liking it even without a direct phone sync app.  I’ll be doing a review of the device at the end of January after I’ve used it for a month – the first goal it set was 10K steps per day which is more than doable.  I’m buying the ITIL Intermediate SOA course today so I can start studying for the qualification exam.  The app I’ll be using for the health journaling is the Fitbit dashboard so I can include it in the review.

The guest bedroom project will start with a list and some pictures and hopefully include some decluttering.  Definitely a post of its own and I fully expect it to require time during the catch up month.  I need to sign up for the 401K at the new job and then get all the various accounts sorted and into a single dashboard.  Filing is always fun, not.  But it is nice to see all those fresh new 2014 folders ready to go.  And finally, I’m pretty sure I’m overinsured in some places and underinsured in others, so time to get some quotes, check my policies and coverage and such.  Fingers crossed that it leads to a good chunk of savings or a better sense of what is and isn’t covered adequately.

Right now I’m planning to do an update post every weekend to keep on track, denoting which goals have been completed and anything I learned during the week while working on them.  I’ve decided that 2014 is the year of learning new things and trying new things – hopefully without any major injuries as a result of it. 🙂

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Stuff That Works: SimpleHuman Butterfly Step Trash Can

28 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by in Home, Stuff that Works

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Yeah, I know.  It’s a trash can.  And it is an expensive trash can (though we did get ours on sale on Amazon, so it was a bit less painful).  But the entire family is in love with this thing and if you consider how many times a day you use a kitchen trash can, the cost per use is danged low.  So why is it so great?

  1. Dogs and cats cannot get in this thing.  Even smart and determined ones.  This is huge!
  2. It’s good looking and it is “slimline” – takes up much less space than similar volume cheap trashcans.  I can’t say it is 100% fingerprint free, but it’s pretty resistant (especially being hands free).  It does collect some stray paw prints as the cat likes to walk across it.
  3. Trash bags are easy to change out.  A standard kitchen bag fits this perfectly without fighting it on.  This was something I completely loathed about our oldSimpleHuman Trash Can Blog kitchen can.
  4. A pizza box fits in the can.  This was a bigger deal around here than you would think.
  5. It has a pedal open and a butterfly top – one hand trash dumping, slim profile, slow close.  Based on how slowly it closes, I’d say no issue with kid’s fingers but it hasn’t been determined kid tested.
  6. It’s solid and sturdy without being stupidly heavy.  Though it’s heavy enough that it doesn’t get knocked around (or over) by accident.
  7. It allows you to fill the trash bag up completely.  No more weird unfilled corners at the bottom and shaking the trash down to close the bag.

My son suggested it was time for a “good trash can” for the kitchen and I spent a few days researching trash cans (yep, I really did) to meet our requirements and eliminate all our complaints.  This thing scored a home run.  And looks good too.  Check out SimpleHuman for the Butterfly Step Can, really.  (They are also sold on Amazon and at Home Depot among other places – shop around, the prices vary by as much as $30.) 🙂

2014: Let the Goals Begin!

27 Friday Dec 2013

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

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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 in Changes & Progress, Health, Home, Minimalist, TEDTalk

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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!

October – Three Months Left

29 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in Books, Changes & Progress, Cheapskate, Health, Home

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Only three months left in 2013.  I suppose I could wait until December and reflect back, but it seems a better idea to reflect back when I can make some adjustments.  Did I accomplish what I wanted to accomplish?  Are there things I still want to accomplish from “way back” at the beginning of the year?  Have things changed?

From a finances standpoint, I still need to dig into my insurance (home, car) costs.  I discovered when the insurance company came to review my house that I was drastically overinsured.  With a 17 year old in the house, my car insurance also went wonky and now that I am going to have to purchase a car this is something that is still on my list.

From a professional standpoint, I didn’t complete the upgrade technical certifications that I had originally wanted but I also discovered that my focus has changed, not only professionally but personally.  I no longer identify myself as the pure geek that I have been for so much of my career but now see myself as process focused.  So mid-year I dropped the emphasis on the technical and application certifications and dedicated myself to ITIL certifications.  I have three tests and two courses remaining until my ITIL expert is achieved and this is a goal I wish to continue.

I’m horribly behind on my reading, that should be an easy one to pick back up as I enjoy it, but I need to make some adjustments – likely I will be adding a commute, so I am investigating audio books as an option as well as adding reading into my daily “to-do” list so that I don’t skip over it for things that seem more important but really are not.

Doing something for 30 days is wonderful and for October I will be taking a picture every day.  The purpose of this is not to get a bunch of amazing pictures, though that would be nice, but to start paying attention to the world around me and perhaps looking at it in different ways.  I’m also going to continue with a TED talk per day as I have found that both enlightening and inspiring.

Fitness and health, I’ve been appallingly slack.  That’s the largest focus of the next three months, difficult as it is going to be now that the lovely weather is ending and the winter cold is seeping in.  Resetting a bit, I’m aiming for simply regular exercise and a diet improvement by creating good habits – October will be 30 days of exercising the dogs, November will be 30 days of “eating in”, December will be 30 days of morning yoga/stretching.

Finally, we started the year planning to redo one room per month.  Instead we completed the guest bathroom (which looks marvelous) and made the front porch inviting and then had the exterior of the house painted – which was such a huge improvement we felt better about the whole place.  From here through December, I’m changing focus a bit to surveying each room and identifying what needs to be done, the cost and effort involved and doing serious decluttering of the remaining “stuff” that isn’t really enhancing our lives.  In the course of this, I’m also going to identify the things we love and use that need repairing, upgrading or replacing.

So, to summarize:

  • Untangle insurance (and put it on the annual checkup list)
  • ITIL Expert certification
  • Catch up on reading
  • Develop and continue good habits in 30 day increments
  • Survey the home improvement needs

Seems doable, let’s see how it goes. 🙂