rianjs.net

I started writing as part of yesterday's post, but it was pretty separate in tone and scope, so I broke it off into its own post.

I want to get rid of my ridiculous cell phone. I currently have an LG VX9800 which has a QWERTY keyboard for faster texting. While it's nice, I don't send many text messages anymore, and I don't intend to in the future. On top of that, it is bulky and difficult to talk on unless I'm using a hands-free device of some sort. A smaller flip phone or similar device would serve me much better, and not annoy me as much whenever I walk around with my phone in my pocket.

I'm getting rid of my dedicated server in the next two weeks and moving everything over to a $9.99 shared plan with Dreamhost. It is more than adequate for my needs, and it will save me $110 a month. While I would certainly go with a dedicated box if my websites required it, there's just no reason for it at this point in time. (I would, however, heartily recommend iweb.ca to anyone looking for a solid, responsive, friendly, and inexpensive dedicated server with plenty of bandwidth.)

I may get rid of my iMac, even though I love it. About two weeks ago, I purchased a new MacBook, and it's been fantastic. While the screen is a little small to spend all of my time on it — I use my computer to watch movies, etc. while in bed with the remote using FrontRow — I could easily replace it with a 17" MacBook Pro, since all of my watchable media is on an external hard drive. That's pretty expensive, even with selling the iMac and the MacBook, so it will have to wait for a little while. Sometimes spending a little to simplify things can enrich your life more. I'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, though, NetNewsWire with NewsGator and the new Google Browser Sync Firefox extension have greatly simplified my being able to have both machines on the same page, in a manner of speaking. Again, sometimes paying extra (NewsGator) is worth the cost in terms of ease of use and simplicity. (Macs also fall into that category.)

Things I can't change but wish I could

I wish I could get rid of my car. It's a money sinkhole, but since I live in an area with barely any public transportation, I need it. That was probably the only good thing about living in Boston — the T or bus went everywhere.

[tags]frugal living, frugality, gtd, lifehacks, life hacks[/tags]

Well it was my goal to do some writing today, but I didn't really expect to be writing here. I was instead planning to focus on OnThePharm. Ah well, I will still probably write an entry over there, but I wanted to share a link that I enjoyed, and talk about some of the parallels that I have found, and the greater enrichment I have found from making these similar changes.

Simpler is better

I discovered this link in my RSS reader today. I think it might have been from del.icio.us/popular, I can't remember. It's about hardcore frugal living, and the freedom it gives one. As I've said before, when it comes to business, less is more, and simpler is better. This is true for one's personal life as well.

Many of the things in the article I have done already.

As I worked through the process of making each room or space as functional and comfortable as possible for the least amount of expended money, I found I still had too many possessions. (A smaller home means fewer possessions, which means less to clean and take care of! I established the rule that I had to be able to see all three walls of any cupboard or closet to avoid clutter or unnecessary stuff.)

I find this to be very true. Less stuff = less mental overhead. It's similar to the principle that "Cleaning 20% of one's house brings 80% of the satisfaction found therein" — a truism if there ever was one.

Simultaneously, I began to tackle the financial problems of not having a significant savings program, but having an ample amount of credit card debt. This portion of downsizing our lives required constant attention, but I discovered some wonderful surprises that seemed so obvious in hindsight.

For example, the more time I spent in the kitchen making our meals without the aid of convenience foods, the more we skipped eating out and the less I was spending on groceries. The more time I spent in formulating grocery lists according to what was on sale, and establishing and then using a price book, the more funds were available out of the grocery budget for using on eliminating credit card debt.

I discovered this several years ago, when I was spending ~$5 each day that I went to work — when I really couldn't afford to. I started bringing my own food and water to work, and I was surprised how much easier it was to make my car payment at the beginning of the next month.

The biggest and most important life lesson I learned was that I could waste our resources by not being careful how I used them. I found that if I minded the pennies, the dollars would take care of themselves. I cut out all the extraneous spending I could because I wanted to make sure I didn't have to re-enter the job market again.

I've always thought that it was funny that taking care of the small things in life just sort of naturally led to taking care of the bigger things. One somehow breeds the other, but the real change is the overall mindset that comes with minding the pennies — and that is what facilitates the actual change in habits.

I realized I didn't need magazine subscriptions or daily newspapers because with the internet and a television, I could meet my needs without unnecessary costs. (You will love how little you then have to recycle, too!)

I agree with this in principle, and I'll probably never subscribe to a print publication that I have to pay for again. RSS has made creating specific news channels much easier than sifting through a paper publication. That said, I still print my news and then recycle it later. In keeping with the voice of the article though, fewer magazines and newspapers makes for less clutter. It's easier to organize a stack of 8.5 x 11 pieces of copy paper than it is to keep 4 magazines and 5 days worth of daily newspapers from filling up your livingroom.

I realized that I didn't need to buy coffee or soda when I was out shopping but could reward myself quite nicely with a cup of coffee at home once I was done.

It amazes me how many people, especially young people, buy coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts every day. These are the same people who complain about not having enough money for car insurance, car payments, cell phone bills, etc. They often eat lunch out every day as well. When I was in that situation, I quickly figured out how to save myself hundreds of dollars a month by not living such an expensive lifestyle.

I realized that we were more than content to provide our own entertainment at a much less expensive cost if we availed ourselves of what was offered at a much reduced rate or even free within our own community. (The symphony orchestra didn't fold because we were no longer dues-paying members!)

I agree, and I spend $15 a month for Netflix, which is how I prevent myself from going to the movies once or twice a week, which is something I used to do. I also spend a lot more time creating content than I do consuming it. I'd rather write something than watch a movie most of the time. Writing isn't really working, for me.

The article also talks about eliminating postage and whatnot. Being a relatively young person, I do most everything on the Internet anyway — my banking, bill paying, movie rentals, etc. I have a book of checks that has lasted me two years. I write one check a month to my mom for rent. That's it.

I realized that paying cash for everyday expenses such as gasoline are way more frugal and cost effective than having to write out checks, expend postage, etc., to get a credit card bill paid.

I did this for a while, but I switched back to the credit card thing. Now that I've got most of my impulsive habits under control, I have the willpower to use my credit card for everything, and pay it all off at the end of the month. This gives me a nice cash bonus about once a year that I deposit into my savings account that I would be forgoing if I used my debit card for everything. This is particularly true when I pay tuition. Dropping several thousand on the card and immediately paying it off certainly helps the rewards pile up. This will especially be true now that I've decided to pay for everything out-of-pocket from now on when it comes to school.

Through downsizing our lifestyle, we were also able for the first time to meet and then exceed the ten percent tithe. And by reading and researching ways to get the credit card debt under control, we have finally realized that dream.

I save 20% of every paycheck, no matter how large or small. This will allow me to more easily pay for my tuition twice a year when the time comes — or unexpected car repairs, like last week — without going into debt to do it.

(You will be amazed at the wealth of information to be found on the internet, and how much you can learn to make a simpler, more frugal lifestyle a reality for your family. I am not talking about an austere lifestyle - just one that is more satisfying, more fulfilling, and not necessarily based on how much money you can spend to achieve your goals.)

My friends are always astonished when I do things, because I do them seemingly out of the blue, and given my situation in life, these things seem out-of-place. Going to Europe by myself for a week and a half while in college on my own dime, for instance; buying toys I want; doing whatever it is that strikes my fancy. It's because I learned how to make a mental list of what I really want, and if it stays on there for 3 months, I buy it. I don't go to bars, I don't buy things on impulse, and the rare times that I do, I can pay it off immediately without worry.

That's freedom. That's one big step of many when it comes to creating a streamlined, relatively stress-free life.

We are now devoid of undue stress and compromises in our life, and we are happier than we have ever been.

Indeed. Anyone can do it. They just need to take the steps that are necessary to get there. Steps that might be scary at first.

Living frugally does not mean living an austere, boring existence.

Lifehacks, time management, money management, stress, financial planning, saving, money

Big Pharma catches a lot of flak for advertising directly to consumers. As marketing budgets approach and sometimes even exceed R&D spending, it has some wondering what's going to happen as pipelines run dry, and what consumers and the industry as a whole can do about it. Now with 10% more balogna!

Link!

A feature article that I wrote. Weighing in at some 2000 words or so.

If you have a digg account, please digg it.

This is the fourth part in the series I've been writing about getting my life together.

"Deadline." What a terrible word.

I used to hate everything about deadlines: the word, the meaning, and the implication. The word sounds as though there are terrible consequences unless it's adhered to, and generally it implies an unpleasant task. While it's true that there can be consequences for missing deadlines, I've decided that the concept is actually a friend rather than a foe.

A deadline, when adhered to, means one of two things: either you got something you wanted to accomplished, or something that you didn't want to do is now done and out of the way. I starting setting deadlines for myself a while ago because I found that I never got anything done that I wanted to do unless I did so. As much as one wants to do something, there are very few people that will actually do whatever it is they want to do unless they set a timeframe for themselves. See people take the path of least resistance, as I've mentioned in the past. It is easier to do nothing than it is to do something, even though doing nothing may lead to unhappiness and discontent.

Ironic, but I found it's better to simply accept one's limitations and work around them.

Most of my goals are fairly straightforward, because I have a relatively uncomplicated life. I have several longer articles that I want to write for OnThePharm, and so I've made notes about them, and then I set my goals. Generally one article per week, depending on what my work schedule is like. I put them on my calendar, and since I reference my calendar several times a day, I always know what my next two weeks look like. My typical routine in the morning involves launching 3 browser tabs: email, my home page with my ToDo list, and my calendar.

This is what my calendar looks like in terms of my deadlines. (The version with just my deadlines is here.) While I do deviate from the timeframes I have set, I don't do it often, and I try to have a very good reason for doing so. For instance yesterday I was going to write and post this entry, but instead I was feeling rather strongly about my "reinvention" kick, so I wrote that instead. It's good to be flexible without just letting the deadlines slide indefinitely. I'm afraid that the structured procrastination method won't work for me because I don't really have a heirarchy of deadlines — everything is equally important and equally moveable.

Chunking

Adding things to your calendar or ToDo list is quite easy. It's easy to say "write X article" or "do Y" but often these things are big. Breaking them down into chunks helps. For instance last year we destroyed the pool in our back yard, and our yard is still a giant mess. There's a huge pile of dirt sitting in the middle, and we need to build a four foot retaining wall in one corner of the yard before the yard can look nice.

Now, I hate doing yardwork and just about all other forms of manual labor, save mowing the lawn, so I actively procrastinate when it comes to doing anything related to cleaning it up. I will sit down and think about the sub-jobs that I have to do. Buying the interlocking bricks for the retaining wall one day. Planning to have one of my buddies come over and help me set them up on another. Having several loads of fill dumped in the space a third day, etc.

Putting "Finish the back yard" on the calendar is simply too big to have it be meaningful. Breaking unpleasant tasks up into many smaller, more achievable ones helps me get them done in a timely fashion without killing myself all in one day or two and hating my life while I'm doing it.

Results

I have found in the 4 weeks or so that I have been setting and following deadlines that I have gotten far more accomplished for myself than I ever have in the past. Those things that I truly want to do that take effort to accomplish are getting done, and it makes me feel good about myself and the work I'm doing. I've found that instead of running out of time late at night, 24 hours is more than enough time to get everything I want to do, done. Work expands to fill the time allotted to it, so don't allot gobs of time and you'll find yourself with more time to do more rewarding things.

Another strange phenomenon is that I find that as the day is winding down, and I've come home from work or what have you, I truly have nothing left to do. I don't feel somewhat guilty about sitting down and watching the baseball game. Because I got everything done that I needed to or wanted to. Now I have to work on truly figuring out how to relax at night without my brain constantly searching for something that I should be doing instead. Instead of unwinding, every 30 seconds my brain says "surely there must be something I should be doing" — but there isn't. That's the hardest part so far with this whole getting things done thing: really relaxing when I am done.

time management, gtd, life hacks, procrastination