I got home late last night, after it was already technically Friday, and wondered how I could make it up to all you awesome people who read my blog for not sticking to my schedule this week. I'm sorry to say I can't think of anything other than an apology.
Sorry about the muff up. But let's got on with today's (yesterday's??) show!
I wanted to elaborate a bit on the Christmas Vlog I posted about my war on "stuff." (If you have not seen it, I suggest you hop over here and take a look-see).
In an attempt to continue with some of The Art of Non- Conformity's ideas, and spurred on by a friend's off handed comment, I was motivated to begin purging "stuff" from my life. But what do I mean by "stuff"?? Well, the best way for me to define "stuff" is by saying "things which no longer have value to me." And in the process of purging these things that I have to just take up perfectly good empty space, I am reassessing what I actually value. In the long run I have realized that physical items eventually lose personal value over time. It's usually around that point I begin to give these things away. And then I realized how much money I was blowing, often on my credit card, for things I was just going to give away. Although there's nothing wrong with charity, that's more debt I'm wracking up and then not doing anything about.
And speaking of debt, that is something else that has no value to me. And why should it? This has also spurred a war on my debt. In the past week, I have put almost three hundred dollars down on my credit card, including the money I had saved up for Denver. What use is grad school when I am already almost 32 thousand dollars in debt? Almost two of that is in a single credit card! To be sure, this debt is not as severe as some peoples', but it is still more than I want! And don't give me that "good debt/bad debt" talk; debt is still debt, and I don't think any of it is good.
The plan to escape my debt is simple: Attempt to sell the things I no longer value (preferably at a cheap price, just to get rid of it), and use the money to go towards my debt. Once my credit card debt is gone, then I can attack some of my school loans with the money I had been paying to my credit card (or spending on my credit card with useless stuff). And with this newfound debt-free life, I can better pursue the things I value.
So what do I value? Over time it has occurred to me that I value experiences. New experiences, old ones with new company, my friends, and food. For those of you who know me, the SCA falls under the experiences, friends, and food categories (often all at once). The only issue is there is then filling my house with SCA "stuff." So I will have to sit down and work on some more concrete SCA-related rules.
Unless that is some of you have something you can offer as a way to help me keep from building up SCA stuff?
Anyway, with this new thought process I hope to be able to do more of the things I want: Travel, write, cook, eat. And I plan to work as well; a woman can't pay her debts without an income. The challenge is finding something meaningful- that makes me happy. But this is why I'm starting everywhere. Test the waters; if I'm unhappy, find something else. Maybe I will find something that I like, maybe I'll decide self employment is what I need after all. Who knows? But if I'm debt free, and have less meaningless stuff, my job won't matter as much because the assumption is I will be having more more meaningful experiences.
Think about what you value. Is it worth what you paid for it? And if not, how could you change that?
Sorry about the muff up. But let's got on with today's (yesterday's??) show!
I wanted to elaborate a bit on the Christmas Vlog I posted about my war on "stuff." (If you have not seen it, I suggest you hop over here and take a look-see).
In an attempt to continue with some of The Art of Non- Conformity's ideas, and spurred on by a friend's off handed comment, I was motivated to begin purging "stuff" from my life. But what do I mean by "stuff"?? Well, the best way for me to define "stuff" is by saying "things which no longer have value to me." And in the process of purging these things that I have to just take up perfectly good empty space, I am reassessing what I actually value. In the long run I have realized that physical items eventually lose personal value over time. It's usually around that point I begin to give these things away. And then I realized how much money I was blowing, often on my credit card, for things I was just going to give away. Although there's nothing wrong with charity, that's more debt I'm wracking up and then not doing anything about.
And speaking of debt, that is something else that has no value to me. And why should it? This has also spurred a war on my debt. In the past week, I have put almost three hundred dollars down on my credit card, including the money I had saved up for Denver. What use is grad school when I am already almost 32 thousand dollars in debt? Almost two of that is in a single credit card! To be sure, this debt is not as severe as some peoples', but it is still more than I want! And don't give me that "good debt/bad debt" talk; debt is still debt, and I don't think any of it is good.
The plan to escape my debt is simple: Attempt to sell the things I no longer value (preferably at a cheap price, just to get rid of it), and use the money to go towards my debt. Once my credit card debt is gone, then I can attack some of my school loans with the money I had been paying to my credit card (or spending on my credit card with useless stuff). And with this newfound debt-free life, I can better pursue the things I value.
So what do I value? Over time it has occurred to me that I value experiences. New experiences, old ones with new company, my friends, and food. For those of you who know me, the SCA falls under the experiences, friends, and food categories (often all at once). The only issue is there is then filling my house with SCA "stuff." So I will have to sit down and work on some more concrete SCA-related rules.
Unless that is some of you have something you can offer as a way to help me keep from building up SCA stuff?
Anyway, with this new thought process I hope to be able to do more of the things I want: Travel, write, cook, eat. And I plan to work as well; a woman can't pay her debts without an income. The challenge is finding something meaningful- that makes me happy. But this is why I'm starting everywhere. Test the waters; if I'm unhappy, find something else. Maybe I will find something that I like, maybe I'll decide self employment is what I need after all. Who knows? But if I'm debt free, and have less meaningless stuff, my job won't matter as much because the assumption is I will be having more more meaningful experiences.
Think about what you value. Is it worth what you paid for it? And if not, how could you change that?
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