Update: Big Changes...

Yes, indeed.  I found a buyer for my house and we negotiated a contract.   Unfortunately, the house I was under contract for was a secret money pit and I backed out, BUT I was still obligated to go through with the sale of my house, effectively rendering us homeless!

Feeling burned by my almost purchase of a house accessorized with a buried tank coated with friable asbestos, I was reluctant to make any hasty decisions.  I absolutely was/am tired of having to deal with carpenter bees and watching as cracks in the driveway multiply and the other joys of home ownership. We are now in an apartment.  There's sort of a swinging eighties nostalgia about living in an apartment complex and the one we are in was actually built in the 80's.  It is beautifully landscaped with mature plantings and wooded all the way around the complex.  Large windows that  look out into the woods and a private screen porch and deck are the best features.  When we first moved in I felt almost like I was staying in a resort and would have a cocktail while taking the dog on his evening walk.

So anyway, now my student loan is paid off, the car is paid for and I am totally liquid.  The bulk of the proceeds are in a savings account and I'm not sure what I want to do.  Not sure if I ever want to own a home again.

I realize that this post is not the point of this blog, but I have been sidetracked for the past two months with the house business and I am now trying to regroup and come out of the limbo I am in.  (moved June 10 and don't feel settled at all)

But, nickel and dime is not forgotten... :)

Uh oh...

Haven't posted in March so far...not really a big deal since I have no followers. 

Purpose of this blog was to try to keep me focused on my Nickel and Dime mindset anyway.  Not sure if I have had any random visits.  The blog is probably only interesting to me at this point so I wouldn't follow me either if I was someone else!

Let's see...what haveI been doing to keep with the new mindset...

Continuing to improve my recycling focus.  Have recycled for years, but getting more focused on the small things too.  Taking more things to the thrift store as well.

Still have not broken down and done any real shopping for clothing I don't need.  I have  gone over my limit  slightly: "6 months of no apparel shopping other than only buying things that are 10.00 or less that I actually need."  There has been a 12.00 or 15.00 purchase several times but other than that I have done well.  To have set a limit of buying no clothes, etc. for 6 months unless clearance sale of 10.00 or less was pretty harsh.  Next time I'll set the limit at 15.00.

Gave up meat for Lent as it was a good time to try to skew my food more toward plant based items.  Next time I think I will allow seafood instead banning all meat.  Have slipped up once for some yummy shrimp.  Ashamed, but...oh well.  Still sticking to it otherwise.

I am not a rigid person and the point of the two above initiatives was to improve my actions in those areas, therefore, so far I consider both to be a success. I think once they are over, there will be a trend toward less shopping and meat based food items.

Oh, and also am moving to new house where I will no longer have a mortgage payment (or a very small one) once I sell this house.  This fits in with my overall scheme, but since I have to get the house ready for the showings today, I will not spin the tale just yet.

Downsizing! Woo hoo!

Downsizing the mortage payment, but not the square footage!   My offer accepted, contingent on my current house selling.

I was so ready for the small changes this year and now it looks like there is a big one coming too!

Bleecchhhh!

Ugh. Very bad day. Sad.  I am not sure what just happened, (well, I know what happened; I just have no idea why.) except maybe I am just sort of retarded and don't know it...because I am sort of retarded.

Now, I just want to give up on everything.  Nothing really matters.   Blah, blah, blah, you know the routine.  I'm feeling the real angst, but the thing about it is, I will likely feel back to normal tomorrow or soon thereabouts.  Because I am slightly retarded?

Cryptic? Yes, not that anyone reads this though, but if someone did, they just might be from my employer - who knows?

Spell check, schmell check, whatever...

Round One: Success

Was notified that the suggestion I recently submitted at work has been sent to IT for consideration.  (see previous post)  Most ideas don't actually make it to the department level, so that is promising!

Checking in... "Great Ideas"

So it's been 2 weeks. No clothing purchases.  Two weeks is easy...six months won't be, but I am determined. 

For the record, if I were to be offered a chance to interview for a fabulous new job, I would have to make an exception as I have no appropriate interview attire. I haven't bought a suit in 10 years and I have given most of them away by now anyway.  It would have to be a fabulous job too, (ie: something I actually love to do) rather than some type of worker bee position.

Anyway, just to document that I haven't lost focus on my reason for this blog - it wasn't started to support my clothing purchase moratorium - I will document what I did at work yesterday.

Backstory:

My company employs over 4k worldwide. (I think)  Very corporate.  (I adore the movie Office Space, by the way)  We have an internal program for submitting our own ideas regarding things that could be implemented for a positive effect on any number of business related realms.  Me being me, I often, comparatively speaking, submit ideas and they have actually implemented one and considered several for a while before punting, so I haven't done too bad. Anyway, I submitted a new one yesterday.

To be honest, and I was honest on the "idea" form I submitted as well, I stole the idea from another company. It's not the sort of thing that is considered intellectual property or otherwise.  I'm sure "my idea" is already used by many companies, especially the "greener" ones. 

So, I was reading an email from an outside company that was in response to a request I had made earlier and noticed at the very bottom it said  "Please consider the environment before you print this message."  I wasn't planning to print anyway, but the message made me stop and think about 17 (6) different things at once.

1. Woah, I like to consider the enviroment!
2. Now I really don't want to print this!
3. What if everyone in corporate land avoided printing just one thing a day?  (Or more)
4. I like the gentle way it's worded!
5. Why aren't we printing this on the bottom of our emails?
6. Why don't I send this one in?

Naturally, I won't get my hopes up...you never know what the commitee will do, but I sure like the idea!  And it's a perfect N & D theWorld initiative!  (my rationale for the committee was 3 fold:  positive impact on world environment, cost and security)

We will see...

Wear What You Have

Brain has gone off on a tangent from the my N&D initiative and wound up in my closet...i just proclaimed on FB that:

"I'm going to go six months without buying new clothes...including shoes, handbags and jewelry! (I will allow myself to purchase clearance items under $10.00 if it's something I'll be able to use in the future, or clothes for the kids, but I won't go out looking for deals.) It's not that I shop all that much; It's just that I realize I really don't need all this stuff."

 

Ugh...

Past 24 hours, ugh...work stress...kid stress...but, still keeping the N & D push  in my mind.  Mindfulness vrs mindlessness.  Self monitor as my MO until it becomes second nature.  

Cut to the chase: How did I N&D my day away?

1. Did not warm the car up for my comfort before leaving for work.  (per a little research I found that cars from the most recent decade or so don't need to be warmed up anyway)
2. Unplugged computer before leaving house.  (kids bitch & moan about this one)
3. Flipped the legal pad over at work to use the backs of all the pages.  Had to strong arm it bit, but it worked. (i suppose this saves my company a penny or two as well)

Yes, little things indeed, but if enough people do 3 little things a day...read my post from 01/10/10 for my geekout on  N & D'ming.

My day is not over yet, BTW.

Typical...more later

I'm thinking Twitter may better serve my purpose.  Have several new things I need to post and am trying to keep it all in my head until I have time.  As I have already noted, I am not a writer: heaven forbid I write anything down!

Working on mindfulness, as opposed to mindlessness, regarding my small routine activities. 

Have to head on to work -  more later.

Description that you may be able to relate to...

Commonly occurring argument regarding small things: "What's my (fill in the blank) really going to do?  It won't make enough difference to count."  (Used extensively during political campaigns as well)

Let's look at small things (a re-use of a product, a bag of recycles, a carpool - whatever) in a tangible way. Now let's say each small thing is a penny.

As of 01/2010, the world population is estimated to be over 6 billion.  If you were to receive a penny from each and every person on the planet you would receive over 600 million dollars. Since it is unlikely everyone would give you a penny, let's just consider the population of North America, which is approximately 5% of the world population. You would receive a cool three million if everyone contributed to you.  Even if only half were willing to part with a penny for your personal fund, you would still pull in 1.5 million. If you could get them to donate a penny year after year, you would have a nice little income, no doubt.

Oh, and if instead of pennies, you were given nickels and dimes...you do the math.

Back story...why this blog?

I am a thinker, not a writer.  Believing I would have to post on a regular basis...ugh!  But, as a thinker - an idea person or what-have-you, and also being mentally scattered, ideas come and go: some good, some not so good...

It's as if fragments of thoughts and/or feelings at an almost sub-conscious level generate, morph and blend and sometimes breakthrough my fantasy world into reality.  An idea epiphany! (Nickel and Dime the World to Life) This time, I don't want to lose it.     (this paragraph is Thick As A Brick)    

This blog serves to document the birth of the idea and the (hopeful) growth of a mindset that can be embraced by even those most closed minded regarding their impact on the world.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I promise you won't have to hear about any more of my "thoughts  and/or feelings".    ;)