Thanks for journalling! A human mind is the captain of a ship called Body. We can steer it, but we don't control the currents. And there are strong currents against permaculture, financial independence and a healthy weight.
It reads like you are steering towards a faraway goal. Perhaps it would help to aim for something closer by. Say, a no sugar week, instead of a healthy weight.
Good point. I tend to make huge plans and jump at them while skipping important steps along the way. So naturally, it doesn't work out, and I become wary of trying again. Instead I need to remember the little story in which someone is asked, "How do you eat an elephant?" and answered, "One bite at a time."
And I'd need to keep the steps super-small. Like, instead of a no-sugar week, it would be a no-sugar day, or even one no-sugar hour at a time.
Even so, I want to keep the end-goal in mind. Cutting out sugar will lead to an image I have in my head as a healthier and more energetic future me that also is a little richer for not having to get expensive dental work every year.
Since I had gotten so far behind on things, my new budget is called
MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Rescuing myself from the sinking ship that is my life
• As I’ve already announced, my car loan is paid off (and I’ve received the title)! That’s a load off my mind. I’ve absorbed that money into the non-monthly expenses fund for Car Repairs and Expenses, increased the goal amount to $10,000, and pushed the goal date to five years from now. That makes the monthly amount to fund it about half of what the car payment was. And I can take from it anytime for maintenance, repairs, insurance, and registration fees.
• I went ahead and paid off my medical debt. It was down to $518.50, and I had the money and was sick of looking at it every month. I was paying $152.38 per month on a payment plan that would have been paid off in August. One less thing. I used a credit card which will get paid off in weekly increments by the end of the month. The only reason I did that was because that was the payment method that was set up on this website, and I didn’t feel like changing it for one last payment.
• I’ll get $5215.75 from a CD that matures on the 17th. I want to play catch-up with funding the savings account that I use to pay for my nonmonthly expenses, but I’ll probably put most of it into another CD. I need to shop around for rates.
• Unexpected expense: A speeding ticket at $200.50. I admit that I was very naughty and had gotten complacent because I had gotten away with it for so long. In an ironic twist, if I had been driving at the speed limit, I would have made it to work in plenty of time, but being stopped by the cops made me late. Guess who will by setting the cruise control to 30 mph from now on? *points at self* This will be coming out of my car fund, of course.
Other things:
• I’m making a lateral shift at work to a job that has more customer service involved and is in the afternoons/evenings. This will make it a lot easier to get to work on time and less reliant on caffeine to wake me up. I should also be able to have more time and energy to prepare food at home so I won’t find myself rushing out the door, having forgot to fill my lunchbox on time. I’ll have to try to get my big meal prepared for noon so I can eat before I go to work, and some of that can go into my lunchbox. And no more midnight shifts. I’ll be working the same hours every workday. This will make it easier to get my days flowing with a regular routine. To help, I got an app called RoutineFlow, which has been working great so far. It’s on a subscription plan, but I’m hoping that it helps me build up enough discipline that I won’t need it after a year. But we’ll see.
• With so many of my budget items being non-monthly expenses that come out of one account, I can imagine a time in which I won’t need to budget so closely anymore. I’d like to set up my accounts so that money flows automatically without too much oversight on my part. I already have direct deposit and autopay where I can, but I have to keep an eye on my balances because I overspend sometimes (often). I need to go back to the frugal mindset that I had many years ago and not buy something whenever the fancy strikes. I’d like to be able to check my accounts once a month, nod approvingly, and then go on to do something more interesting. There are other things in life that I’ve been neglecting.