Apologies for the sparse posting!
Work was crazy and when work gets like that, I come home and am just brain dead. I watch TV or rent movies, or get addicted to super-addictive internet games and play them for hours and hours and hours. (Damn you time-stealing Tetris/Bejeweled-like games!!) Seriously, Chain Factor is The Awesome. I didn’t even know how to play the first few times I played it. After 4 or 5 games, I actually read the rules and yeah, now I’m in love and nothing will ever get done ever again.
Good news? I’m not dogsitting. I had an offer for the one family I said I’d still dogsit for and I turned it down because I knew work would be crazy. The money would be nice . . . um, almost necessary (more on that later), but I felt like being true to myself was more important. Dogsitting stresses me out and allows me to get disorganized. (“There’s nowhere to meditate in this house, plus, the dog will just lick my face. Oh well, guess I’ll read/watch tv instead.” “I think I have bills to pay, but I left them on the counter at home- I’ll get them tomorrow.”)
Not dogsitting allows me to be broke.
For real. I called organizing my finances “Facing my demon.” Turns out there’s a REASON. So I’m a creative . . . but I can’t keep numbers filed the same way I do design work. It’s not some nebulous concept floating in my brain that over time I’ll be able to pin down and work with, stretch and manipulate, go back and make adjustments to. They’re numbers, man. Black, white. They don’t marinate in my creative juices and get better over time. The added pressure of procrastinating doesn’t help the final outcome.
I say this because I actually faced my numbers. I bought a program that allows you to look at your debt (all of it) and it tells you which payment plan is best, how much interest you’ll be paying, how long you’ll be paying, etc. (It’s for Macs, sorry PC users. [If there are any left]) I was debating over whether or not I should buy it ($15) and Dave said, “Well, how much would you spend on other things?”
I opened my eyes wide, twirled a lock of hair and asked, “What other things?”
My new sweater I’d bought the day before answering for me.
Anyway, the program is awesome. I went to work the next day telling everyone about it. I also called and got 2 credit cards to lower the APR for me. Woo!! That alone will save me $1000 over the next 2 years. (Yes, it will take me 2 years to pay off my credit cards if I maintain what I’m currently paying. It will take me 6 if I just pay the minimum.)
This has been a big step for me because I’ve always liked to keep my debt in the back of my mind, where surely over time it’s getting smaller. (Right?) Now I can see what happens when I buy 2 shirts and 2 sweaters from Old Navy and put it on my Gap card: I pay $112 in interest over the next 2 years because that’s money I could be using to pay off a larger balance.
And this is where I wanted to pick up the phone and say, “Liz! Cancel the dogs’ appointment at the kennel! I’ll sit them! I’ll be there Thursday!”
But no. I know what’s best for me and dogsitting isn’t it. Being home and not giving myself any more excuses to lose track of my bills or skip meditating or yoga is what needs to happen right now.
Well, not NOW now. Right now I need to run to Walgreens to get a prescription, then get my ass to bed so I can actually make another training ride.
