Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Early Bird...

So... I've been on my early arrival at work kick since the new year began, as part of my effort to be a more productive worker this year. 

Accordingly, I've been waking religiously at 5 am, Monday through Friday, and leaving home between 6 & 6:30 am. 

My body is even cooperating now, I've awakened on several occasions over the past 2 weeks without the assistance of an alarm clock. I'm able to drive to work & park in about 35 minutes, that time of day. My ultimate goal each morning is to arrive at work before 7 am, that way I'm out the door again no later than 3:30 pm. I'm able to beat the evening rush-hour pretty easily now & I'm usually home in a jiffy. I could definitely get used to using less gas & fighting far fewer people on the roadway. 

I've really been enjoying the benefits of being home so early. The extra daylight each evening should really come in handy when I began running again this spring. Aside from that, I've been accomplishing much more in terms of running errands & completing various tasks around the house since beginning this new tour of duty. I'm hoping that I'll be able to stick to this plan for a while.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Dollar$ & ₵ent$…

Up until December 31st of last year, I had 5 store/credit accounts with varying APRs & purchase limits that I'd typically use whenever I wanted to avoid using cash from my checking account. Well as part of my commitment to lower my overall credit debt, I decided to reduce my number of charge accounts from 5 to 1 (the one with the lowest interest rate). 

So far, I've been a very good boy this year & haven't used any of those 4 cards with the ridiculous APRs. But I've been super-reluctant each time I've thought of cutting these cards in half. 

I just fear that an emergency will come up, where having these cards might come in handy. That's what my paranoia tells me anyway.

Sure... an easy solution might be to simply leave those cards at home - but 3 of those 4 credit accounts can still be accessed at the point of sell, with or without my card. 

So I'm not any safer utilizing that approach & I'm just not sure if I trust my self enough to maintain such good behavior for the duration of the year, lol.

I'll just have to stay strong! The remaining credit account that I am; however, still willing to use has a very good interest rate, but I'll need to refrain from using this account too until I pay-off more of the current balance - I don't like using more than half of any given credit limit & that's exactly what I'd be doing if I used it right now. 

So it looks like there won't be a lot of deficit spending for this guy here in the foreseeable future. If the money ain't in either my pocket or checking account, then I ain't spending it - I'm on a mission here. Along with improving my credit rating this year, I'd also like to save more & possibly invest a bit more of my income, whenever possible. 

But this part isn't so hard for me - it's fun actually, I just love to watch money grow! Whether I'm looking at a loose change jar on the tv stand, a brokerage account statement received in the mail, or at an online savings account balance, it pleases the king to see that there's more there today, than there was yesterday.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Putting It Into The Universe


A few days back I completed construction my vision board for 2014... don't think I've done 1 of these since high school, but I was moved to do so for some reason this year - who knows? Perhaps this means it'll be a big year for me. 

I've got this tagged as a reflection post, but I guess it's really more of a forecast, guess I'll have to update my post categories accordingly. 

I find that I've been experimenting with the power of positive thinking & putting things into the atmosphere more frequently as of late, perhaps that sort of explains the sudden desire to create a vision board.

Over the final 2 weeks of 2013, I took several moments to think of the kinds of things I wanted to include on my vision board - things like a new relationship, buying a new car, giving-back more to my alma mater, eliminating some credit debt, traveling abroad, being more productive at work & healthier eating/cooking are among some of the things I chose to highlight for completion this year.

I chose to place my vision board on the back-side of my bedroom door, that way it's out of common view, but still in an area that I can see easily during those private moments of thought. Here's to a new & productive year for me!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

404

I've been laying low & away from the social networking scene as of late. No particular reason, it's just my annual 'purge period.' So outside of this blog, my digital footprint has been relatively small over the past 2 months. No Facebook, Instagram or any similar websites for the time being. It's always nice to take a step back, even if it only happens once a year.

It kind of forces me to communicate with those close to me by using more traditional forms of communication (i.e. snail-mail, e-mail, actual telephone chats, yunno sh!t like that). I also like to use this time of year to audit my personal contact lists. Folk who I haven't been in contact with, in some form or another over the past year, frequently get the boot during this period.

Have I spoken with you recently? Lol, but seriously, it's not at all an anger inspired activity, I've just been doing it this way for years now. Its actually a great way to keep my current contact information organized & up to date. I really enjoy the opportunity to reboot at the end of each year, I guess it sort of helps keep things from going stale - any who... Happy New Year!