- RT @ramseyshow: RT @E_C_S_T_E_R_I_: "Stupid has a gravitational pull." -D Ramsey as heard n NPR. I know many who have not escaped its orbit. #
- @BudgetsAreSexy KISS is playing the MINUTE state fair in August. in reply to BudgetsAreSexy #
- 3 year old is "reading" to her sister: Goldilocks, complete with the voices I use. #
- RT @marcandangel: 40 Useful Sites To Learn New Skills http://bit.ly/b1tseW #
- Babies bounce! https://liverealnow.net/hKmc #
- While trying to pay for dinner recently, I was asked if other businesses accepted my $2 bills. #
- Lol RT @zappos: Art. on front page of USA Today is titled "Twitter Power". I diligently read the first 140 characters. http://bit.ly/9csCIG #
- Sweet! I am the number 1 hit on Ask.com for "I hate birthday parties" #
- RT @FinEngr: Money Hackers Carnival #117 Wedding & Marriage Edition http://bit.ly/cTO4FU #
- Nobody, but nobody walks sexy wearing flipflops. #
- @MonroeOnABudget Sandals are ok. Flipflops ruin a good sway. 🙂 in reply to MonroeOnABudget #
- RT @untemplater: RT @zappos: "Do one thing every day that scares you." -Eleanor Roosevelt #
Over-scheduled
- Image via Wikipedia
Wow. I’m having a hard time believing it’s August already. Every year seems to slip by a little faster, but this summer has truly flown by, somehow without anything to show for it. I haven’t gotten any of the yard work or household projects finished. I’ve taken on so much that I can’t do anything but the side hustles.
This summer, I’ve been busy. I teach classes one Saturday each month, I’ve picked up a couple of web design jobs, I’m the webmaster for a nonprofit, and I’ve taken on an affiliate marketing project. Oh, and I can’t forget my 50-hour-per-week day job or the ebook I’ve promised to help prep and launch. With all of these projects, my cash flow situation is better than its been in a while, but my time is seriously crunched.
That’s not even counting the family activities. We’ve had swimming lessons, birthday parties and family reunions…all in the last month.
Our family is seriously over-scheduled. It seems like there is no downtime, which is a situation I’ve always tried to avoid in the past. Somehow, I’ve lost the ability to say “no”. Because of that, I’m now left with the impossible task of trying to scale back. While I can’t abandon my commitments, I need to work towards resolving them all and not taking on more.
[ad name=”inlineleft”]It’s time to scale back through attrition. In a month or two, I should be down to a sane schedule again, and able to tackle the things I really want to do that have been indefinitely delayed.
Everybody takes on too much at times. How do you avoid over-committing?
- Learn to say no. It is okay to refuse to take on more projects. You probably aren’t the first person to turn down the project and you probably won’t be the last. Don’t assume its your responsibility. It is fine to leave it for someone else.
- Prioritize. Don’t prioritize your projects, prioritize yourself. Know what you need to accomplish. Know what you want to accomplish. Deny the things that other people want you to accomplish if the new tasks don’t fall into the first two categories. You need to feed your family. You need to pay your bills. You don’t need to take on the soccer team’s newsletter or volunteer to make 1000 cupcakes for some fundraiser.
- Know your commitments. Most people overestimate how much available time they have while underestimating how long a new project will take. This leaves them double-booked. Take a realistic look at what you are currently doing, even if it means keeping a log of your day for a few weeks. You’ll probably be surprised by what you are already doing.
- Stay organized. If you aren’t keeping track of what you need to do, you’ll end up running around crazy trying to get it all done. Keep a calendar and leave yourself notes. I get daily reminders of what is on my Google calendar each morning.
- Know your limitations. If you aren’t technical, don’t volunteer to build a website. Do your strengths, let someone else deal with the things that are your weaknesses.
It’s entirely too easy to do too much. When every moment of your day has two of more things that need to be done, you’ll do them all poorly. How do you avoid taking on too much?
Saturday Roundup
- Image via Wikipedia
Last weekend, we had 2 birthday parties. In two weeks we are having our biggest party of the year. I’m going to try to get our yard done this weekend, while my wife and a couple of her friends decorate inside the house. October is still nuts at Casa del Myhouse.
Today, I found out that I accidentally made a huge extra payment to my car. $650 too much. I thought I had deleted the auto-payment series from the bank’s site, but I only deleted September’s payment. Hopefully, I can find enough slack in the bills to make up the difference, instead of hitting the emergency fund.
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The best posts of the week:
J. Money’s doing a series on side hustles. The latest one is about chicken farming. If I lived in a more reasonable city, I’d have some chickens of my own.
Self-improvement is always good for you, kind of by definition. Here are a few ways to pick up some interesting certifications.
Lifehacker posted on Squaretrade. I can tell you that, without a doubt, I’ll never again get an extended warranty in-store.
Saturday Roundup – Holiday Edition
Merry Christmas.
Or, Happy Saturday, as the case may be.
T0day, we are herding all of my nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters-in-law, and parents into my house for a second Christmas dinner and gift exchange. It’s the first holiday we’ve hosted. It should be interesting.
On a side note, we’ve gotten so much snow, I’ve almost lost my grill, sitting on my deck. Another 2-3 inches, and my patio table will be just a white mound of cold.
Best Posts
Here is a great story about waking up the Christmas spirit. That’s spirit, not spirits. We’re not discussing booze.
Think you can retire on a million bucks? Think you can get to a million bucks?
I’ve recently realized that I’ve spent more time on the hiring side of the interview table than the out-of-work side. I’m nowhere close to 500 hires, though.
Oooh! Shopping for money! That’s something I’m going to look into. Nothing like turning habits into cash.
This is some serious travel hacking. 15 flight, 16 cities, 9 countries, 35000 miles for $400.
LRN Timewarp
This is where I review the posts I wrote one year ago.
The secret to fearless change? Just get started. Everything else will follow.
I also wrote a post about one of my core values. Without integrity, what can you really have?
Finally, a post on how distractions will kill your productivity.
Carnivals I’ve Rocked
How Much Should You Tip? was an Editor’s Pick in the Festival of Frugality. Thanks!
Shaving for Real was included in the Carnival of Money Stories.
Anchor Price Your Salary was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.
Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.
Get More Out of Live Real, Now
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That’s all for today. Have a great weekend!
Resisting Temptation
This guest post was written as a guest post (by me!) in 2010.
There I was, minding my own business, when suddenly, Sumdood came out came out of nowhere and forced me to buy a new flat-panel TV, a time share in St. Thomas, and join one of those overpriced underwear-of-the-month clubs. Talk about a bad day, rivaled only by the day the odd, lacy package gets delivered on the first of the month.
No, really, as I go about my business each day, the temptation to spend my money can be almost irresistible. Yet somehow, I manage. Is it because I have superhuman willpower? I don’t. Is it because I’m chased by a leather-clad, sjambok-wielding pixie who chastises me for every unbudgeted purchase? That’s not it either, but it makes for a fun picture.
What’s my secret?
I follow a principle I like to call “Don’t buy that!” Don’t buy that! is a simple plan that is surprisingly hard to implement, mostly because following the plan means delaying gratification for a while. Delayed gratification is never as much fun as instantly indulging every whim.
I can hear your shouts of protest. If it’s so hard, how can I expect you to do it? Easy. Just follow the rules. There are a few things you can do to make Don’t buy that! a realistic plan of action for you.
1. Find a slap-me-upside-the-head buddy. I use my wife. It works for me and she tends to enjoy it. If I’m in a store and I get tempted to buy something awesome, I call her for a reality check. Sometimes, it’s as straight-forward as my calling her and saying “Honey, tell me ‘no’.” Other times, she actually has to talk me down using–horror of horrors–logic and reasoning. Usually, she just invokes rule #2.
2. If you have to check if you can afford it, you can’t. If I’m not immediately sure that we have the money to buy something, it is far too big of a purchase to buy on an impulse. Big purchases need to be planned. “Honey, I found this great TV on sale!” “Can we afford it?” “I don’t know, let me che…crap. Nevermind.”
3. You can have anything you want, but you can’t have everything. We could afford a fancy vacation in Paris every year, but not if we also pay for extended super-cable, Netflix, dinner out every night, and a new car every three years. Expenses need to be prioritized.
4. The little things can ruin you. There’s a story about a nail missing from a horse’s shoe, which lamed the horse, which made the knight miss a battle, which was lost, which led to the loss of the war, which led to the loss of the kingdom. For want of a single nail, a nation fell. If I buy a new book or movie every week, will I end up short on my mortgage payment? It’s far easier to pick up some of the little things after the necessities are met than it is to try to pay the mortgage after squandering your paycheck on lottery tickets and Mad Dog. Handle your needs before you worry about your wants. Sometimes, that means putting off the things you want, but having the things you need makes it worthwhile.
5. Remember the past. When I bought a bunch of movies a few months ago, I was happy. New movies go great the the movie screen and projector in my living room. Want to take a guess at how many of those movies I’ve taken the time to watch? I certainly enjoyed the act of buying the movies and the anticipation of watching them far more than I’ve enjoyed seeing them site on the shelf, unopened. What a waste. It happens regularly. Often, we get far more enjoyment out of the idea of doing something that the actual doing. If I can remember that the anticipation is better than the act, before I buy whatever is tempting me, I can usually avoid buying it.
These 5 rules have helped me to follow my master plan of Don’t buy that! That plan is the single most useful thing I have ever used to save money.
What’s your best tip to save money?
Getting Back on Track
Have you ever set a goal…and failed?
At some point, it happens to all of us. After all, our reach should exceed our grasp, right? That doesn’t make it easy to admit failure, or to correct it. Did you let a New Year’s resolution lapse, or slip off of a diet? Have you started shopping indiscriminately again, or stopped going to the gym?
It’s okay if you did, but it’s time to fix it.
How can you get back on track after failing a goal?
1. Pick a day to start over.
Just like when you first started towards your goal, you have to decide when you’re going to get back on board. If you can’t decide, just pick the beginning of the next month. A new beginning is a great time to tackle your new beginning.
2. Recommit.
You failed once. Accept it and move on. Past behaviors don’t have to be an indicator of future performance. Just do better this time.
3. Announce it.
Somebody has noticed that you aren’t on the wagon. Your coworkers are seeing you eating candy, or your spouse has noticed you buying things you don’t need. Talk to these people. Tell them you’re going to redo the things you’ve undone. You’ll change the world, but you have to start with yourself.
4. Don’t be ashamed of your lapse.
Unless I have seriously misjudged my audience, you are human. Humans sometimes make poor decisions. Being ashamed won’t help you, but take the opportunity to learn from the past. Do you know what caused you to fail? Are there triggers to your behavior that you can avoid this time around? When I quit smoking, I tried to avoid rush hour, because I smoked heavily while I drove and I wanted to avoid being in car for as long as possible, minimizing one of my triggers. What cause your lapse, and can you avoid it?
5. Don’t do it again.
This one should be the most obvious, but the fact that it’s a problem means it’s not. Do whatever it takes to not make the same mistakes and uphold your goals. Don’t smoke. Don’t eat garbage. Exercise more. Whatever you’ve decided to do or not do, do it….or not.
Have you missed a goal? How have you picked it back up?
