Hello!

A History

Many years ago, in another lifetime, I had a blog that was part of a site that I had created for my business.  This was a very long time before any of the major blogging platforms that exist today, and in fact, before there really were anything like blogs.  I liked having a place to collect my thoughts about things that were happening in my life and I liked to interact with (most) of the people that followed my page.

So here I am again, starting a blog in 2020 on a platform that is dated by anyone's standards.  I have gone back and forth about getting a proper website with an interesting blog template, but that sent me down a rabbit hole of finding the best price, with the best features, envisioning this magical blogging platform that looks fresh and interesting that will help grow an audience.

It didn't make sense.

I am not looking for an audience, though if I didn't want anyone to ever see this, I would leave it on a Word document on my computer. The time I invest in searching for the best, cheapest, newest, most flashy, amazing thing to buy is part of the reason that I am starting this blog.

Blogger works just fine. It allows me to write some things, hit a publish button, add some pictures. It is fine. It is free. I don't need to start yet another subscription to yet another service to have additional tools at this time.  Can that change later down the road? Of course!  Free is fine. It works. The End.

The Purpose

The primary purpose of this blog is accountability.  I am going into 2020 with several specific plans that I want to write about somewhere. I expect 2020 to be an exciting year! I have at least 2 trips planned. It is my last semester before I get my undergraduate degree. I may be starting my Masters this year.

The Plans:

1. Money and Budgeting
January is going to be a no-buy month for me in regards to makeup, clothing, personal care items, pens, and games.  I have enough of everything to last for one month without having to get more. Starting February 1st, I will move to a replacement only no buy for all makeup and stationary items and a budget of $100.00 a month for any clothing, replacement makeup items, stationery, and other personal care items. 

Rules that apply all year (and relate to my most problematic areas):
- No new lip products - I have too many as it is
- No new perfumes.  The only exception is replacing my Blood and Honey perfume if I am 100% out and have the budget to do so.
- No untested foundations. Even if I run out of foundation, I am not allowed to buy a foundation that is new to me.  I have a horrible habit of watching Youtube videos and then purchasing whichever item is recommended only to realize that I don't like it at all.

Anything that I buy will be tracked here with the following information:
Item
Price
Date
Honest Reason for Purchase
Relation to Rules Above

For instance, I recently bought a new jumper from Universal Standard.  They had sent me a $25.00 coupon that I wanted to use because they are my favorite clothing store, hands down, and they rarely have sales.

This is how this purchase would look:
Universal Standard Jackson Sleeveless Jumpsuit - Black
12/28
$40.00
Why: This was an impulse purchase. I had no need for this item at all.  If I were actually doing my no buy right now, this would be a bad situation for me.  If I were in the middle of using a budget, I would have $60.00 left over. That being said, this was a beautiful item that really makes me happy. It is one of the most comfortable things to sleep in at a time where I am flipping between hot and cold all night long.

2. Health
I want to lose 50 pounds by the end of next year. This is a reasonable goal of just over 4 pounds a month, or one pound a week. I hope to lose more than that, but I am also trying to really change the way that I look at food in general.  My plan for this is Calories In/Calories out mixed with Intermittent fasting where my eating window is between 12:00 pm and 8:00 pm.  I recently got a new fitness tracker and I want to start moving more, but that won't be the focus for the next few months.  I plan to have one specific goal and habit that I will work on per month. For January, it is going to be weighing every day (which works best for me) and logging everything I eat, even the "mistakes".

3. School
I will be finishing my undergraduate degree this year, and I want my last semester to go smoothly without leaving everything until the last minute. I just had an additional class added to my degree, but it is a matter of two three-credit classes instead of one six credit class, so that shouldn't make things any more difficult.  School is going to have to be a priority for the first half of the year

4. Personal Relationships
I have a hard time being social. I don't get out of the house much and I don't like going to social events.  I want to make an effort to get out more and reconnect with people that I haven't talked to in a while.  I also want to increase intimacy with my husband and prioritize the time that we spend together. I do not have any specific benchmarks for this yet, but I will work on them.

5. Work
I have made a lot of progress at work the last year. I got the company to move towards a centralized ticket and time tracking system, as well as a better documentation management system.  This year I want to get the billing and accounting figured out. Billing in general has too many manual moving parts that would be really hard to train someone else on.

That is about it for now. I will report back with an exact list of my budgeting rules and any more specifics about my goals shortly.