No Less Simple

I'm broke. Let's fix it.

2009-10-06T21:15:00.008-04:00

The last part of this year has been characterized by our being pretty much totally broke. Now, a disclaimer is in order---we went on an Alaskan cruise in August, which we paid for in cash. A lot of our brokeness can be attributed to throwing all our extra money at that. And, due to a slight dispute over the terms of our lease with the landlord of former residence, we paid two rents on the first of this month. So, I guess I'm saying we're broke as a direct results of our actions.

The knowledge of this reality---that we're temporarily broke because we went on an extravagant vacation and we paid two rents this month---has not in the least prevented me from being mopey all day today. Perhaps having to scrounge the dregs of our food envelope for enough money to buy cat food yesterday is what put me in a funk. Or maybe it was having not one, but two beer brewing catalogs in my apartment, and not a spare dollar to even order some bottle caps. *le sigh*

I let myself be mopey for a while, but I decided to snap out of it. Yes, I might not have any spare funds at the moment, but I never do---we use a zero-balance budget, so every dollar is accounted for anyway. No "spare" money, ever. Just so happens that there wasn't any fun money in this pay period. And we're in no danger of starving because two friends who moved away gave us all their food. And T-Bone is in no danger of starving either because really there was plenty left in the food envelope this pay period to get her a new bag of kibble (and even kitty litter. How fancy!). Besides, it was two rents and an Alaskan vacation that "caused" this. I really have nothing to be mopey about.

Part of the snapping-out-of-it process for me is to reaffirm the goals we've set for ourselves for our debt repayment and emergency fund savings. Here's our plan:

Out of debt: December 31, 2011 (Right after I turn 30)
Fully funded emergency fund: October 15, 2012 (Right before Luke turns 30)
Start funding retirement: November 1, 2012 (BOOSH!)

In the short term, at least for this pay period while there's no money, I plan on posting some things on Craigslist. Also, I'm mulling over the idea to start teaching some knitting classes to pull in some extra income. I would love to have our debt paid of even a month earlier than the projected date.

I also resolve not to go on any more extravagant vacations. Or pay two rents in the same month.

Shyoooooot---I Let Too Much Time Pass

2009-06-25T20:52:00.004-04:00

Hi blog. Wow, I've let an embarrassing amount of time pass. I don't really have an excuse, other than to say I have let life get in the way of my blogging endeavors. However, I have been hard at work continuing to simplify and organize.

My current goal is to get all of my papers in order, particularly the ones of the estate-planning variety. Not that we have any assets to speak of, but Luke's grandfather recently passed away, and that got us thinking about estates, wills, papers, etc. I hate to think that if something happened to one or the other of us, or both of us, how anyone would go about figuring out where our insurance papers are, or our wills for that matter. My weekend project is to set up a robust filing system and to compile our important information so that it can be found if anything were to happen.

The only problem is this: I have no idea how I should organize my paper. Right now, I have about 3 months worth of paper sitting on my desk. I've been all over the internetz trying get some ideas about how to set up our files so that a) both Luke and I can find stuff, b) nothing important gets lost or shuffled up with unimportant stuff, and c) they are self-purging. I've seen some filing systems on the web, but I'm not sure if they're worth the money. I'd like to set up something myself, but how should I go about it?

48 skeins of unused yarn - a cautionary tale

2009-03-09T21:54:00.004-04:00

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
- William Morris

During a Recession, it might seem counter-intuitive to get rid of Stuff. Stuff with a capital S. During Lent we've decided to limit what comes in and what stays in our house. One of the firsts posts I wrote was about declaring hobby bankruptcy. I finally, FINALLY followed through--I gave away almost all of my hobby supplies. I kept my knitting needles (I'm still knitting) and my sewing machine (I have one project to finish). Other than that, I filled up a stranger from Freecycle's Prius with unused (and, in some cases, unopened) craft supplies.

It was a little sad for me, but it was cathartic. It was cathartic to admit that I'll probably never crochet again, mostly because I hate doing it. And I'll never do calligraphy--not because I think it's boring, but because, if I'm ever in a position, I'd much rather pay someone to do a master job at it rather than try to do a half-assed job of it myself. I'm never going to bake polymer clay because I hate the way it smells. I'm never going to pursue drawing. And I'm never going to do anything with a pound of unfinished wool.

All of that might seem like a huge downer, but it's not. I decided that I love to knit. I've been knitting pretty much everyday for the last six weeks, and I'm not tired of it. I made not one, but TWO whole pairs of socks, and I'm working on my third. Getting rid of all that other Stuff means that I don't have to feel guilty for not using it. No more "unfinished" projects. Enough is enough.

Decluttering with intention has brought me a lot of clarity. I know what I like and what I don't. I know what I want my house to look like, and more importantly, what I want it to feel like. I want to be able to have guests over at any time without having to worry whether the house is clean enough for them. I want to know where the bills are so they will be paid on time. I want to know what's in the pantry so I can buy what I actually need from the grocery store and not inexplicably end up with 4 pounds of butter in my fridge. I'm getting there. It's slow-going, but it's happening.

I had a HUGE wake-up call earlier this week. My in-laws are having the inside of their house painted, and they called us over to move the furniture away from the walls. I knew they had a lot of stuff for just two people, but it's very apparent when you have to pick it up and heave it to the center of the room. Some of this stuff, I'm positive, hasn't even been touched in over a year. Why have that? I don't want my house to look that way. It's not like they're compulsive hoarders or anything--not in the least. But Stuff just accumulates. Someone gave it to you, so you have to keep it. Or you spend good money on it, dammit, so you have to keep it, even though you have no intention of using it. Or it's on the bookshelf, so you have to read it, even though you hate Victorian literature (ahem).

I'll have you know that I only kept 5 skeins of yarn.

Documentaries are more real than photo albums

2009-02-19T22:06:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about my mother, and my family in general for the past few days. I mean, I think about them all the time, but I've recently been having these dreams about my mom that seem so real that for about ten minutes after I wake up, I feel like it really happened. I haven't spoken to my mother in over three years...

On Sunday, I saw a documentary about Okinawa, where my mother is from. She's not sure when she was born, but she thinks it was 1940, so that would have made her about five years old when WWII tore Okinawa to bits. What's sad is despite the horrible things that happened there, I learned more about my mother watching 20 minutes of a documentary on the History Channel than I have in 27 years of my own existence.

Previously on Lost: Everyone's Just as Confused as They Were Last Time They Watched Lost...

2009-02-04T22:14:00.003-05:00

Let me be honest with you--when I started this blog, the aim was to blog about "professional" topics 50% of the time. By "professional" I really mean topics that are "serious" and "worthy of one's attention." Maybe even topics that "change the way you think about things." In fact, I had a serious blog post planned for tonight about personal finance and budgeting.

Whatever.

Tonight, I'm going to talk a little bit about ABC's hit television show Lost.

Lost is the only show I watch regularly. I may watch Paula Deen every now and then, but Lost is the only show where, if I were to miss it, I'd seriously consider calling in sick to work for the morning to watch it online.

I don't know who all out there who reads my blog also watches Lost---for safety's sake I'm going to avoid spoilers. I will say this, however--I completely agree with this old post from Jezebel about how Lost is like a bad boyfriend. Maybe I read all the interviews with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof wrong, but I really, really wasn't expecting that at the end (spoiler alert--Wikipedia articles about Lost are edited super fast)....

Learn to Make Lemonade

2009-01-26T21:16:00.006-05:00

A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.
- Oscar Wilde

For any who knows me personally, saying that I'm a bit of a pessimist is an understatement. Over the past year couple of years, I've learned more about myself, and I can now qualify the term "pessimist" with a bit more detail. I don't think I'm a pessimist at all, but rather a worrier. Maybe that amounts to the same thing, but I have learned this:

1. I'm extremely risk-adverse
2. I tend to think of the cons before I think of the pros (but I do think of the pros)
3. I tend to err on the side of caution to a fault

Those three qualities might explain why I became so strangely excited by a post today at The Simple Dollar about the potential collapse of Iceland's government. Trent does a much better job of explaining the situation in Iceland than I do, but suffice it to say that, from October 2008 to today, Iceland when from being the sixth wealthiest nation in the world to verging on economic and government collapse.

Trent takes it step further and talks about what you can do to be prepared in such an event. This totally appeals to my sense of...well, whatever you want to call it. Because I'm of the belief that life will throw you lemons--so you better learn to make some supergood lemonade.

I don't think our government or our financial systems are in as much trouble as Iceland's, but The Simple Dollar certainly made me think about our financial plan for the coming months. Luke and I are realizing that we're spreading our focus out a little too much. We have three main goals:

1. Get out of debt
2. Pay cash for a cruise in August (more on that later--it's a family cruise and it can't be postponed before we meet our other goals)
3. Save

Right now, the cruise is taking up most of our focus, simply because it has to be paid for by the end of May. I'll get into the particulars about why the cruise has to happen this year, but for now, our major priority is to pay for the whole thing in cash. We're whittling down our debt load, which is a little over $30K.

In an ideal world, we'd be paying down our debt, then paying for the cruise--obviously, this minimizes risk. And I'm not going to lie--it goes against all of my instincts to pay for the cruise now. The high-interest debt we carry is worrying me, especially during a time when credit card companies seem to be doing whatever the heck they want. Nevertheless, planning for the cruise and for our debt snowball has forced us to think much more long-term. In fact, tonight, I just finished our preliminary budget for June 2009.

No matter what your circumstances, I'm learning that planning is the key to financial success, no matter what the economic climate. And that's really the theme of the Iceland post at The Simple Dollar as well. It's not a matter of if life throws lemons, because it will. But you know the rest of the saying.

Budgeting for Groceries--How Much is Too Much?

2009-01-21T23:07:00.000-05:00

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.
- Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food

Luke and I did our budgets (or spending plans, if you like that better) for the first quarter of 2009. We don't do a full, detailed budget for the quarter--we're usually about a month ahead on the detailed budget. However, we're finding that we're really cutting it very close every pay period on food, especially in the last few months. I know that food prices are going up, but I'm not sure that accounts for everything...

We use the envelope system. That means when the envelope is empty, it's empty. We have to wait till next pay period to buy more food. I don't mind this if there's only a day before payday (there's always enough between the freezer and the pantry to get by). But in the first 15-day pay period of January, we blew our grocery money in the first week.

What's changed for us is that we read In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. And the fact is, real food is expensive. I could do like I did in college and eat Ramen noodles every day and catch scurvy (I didn't really). Joking aside, though--cheaper processed food for the savings now, or higher medical bills and insurance premiums later?

The last six months of 2008, we budgeted $500 for food per month. This did not account for eating out (separate envelope, with much less money in it). We eat most breakfasts and dinners at home and take our lunches to work. Is this too much?

According to the USDA's food plans for 2008, $500 consistently fell between the low-cost plan and the moderate-cost plan for food for each month of the year (December's figures are not available yet) for a family of two. $600, which is what we're considering bumping our food budget up to, is between the moderate-cost and the liberal plan.

We're concentrating on eating less meat, more vegetables and fruits, and spices. We're not really buying anything processed, with the exception of flour to make our own bread. Keeping Michael Pollan's Real Food tenants in mind, can this be done for $600 a month? How much do you think is appropriate for a family of two?

I Gotta Show the American People I'm a Strong Dude!

2009-01-20T20:25:00.010-05:00

I wish I had something more intelligent to post about the inauguration, but it's not my aim to turn this into a political blog. I will say this, though--it looked crazy-go-nuts cold in DC today. Which reminds of another president of ours whom I'm sure you all remember--William Henry Harrison.

You see, William Henry Harrison, our nation's 9th president, only held office for 31 days. The story goes like this: William Henry Harrison was inaugurated on March 4, 1841, which was an extremely cold and wet day. No one knows why, but he decided to deliver his 2-hour long inaugural speech without wearing a hat or an overcoat. And you know what that means in 1841--he caught a cold, which eventually turned to pneumonia, which kicked off pleurisy, septicemia, and ultimately death.

Thank goodness we have antibiotics and the like--I certainly hope that the Obamas and Bidens and the million other people in DC today don't catch colds or pleurisy from standing out in the frigid weather all day. For those presidents of days past, here's a tribute. Rest in peace, William Henry Harrison.

Making Up for Eating More Cheese than Should Be Allowed: Fitness Update, January 2009

2009-01-19T20:24:00.008-05:00

Tonight I went to my third BodyPump class. I've been going once a week since January 6. Establishing a fitness routine is one of my goals for 2009, and I've already revamped the goal since writing my introduction post. The reason why I've revamped it because I was so sore from my first Body Pump class that I had to walk down the stairs backwards for four days. Obviously, there was no way I could go to the class three times in one week. I decided to go once a week for the month of January.

The class the following week was considerably better (I was even able to play a few songs on Dance Dance Revolution when I got home). And tonight I'm thinking that I won't be sore at all tomorrow. Well, maybe my arms, but definitely no walking down the stairs backwards.

I'm proud of myself for making it to the three week mark. But I'm a little worried about why I'm proud--I'm not proud because I can make it through the class and not have to walk down the stairs backwards, but I'm proud because I didn't let the skinny girls scare me away.

You see, I'm a little overweight. I say a little overweight--technically I'm obese. My "ideal" weight is actually 100 pounds less than what I weigh now. And I'm not talking the super-skinny height-weight ratio chart--100 pounds lighter is really where I should be if I don't want to get my knees replaced when I'm 45.

Getting in shape and losing weight have been my among my New Year's resolutions since I was a teenager. I never can stick to it past the second week of January, and it's because I let the skinny girls scare me away. I'm definitely one of those that thought I needed to lose weight before I even set foot in a gym.

What's (so far) made this year different are:

I decided that I have as much right to be at the gym as anyone else, skinny girls included. In fact, I definitely need it more than some.
I revamped my fitness goals instead of giving up entirely. When one BodyPump class was all I could handle, I stuck with that.
I'm not really worrying about the diet side of things. I'll get to that, but one step at at time.

I think what's really setting this year apart is that, for once, I feel at home at the gym. And it's not that the gym has done anything different, but rather that I've made the decision to feel at home.

Facebook -- How Jennifer Deman is Five Years Behind the Curve

2009-01-10T23:27:00.000-05:00

Facebook is about to celebrate its five-year anniversary. Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Facebook officially has 150 million users. Yet, here I am celebrating my one week anniversary of officially having a Facebook account (maybe the 150,000,0001st?). Right now, I only have a handful of friends, and I'm terribly afraid of opening up my network to anyone. I haven't joined my alma mater's network. And I really haven't posted any pictures.

Why so Facebook-phobic, and why did I finally take the plunge and join 150 million other users world-wide? Well, for starters, this post on one of my favorite blogs, Get Rich Slowly, got me thinking about my online presence and where I really want to go with my vocation. I went to school to write, so why no write? And who says writing and other career pursuits (like my current job, which I love) are mutually exclusive?

The other driving force is networking. This is not something I'm naturally good at. I suppose I'm a loner, and I do drop the ball on keeping in touch with my friends. As much of a cop-out as it may seem, Facebook really is a good way to network personally. And maybe even professionally, too.

But there was a time not to long ago where I subscribed to the notion that Facebook was really, nothing more than a place for exhibitionists to to one-up each other in front of old high school nemeses. In fact, I fully subscribed to this Chicago Tribune writer's opinions on social networking in general.

"Sites like Facebook and MySpace are modular homes for the personality, identical rooms decorated with inane quotes, sexy pictures and clever updates....The comments and exchanges share the same superficial qualities, all penned with the expectation that hundreds of eyes will see them, like the perfectly manicured—and bland—lawns in a neighborhood run by a draconian homeowners association."

Very well said, but is that all there is to it? For all of the posturing and showing off on Facebook, I've seriously reconnected with some folks that I completely lost touch with (and who I was glad to find again). And I've recently run across several places (articles, blog posts) were recruiters, executives, etc., are urging people to get connected. In fact, the very same Chigaco Tribune also published an article almost a week ago about the increasing prominence of social networking as a viable professional network-building tool.

So maybe I sold out a little, but I'm convinced that online social networking is a very important tool in the arsenal of personal and professional network-building. I don't think it will ever take the place of good ol' fashioned face-to-face networking, but it might make finding people to meet with face-to-face a lot easier.

I guess the next question is: How to suss out the online networking culture at your workplace (or, should I friend my boss?).

Hooray, Beer-Brewing!

2009-01-06T21:46:00.000-05:00

I drink with impunity...or anyone else who invites me.
- W.C. Fields

On Sunday, my dear friends Aaron and Shawnda invited my husband Luke and me over to start some beer-brewing. Aaron has been brewing beer for quite some time, but I'm just getting started. For my birthday, Luke got me an equipment kit from Coast Brewing's homebrew shop, and before I dove in headfirst, I wanted to see how a pro like Aaron did it first.

The first step is to pour yourself some beer and drink it. Aaron and I decided to it would be best to drink homebrew while homebrewing. This actually didn't happen first. We decided to be responsible homebrewers and begin the process before we began drinking. The recipe we made was a Belgian Wit beer (wheat beer).

I have to admit that while I did take notes, I didn't take the best notes. I wrote the ingredients down, and I think I remember the basic steps. I just didn't write them in the right order. I'm remembering now that there may have been coriander seeds and orange and lemon peels. Anyway, here's an exact transcript of what I wrote:

BEER MAKING 1/04/08
1/2 lb carapils (8 oz.)
Oats (makes up 5% of total grains) = .5

Steep in 1 gallon spring water & 2 gallons tap water
Steep for 30 mins no higher than 155 deg

Take off the heat, take grains out -- add malt extract

2 lbs light malt extract
3 lbs liquid malt extract (wheat)
Wait for boil
Hops 1 oz. Hallertau

I'm not really making heads or tails of these notes now. Luke did take pictures, which, luckily, are in chronological order. Allow me now to share them with you, my dear friends.

The elusive carapils. That's the husband modeling it.
A huge teabag full of grains. Mmmm, pre-beer.

Mmmmm, malt.
That green stuff is the hops.
Sniffing/cooling the brew down.
Chocolate raaaaiiinnn!
This is a picture of winners winning. Success!

Declaring Hobby Bankruptcy, or Let's Avoid Spending a Week's Salary on Yarn, Shall We?

2009-01-05T20:08:00.000-05:00

I mentioned day before yesterday that I declared hobby bankruptcy. I borrowed the phrase from a post on Unclutterer back in May that discussed the concept of declaring laundry bankruptcy. The basic idea is that you start fresh with a new method or routine One of the influences on my decision to declare hobby bankruptcy was yet another article on Unclutterer entitled "Saying Farewell to a Hobby," which forced me to think about whether I really was into any of my hobbies. Maybe I wasn't. Maybe I like watching tv better. Or is it that I really am into these hobbies, but just haven't given them the proper priority in my life?

Another influence on my decision was the vast amount of space storing hobby supplies takes up, particularly crafting hobbies like knitting. In my struggle to get our office/exercise room in order, I emptied out the closets and drawers into the middle of the room. I was astounded by the vast amount of just, well, crafting flotsam that had accumulated. Here's a small sample of what I found (and there's tons more):

I asked myself three questions about my hobbies: 1. How many hours per month do I spend on this craft? 2. When is the last time I finished a project? 3. Do I honestly enjoy doing this? The answer to these questions when it came to knitting were: >2, over a year ago, and no. I like the idea of knitting. A lot of very hip people knit. But the fact is that the only way I can bring myself to knit is to commit myself to an expensive project that, ostensibly, is a gift for another person. For instance, this Christmas I was supposed to knit my sister-in-law a pair of socks. We ended up purchasing a bunch of Charleston-themed gifts for her instead. I listed all my crafting hobbies and decided that, while the idea of being a Renaissance woman certainly appealed to me, maybe I'm just not suited for it. Here's a partial list of crafts I've "taken up":

Knitting
Crocheting
Watercolor painting
Painting generally speaking (whatever that means)
Calligraphy
Sewing
Latch hook rug making
Making felt from scratch (don't even ask)
Fabric dyeing
I could go on....

When it comes to crafting of any kind, it's easy to succumb to the sunk cost fallacy. Just because I've spent probably the equivalent of two weeks' salary on yarn should not influence my decision about whether I should continue knitting and crocheting. The money's already spent--damage done. And it's taking away from the things I really like doing, like writing and playing music, and, well, playing Halo. The last one's not that productive, sure, but is knitting half a sock any more productive?

I've decided to donate the usable supplies to a local nursing home. I'm keeping the knitting needles for now, because they don't take up that much space and maybe one day I'll decide that I'll like knitting just as much as I like the idea of knitting.

Blog Introductions, 2009 Goals, etc.

2009-01-03T22:54:00.000-05:00

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
- Albert Einstein

Hello everyone! I'm about a six years late on the blogging trend, but here I am nonetheless. My name is Jennifer Deman, and I'm a Quality Assurance Analyst for a software company. The aim of this blog is to explore my interests, both personally and professionally. Some of the topics you'll see in the future will include personal finance, organization, computers, business, management, and beer-brewing, and not necessarily in that order.

This year, I'm taking a cue from J.D. at Get Rich Slowly and setting goals rather than resolutions. I have a poor track record when it comes to resolution-setting. I can't think of single year that I actually followed my resolutions past February. This year, I'm setting goals that can be tangibly defined and measured.

My Goals for 2009

I've decided to focus on five areas of my life this year: Marriage, Vocation, Health, Creativity, Organization.

For each of these areas, I've defined several primary and secondary goals.

Marriage

Go on a Weekend to Remember
Start saving up for a short vacation for in Q2
Start saving for a bigger vacation for 2010

Vocation

Start a blog that contains 50% professional material

Write an article a day

Health

Take a group weight-lifting class three times a week for from January 8 till April 2. Take a week off. Resume Q2. Rinse and repeat
Do aerobic exercise three days a week
Eat real food
Plan meals weekly and shop accordingly
Stop smoking
Lose 52 pounds this year (a pound a week)
Get a physical

Creativity

Play guitar at least 15 minutes a day
Work in fiction writing for at least 30 minutes a day

Organization

Get estate papers in order

Get fireproof box for office
Make copies of all important papers to store in file cabinet
Make living wills/wills

Make and stick to a daily/weekly chore schedule
De-clutter 15 minutes a day

Granted, I may not achieve all of these goals, but I've decided that I should think big--even if I only achieve a few of these goals, I'll be making progress. Look for a post at the end of March about how I'm doing so far.

My goals for this year have forced me to really think about how I spend my time. I've come to realize that I, honest-to-God, don't have all the time in the world. That might seem like a no-brainer to most sane folk, but I come from a long line of workaholics and overachievers. In my family, spinning your wheels and being very busy was a good analog for actual accomplishment. I'm definitely the queen of being overly busy. And not just busy, but miserable-busy. Busy mostly due to situations I've created for myself.

For instance, I fancy myself a crafter. In the past couple of years, I've taken up knitting, crocheting, watercolor (didn't get far with that), sewing, latch-hook rug making, fabric dyeing, etc., etc. I'm not completely sure why I picked up all these hobbies. Part of it may have been that I worked in a fabric store for a year, but I think it all stems from a void I was trying to fill when I gave up on music and writing. Crafting occupied the same space in my creativity that emotional eating occupies in my diet. Anyway, I've declared hobby bankruptcy. More on that tomorrow.