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the spreadsheet
So keeping in line with the changes theme, there’s another small one I’ve taken under my wing. It’s a common and simple practice that everyone can do. In the past I just worked with ballpark averages in my head, estimating what was and was not there, and just guessed really, really well.
What can I say? I’m good with numbers and Asian as a by product.
In any case, as the title mentions, we’re starting to keep monthly spreadsheets of what’s coming in and going out. It’s a really simple and basic sheet collecting the bare minimum. If I were nerdy and more inclined, I would make a jazzy spreadsheet much like the ones I invest in at work.
But for my needs right now, this works. I wanted to get a clear idea of where every penny was going, just in case the straits got a little tighter.
My spreadsheet is collecting just some basic data:
- A generic category (Bill/Food/Mortgage/Gas/Home/Deposit)
- Sub category (you don’t really need this, I just got anal during one of my filter sessions and added it after the fact)
- Date
- Description (I usually just collect where I spent the money)
- Amount Spent
- Amount Deposited
That’s it. Simple and easy. I text or email myself the details if I don’t have access to my spreadsheet. Just keeping this running tally has opened my eyes to where my money is really going. April was a bit of an off month since we had taxes and insurance due (oh so fun!) so I’m hoping that in May it stabilizes itself a bit more, but we’ll see.
It’s a great exercise to do even if it’s just for 1 month. The spreadsheet will give you an idea of where all your money went so you’re not left wondering at the end of the month, “Where the hell did my money go?”
Now you’ll know.
Tagged: budgeting, money tuesday, spreadsheet
changes
So I feel a change is a coming. Or maybe that’s just gas from the new “health” conscious diet that I’ve started, doctor’s orders. Well, not so much diet as “health” conscious eating choices? That’s consideration for another day.
Either way, there’s a shift happening and I’m not quite sure if I’m comfortable with the new direction.
Actually, if I’m brutally honest with myself, I’ve become too complacent with my life, as funny as that sounds. But I need a challenge. I’m becoming quite bored with the new static and I need to become uncomfortable again.
Maybe not uncomfortable, but I guess I should start applying myself to life. For so long, being in ‘The Pit’ warped my sense of time and urgency. Work was always the focus, making the rest of it all a bit fuzzy and numb. Now that work has taken more of a passenger role in my life, having my own time and my own life leaves me feeling fuzzy.
It makes me sad to say that my life feels fuzzy. Especially knowing that my friends who are at ‘The Pit’ still live in this condition. But maybe not. I’m an admitted workaholic. So I worked and worked and then worked some more. Maybe because I couldn’t focus and see the forest beyond the trees anymore, I focused blindly on work. Working that much at ‘The Pit’ gave me the singular focus of working and justified all my laziness.
Whatever works.
Pop psychology at it’s best here.
But I’m more than ready to move on.
the next chapter
So life after Damnation feels okay. It’s been about 2 months now and I’m slowly emerging from ‘The Pit,’ brushing away the cobwebs that settled over the rest of my life.
I won’t say that I’m glad to be gone because that is not the entire truth. I still think of my past co-workers often and miss the office of ‘The Pit’ much more than I thought I would. I want to know how everyone is getting along and wish only the best for those I’ve left behind. Because that behind is going to be a mess in a couple of months. A colossal train-wreck just waiting for an oil tanker to ram right through and ignite a fireball of insanity.
You may think I exaggerate, but I kid you not.
In any case, moving on. The 3+ years I spent there will be referred to as Damnation and the physical location as ‘The Pit.’ I think these are fitting references for that work environment. Which doesn’t say much since these monikers feel mild and I still loved my time there. It was just the insanity, drama and games that forced me to leave.
The new yonder will hopefully bring a return to work/life balance. Obviously, I’m a workaholic so I will always push. But maybe the man will push back and let me breathe a bit more here. Which gives me more time for you dear readers who I’ve ignored for so long. Which is probably all of one of you, my dear husband.
Off we go into the sunset.
happy 2011
Happy New Year!
2011, here’s to something great this year.
Hope you and yours enjoy the ride.
Tagged: 2011, happy new year
the April 2010 event
April showers bring May flowers. But the DC Cherry Blossom Festival this year completely negated that saying, at least from what my little eyes could see. Pink and white blossoms everywhere. The Hubby and I walked for miles and miles around the Basin and through the National Mall. It was a gorgeous day just to be a tourist.
But crowded beyond belief. So much so that traffic was at a standstill around the Mall because they couldn’t move around the hoards of us pedestrians.
The Hubby, armed with his shiny new camera took a ton of pictures that I am just too lazy to transfer and upload. That best of a camera is just too much for me to bother with. Call me lazy, but I just don’t want to deal with the head. I’m fine with my little point and shoot, thank you very much. But one day I’ll rise from the lazy haze and upload the pictures. Some of them are breathtaking… the Hubby does have a fine piece of equipment.
Well several fine pieces, but that’s chatter for a completely different type of post.
Ahem. Moving on.
We travelled down for 2 days, 1 night, making a weekend trip down to D.C. Staying at the Westin, great accommodations for the price, but I think next time we may want to be a smidgin closer to the Mall just so we could take some scenic strolls at night. Always an activity that makes it on the ‘To Do’ but never quite gets done. Maybe next time. It’s only a couple hours drive from Philadelphia. If I were twenty, I would just drive down Friday night to take the strolls and make my way back home Saturday afternoon.
But I need what little sleep I can manage these days.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen at thirty.
But I never traveled this much without paying a cent when I was twenty. So age has it’s benefits. I hope I can manage more free travel in 2011, but I have a sneaking suspicion that 2010 was just a fluke.
But one can dream. More 2010 travels events to come. Hopefully, before the new year starts.
Tagged: 2010 event, cherry blossom, festival
empty house
When you leave things alone for an undisclosed amount of time, things tend to run wild. Rampant. The comments alone that I’m filtering through on a post about bread pudding are astounding. Seriously? I mean, I know my way with words just make you swoon, sweep you off your feet… but bread pudding? The most interesting thing you’ve read in a while? So thoughtful and crafted that it made you rethink you position on life?
Seriously.
You need a new life, methinks.
In other news, we still have a house, despite everything. But a house with no furniture. Well, let me amend that. Very little furniture. Our television sits on the floor as well as our mattress and most of our clothes. And if one more person tells me that it will get better soon in response to my dead pan empty house remark, I will punch them. Flat out, broken nose, blood spattered across state lines.
So sorry, but it couldn’t be helped.
A stupid response justifies such a reaction. At least in the world of Asterisk.
another return
How many returns can one claim? I ponder this question as I slowly bring myself back into civilization. I quite literally feel as if I’ve been living in some sort of dark cave, slowly peeking out in the brightly lit world wondering what the hell all of this stuff is about?
Packing and moving makes one re-evaluate and take stock of what’s truly important and what we can lay to the wayside. Not that it’s been all that easy to let go. Tons of boxes filled with crap have still managed to follow me through to our final destination and I sit here with boxes and boxes of crap without much else. The Hubby and I must build it all again as most of our ‘big ticket items’, as one of the voices put it, were tossed at the end of 2009 to make us as compact as possible for a trip cross the pond . Of course that never materialized and so we’re left picking up the pieces and wondering why furniture is so difficult to find and so damn expensive.
I’m rambling. Rusty in focusing my thoughts. I wonder if I’ll ever have, make, find or stumble across the time I need to get everything right. As it stands, my life feels like one hastily put together affair with duct tape spilling at the seams.
Pardon my appearance while I try to work it all out.
Tagged: rambling
what am I doing…
When it rains, it pours my friends. When two world collide, they will spectacularly implode and will somehow resemble my September. Downtime? Me-time? Pshaw. Sleep? Only for the weak. Who needs sanity?
Cherry Springs. Barcelona. Oh wait, let’s close on a house. My house. Then fly to San Francisco the very same night.
Seriously?
I must be clinical. Insane. Who let me out to play?
Tagged: insane
the March 2010 event
It being July, I thought it would be a great time to bring back the oh so frigid month of March to cool us down a bit. I’m quite behind on these monthly excursion reviews but out they’ll come. Eventually.
But back to those cold, dark and hectic days of March. With us sorting ‘The Basement’ phase of our lives and prepping to travel to Mumbai for a week, it did not leave us much time to plan, produce or execute anything extravagant. March was a mellow depressive month here, especially when The Hubby and I went round-robin a couple of times with a nasty cold.
Even through all the Debbie-downer mood swings, we kicked ourselves in the arse and did what any depressive personalities would do… we turned to food. Yes, yummy delicious comfort food was our theme for the March 2010 event. A bit of a cheat, yes I know good readers. But good food and great friends are sometimes the best stationary travel you can do.
So the eats? One takes a long drive to the country while the other is a local haunt just discovered. Both were first time visits for The Hubby and I in March and we’ve already returned for round two which merits a thumbs up in my book.
Friends of ours introduced this gem to us a few months ago. Out we go on a leisurely ride to Lancaster County, And even though the buffalo do not roam here, I’m humming ‘Home on the Range’ as we drive through farmlands and past buggies, far way from the huddled urban landscape of Philadelphia.
Horse and Buggy without the horse
Plain & Fancy offers two styles of eating: a la carte and ‘The Amish Feast.’ Capital letters and quotations marks all needed here folks.
Take a wild guess which we picked? The Amish Feast was a never-ending smorgasbord of food. Loosen your belt-buckle (or just leave ‘em at home) and wear the pants with the extra room. Check out the link and menu for the reason why. The fried chicken is absolutely devine and we’ve taken trips out just for that chicken. The rest of it is just gravy.
Located right in the middle of Old City, it’s amazing that The Hubby and I have never ventured to this joint. We’ve eaten at or visited almost every other bar, club, restaurant and sit down with a 3-block radius of this place. But I swear, we’ve never even heard of whisper of Eulogy until our friend invited us for a late dinner. I must be getting old.
With a laid back, mellow atmosphere, opulent beer selection and deliciously yummy food, this was a great place for us to mellow out for the night and enjoy. If we lived down in Center City, this would definitely become our neighborhood haunt, if only to allow the The Hubby to try and drink through their extensive beer menu. And extensive it is. Pages. And pages.
Plus, if we could wake up to views like this every morning, who could ask for anything more?
Tagged: 2010 event, eulogy, plain & fancy