Accountability post January 2020

Starting off this year motivated to get all the things done! We all know how that goes, another week in and the motivation will start to wane.

Organization
This past weekend I've gone through all the kids clothes and pulled out the things they are not wearing to pass on to others. I've gone through the bins of next size up clothes and took out all those that I didn't like to pass on to someone who can use them within my local upcycling community.

I'm trying to move from a mindset of scarcity to abundance. I recently read 'How to Quit Like a Millionaire' and it struck a chord with me. I've been stuck in fear mode with our finances. There is no reason to be here. We have so much and are so privileged. I get stuck trying to get rid of things because I don't want them to go to waste. I think if I can sell them, I should. If it's broken, maybe I can fix them so they don't end up in the landfill. Then I get paralyzed and nothing moves and now the stuff is everywhere, but not finding it's way out of the house. Shifting to an abundance mindset allows me to focus on the joy I feel by moving the excess out. There is a beauty and peace to organized spaces. To not have to fight to put things away.

Closet before Re-organization and Purge

After Re-organization

It does't actually look like much, but I purged a bunch of coats we don't need or aren't going to use and put the remainder larger sizes for my youngest into a vacuum bag that now fits in a single bin.

Purged coats

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my old winter coat with a broken zipper. It could be fixed I guess, but that is more effort than I want to put into it. I've had it for over 10 years and always found it a bit cold despite the down fill. I'm thinking that it'll probably get stuffed in the back of my sewing closet and eventually upcycle it at some point. Well that is my justification for keeping it at this point because if I don't it is destined for the landfill.

I also sorted through the kids clothes and was able to get rid of the excess. I've gone through all the bigger sizes and kept a more reasonable amount and free-cycled the things I didn't love or were a bit worn, but still useable.

Feels good to have the clothes stored in the appropriate kid's closets and out of the basement storage room. Hoping that'll actually help not forget about things or buy unnecessary things as what we have is at hand.

Exercise

Got 2 walks in and a day tobogganing with the family and some friends  the first week of January. This last week I was attempting to get a few sewing projects done so sacrificed exercise time. This coming week we are living in the Artic Vortex with temperatures around -40 C so I will be hibernating and attempting a treadmill run or two.

Sewing

I cut out 4 projects over last week and finished 2, but showing those will have to wait till current testing period is complete. My other two are Jalie's Nicole and Clara leggings. Yep, the two that I will not be able to wear till the spring, but the quickest sew as I've done both before and didn't need to trace off or assemble new patterns. I'm all about the quick wins at the moment.

I was also able to sell some custom fabric (read expensive) that I bought thinking my son would like. Unfortunately he didn't. Thankfully I was able to sell it through a local buy and sell fabric group for nearly the same amount I spent on it. And the stash is down a couple more meters and less guilt each time I would see it. 

Financial

More or less on auto-pilot for the moment simply doing our automatic contributions but nothing extra yet. We need to pay off the December credit card bill when it comes due in the next couple days and then will look to make some additional contributions in late January. Trying to stick with a low spend January following the normal excess of December. 

I also submitted my T1213 form to HR to get my taxes reduced at source as I have a large number of deductions with daycare credits going under me and maxing out my RRSPs. I'm hoping HR will apply for the next pay period or at least the one after. This should give me about $500 extra a month to start additional contributions to my TSFA. We are also trying to do a low spend January so hopefully will have a bit extra at then end of this month.