It's beginning to Look Like Christmas

When I was younger, I can remember the feeling I would get around Christmas time. The expectation of family meals and seeing relatives, the activities that surrounded it at school and at church, and the presents. As I grew older and began to learn the real meaning behind it and experience the truth of what Christmas is all about, these traditions became much richer in terms of what they would offer a person. The purpose of the Holiday family meals began to give them more value. Seeing relatives that you don't see as often would help you reconnect to people who love you, even those who may only love you because they are obligated by genetic disposition to love you (love you only because you are family). The ways you celebrate and the things you are celebrating are felt more deeply as you mature. Yes, and even the most shallow of traditions gains in meaning as you learn to enjoy giving as much (or more so) as receiving.

In my past, I had experiences that cause Christmas, holidays, and being around family to be more of a hassle than a joy. It came to the point that Christmas was something I dread, I was expected to do more and more each year and having trouble living up to expectations. Christmas became something for me to get through, some kind of large chore to complete. Due to personal loss, Christmas also became a reminder of what and who I had lost in my life. I began to see it as something I did not enjoy. I tried my best to avoid ruining others joy in the holidays but I am aware that I even put a hamper on those around me that I care for most. Even the presents had lost their appeal in that I was not giving to others and those who gave to me were trying to do so with little knowledge of myself. This was not their fault, however, because I did not express myself or put myself out there for others.

So in the spirit of trying to improve myself, my wife and I attempted to adopt the excitement that our little one has had about Christmas since before Halloween. So once Thanksgiving was taken care of this year, we decided to get the Christmas decorations out and started moving furniture in living room to make a place for our Christmas tree. By the end of the weekend after Thanksgiving, We had completed our Christmas shopping for our son, I had completed my shopping for my wife, and we had put up our indoor Christmas decorations, including our Christmas tree in the living room and we decided to decorate our old 3ft tree in our son's room. I say this as not to brag, but rather to show how you can act your way in to new ways of thinking, just as you can think your way into new ways of acting. It started off as a "fake it until you make it" type thing. Before the weekend was over, we were watching Christmas movies and getting excited for Christmas events. We even started singing Christmas carols in spite of being a staunch critic of the radio stations that started their wall to wall Christmas formats two weeks ago (I'm talking about you, Q99). My wife and I have started to get really into the Christmas spirit. Now, we were not so bold as to try to venture out on the stores on Black Friday. However, due to being on a savings kick, I lost my taste for shopping at physical retailers because I get frustrated when I don't see exactly what I am looking for and wasting the time and expense of going to these stores when I could have found it online with little effort and time wasted.

I am excited about Christmas this year. I am looking forward to trying to make Christmas something very special for my young one, which will make it something very special for me again. I am very thankful for everything I've been blessed with and I hope that I can be a blessing to others.

First Month Progress

Here is the progress report for one month into our revitalization. 

There has been progress I am happy to report. Let’s begin with the more mundane but often more compelling statistic; finances.

I recently read a report about how that they have officially declared that 50% of the world’s wealth is in the hands of 1% of the population. A sickening thought even for those who love free market economy. It also went on to say that Millennials (such as me) are in a position where we make up the majority of those who are in the poorest categories, having more disadvantages toward increasing our wealth. I am 32 and I have been living paycheck to paycheck for all the time I have supported myself completely. I have tried to change this fact, but due to circumstances and poor decision (yes, I admit I have made poor decisions due in part to ignorance and lack of experience) I never seem to stop slipping up. During this year, I have worked very hard to begin to change this.  Starting in January of this year, I began the best paying job I have had along with having good benefits.  I have very good health insurance in an age where health care is not only expensive, but health insurance is mandated.  I have been able to consolidate my considerable student loan debt and have begun to pay this back. So last month I geared up to start saving and having more income leftover so that I could pay toward debt. We started by making a budget and trying to cut our spending where we could. Fortunately for my wife and me, we can carpool to work most days, which is a 35-40 minute drive one way for each of us. This basically cuts the amount of gas we use each day in half when we are able to do this. We started clipping coupons and buying groceries based on sales. My wife and I are looking at ways to make extra money on the side. We created a budget using Mint.com and I used it to keep track of our purchases. I am happy to report that our money management efforts for this month were very successful. With the exception of our Netflix bill (due to odd months having different amounts of days, our bill has moved from being at the first day of a month to the last day of a month), we have paid all our bills for the month of November. 

When the month started, we had only a little bit of cash that I had not already put toward debt. I put the remaining amount toward credit card balance. I paid my bills upfront for the first half of the month, and figured a small percentage of my income (starting at 5%) that I would split between savings and paying toward debt. I was able to do that and still had quite a bit left over due to the savings efforts my wife and I have put into effect. I was able to give more toward my church than I have in the past with additional left over. I had always been taught that in my faith that if you put your faith in God and trust Him, he will take care of you. I am seeing it first-hand. My goal is to increase that percentage by one percent each month. Now, we didn’t cut spending in certain categories as much as we could have, but that will be our goal for next month.

I have been trying to increase the amount of time I spend studying the Bible and trying to do be more prayerful. I have found that this has helped my emotional awareness and helping me to be more loving to others. This is probably the most helpful thing I can suggest to those who are looking to improve themselves. There is a Christian song that paraphrases an old Gandhi saying: “If I want to change my world, I gotta change me.”  I am open to God working in and through my life.

I have been reading more often than I had in the past. With the increased focus on saving, I have been reading a lot about personal finance and investing. I have also been trying to read more for leisure as well. When I don’t have time to sit down and read print, either physical or digital, I put on the  audio books (a note to all you haters who turn their nose down at audio books, I can read the same books you can while doing laundry, washing dishes, and even driving to work – beat that!) I have found that I am not watching as much television as I used to due to reading or listening to books. Conventional wisdom tells me that this is a good thing.

At work, we had a health fair where they tested my cholesterol level, my sugar levels, my blood pressure and made recommendations on them. Now, a year ago I had a migraine and went to the doctor. My blood pressure was so high they gave me medicine and kept me there until it had come down. The last time I went to a doctor’s office (January of this year) I had high blood pressure. Now when they checked it this time, they asked if I had taken a decongestant that morning, which I had. They said that the higher than normal reading for BP could be explained by that and that it was not much higher than it should be. Yay me! Going from a less stressful job has already paid off on my health. My glucose level was low and they asked me if I had eaten anything that morning. In fact I ate a fruit rollup about an hour and a half before going on top of the breakfast I had that morning. My cholesterol levels where perfect. I was in good shape. I am down 35 lbs from what I was at the end of summer, so things are good.

So this is the progress made so far. 

Six of one, Half dozen of another

So as I have previously stated, I am trying to improve my self, across the board. So I have created a budget to monitor my household spending and look for ways to improve and save. I am also looking at ways to earn additional income. This means I am stepping up my focus on trying to do computer work on the side as well as anything else that might pay a little extra. I have started grocery shopping around sales, as well as using coupons. I found myself enjoying the Sunday newspaper in addition to the coupons that were in it. I am not as adept at using coupons as some are. I don't like begging, haggling, or hustling to get cheaper things, so I am trying to do it the best I can. 

I used www.mint.com to create a household budget as well as keeping trying of bills and spending. I HIGHLY recommend checking it out. It is from the same people who make Quickbooks and TurboTax. Mint is free and you can do so much with it. You can download the app for your smartphone to help keep up with things when on the go. It truly is helping up keep up with bills and budgets.

Previously I had wrote how I was on a diet (Keto Diet) and how it was working well. It worked so well in fact that between July 24th, 2017-October 18th, 2017, I went from weighing more than 312 LBS to weighing about 280 lbs. I went down almost 3 pant sizes. I was running out of clothes (pants specifically) that fit. I really didn't want to buy new clothes, especially since I was trying to save money and decrease spending, so I decided to stop the Keto Diet. It has been about 2 weeks and I am still limiting the amount of carbohydrates I eat to a lower number and eating healthier foods. I find myself eating less now. Also, by not eating Keto, I have been able to save some on my grocery bill. Keto can be a little more expensive, at least for us, because we were buying so much perishable foods and less canned or processed foods. This makes it harder to buy in bulk and you are subject to prices instead of what is on sale.

I am reading books on investment and personal finance, trying to learn more about money and how it works, as well as ways to make it more manageable. I am reading more, including newspapers, blogs, eBooks, audio books, as well as traditional hard and soft backs. I am watching less TV. I know that sounds crazy. You are thinking, "Well duh. You don't have time with working and reading more." But the funny thing is that I don't desire to watch TV as much. Don't get me wrong, I still like all the same shows, movies, and other things, It is just not as important/necessary as it has been. Many of you who already understand what I am saying probably don't think about it as a big deal but for someone who is an auditory learner, who has prided himself on watching movies multiple times and loving films, I have found that I am becoming more selective with my time when watching television.

So moving forward, I have a few things I am focusing on as goals. I am working to pay down some debt as well as begin to start saving more. I will be looking for opportunities to work and get extra income, 100% of which will go toward this. If you know of anyone who is looking for some work done, feel free to send them my way. Also, if you know of anyone that is looking for some computer repair, maintenance, or needs website work done, send them my way. 

dustinqjones@gmail.com