Finances
🤔
I got partway through my taxes. I did the time-consuming part of organizing my records. Maybe this year I’ll organize as I go. Anyway, I’ll finish the taxes this week.
I watched a bunch of videos on diversifying one’s income (example). My reactions to the advice have been mixed, but it’s given me ideas.
I listened to articles on poverty. These personal finance books make financial responsibility sound expensive. How is there any hope for poor people to do it? Judging from the articles, there are societal factors working both for and against low income earners. The most informative was a paper by PolicyLink. I don’t know yet what I’ll do with this information.
While researching poverty, I found out how to be extremely frugal (example). It reminded me that money is not the only resource to consider when weighing costs. Time, energy, and emotion come to mind. It also reminded me my employer has a tiered contingency plan for different levels of hardship, so I’m thinking of using some of these tips to create a plan of my own.
Productivity
🤔
I started tracking my evening activity again. It did improve my productivity somewhat, but I have more changes to make.
I started journaling again. It began as a way to clear my mind for sleep, but its purposes quickly expanded. I need to evaluate it carefully so it doesn’t take up all my time.
Music
🤔
“Is He Worthy?” is my new favorite song. My church has been featuring it during Lent, and that Sunday it caught my attention and held it captive the rest of the day. And really every day since then, though I mostly avoided listening to it that week so I wouldn’t get tired of it. It came at the right time to blend with some current themes in my life, color my overall mood, and catalyze some ongoing reflection.
Outdoors
😎
I started walking again by exploring new parks. Health isn’t enough motivation for me to exercise—I need the experience of nature to draw me out of my home. But since I do need regular exercise and I’m in an organizing mood, I’ve made walking my lunchtime routine, and I spent last week finding places to do it. “Is He Worthy?” gave me an extra spark to get started, because that first day I needed an epic setting to listen to it on repeat, like one of our larger parks with a lake.
The Pocket Scavenger by Keri Smith is a template for creative collecting. I read it on Saturday to add an extra layer of exploration to my walks. I don’t know how closely I’ll follow the book, but it gives me a way of thinking about observing and art making. It’s giving me ideas for other projects too. No surprise there.
