Clutter

As I am divorced, I have a different financial situation and I need to recreate my relationship to money. One of my divorced friends recommended two books: You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham, and Your Money or Your Life: Nine Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Freedom by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

I haven't finished the second book yet, but I want to. It is a lot to comprehend, but what I have read so far is powerful.

Both books have a very simple premise: Spend less than you earn, and when you do spend, make sure it aligns with your values and not simply your impulses.

Back when I was married, Jack and I lived well within our means and still had a comfortable lifestyle. We had enough cashflow that we could absorb a lot of big expenses within a month. We saved and invested his bonuses, and we had enough cash on hand to buy a new car or roof if needed.

Now, my life is different. I don't get large bonuses twice a year that I can use to stockpile savings. I get a modest bonus once a year. I still have savings, but I need to plan ahead for larger annual expenses, like property taxes, insurance premiums or college tuition. Per You Need a Budget, I have adjusted my monthly budget to set aside my larger expected annual expenses, so I am not surprised in April and October when I need to pay my property taxes. The money can be sitting there gathering interest until the due dates.

Your Money or Your Life talks more about how you spend your time and energy as much as how you spend money. Vicki still digs pretty deep into how money is spent. One of her topics is clutter: how much money do you spend buying more of the same?

When I heard this, I was like "I don't buy a lot of useless crap like some people. All of my stuff is perfectly curated and needed." I was listening to this book in my car as I was driving. Vicki kept talking and talking, reading from her book, and I was like "Not me."

Then it hit me: I do have clutter!

• Shoes: How many shoes do I own versus how many shoes do I wear? I have more shoes than I can count, but on a typical day, I wear an old school pair of white K-Swiss shoes that I bought at Big 5 for $40.
• Books: Fuuuuuck. Yeah. I have a lot of books. That I haven't read. Yet. I do read a lot, but my reading time has slowed down in the modern world with the internet and streaming television.
• Mugs: I started collecting mugs when I was in seventh grade when I went to Kings Island, a giant amusement park outside of Cincinnati. I think my dad still has that mug in his house. When I was in Idaho with Pedro, I bought a really cool my in Bonners Ferry that I like but probably don't need.
• Craft Crap: "They" say you need a stash of craft supplies (fabric, thread, project kits, etc) so when the mood hits, you can create. I have a lot of supplies for my quilting and embroidery projects. I almost like shopping for projects more than I like making them. Kind of.
• My jigsaw puzzle collection does not count. That is entertainment.

I am not sure what the plan is to do with my clutter. I think the goal for me isn't necessarily to get rid of it, but to either use it (like read the books I own before I buy more) and to stop buying additional clutter.  My mugs are in good condition. I don't need any more new ones for a while. 

Perhaps the goal is simply awareness of my habits, to make me conscious of them instead of mindlessly buying things I don't need or won't use.