We’ve had snow a few days this week—winter was being dramatic, having a difficult time letting go. But the new snow melted fast and I’m in the mood for spring cleaning.
Summary: I came in $32.87 under budget for the first quarter of 2019.
January Lesson:
Looking back at January, I was reminded of a lesson I learned on day four of the new year. Something I knew might happen happened: I locked myself out of the farmhouse. The only spare key was with my brother, a two-hour drive away. Patiently, I tried everything I could think of to get into the house. I even looked at youtube for solutions (not recommended). I called friends for help. No go. I got in the car and drove to get the spare key, had a short visit, and drove back. An unplanned four-hour trip is an inefficient use of gas. I paid a few dollars to have another spare key cut and a neighboUr now has a key. Yup. Got it. Got it. Lesson learned.
March Staycation:
In March, I catsat (and housesat) for friends—while they were away soaking up warmer weather, I was filling up on cat love and bingeing on Netflix. Along with a list of movies, I checked out Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up series. Since moving back home, I haven’t reverted to clutter but there is still a collection of stuff from my parents’ house and from the storage unit in Ottawa that I need to sort through. Most of these items would fall into Kondo’s last category to work on because it is the most difficult—memorabilia. Some of the items—like framed paintings and old photos—have taken longer to move on because I’ve been getting them into the right hands rather than dropping them off with a box of donations. The remaining bins don’t take up much space but I’m ready to wrap up this job—with solar-powered enthusiasm, I started the final leg this week.
Outgoing and Income:
A small box of porcelain figurines came back with me from the storage unit. These 50 tiny animals and fairy tale characters were free gifts in boxes of Red Rose tea in the 1970’s. It was fun to look at them again—the collection was a joint effort with my maternal grandmother. I have kept a hedgehog but the rest have been gifted.
A box full of comic books, all in plastic sleeves since the 1980’s, also made the trip home. In March, I sold them to the same small store where I had sold some childhood games last year. I could have earned more $ if I wanted to do the work of listing them online but that wasn’t the point. The point was to get them in to the hands of someone who could get them into the hands of someone who would love them. Donating them with the rest of the stuff in Ottawa wouldn’t necessarily have done that and that’s why I brought them back. Mind you, the shop where I sold them is so packed with stuff I felt a bit guilty adding to the mass. It needs a commercial-sized tidying up.
References and related links:
- CY19Q1: Calendar Year 2019, First Quarter. Calendar Year distinguishes from a company’s Financial Year (FY) which has a different start date than January 1st.
- budget year one (post #111)
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