This will be the only time that I do this check in type post on how I am doing with my resolutions this year. I don't know if it's true or not, but I would think that the first month or two are the hardest for resolutions or changes in your lifestyle. Once you get into the routine, it becomes part of your life (hence the word routine) and it is just something that you do. The first few months are hard because you are adjusting to something new or different. This is why I've never set a goal of working out for an entire year as a resolution. That first month is hard. It would be especially hard this year because it has been so cold here in Minnesota that you don't want to go out once you are home from work. Or if you have the day off, you don't want to leave the house. Writing more, drinking less, saving more are all things I can do inside.
One thing that is going well is the writing. With this post, I am right on track to finish with one hundred and twenty posts for the year. Next month will be interesting because it is the shortest month of the year. I am using up all the days this month to get to my tenth post. It's hard to sit down and think up posts each day. Not only to think them up, but to write them all at once. What I have been doing, and I got this idea from a friend who has been writing for a long time, is to just start the post. Write down a sentence or paragraph and then go back to it when you have time. I've started to do this and have four drafts that I can finish up when I have time. The one thing I have been doing is writing when the television is off. Getting rid of distractions has been working great, although I do get distracted by Twitter from time to time. Just listening to music or podcasts is all I do when I write. Another thing I have been doing is writing when I am home by myself. I get self conscience when my wife is watching me write. I don't know why, it just is.
The drinking less and saving more has been going....okay. Our bank account has been growing with my wife's new job, so that is great. After looking for a job for four years and watching our savings slowly shrinking because of only having one income, it's nice to see deposits more than twice a month. But more than getting a second income, we have not changed our spending habits. It's one thing to have a second income, but it's another thing to not go crazy with that money. We cut back a lot once my wife was laid off, but we need to stay focused on our goal: saving money. One thing to help with the saving money is not drinking as much because alcohol can get hella expensive real quick. One bad thing is that my store has a small wine and beer store attached to it. I don't drink wine, but the beer is there. And it's all craft beer, you can't get Busch Light or Labatt's there. Which is cool because you can try new stuff. They do the 'build your own six pack' which, if you look at it, is a bit of a rip off. Unless, UNLESS (!), they do a promotion like save thirty percent on 'build your own six pack'. Plus I get a discount. So I'm saving quite a bit on it, but I'm still spending money. I have built three six packs with this double discount and I feel great about it. Plus it's special beer that I have never tried so I don't rush home and drink it all within a week. I space it out. Put two in the fridge at a time.
The good thing with this is that I haven't stepped foot in a liquor store since the new year. I know, I know, it's one month in so it isn't the greatest accomplishment. But it's something, isn't it? Using that discount, let's say I spend seven or eight dollars after tax. That's ten dollars less for a case of beer. On the other hand, you are getting less. But the quality of the beer in the six pack is much higher. So it's quality versus quantity. There are going to be times, most likely in the summer at the height of baseball season, when I am going to go out and buy a case of beer because they go so well together. When I watch baseball and drink beer, I don't want to drink a pale ale, I want to drink a Busch Light or a Hamm's. That's what I do. That's one thing I have always linked together. Baseball and cheap beer. And once I do that, I won't be buying those craft beer six packs.
All in all, I have been doing okay with these resolutions. I can definitely watch my spending on the beer. I can write more too. Instead of watching a sports game involving teams that I do not care about, I could be exercising my brain with the writing. But who wants to do that? I want to watch television after a long day at work. I don't always want to sit down and think about stuff.
10/120
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