Jaz Design

I tend to read a lot of things on how to not procrastinate, life stuff, but usually fail at actually implementing anything etc.

I love Zen Habits – I tend to use it to procrastinate with – haha, completely the opposite of it’s purpose, but you know, it’s interesting.

Anyway, the author of Zen Habits did this thing where he tracked his expenses for a month and worked out what percentage of them were necessary.

My boyfriend and I thought we’d try it, for funsies. I’m going to document mine here, just because it’s somewhere I always have access to. Although unlike Leo we’re doing two weeks of normal spending and then two weeks of trying to cut down on the unnecessary expenses and then comparing. I do think though that documenting it alone will affect the first two weeks simply because we’re more aware of what we’re spending and more likely to think it through.

Also I won’t be generalising food as groceries, otherwise I could buy eight packets of M&Ms and consider them necessary. I’m thinking healthy eating here – if I’m aware of how much money I spend on crap food I’m more likely to not spend it, and therefore it’s more healthy. Woo.

1st March
None

2nd March
Ribena £1.10 – U

3rd March
Train Ticket £10.65 – N
Cake and Crisps £2 – U
Groceries…
Carrots £0.23 – N
Flour £0.31 – N
Loo Roll £1.69 – N
Lettuce £0.49 – N
Quorn Burgers £1.79 – N
Goats Cheese £1.35 – U
Sweetcorn £1.99 – N
Broccoli £0.54 – N
Cucumber £0.47 – N
White Rolls £0.20 – N
M&Ms £2 – U
Red Pepper £0.78 – N

4th March
Petrol £10.02 – N

Totals so far…
£35.61
Necessary – £29.16 81.89%
Unnecessary – £6.45 18.11%

Adbusters have announced ‘Slow Down Week’ (see the animation here). The premise being:

For one week, instead of running to catch the bus or zipping in and out of traffic, try walking to work. Instead of grabbing take-out on the way home, cook a meal with your family. Leave the TV and computer off, and play an old-fashioned board game, or just sit and catch up with family and friends. If possible, take a day off work — and then while it away with a long walk and an afternoon nap.

It sounds interesting, but then one has to have been going fast in the first place for that to work

I checked out the latest Adbusters in the liiiibary t’other day, it was a roundup of 2006 edition, which, as per usual, scared me senseless. It’s very interesting though. Always worth reading.

Also, it being new year and all, I thought I’d share this link with you – yes everyone claims to have the secret to willpower, but this kind of thing I think would actually work if anyone actually tried it.

And now, I must go blitz my Play to Create project………..

ETA: I’ve been chocolateless since Sunday…. similar to last year I’ve given it up.

Time and memory fades all too quickly. All those amazing moments and experiences, gone, lost.

Is the fact that we’re allowed to have those moments at all the reason we’re not allowed to keep them all? Is that the price? Is that why we’re told to live in the now? Is there only room in one’s head to keep some of them? All of the above? I do hope not. I want them all.

If there’s nothing to look back on, what do we have to look forward to? How would we know?

Sometimes people walk into your life, knock you off your feet for whatever reason, and you wonder what you did to deserve them. People are the most amazing things. They can also be the most annoying things, but that’s ok. It makes the good ones that much more special.

If you can’t be bothered to get out of bed in the morning, do it anyway. You never know what might happen.

Thanks for sharing my random moment.