OK, so I know I am utter shit with unstructured time and I’m easily overwhelmed when I contemplate all there is to do around the house.
So, how to deal with that? Not totally sure.
I have swtiched back to a hybrid-FlyLady approach of just attempting to do a little every day vs. trying to fix it all at once. But, I’m not even getting to the “little every day” on most days.
This weekend, I am going to actively schedule time to do shit around the house. I know, it feels ridiculous. There won’t be a ton to do, and I just need to DO IT.
Once again, completely overwhelmed by my to-do list…
Frustration over not being able to get ahead financially – and it’s not my beloved Starbucks, it’s the fact that over the past ~3 years, I’m running ~$700 a month in dental bills. I really like my dentist, but I have got to find a cheaper option. My insurance covers a whole $1500 a year for that. I swear, I’d be in much better shape if we treated dental costs as actual medical costs.
I had the week off – staycationed cause Delta fucked up my actual vacation plans – so you’d think I’d get a ton of shit done, right? WRONG. It would seem I suck hard with unstructured time, YAY undiagnosed ADHD!
But, got paid, paid Care Credit.
The rest of my goals? HAHAHAHAHA.
I did mess around with my retirement numbers some more – current best case scenario is just over 14 years. I’ve also discovered that Vanguard’s retirement calculator thing is shit – when I put in all my numbers, they’re basically estimating a return of less than 2% a year on investments over the next 14 years – my favorite muni bond fund has a 10 year return of 5.6% and the S&P is 16.2%. 2% is bullshit – they really want folks to think they have to work forever, don’t they?
Fuck that noise. The second I can get out of this capitalist hellscape – I’m out.
So, this is how the week has gone – the goals are 1) how much of my to-do list got done, 2) Yoga or exercise, 3) Net worth going up, and 4) time spent on reading/stitching/not doomscrolling Twitter.
Things went a bit off the rails on Friday, but today has just started, so it can only go up from here.
Some days are better than others
Money is a problem, cause it’s always a fucking problem. My bills are all paid, but I can’t seem to fucking get ahead. I sat down and re-did my retirement numbers, and, ugh. 16 1/2 years if I don’t move, over 18 if I want to go where I want to be retired. Social Security could be $1890 a month when I’m 62, but that will be gone by then I am sure. And no time/energy/resources for a side hustle. Not factoring in any raises, cause they’ll just get eaten by inflation anyway.
Some student loan relief, universal health care, and a tax cut would be fucking nice, Joe.
I did beg off on laundry & towels, because they’re in fine shape and can be revisited as needed.
The thing that took the longest was vacuuming/armor-all’ing the car – a whole 10 minutes.
Plants watered and rotated.
Febreeze plug ins replaced.
Kitchen sink emptied and scrubbed, rinse aid refilled on dishwasher, hand towels swapped out.
Kitty water dish swapped out with clean one. Litter box cleaned. Kitty upstairs food area cleaned.
Upstairs & kitchen trash cans emptied.
Toothbrush & Water Pik put on their respective chargers.
Pitcher of cold brew put up for the morning, and new bottle of syrup unboxed AND the box put in out for recycling.
And bonus – lights replaced in kitchen fixture and dead bugs vacuumed out. (It’s one of those fixtures that’s closed on the bottom, it quickly becomes a bug graveyard.)
Everything else is before bed stuff.
I’m incredibly pleased to have to all knocked out and mortified that it seemed so daunting.
Now I’m treating myself to some pretzel M&M’s, then I’ll do a couple sessions of yoga, and then do whatever I want with zero guilt for the rest of the day.
And super fucking stupid and I hate it, but at least it has a name.
Yes, my to-do list is long, but nothing that will take terribly long, and a handful of it is “right before bed” stuff that I can’t do right now.
And yet, I’m still sitting here glued to the couch.
I know if I just get off my arse, I could have it all done by noon, then have a nice lunch and then have the rest of the day to do whatever the fuck I want with zero guilt.
It’s just…getting started feels nearly impossible.
So, I’m going to set a timer for 10 minutes and allow myself to “rest up*” and then I am going to kick off my Pomodoro timer** and go to town.
Whatever is undone at the end of it, that is fine. I just need to get going so I can enjoy the rest of my day.
I’m tired, overwhelmed and not as functional as I could be, but I’ve at least gotten this far into 2021 and not gotten Covid, so that’s a win.
My dumb ass decided to add all the preconfigured tasks Tody has into my to-do list and even in “super relaxed” time interval mode, it became totally overwhelming almost immediately.
So, it’s time to go back to super duper basics and bare minimums – FlyLady zones and just do a little every day in the zones, break things down to the smallest bits, and not stress too hard about it.
But, I also need a few concrete goals – house, financial, health – and we’ve got some perfect milestones coming up to measure that aren’t too far away and aren’t too close – Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Milestone/Area
House
Finances
Health
Mental Health
Halloween
Carport/porch tidied well for Trick or Treaters
Yoga at least 2x a week
Keep stitching/quilting to spend time off Twitter*, and spend more time reading before bed
Thanksgiving
Kitchen not just clean, but decluttered and organized
Yoga at least 3x a week
Finish Quilt, keep reading
Christmas
Living room all nice for Christmas
10K in the bank, Care Credit paid off (currently $2789)
Yoga at least 4x a week
Stitching and reading
My weekend to do list is small and reasonable, and mostly small personal care things, but if I can knock it all out by bedtime tomorrow, I will be a happy camper.
Here’s to saying it out loud and creating some accountability for myself.
*I love Twitter, but I doomscroll and that’s not good.
Wave Chasing 