I stormed out the door and stomped all the way home (fortunately, not very far away - my poor knees!). We needed the varnish, but certainly not as much as Scott needed new shoes, and we have a road trip coming up, not to mention it's now wedding season... life just felt really expensive. Even though part of me knew that we had a plan in place for all of this, I just couldn't SEE how we could make ends me.
I'm a highly visual person. I was the kid that - when learning about the different bones in the body - pulled out the skeleton from the Halloween decorations, and made a came out of labeling each bone with sticky-notes. Why it had never occurred to me to make a giant poster of our budget is beyond me. But that's how Scott & I spent our Saturday night - making giant posters.Now, when I stand in the aisle at Canadian Tire and freak out over the cost of varnish, I visualize the poster: "We have $50 set a side each month for household items. That is where this money will come from." And even better, when we want to do something, but life feels oh so very expensive, we made a poster of all the free/cheap things we can do in the city. Now, we have no excuse for yelling at each other over money or sitting at home, bored, on a weekend!
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Do you ever get the urge to just throw your clothes out the window? No, just me? That's fine, it works well into my "Curating My Closet" plan, anyway! I'm finding the more my brain gets wrapped around the idea of getting rid of something on a regular basis, the easier it is to weed through my closet to get rid of stuff. Don't love it? Don't need it!
Why did I buy it?
Well, I didn't so much buy it as make it. I wanted a cropped sweater and this pattern was super easy to make. So easy, I made one for me and one for my sister. Rumour has it she doesn't like it, and has never worn it.
Why did it work?
It was easy! And it was cropped! And I made it!
Why didn't it work?
Why didn't it work?
During the bedbug fiasco of 2011, it got washed with a number of colours and is a weird swampy white colour now. It was also a bit more of a chunky knit than I had wanted. The good news is that making another one will solve both of those problems!
How did I wear it?
Ah yes! I am a very visual person and frequently write things out. Doing a budget is a very good idea, and a great reminder. D and I use google docs if it's info we need to share, like christmas wishlists etc, but using a spreadsheet or poster idea is fantastic for working out a budget.
ReplyDeleteWhen I decide it's time for an item to go, I get all antsy. I hate clutter so it becomes a Thing in the Way when I've decided I won't wear something anymore. Plus I'm pretty limited on space. Usually things get chucked into a plastic bags and put in the car so the next time I'm remotely near Goodwill it gets dropped off.
I'm like you that way and I want to do something similar - actually write out our monthly budget somehow so we're not sitting here going "do we have the money for this?"
ReplyDeleteI think it's awesome you made that sweater, but if it isn't working for you anymore, it's totally reasonable to let it go. Especially with something white that isn't so white anymore. I'm sure you could always make another one too if you end up missing it!