A Jamaican's Tale: saving

This entry is going to be quick and dirty. As you can see, it's late, very late. Since the second week of February, I have been working 6 days a week, and the only day available for downtime usually finds me catching up on undone housework so we can have clean clothes and our home can look moderately presentable if anyone comes through the door.

To February's recap:

Financial/Savings:

Going to call this a win. Instead of specifying which weeks from the 52 Weeks Money Challenge I wanted to save during February (a tactic that did not work in January), my goal was simply to save from each paycheque. I was able to mark off weeks 50-52, and week 9.

The flip side of this goal was to keep up the "No Spending" challenge, again for at least 90% of the days in the month. I completed 27 of 29 for 93%, I splurged on a calling card to keep in touch with my Mom (I could have gotten the minimum value, but I didn't, so, splurge), and bought a 50/50 ticket at work on the two missed days.

Mental/Emotional:

Definite win. I completed Levels 2-4 and started Level 5 of Headspace Pro, and was seriously reminded of why I shouldn't expect new meditation packs all the time when there are so many that I need to keep repeating because I haven't got the hang of them yet. Sitting in silence forces me to sit with myself and the thoughts that run around in my head and shine a light into the dusty corners of my psyche. It's quite challenging, and sometimes I came out of the sessions feeling wrung out from all the bringing myself back that I had to do, but it is so worth it. 29 days of 29 done, my running total stood at 427 days straight at the end of February.

Physical:

The biggest change I made for the month of February was switching my workouts back to mornings, and moving my wake up time back from 6:30 to 5:30 a.m. Last year it was a real challenge to get my workouts done after dragging myself home from 9, 10, sometimes 11 hour work days, so I decided to get back to waking up at a time I have been used to since I was about 16 years old. This move made all the difference, and I was able to workout every week day in the month, which I haven't done since...forever. I have a hard time getting up in the dark, but knowing that when I come home there's nothing major left to do that day feels really good and keeps me on track.

And, that's it. The long and short of February. Long and short. Haha.

I feel a lot like Alice's White Rabbit this month, hence the title of my post. Quite a number of things, including this post, haven't been done according to the schedule I am trying to keep, and I feel rather off-kilter because of that.

I meant to post a more reflective/introspective post around my birthday, but I didn't get around to it. So many things seemed to crop up and run into each other that, three weeks later, I am so far behind that I am having to be strict with myself to get things done and off my to-do list, or risk falling into the trap of procrastinating.

I did have a good birthday, though. It was a long day at work, but as usual my colleagues did their best to make it a fun day. G and I then went out for dinner, where I was able to have the dish I have been craving for some time: Four Cheese Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Pita Chips. That, along with the Chocolate Lava Cake and ice-cream for dessert were all I wanted, and I had them, and it was good. I was "outed" as a birthday celebrant to the restaurant staff, so they stuck a candle in my lava cake and sang for me, and though I had hoped to avoid it, I enjoyed it.

Things went sideways after that because I encouraged G to get involved with a weekend event in the nearby town of Blind River, to get some exposure for his business, and also to get some camping done because it's an activity he enjoys (like most Canadians) that we hadn't done together yet.

The event itself was a success for us, but I cannot say for the organizers. On Saturday, the weather was spectacularly warm and there was some turnout. On Sunday, the weather took a turn for rain, although not as much as it looked like we would get, and the turnout was poor.

How was the camping? I didn't hate it, and I would definitely do it again, but with some differences. I would get more involved in the planning next time, to start with. I left everything up to G, seeing as this is something he has been doing all his life, and the only times I ever camped in Jamaica I was just sleeping out in the backyard under a makeshift tent consisting of a sheet thrown over a clothesline and anchored with rocks.

We had great gear, but way too much food for the time period we expected to spend and the location we would be at, and had I put my foot down as he loaded the truck, we wouldn't have trucked so much food to Blind River only to bring it back home again. I can only imagine that had we actually been out in the bush and not just at a property located off the beaten path, we would have needed all that he packed, but as it was, a weekend spent (basically) in someone's backyard with a Tim Horton's less than 5 kilometres away? Excessive is the word that comes to mind.

While our tent and its accoutrements were fantastic, including a waterproof "fly" (covering to protect from insects and elements) that protected everything inside the tent from the rain, the sleeping arrangements left a lot to be desired. We brought a sleeping bag and moving blankets to spread on the ground, but...seriously...the ground in Canada is basically iron. I mean, in Jamaica we say "dutty tuff" to describe when the ground is hard, but I have slept on concrete that was more comfortable than the Canadian ground.

As I tried to settle to sleep that Friday night, after working all day on the busiest banking day of the month, I wiggled around in vain to try to find a comfortable spot. I thought, at first, that I was lying on a rock, so I eventually decided to turn my sleeping bag perpendicular to its original position to get away from said "rock". Nope, didn't help. It was like that. All. Over. I spent two very uncomfortable nights tossing and turning and vowing that our next trip would see us going nowhere without an air mattress or a slab of thick sponge.

I returned home on Sunday evening, chiefly because I had had enough of not having had a shower in more than 48 hours, and I wasn't sleeping on that ground one more night. G opted to stay to enjoy the rest of the performances lined up, so I made the 58 KM drive on my own. Yes, I drove on my own on the highway for the first time, and I think I did well. I had a loaded truck, so I monitored the turns very carefully, and I stayed at or just below the speed limit to acclimate to driving much faster than I ever do in town. I feel quite proud of myself, and much less nervous now about handling highway driving.

As far as July's goals went, I decided to end the 52 Week Money Challenge after week 26, same as I did last year. Various circumstances converged at the same time to make it burdensome to save the increasingly larger amounts that would be needed for the Challenge. However, I have not given up on the Challenge, I intend to do it again next year, with one change: I will save the amounts in reverse. That is, I will start saving the higher weeks first and work my way to the lower amounts at the end of the year.

Looking back at my efforts in the past couple of years, and at how my income is earned, I have come to realise that my income is higher during the winter and spring months but lower in the summer and fall, and this has held true where I had a single job with full-time hours (2014) and two part-time jobs (2015). So, next year, I flip the script, and start high and move to low, and see how that works. If that fails, I will simply go to setting aside a specific amount from each pay, the same as I do for my registered savings plan. I'm not giving up on saving, I am giving up on saving with this particular methodology, and trying another method to find a way that works for me.

Other goals achieved in July include regularly doing push-ups and pull-ups in my workouts. My current workout programme calls for a progression to these, and I am now at the point where I can do 5 sets of 8 push-ups and 5 sets of 6 pull-ups 3 times per week. If I wanted nothing else from this programme, I really wanted to achieve these goals, and I am very happy to have worked my way this far. The programme ends this month (August), but I plan to keep those exercises as part of my regular routine, and to work on getting to a 1 minute plank by that time (I am at 55 seconds, but it is quite a struggle).

I also hit the 180 day mark with Headspace, successfully meditating every day for half the year. The next stop is to complete the year, and be able to mark 2015 as the year mindfulness became established as part of my daily routine.

I have been sitting for an hour now, and have a few more things to do around the house before I can call today a success. I can check this off on my list in Evernote, and move on to the next item.