Post 18: Another ‘Little Steps, Bigger Picture’ Post! 104 to go!

Kat doodles about life:

Working many hours during the weekend and then sleeping until lunchtime on my days off turns me at night into an owl. I had one of those moments this week after finishing my post. ‘Hmmm what can I do to use up that sudden whirl of energy’, I thought to myself. Finally I decided to tackle my studio table, which over the time got covered in piles of receipts, notes and all sorts of objects. My ‘in’ basket included reminders like driving theory book, bank statements and notes of what to do. As we all know, there is always something better to do than writing down your receipts.

End of the month is just gone and it is time to write one of my monthly reviews about resolutions of this year. And when clearing the table I soon realized there are too many to deal with in my case especially because I want to do them all at the same time. And right now in the best case scenario. I decided to find a way how I can get them tackled often enough, even in small amounts, but at least getting them moving in the right (or perhaps just some sort of) direction.  My 3 Days Challenge seems to be working well that way, so I decided to write down how often I need to do each of them. They vary from every two days to once a week. I then organized all the pieces of paper and wrote the plan for the whole entire month ahead. I was right on it, so if I had an actual diary for 2014 I would keep going until I reach the end.

So the next morning I woke up and here are four things I planned to do- write a blog post, deal with social networking, figure out all money related things and do prep for my teaching classes and interpreting. The first two I thought they can be postponed or dealt with another time, so I wanted to tackle the money next. I have finally ordered Moleskine for this year (I know, I know 2 months into year already, shame on me) and shorts for cycling as unfortunately the other ones are on their way to fall apart soon. As you know clothes in my wardrobe must be practical and they stay there until no longer repairable. Than I paid some bills, sent money to save and treated myself (shhh) to a new cheap offer subscription of an interior design magazine.

Do you feel like you are turning your parents sometimes even you really do not want to?! Especially doing the things you hated or had no idea why they do it?! There is definitely one thing, when I have turned into my mother. But I guess a good one. I write down every expenditure I have made. I have been doing it for years- actually way more than last ten. When I let myself go on a shopping spree sometimes, I look at the items and if it was the ‘stocking the cupboard’ kind of shop, it is fine. However if there are too many ‘night out’ expenses on the Emergency/Entertainment list, I better watch out. With transport, clothes and shoes I spend only the absolutely needed minimum as I still treat it as a luxury. Writing things like this make me feel less guilty about shopping as I know the purpose.

After I started catching up with the lesson plan for both of my students now I have two. It was great to see the improvement my first student did in such a short amount time just by looking for other relevant materials and preparing more topics to talk about.

Obviously the schedule for next month is just a guide, but it will be nice to have something to follow the progress. Back soon Kat