I own this

My Favorite, Tried-and-true Journal + Pens plus some thoughts on my daily journal habit

May 1, 2020

Do you journal?

I’ve always loved the idea of journaling, but I only started keeping a consistent daily journal a couple of years ago. I’ve found it to be a wonderful addition to my life because it helps me process my thoughts and emotions. I love having a safe space to record my thoughts and to center myself everyday. I wake up in the morning, brew my coffee, dance a little bit, meditate for about five minutes and drink my coffee while writing in my journal.

The most surprising thing to me about my consistent journaling habit is the utter banality of my entries. I basically write the same gratitude list over and over every morning. I also write about my hopes and dreams, which is usually the same riff on: I want to be a writer and I want to move into a bigger house and I want to travel. That’s what a dream about. It got to the point where I got so bored writing out the same dreams day after day that I decided to actually go after them! That’s why I’m writing here and that’s why I dedicated myself to finding us a new place to live. I’m finally making progress on my dreams and it feels SO good.

I also use my journal to write out my frustrations with my life, which helps me spot recurring patterns and to recognize when I’m being an asshole. Sometimes I write entries that are so mean that I pull the pages out and rip them up afterwards. It feels good to discharge the energy that way, but it’s not a side of myself that I want to let linger. Almost always, writing in my journal helps me process my thoughts and to figure out what to do next, but it’s almost NEVER writing that I’d want to share with someone. I guess I thought that my journal writing would lead to good writing that I want to share with the world, but it’s the exact opposite. I discharge the bullshit in my safe pages so that I can bring something intelligible to my public writing spaces.

Whatever works, right?

I’m writing this post because I want to share with you my absolute FAVORITE journaling tools. I really don’t need anything fancy, but I love quality. You want the thoughts to feel good when the come from your brain to the pen and ultimately to the paper.

Here’s what I love to use:

Moleskin for life! I’ve tried different types of journals, but I go back to Moleskin again and again. I am in love with the 7.5 x 9.75 inch soft cover ruled Moleskin journals (Amazon). It feels like writing on binder paper. You can really get in there and get some momentum. I also love that your hand doesn’t hang over the edges, which is what I hate about smaller, thicker journals. The soft cover lets you fold the journal on itself and it’s so malleable, plus it’s lightweight for travel. It weighs almost nothing and can fit in the tightest of spaces.
As far as pens, I am recently enamored of the Energel Liquid Gel Ink Needle Tip .5mm black (Amazon). Holy wow! They have such precision, they flow so nicely, they have a wonderful grip and they last forever. Keith bought me a pack for Christmas and I just had to replace it last week.
For a more marker feel, I highly recommend the Paper Mate Flair Medium (Amazon). They’re like a Sharpie times ten. I love writing with these so much. Try writing a list with these. It will feel SO good to you, promise!

Thanks for letting me share my passion for journal gear. I’d be delighted if this list inspired you to buy some great gear and dive into a journaling habit.

Your turn: what’s your favorite journaling gear? Let me know in the comments. I’m always down to add some new gear to my repertoire.

I own this, weekly meal plan, workplace

I found the perfect affordable adult lunch box

January 22, 2020

For the first time in my adult working life, I’m packing my lunch on the regular. After a few weeks of walking into the office carrying a plastic bag of shame, I decided that it was high time for me to get my own lunch box. I immediately pictured myself carrying something like this and I just couldn’t face it. Look, I’m not too proud to admit that I want to look chic and the lunch boxes I carried in middle school are just not the ticket.

When I got down to shopping, I realized that my list of lunchbox needs is long. I needed a pail that would keep my food cool all day. I have a sensitive nose and there’s a peculiar smell in any communal work refrigerator that brings me to my knees, so I needed a lunchbox that would allow me to avoid the office fridge altogether. I also needed space. I like to have lots o’ snacks at work. The best thing in life is an option and I fully subscribe to that statement. I like to bring fruit, yogurt, nuts, jerky and a big ass glass leftovers container to work everyday. Sometimes I eat it all, sometimes I don’t. I also needed it to look cool yet discreet, be easy to clean and, oh, not cost a million and two dollars. Turns out this was a bit of a tall order.

I found lots of interesting options in the $40 price range. Nope, not going to do it. I just couldn’t justify spending that much money when I’m still a lunch-packing newbie. I ended up rolling the dice and taking the Amazon route. You know the random sellers who have mostly good reviews, but then a handful of reviews that make you think that the whole thing is a big scam? In the interest of content for this blog, I took a $14 amazon chance and, thankfully, the odds were in my favor.

You’ll see that I can fit PLENTY in this little guy. I can easily put multiple snacks, slim ice packs, cutlery and up to two leftover containers. Is this lunch box the sturdiest, most well-made pail that will last me for a decade? Perhaps not. It could be a bit better quality, but it is quite good for the price and I highly recommend.

Do you have any lunch box recommendations? Do you do the plastic bag walk of shame? Do you pack your lunch for work? No judgement here, obviously, as I ate out lunch for the last several years. We’re all just trying our best.

deep thoughts, I own this, money

I own this: Patio Furniture

January 7, 2020

How do you guys feel about talking about money? I feel good about it more and more these days, but I haven’t always been that way. In fact, for almost all of my adult life I have felt a hot, sticky shame about myself as it relates to money. I told myself this story about how I was ‘bad’ with money and I made a lot of decisions about money in that place of low self-worth. Lately, I’m over thinking and living that way and I am learning a whole new story about money. I am starting to believe that money is neutral as a concept, neither good nor bad just like food, sex and alcohol. It’s how you use it or interact with it that can turn it into a positive or negative thing in your life. I also believe that money is an exchange of energy. There are positive and negatives exchanges of energy, but I choose now to use money as a positive energy exchange as much as possible.

That means being thankful for money and the way it enriches my life. It means trusting that enough money will always be there. It means being generous with the money I do have and using it to enrich the lives of the people I love, including myself. It also means making smart, reasonable decisions with money while keeping the longer game in mind.

For the first time in my life, I have a reasonable debt payoff plan. I have taken a long look at my expenses and I have devised a plan to get myself out of debt in three years. I used to try to do these crazy debt payoff plans that would involve eating hot ramen for months on end and, just like a diet, a few weeks in I would get sick of the restriction and throw my whole plan out the window. Inevitably, I’d end up worse off than I was before. I’m done living like that. I’m thankful to have reliable income right now at a job I love that I think will allow me to pay off all my debt in just 36 months using a snowball effect where once I pay down one debt, I carry that money over to the next lowest debt until it’s all paid off. I have also committed that any extra money I get unexpectedly will go toward my debt. For example, out of the blue a few weeks ago, Xfinity called me and helped me lower our cable and internet bill by sixty dollars a month. I added that money to our debt repayment tracker and it basically shaved a month off of my plan!

I also got a little bit of extra money in my job transition, so I used it to pay off my smallest debt a couple months ahead of schedule. That’s the benefit I’m finding about having a reasonable plan. It makes paying bills fun because it feels like I’m making progress. That positive energy while paying bills totally shifts everything and motivates me to keep going.

So, this month I reached my first milestone: paying off my Home Depot card. I initially opened the card to pay for the Tuff Shed you can see in the background of the photo. That was a necessary expense because we have virtually no storage in our house. I got the card with a 0% interest on purchases for the first twelve months and paid it off ahead of schedule and felt no regret about the purchase because that shed is 100% awesome and worth every penny. Then, last year, we were going to host a big Friendsgiving party at our house and I got insecure about the size of our house and decided that we NEEDED patio furniture to host this one party. The only problem? It was November and finding patio furniture I liked online or second-hand was almost impossible. I ended up using another 0% interest offer from Home Depot to buy some furniture that I thought was just meh. The party ended up being just okay and I had to pay like $2700 of furniture off within 12 months. I somehow lost track of the payment schedule and ended up getting charged like $500 worth of interest because I didn’t pay it off in time. So, as you can see, it wasn’t the most prudent financial decision; however, I learned so much from this experience. I learned to only spend my money on things that really matter to me. I learned to never spend money to impress people and I learned that for things like furniture, I prefer to pay cash with money I already have, ideally on second-hand furniture. I think that lesson was worth every penny. Do you?

At any rate, this month we officially own this patio furniture! One major, major step in a 3 year plan and I am rejoicing! Now, every time I look in my backyard, I feel thankful. Thankful for the lessons and for the progress. Thankful that I now own the furniture out there and thankful to be on this wonderful journey. When I think about what it’s going to feel like to be completely free of debt, I get goosebumps. I seriously cannot wait, but yet, I can wait because I know that the journey there is going to be so, so sweet.

My next big goal is to pay off one of our cars. According to the plan, we should own it by July so I’ll check back in with you again in the next few months.

If you had to rate your relationship with money on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate yourself? A year ago, I would’ve rated myself a 2. I used to have full-on inner panic attacks about money and my spending habits. The way I used to berate myself about it was so awful. These days I’d say I’m a solid 7. I still have the panic sometimes, but I am better about soothing myself. I have also gotten glimpses of what it’s like to live as a 10 with money peace and a full believe in the abundance of the universe and, wow, it’s so motivating to continue doing the internal work so I can be there most of the time.