Getting out of credit card debt has been fantastic! It freed up a little cash so I could buy some supplies to start sewing and crafting again. This week I made this!

And am learning how to do this!

And made a couple of these:

Yep, Crafting Carrie is back and might even open a little Etsy store to help support her habit and bring in some extra dough.  I’ll post a link when I get it up and running.

In other news, I am off climbing for yet another month. After an MRI showed bursitis in my shoulder, I’m on a strict NSAIDS and Physical Therapy regimen. Thankfully no tears, so no surgery! Spring climbing season is coming up and I want to be ready so I am minding doctor’s orders. Leavenworth should be perfect in about a month. Hopefully me atrophied muscles will keep my on the rocks and off the ground!

Happy Prezzie day!

Reblogged from No Debt Brunette:

This is how I feel about Comcast

Cable is cancelled, effective immediately. I despise Comcast almost as much as I despise AT&T. Maybe even the same. Or more.  Not only do they have THE WORST web site and  customer service ever,  I just cannot justify paying a small fortune every month to watch a few channels. Sure, I will miss my Saturday mornings with HGTV and I’ll probably miss the food network. But today, we are happily welcoming our new Roku overlord into our home.

If you are like me, a year or so behind the times, here is the deal. Roku is an amazing little device that allows you to stream hundreds of channels to your TV, for free! Well, basically for free. The Roku is an initial investment of $89.99. Netflix is about $8.00 per month and we have a free Hulu account, for now. So, we can watch these channels, plus a ton more that we find for free on Roku.com. Examples:

Crackle: Free, full-length movies. Similar to netflix, but FREE!

Huff Post Live: Ahh, my guilty please. The Huffington Post. Great (and not so great) news stories. Free!

Ted Talks: Amazing talks given by amazing people. Free.

DogTV: OK, I haven’t checked this out yet, but it’s a channel to leave on for your dogs, while you are away. I’m completely serious. I might just have to try this. I mean, it says it is scientifically tested. It must be great.  Oh, did I mention? It’s Free!

OK, these are just a few channels of hundreds. HUNDREDS! NBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, Smithsonian, Indieflix, cooking shows, yoga, games and on and on.

If you are considering cutting your ties to the evil empire that is Comcast cable, just do it. Don’t worry, you can still be a couch potato with Roku…Just on your own terms. Win!

Watch out AT&T! You’re next up on the hit list.

EDIT: Ok, I just found out DogTV is $9.99 per month. So, until Dexter and Pixel start earning their keep, they will not be getting their own channel. Sorry pups!

Of course right after I sent off the payment, the Check Engine light came on in the car…But for now, I celebrate!

Another fantastically positive thing this week…my shoulder is getting better! I see a return to climbing in my near future. I have so missed it!  I downloaded a simple program on my work computer called BIG STRETCH that reminds my every half hour to either drink water or get up and do my shoulder stretches. Such an easy fix and it has really done wonders. I’ve been worried that I was going to need surgery, but I’m feeling more hopeful about the situation now.

Now I need to find a program for my Mac.

Happy weekend!

Friday night: The Kingfish Cafe, Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA

Food: Soul food. We ordered fried chicken, mac n’cheese, cornbread, blackened salmon, fried green tomatoes, mint juleps and a piece of German chocolate cake the size of my head.

Price: Free for bf and I! Medium expensive for our guests. Uh…we drove though.

Review: I’ve been here before and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Super tasty, flavorful comfort food with huge portions. I ate leftover for two days after. Really crispy buttermilk fried chicken and perfectly cooked salmon over buttery mashed potatoes. Expensive for the style.($9 for a SIDE of mac n cheese!!) While the cake is usually great, the German chocolate cake this time was too dense and a little dry. (I can make it way better just using the Baker’s chocolate recipe.) Worth it for special occasions, for sure.

Saturday Night: Wild Ginger, Downtown, Seattle, WA

Food: NW Asian Fusion. We ordered satay, crab, papaya salad, sea bass and mussels, wine and cocktails.

Price: Free for bf and I! Very expensive for our guests. Ok, well we paid for parking.

Review: I’ve lived in Seattle for 13 years and have been hearing about Wild Ginger almost as long. It’s hugely popular and is right next to Benaroya Hall (Seattle Symphony), so plays to the swanky crowd. The sea bass (sustainable) and Cambodian mussels were good. Really good.  OK , the sea bass was heavenly. But everything else was just so-so. Decent satay, bland papaya salad and boring skinny crab.  In my opinion, this place is HUGELY overrated. Not worth the money, or, in our case, our friends’ money.

The point of this post: Since we’ve been on our frugal streak, we have cut back enormously on the amount we eat out. We are saving huge amounts of cash each month because of this. And sometimes it’s really, really boring. Seattle is a foodie’s heaven and there are new restaurants opening ALL the time. I would love to try them all. Sometimes I feel deprived.  But, I just can’t right now. I’m working toward that dreamy life when I have my debts paid and money in my pocket.  SO, it’s ok. It turns out that popular restaurants, like Wild Ginger,  can be overrated and at the end of the night, you just feel a little taken. Taken WITH tax and tip.  Besides, I’ve discovered a whole new domestic side of myself that truly enjoys cooking.  And I’m pretty damned good at it.  Or, at least,  that’s what the bf tells me.

So, from my humble little kitchen, a Costco beer toast to creative home cooking and future financial freedom. Salud!

My student loans are my nemesis. I think about them all the time. I obsess. I worry. I ignore them. And then I don’t ignore them and they crush me. They are the dark clouds that hang over my sunny days.  They are the quicksand that drag me down, away from my bright future. I am a unicorn with it’s horn cut off. A playful puppy with a broken leg.

OK,  I’m just KIDDING. Really. I got carried away. And ridiculous.

But seriously friends, I go back and forth between sacrificing everything to pay them off fast, or riding out the income-based repayment plan in relative comfort. I cross my fingers for some miraculous national debt forgiveness by congress. I pray that Anonymous will hack into the federal debt system and erase everyone’s debt. Perhaps, a solar flare could knock out all power long enough to wipe out the federal debt database.

But in reality I know…These debts are mine. All mine. Lucky me.

I wish there was another way to tackle these suckers. I  mean…besides the whole work and repay them shtick.  Oh wait! Apparently there is. I have been coming across  some blogs in which the authors are just flat-out asking for donations to pay their loans. See this one, from a girl who found herself $200K in debt from an undergrad degree. A simple Google search reveals tons of websites of people out there asking, no begging, for money to repay loans. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Ok, yes, I want a very targeted and non-lethal meteor to wipe out all my student debt data, however, I don’t want complete strangers paying for my mistakes. The weird thing about these sites is that it’s apparently working! Not for all, I’m sure. But some lucky bloggers have raised tens of thousands of dollars, without offering anything in return! Christ.

Well, don’t worry friends,  I won’t be going down this road. For one…it’s already enough for me to admit publicly that I have student loan debt.  It’s kind of embarrassing. I would want to crawl in a hole and die of shame if I used my blog to beg for donations to pay for MY debt. I’ll stick to the old fashioned pay-it-off-myself way, thanks.

On the other hand, I  just came across this website called ZeroBound.com. It’s a crowd-funded site that is attempting to help transform volunteer hours into student loan debt reduction. It’s a nice pay-it-forward idea and I like it. I might even donate a little and keep my eyes on this as it seems like a more reasonable way to pay down debt. That is, WORK.

Well on that note….Have a happy Friday interwebs!  And if you are just can’t stand to NOT help me pay my loans…email me and I’ll give you my paypal info. Just kidding. (Unless you are really really serious).

Cheers,

Carrie

Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.
Khalil Gibran

I had to take a week off. I was in sort of a mood I guess. That’s common for me. I was afraid that this blog would turn into a rant, when I really want it to be a positive expression of my goals and experiences. But the truth is…sometimes experiences aren’t so positive and goals are not met. Sometimes my mind takes weird twists and I get off track. And besides, it’s winter in Seattle and my mood plummets along with my vitamin D levels. And well,…my car was broken into and I had to spend a small fortune to replace three broken windows. That didn’t help The Mood. Sigh…

So here I am, back after a little internet vacation. The purpose of this was really two-fold. First, because, physically, my shoulder is jacked and is beginning to get stuck in a permanent “mousing” position. Computer work hurts and my poor wing needed a break. I haven’t been able to climb seriously in months because of this and it’s time to fix it. Physical therapy and pills have done all they can do. I really need to make a serious effort to get better so I don’t have to do injections or surgery.

Secondly, I found that I was spending too much time drooling over vacation destinations and early retirement and travel blogs and not really enjoying my own life. I was getting depressed about where I WASN’T, instead of having gratitude for where I am. Oh, don’t worry, I still plan on drooling and reporting back to you guys on any new info I find. However, I need to learn to balance planning for the future and living in the present. I have it good right now and I need to enjoy it.

So, this week, I’ve been doing some yoga for my shoulder, baking a little, and reading a ton. I got a Kindle for Christmas and have been finding a ton of free books on Amazon and through my public library. Right now, I’m reading a really, well, weird, mix of books…Walden, the Millionaire Next Door and Debt, the First 5000 years. I cannot believe I had never read Walden. It’s been a calming act to read it. Really good for my soul.

And today, instead of settling in for a long morning of internet surfing and coffee drinking, I had breakfast with a friend and took a long walk with her and the dogs. And you know what? I do feel better. And happier. Fresh air, friends and exercise can do amazing things. I know this. but sometimes need a little nudge in that direction.

Going forward, I’m going to focus on balance. Balance between activity and rest. Between thinking of the future and enjoying the present. Between my natural cynicism and the positivity with which I struggle. It doesn’t mean I won’t slip again. I surely will. But,  we get to choose how we feel each day physically and mentally. I need to remember that.

Today I choose peace of mind and a happy shoulder.

Happy weekend!

We have too many choices.

I can’t help but think it sounds awful to say this out loud. Choice, as Schwartz says, is a central tenet of Western societies. Conventional wisdom tells us that more choices is better.  It’s part of the freedom that we value. It’s part of democracy. It’s part of capitalism.

I’ve traveled to a lot of places in the world where people have NO choices. They do what they can to feed themselves everyday. There is no choice. Or…take women in highly oppressive cultures. They don’t get to choose their path. The men around them choose for them. No choice is a terrible thing.

So…I can’t help but feel that by saying that I have TOO MANY choices, I am rejecting the very thing for which people before me have fought…That I don’t appreciate everything that I have and that I’ve been given. I feel as if I cannot express criticism in the midst of all the gratitude that I should and DO feel.

On the other hand…because I have had so many choices in life, I sometimes suffer from analysis paralysis, regret and dissatisfaction.  Schwartz argues that the multitude of choices DOES actually make us pretty miserable.

“The more options there are, the easier it is to regret anything at all that is disappointing about the option that you chose.”

Our expectations that there is a perfect choice out there sets our expectations very high. TOO high. So, in my mind, there is a perfect job out there for me. There was a perfect University to which I could have gone. There was some perfect major I could have chosen. There is some perfect life, perfect mate, perfect house, perfect diet, furniture, hairstyle, paint color, dog food etc.  I have thousands of choices in all of these things, so if the one I choose doesn’t  live up to my expectations of perfection, I feel dissatisfied and depressed.  Perhaps, as Schwartz said, the secret to happiness IS low expectations.

But how do we artificially lower our expectations? What is a good balance between no choice and a paralyzing amount? I don’t know.  Would the choice of ten salad dressings be better than one or 150? Five career paths better than five thousand? How do you reduce choices? Should you? If not,  how do you deal with the flood of choices in life? How do you learn to accept the choices you have made?

I really don’t have answers. I’m just putting my nutty thoughts  and experiences out in the digital ether. Maybe I’ll revisit the Art of Happiness and report back on a new theory tomorrow. Perhaps a different TED talk will inspire me in another direction. Maybe I’ll meditate. But, that’s enough…Here’s the video. Of the millions of videos out there you could watch right now…will you choose this?

Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice

-Henry David Thoreau

Is it weird that I read the Huffington Post’s “Post 50″ page? I mean, I’M 34. I should probably  be reading up on planning my perfect vintage-y wedding, or how to beget genius kids,  how to buy mid-century modern furniture, how I should dress to get my dream-job…something… well, something more 30s-ish. (Ok OK, I DO like mid-century furniture.)

Anyway,  instead I peruse early retirement forums, travel and personal finance blogs  AND my guilty pleasure, Huff Post 50. It’s internet crack for someone like me. Check it out…there are TONS of  idealistic articles about retiring early and retiring abroad, which, if you know me, are two of my favorite ideas. I get starry-eyed flipping through the “Best Places to Retire” slideshows or “How to live like a millionaire in South America” articles. They make is seem SO easy. Anyone can do it. I’m a dreamer for sure.

Why am I like this?  It seems the rest of my friends and colleagues are content just toiling away their lives. Most haven’t even thought about retirement. And sometimes I wonder if I’M missing something. Do I just not have a job that I love? (I actually like it). Maybe I don’t make enough money? (Not a ton but not TOO bad). Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by having lots of time off? (Probably).  But then I remember that I AM missing something. I’m missing OUT on life on MY terms. I’m missing out on the aforementioned marrow:

On adventure.

On travel.

On climbing.

On time with my family.

On hikes with my dogs.

On crafting and creating.

On starting my own business.

On writing more.

On enjoying the Seattle summer sun (that’s as valuable as gold people!)

Sure, I get to do all these, in the time I squeeze out at the end of the day, or after all the housework is done on the weekends. But essentially, every day I’m in the office, is a day that I’m NOT spending doing the things I love. Forty daylight hours lost every week, and this, while I’m young and healthy.   So…no wonder I’m obsessed with early retirement. Everyone should be.

However, any retirement calculator will tell you… this will be tough. They all say I will be short by thousands of dollars per month unless I wait until I’m 62 or 65 or maybe 67. BUT…I think there is some fault in their calculations. First…if all goes well, I will not need the same income or even 80%  that I have now,  in retirement. For one…I plan to have the mortgage paid off. Hey, there is an extra $1600 per month! Two, Dave and I will probably continue SOME kind of work and do  semi-retirement for awhile. Another couple thousand. And to top it all off…we could EASILY spend part of the year –maybe the whole year–in another country. So…that’s rental income! Or…just sell the house and invest the money.  Southeast Asia? $2000 per month is more than enough. Mexico or Central America? $3000 should do the trick, EASY.

I’m not an accountant. Or a tax attorney. Or a mathematician. I’m probably considered a fairly huge idiot by financial standards. I did take out about a gazillion dollars in student loans, after all. Not to mention the stupid PMI on my mortgage.  Sure, I’ve made mistakes. Everyone has. But I’ve turned a corner. I’m on a new path now.  I just don’t understand why so many people around me think that we MUST slave until we are 65. Unless they all love their jobs. Or they just don’t feel the soul-suckingness of it all like I do. Or perhaps,  they just can’t stand the thought of cutting back.

Who knows blogosphere? Maybe I’m too negative. Maybe I’m depressed. Maybe I should just suck it up. Maybe. But I’m gonna stay the  frugality and savings course regardless and MAYBE, just maybe, I’ll cut out a little early.

Cheers,

Carrie Snow

Well, for me, it  means another big chunk of that hard earned cash will be making its way to pay off the credit cards. Every last cent of extra money plus whatever I can Craigslist or Ebay this month.  It’s cool though. I don’t really NEED anything. And it’s not like I want two of these adorable bedside tables…

And I definitely don’t want a new duvet cover like this…

I want nothing to do with this outfit AT ALL…

Nope. Don’t want any of that. No sir.

So, I’m happy to send that check to old man Visa. He was such a nice guy to loan me that money. He probably needs it more now than I do anyway.

Happy payday to you!

Carrie Snow

PS. The end is in sight. Only a couple more payments.  Freedom is so close I can almost taste it!