What I'm NOT Doing

I am doing so many things right now that I feel just turned upside down. I'll right myself in a bit, I know that for sure, but here are two things I have decided to do to help do this:

I will not watch ANY American Evening News show for the next two weeks.

I will not obsessively log into my Roth IRA account to check it's "status".

As far as I can tell, the news all about the doom and gloom on Wall Street, the doom and gloom in the economy, the doom and gloom in the world and the upcoming US election process. Thanks to the Internet, I can pick and choose the information I want to keep up with. I like being informed, I don't like being inundated with nothing but bad news. It's bad enough my boss is obsessing about the Dow Jones Industrial Average (currently it is up 177, good considering the European and Tokyo markets had a hit today). I don't need to have it thrown at me every time I turn on the radio or TV.

It's times like this I wish I had cable so I could just tune out to HGTV or some other cable channel.

Yes, I am concerned about the economy, my full time job depends on a healthy market and my part time job in real estate depends on a healthy market. But what I am trying to avoid is this overwhelming feeling that my world is coming to an end because of this economy. I know I probably should not have dipped into my Efund as much as I did the past few months (damm those hobby expenses I tagged emergencies :) ), but I don't want to continually kick myself for those past decisions and fear what may happen to my future because I spent $200 on hobby expenses. I did it, I've moved on.

What has this got to do with personal finance? It's about taking a deep breath, looking at the spending plan, and not freaking out. It's about calmly planning a head. It's about skipping a movie night in favor of a rewatching an old DVD night. It's about making do with the food in the pantry (which is more than adequate) instead of stopping at the grocery store to "make a meal". It's about dusting off those old sewing skills and fixing buttons and holes in pants pockets. It's about not having a panic attack and taking it one day and dollar at a time.

The Weekend Plan

I've got this upcoming weekend booked with a to do list that goes against my edict of earlier this month to NOT over load the To Do list with easy to accomplish minutia. That lasted all of 10 days.

The storms last weekend sort of flattened a couple of my flower beds, knocked down a bunch of sunflowers, and I have some neglected gardening to do anyway. The weather is questionable (as of this am), but as long as it's not a downpour, I think I'll start deadheading flowers, plant bulbs, work on the mulch pile, I did mow the lawn last night, you know, start to put the garden to bed for the winter. I just have this feeling that winter will come early to New England.....

My big plan for the weekend is to actually paint my bedroom. I have been mulling this over for almost 2 years and now is the weekend to do this. I have to get this done, I have to refresh my space. I'm tired of looking at my walls and going-they need to be painted.

I will be meeting a friend for pizza and beer on Saturday night. We get together once a month (we missed August), we catchup on gossip, we BS with each other and we just hang out. One month I treat, one month she treats. The system works out well and after a day of moving furniture and painting, I know I won't be in the mood to cook myself some dinner. Exciting isn't it?