What is with the grass? It's growing like... weeds. I have to mow again, but my evenings are really busy all week. Yesterday should have been the day, but I took a long nap instead. And stayed up late, and had difficulty sleeping! I think right now my body is trying to disassociate the few nights I've had so far where anxiety ruled and sleep was hard to come by. Until then, my bed isn't the place of relaxation I need it to be. I did drink coffee today, which I haven't been doing lately. The weak logic here is that maybe if I'm more awake during the day, I'll sleep better at night.
My eyes seem to be doing well, mostly. Stuff isn't bothering me as much lately, and they aren't hurting all the time. I wore contacts yesterday, and they were a bit on the dry side, but that isn't really new. I do still see flashes out of the same place in my left eye, but apparently it's just something to get used to, as the vitreous continues to tug a bit on my retina. I went back in on Monday just to be safe, and they said everything looks good. And I have another checkup in about two weeks.
My house is a mess right now. I don't exactly blame the roommates, but doing so is helpful for making me feel better! I just tell myself that I'll do everything I need to do once they are out, because I'll have that downstairs living room in which I can store lots of furniture. Then I can reallocate shelves as needed, and go through some of the clutter that has been building up. And I can start hacking away at some minor landscaping outside, and hopefully clean up cigarette butts for the final time. I'm thinking vacuuming should be a priority, because I still strongly suspect that I have some minor eye irritation stemming from allergies such as the pet dander. It would help if I brushed that hairy beast of mine more often, too. My Roomba only cleans the kitchen on a daily basis, but even so it is usually full to the brim of pet hair (thus my weak justification for that purchase).
Speaking of... I have been doing pretty well with controlling my budget and adjusting to life without freelance income, not to mention the forward looking expectations of life without roommate income! Interest rates have dropped again, so I refinanced my car... again. I'm rolling one of my credit cards into it. It wasn't high interest, but higher than the new loan, and that rate expired in December and jumped some more. And besides, the reason that card had money on it in the first place was because I used my cash rewards card to pay for some of my car, and then transferred it to that card since the balance transfer rate was the same as my car loan. But it really is car debt, so it helps to keep it in a single loan. My monthly debt payments are a little higher now, but not by too much, and theoretically, that combined with lower interest is a good formula for relatively big savings on interest.
I do hope to get a new roommate or two, though, and I am expecting a raise June 1st, and my laptop will be paid off (interest free loan through work) as of December 12th. Those things will all help my monthly budget out, if I can continue to keep my expenses and spending within the budget, but in addition, I might also look into adjusting my federal tax withholdings, since this will be my first year of being able to deduct a full years' worth of mortgage interest. I have a feeling I would be due a large refund if I leave things as it is, but I prefer to increase my income now, to pay off debts and reap the benefits of interest savings myself instead of giving that opportunity to the IRS.
Unless I do manage to really cut spending, though, without roommates, I don't have any money going into savings on a regular basis. That bothers me a lot. Most of my life, I lived that way, but over the past two years or so, I've had automatic savings plans, and I've found it quite helpful. Without it, I might not have my house or paid off so much of my car. I'd probably have just spent more. So I'm trying to get a solid "yes" or "no" from the potential roommates I've talked to, so I can either look forward to that income (and their company, of course), or talk to others about the possibility. I'm pretty sure there's at least one person that will be a good match as a roommate, and I don't like sitting around waiting to hear from others, not knowing if or when I'll be able to have that new roommate move in.
Work has been rough while my body tries to adjust to sleeping normal hours again. Last week was actually really good in that respect, but this weekend turned everything upside down. So I'm struggling to be productive and to even have the energy to stick around for eight hours. And I'm pretty much blogging now to clear my mind, pass time, and perhaps get my gears turning. I hope it worked.
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