Thursday, February 16, 2012

[New Year New You] Wheel of Morality: A Response

The goal I focused on for the New Year New You project was to get all of my bills caught up and to start my emergency fund off with $200.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite make it on time.

But that's just the bad part.  The good part is that I got all but two of my bills caught up on Monday.  I've been keeping my budget and, if I'm not mistaken, I will have the funds for the remaining two tomorrow.  Any tax refund that I get will go toward my emergency fund, and it currently is tax time.  I just have a missing 1099-G form holding me up.

In short, although I didn't achieve my goal by Valentine's Day, it has a very high likelihood of being achieved within the next week or two.


What Did I Learn?

In the end, most of the last couple years where I've been perpetually behind on bills wasn't due to any other reason than my own neglect.  I don't just mean my neglect at initially causing them to be behind, either; there were times where I favored getting takeout more than keeping that money to put toward getting caught up.

I've also learned the sheer extent to which I've been in a bad position in life, teetering on the edge of complete and total ruin.  I've been leaning on the kindness and generosity of state and family, and that's no way to live your life.  By not having at least a little money motivation, I've been dooming myself to a life of daily grind, routine, and a type of slavery where I never get to really have an amazing, fun time.  I want more than that!

It's a struggle, and it may be a struggle that I will always undergo, but it's totally worthwhile!


Where Do I Go From Here?

More financial enchantments are in store.  For a long time I had planned on creating a magical cashbox, detailed in TSS.  But with the tools and materials I've had available, my primadonna side won't let me.  So, I'm considering a Jupiter/Mercury-based spirit bottle!  I even have a cobalt glass bottle that is just right for it!

Of course, I'm not stopping there.  There will be conjurations of various and sundry spirits for information and guidance, at least one talisman, sigils fired off, and other goodness.  More immediately, I'm going to be enchanting for repairs on my vehicle, which at this point is more an issue of the funds to pay for my mechanic's cheap prices!  ;)

I even have a post in mind to detail magical actions I've taken to help with my employment.  And once I start seeing proof of results or failure on them, I will detail the cases of my first clients!  I'm so excited!

I'm definitely keeping on with the New Year New You project for its longer-term version, if it's still ongoing. Even if it isn't, I'm taking notes of the relevant posts from her blog and will probably put them into practice! That brings me to my next point...


Final Word

I want to take the opportunity to thank the lovely and marvelous Deb for putting this experiment together.  She really has a muse going on there, because I know I've been inspired!  I look forward to more goodness!  ;)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

[New Year, New You] Fall Off The Horse, Get Back On - Rinse and Repeat

I've been at odds with life lately.

By "life", I mean that strange *thing* that can alternately mean fate, chance, The Way Things Happen...the whole package.  It's what your parents are talking about when you're a teenager complaining about something or other, and they tell you, "Well, that's just life!"  Shit Happens, as they say, and on most occasions, it seems like there is little or nothing anyone can do about it, least of all you.  Even though it's happening in and to your life.

This post is in response to the New Year New You writing prompt by Deb entitled 'Some Enchanted Evening'.

Well, when "Just Life" happened to me recently and I lost my job because of some namby-pamby feely-weely personality fascist, I jumped straight into enchantment in a way I never truly have before.  In a recent post I talked about how I immediately went into conjuring the powers of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury to lend stability to my life and to help me find work again quickly.  They delivered, and I've been at the new job for 2 1/2 weeks now.  It's been an adjustment, but it's coming along.

I've been lax with the enchanting lately, though.  It has honestly felt like, since I got my new job, I've been trying to play "Recuperate" and failing at it.  There are things I haven't entirely processed, and I really need to stop, assess where I am and where I want to be, and then move forward accordingly.

However, that is just in regards to my life in general.  For my stated goals for the New Year New You experiment, however, I'm only slightly behind.  There has not been much enchantment that needs to be done.  The only things I can think of are as follows:

  • Doing work to assist with better discipline as I near the completion of my stated goal.
  • Doing further workings to pull together more money from miscellaneous sources to finish faster.
  • Setting up a Jupiterean/Mercurial spirit bottle/house to help with my financial goals.

This coming Tuesday, I will be starting the work on the discipline, and on subsequent days after that, I will be doing more work toward the rest.