Lessons learned recently

I have been quite neglectful of my blog with the exception of sporadic posting these days, but I haven’t forgotten about Small Budget ,Big Style. I finally feel like I can breath easier now that my spring semester has ended and my summer classes have not started yet. Here are some updates/recent lessons learned:

• Some technology upgrades do make my life easier. I recently decided to bite the bullet and purchase an iPhone. My cell phone bill is not that much higher than it was with my previous cell phone and plan. I also cut my landline to allow for more room in my budget. I plan to start using Skype or iChat when necessary, but see since my cell phone service works better in my apartment with my new phone, I can do without the landline. I like Apple technology and wanted a PDA phone that could help me manage my schedule, email and also had other features that would interest me. After about two weeks, I love being able to manage my email (work and personal) and respond back immediately to people. I am also an innately curious person, so I love being able to Google any idea or person I’m curious about immediately. I also like the fact that since I have a Macbook, I can synch my cell phone calendar and the calendar on my computer. I see how you can become a little too dependent on technology, but if used in moderation, it can really make life easier.

• I need to work on managing my time better. Some things on my things to-do list have gone by the wayside recently like staying on top of all of my email accounts, posting regularly on this blog and exercising regularly. I believe I do have time to do all of the things I’m interested in, I just need to manage my time better. I need to train myself to wake up earlier because I really am more productive in the mornings and either read/do homework, exercise, work on blog posts for an hour each morning before I get in my day because I normally don’t feel like doing any of those things at the end of the day.

• You really do learn to live on what’s left over when you increase savings. I opened a Roth IRA and now have money automatically taken out each month as I also do with my Emergency savings fund and I realize I should have done it sooner, because I don’t miss the money and I really can manage on less if forced to. Next year I will set the goal of maxing out my IRA, but for now, I want to continue with other savings goals.

• I thought Twitter was a little silly at first, but now I actually like it! I jumped on the bandwagon with Twitter and you are welcome to follow me/tweet: @SBChick. I actually Tweet much more now that I can access Twitter on my phone. It’s a great way to connect with people I love getting news updates, or chatting with people, seeing what interesting links people are ‘tweeting’ about.

• I need to try baby steps for my next shopping moratorium. My shopping moratorium for the first six months of the year was a failure. I was good until my birthday month of March with no shopping and then just could not sustain no shopping after that. I do plan to try it again in the future, but not for such a long stretch. I plan to do a shopping moratorium again but for 30 day increments and eventually work my way up to six months. It’s a good check to do from time-to-time to test if you really need the items you want to purchase. I want to focus on quality not quantity for clothing and other non-essential purchases for the future. I am by no means anti-shopping, but I want to learn to shop smarter in general and not just buy things on a whim, which I have caught myself doing before. I am amazed by bloggers I read regularly that are so disciplined at cutting non-essential spending saving large amounts of their income and want to do so also.

Have you learned any lessons/insights about yourself recently?