November plan

I have identified 5 areas where I want to get stuff done during PeGeStuDoMo (Personal Getting Stuff Done Month):

a. A non-fiction book I've been working on for just over a year -- slated to be an e-book I just need to finish and publish it on Smashwords (basic version) and Lulu (deluxe? edition).

b. Unfinished documents -- I've identified 3 documents that need to be finished; one tied to a 43 things goal and two tied to (potential) apps that Hubby may work on.

c. Craft projects -- one specific item, one specific tutorial, and some Etsy maintenance fall into this area.

d. Preparation and planning -- here the goals are a little more shady; to identify (and write?) 4-5 tutorials and to write 6-8 articles for Frugal Victoria. I have a few ideas for each but they are not well-formed yet.

e. Other -- for lack of a better term, these are other web-based goals; replacing all the short reviews on my Victoria Guide that were leftover from the upgrade, and writing two specific reviews that will take some careful thought.

Can I do all of that inside a month? Unlikely, but I can give it my best shot. I got a couple of books out of the library to help with inspiration and motivation and I have a good supply of coffee and tea in the house.

this, that and the other...

this: Artist Chris Jordan hurts my brain. He has produced a series called Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait which adds a visual component to statistics of consumption. The one that really got me? "Plastic Bottles, 2007" which depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes. It's enough to make me want to climb on a soapbox and start pointing at people yelling "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" except that eventually I would get around to pointing at myself and then I would really look crazy....

that: Hubby and I have been getting angsty over unfinished projects again... however he has managed to build some really amazing things online this week, and I finally finished putting together the travel colouring kits that I prototyped years ago (when Kiddo was about 2 or 3 years old!) -- one, featuring drawings of my plush monsters, is now for sale in my etsy shop.

the other: the reality of moving must be setting in (not that we have found a place or listed our place, or really even started looking... ) because I am drawn to articles like Prepare Your Home for a Perfect Showing and Chunks of homebuying wisdom from the hive mind, even as I dream almost every night about moving, househunting, renovating, and everything about each of those things that might go wrong. It is not making for restful nights of sleep.

FrugalVictoria is Live (again)

My much-neglected FrugalVictoria website is once again shiny and ready for its closeup. (Many thanks to my Hubby for wrangling it on to the server; the initial screw up was my doing, when I moved the dns, I only did half the job. Oops.)

I started FrugalVictoria.com at a time when our finances were much tighter and every dollar added up. We bought factory-second disposable diapers by the carton; we used natural cleaners; we grew our own food; and we tried every brand of coffee on the shelf until we found a suitable replacement for the higher end beans we preferred.

At the time, there were a handful of sites devoted to "tightwads" and "dollar stretchers" but they were all American; there was very little in the way of Canadian -- let alone local -- information or resources. I kept it up for a couple of years, but then got busy with other things (blogging among them) and since finances were better, it didn't seem like I needed to focus on living cheaply.

Of course,Victoria is still one of the least affordable cities in Canada -- there are statistics to prove it -- but it's also one of the most desireable locations to live. And for every "high roller" who moves here, they're going to need a host of people able to survive on low wages in order to serve them coffee, sell them clothes, and care for their children.

On the other hand, there is more to FrugalVictoria than just finances. There's also living with less; simple living and getting back to basics. Some of the things that our grandparents took for granted -- knowing how to darn a sock, tend a garden, pickle cucumbers, or build a chair from scrap lumber -- these things are getting lost in the shuffle. Sure, most of us don't need to know how to do these things, but they are helpful and part of our cultural heritage.


Overall, I hope FrugalVictoria will be a great way for me to highlight free (or cheap) local events, big sales, and issues like finding affordable housing (no I haven't written that article yet....) as well as share tips on living for less and with less in the City of Gardens. Come over for a visit...




[And, yes, I not only get to scratch one more item of the List O' Unfinished Projects, but I also learned a whole lot about Drupal along the way that I can now apply to other projects.... which means another thing I can cross off the List!! Whee!]