graceb123's Profile

Display Name: graceb123
Member Since: 1/17/13

Latest Comments...

Rule #2 is most helpful for me.

The biggest place where I splurge is food. Trying to stay more strict with my food shopping is so hard. Especially if I want to reward myself with some ice cream!


It's the Little Things:
5 Ways to Spend Less & Reduce Clutter
1/24/13 2:43 PM

Have not had a car in the last 6 months (it died last August, sold to junker). My boyfriend and I take the bus (we live in Austin) or walk everywhere we need to go. It has definitely helped my time management skills. I love reading on the bus and I BUDGET MY TIME to get places.

I have also lived in cities with major transportation systems--the Bay Area and the DC Metro. As a system, I hands down prefer the Metro over BART. Also was really surprised by how much driving I ended up doing.

However I grew up in a suburb where public transportation was non existant and really grew to love driving. But then I go home to see family and get my fix when I borrow the car! I can't imagine being able to afford a car at this point in life and I'm not too worried about it. We do use a carshare.

Check out Straphanger by Taras Grescoe for more transportation knowledge, his book is excellent!


Driving VS Public Transit: What's Your Preference?
1/22/13 8:29 PM

I bought a few paperbacks at thrift stores on a cross-country move last summer but haven't bought any new books since. My book collection is actually about 10 books I think? I know I am definitely in the minority. If I want to read something I get it at the library. I keep a to-read list on my computer and always have something in my holds list for reading. Sometimes I have to wait awhile for a newer book but I don't feel bad about not buying them. As for other media, I have only kept dvds of movies that I enjoy re-watching as well as a few harder to obtain tv series so my dvd collection is under twenty discs. The boyfriend and I have a few joint cd cases (yea we both us cd players! I have nice headphones which makes for a good listening experience). He also has a small (used to be quite vast!) record collection that we play on our little portable record player. Our tv is ancient and has a VCR so we do have some VHS but that's a small collection too.

All of this to say that I have a small (compared to most others) media collection and am doing okay! What I would really love is to pare down our linens...


Day 12: Declutter Books & Media Apartment Therapy January Cure
1/17/13 1:28 PM