Organize Now! : Book Review

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A couple of months ago I was given a copy of Organize Now!: A Week-by-Week Guide to Simplify Your Space and Your Life and a copy of Organize Now! Your Money, Business & Career: A Week-by-Week Guide to Reach Your Goals for review. Since I’m just now getting around to doing the review you can probably tell that I haven’t actually implemented advice in the books. That isn’t the book’s fault though.

I never did get to look through the business book because my wife took that one for herself and used it. I know she really liked the book and you can take the fact that she is actually using it as an endorsement. I could use a time management book but I’ve never implemented the ones I’ve read so this one probably wouldn’t have been any different.

The other book is more focused on organizing clutter than time management although it does touch upon that as well. As the book description says this updated and expanded edition of the bestselling Organize Now! features even more quick, effective organizing ideas. Easy-to-follow checklists show you how to organize any part of your life in less than one week. You spend more time organizing and less time reading—a perfect fit for your busy lifestyle. Long-term goals help keep the clutter away for the months and years to follow, so you can maintain the order you create. It looked like it would actually deliver what it promises but since I don’t really have a problem with clutter I haven’t used the book. If either or these books are of interest to you there are more reviews and further description of the books at Amazon.

I Bought a Van

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van I went ahead and bought a van.  It is a passenger van but I plan to modify it somewhat so that I can live in it.  I did have to go into debt to buy it which I didn’t really want to do but the vans I saw that I could purchase outright just were not very good.  After trading in my Camry I have a debt of $2750 on this van, a 2000 GMC Safari.  I would like to have that debt paid off by the end of the year.

Ever since reading Blue Highways: A Journey into America in high school I have wanted to take a road trip across the country and visit all the 48 contiguous states. I still probably won’t be able to do that this year due to limited funds and other obligations but I hope to make at least one long road trip and visit a few of the states I haven’t been to yet. I’ll keep you updated as my plans develop.

The Homeless Experiment

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Due to developments that I do not wish to discuss on this blog I am no longer living in my apartment.  If you are a long time reader of this blog you might remember that at one time I dreamed of living in a van down by the river.  So I am looking at my current situation as a chance to actually live that dream.  I might end up not liking it but it should at least be an interesting experience.

it has been harder to find that I like in my price range than I anticipated. In the meantime I am sleeping at various different places.  I have camped out a few nights, slept in my car a couple nights, stayed at a friend’s a couple nights, stayed at my mom’s a few nights, and even slept in my storage unit a couple nights.  These are all a lot better than actually being homeless but they aren’t great. I’m hoping I find a van soon or I’ll probably break down and rent an apartment for a short term. This was going to be a longer post but the admin for this site has been down all day and now the library is about to close. There will be more posts on this topic soon.

April Income – $1579.14

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Here is a breakdown of my income for April.

Online Income

 $1299.78

Interest

$2.12

Stock Dividends

$34.72

Cash Back

$97.52

Sell Stuff

$145

Total

$1579.14

As you can see my online income took a big hit.  It will probably be even lower this month.  If I could keep it around the thousand dollar level I’ll be happy.  I did  a fair amount of mystery shopping during the last half of April but I won’t receive that income until later this month.  I got a start on selling stuff last month and I plan to sell a lot more stuff this month.  After this month I probably won’t have much left to sell unless I buy stuff to resell.  I might do that since I’m looking at ways to increase my alternative income and passive income.  I definitely want to have a higher income than this but I can do ok at this income level if necessary.

April Expenses – $2428.55

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Here is a breakdown of our expenses for April.

Household

$520.88
Entertainment

$51.72

Transportation

 $793.35

Food

$458.76
Interest $50
Student Loan $71.87
Cable/Internet

$65.38
Phone

$120
Electric

$71.85
Health

$224.74

Total

 $2428.55

 

April expenses were lower than March but still a little high.  Most of that was due to various expenses (registration,insurance,tax,maintenance) involved with buying another car.  I also had to start paying my student loan and incurred a one time interest expense.  My expenses for May will be much different.