Day 21 - Wallet Sized Tip Chart

My high school business teacher gave everyone in the class one of these little cards. I think it was supposed to help us save face at business lunches or something so we wouldn't under tip. It bothers me more to think if I am paying for a meal that someone is watching me fill out that section of the receipt! I usually calculate tips in my head which doesn't seem very hard and I am extremely math averse! If I were still struggling, I would use the calculator on my cell phone.

Day 20 - Travel Spirograph

I had a Spirograph at my grandparents house that I used to spend hours and hours playing with. This definitely reminded me of those memories and I am sure that is what inspired me to buy a travel version. I haven't used it in years though. It seems like it would be a fun thing to keep in a desk drawer at an office, but I think I will just let this one go.

Day 19 - School Related Items

So maybe some of you are noticing how late my daily post is. I have a good excuse though, I swear! I was working frantically on my required research paper that was due. This research paper had an entire class devoted to its undertaking. It has been described as a mini-dissertation by some. All I know is that I am glad it is done and I hope to never have to write another one again! This was the last class that I needed to get my bachelors degree!!!

In honor of this fantastic milestone, I am THRILLED to be tossing the huge stack of research articles I printed into the recycle bin! Equally as thrilling is getting rid of the highlighters I was using to comb through each of the articles. It was very late in the game when I realized that Apple has fantastic annotation tools for PDFs, which means I could have gone totally paperless. That would have saved a lot of time and resources, but now I can use the tools for any future highlighting needs! I will reserve just one physical highlighter since I don't need the rainbow assortment any longer. Also getting the boot are all of my leftover test forms.

I have to admit that this particular purge feels so great. The biggest purge is actually in my mind since I am not obligated to worry and stress out about getting my schooling completed any longer. I am sure it will take some time to clear it out completely, as old habits can be tough to break. I look forward to this next chapter though.

Day 18 - Body Jewelry

I believe I was about 20 years old when I thought getting a belly button piercing would be cool. What was very UNCOOL was the fact that the piercer did it wrong (and I went to an extremely reputable place) and pierced a spot where it would rub against my pants when I sat, therefore it stayed chronically infected. Fun times, huh? Good riddance to these beasts of torture!

Day 17 - Christmas Themed Picture Frame

It is sad, but I believe there already Christmas advertising that was happening in a local mall somewhere last month! The television reporter asked how the girl felt about shopping for Christmas in July and the young twenty-something year old exclaimed how wonderful it was since "you can never get too early of a start on Christmas shopping"! I don't know why exactly, but I was rather shocked by her remarks. I am hoping she was paid for her enthusiasm because everyone that I know has downshifted when it comes to Christmas spending, which means less time in a mall. Maybe I am just projecting here though. In my efforts to strive for simplicity, I went through my box of Christmas decorations and got rid of any superfluous items. I have a small 4 ft. Christmas tree and a couple of stockings. I don't need items to decorate the entire house, nor do I decorate for any other holiday. Having pictures in holiday frames isn't necessary for me which is rather evident since this has never been used!

Day 16 - Travel Pillow

I love to travel, but most of the time I absolutely loath the process of traveling from point A to point B. Maybe it is because we are loaded into airplanes like cattle. There was once a time when flying was a big deal! Men & women would dress in their finest clothing, have matching luggage sets and being a stewardess was a coveted job! Sadly I wasn't born yet to experience that sort of luxury. Now I just schlep though the airport in jeans and pray I won't be seated next to a screaming baby or the chatty heavy smoker/coffee drinker who ran out of breath mints. I am a carry-on only kind of girl and have been that way for quite sometime. I went to Europe about 12 years ago and immersed myself in the carry-on gospel preached by Rick Steves. Fortunately I converted before they started charging for checking your baggage!

It came to my attention a few months ago that I had quite a few travel pillows for just myself! I had FIVE to be exact! I guess I have just hid them well in various places. I have already gotten rid of three. This one makes four, although I haven't decided if I like the one pictured (which is full of cushy micro beads) or a small traditional type of pillow. One of them is going though and I am leaning towards this one. I do have a dilemma because both of these are bigger than what I would want to take in my carry-on. These are more for car traveling. Ideally I would like a super packable travel pillow that will knock my socks off in both comfort and portability. Anyone know of one??? Please leave a comment if you do. In the meantime, I guess I should be brainstorming how to fit my chiropractor in my carry-on!

Day 15 - Necklace

In one of my previous posts, I had discussed the easiness of getting rid of things that had negative emotions attached to it. Fine jewelry is a bit tricky to deal with though! There is usually a small voice in the back of my head saying that it is REAL white gold and those are TRUE diamonds on it... it must be worth quite a bit! In reality, jewelry store markup is outrageous and yet I would guess that 99% of people that shop in those places are shopping on emotion, not the better judgement we use day to day for our other decisions.

At the time, this was a thoughtful gift from a relative, although I never wore it. I am not big on fine jewelry and to me there is something a bit stressful about wearing something pricey on my clumsy self! Earrings and rings seem to do alright, but not dangly things with lots of slack! More recently though, my relationship with that relative has turned quite ugly. It is saddening that this happens, but I value my sanity and happiness. I also know that this person uses guilt and gifts as a bargaining tool. I got tired of hearing how I was supposed to be doing work to help her out because she had bought me all these things (none of which I had asked for). Not having this negative reminder around will clear up some mental space for happier things. I hope this necklace brings someone else some joy and happiness though!