Whoops!

 So I was having some anxious feelings about buying All pods with my free $10 promotional credit. And today I finally went to use it...they're liquid pacs! I don't know why I feel bamboozled. I think because the free trials of pods I'd gotten were some sort of solid or gel. These feel very liable to damage and I feel a bit scammed. They just repackaged some liquid soap. I think I thought I was getting a different product.

Plus I was counting on Pods as a way to travel with some detergent easily. There goes that. And I'm really not even sure how to use detergent in my machine since it's load sensing so doesn't really fill up with water enough for me to put the detergent in the water. Ugh, anyway, as I always fear when buying things in bulk, now I have this giant pack to finish. Oh, well.  This is not a life deal breaker.

Look at me - getting over things quickly!

Accomplishments:

- Yesterday, got some moo shu pork and plan to eat that over the next 3 days. 

- Made a quick 10 day meal plan to relieve some anxious feelings about what to eat before my trip. I can't believe I'm leaving next week. 

- Orkin is coming today

- Got 1 load of laundry in; stripped duvet cover and finally washing that

- Went into, not one, but 2 scary closets. I'm a big girl! 

It's a nice rainy day, so it'll be a nice day to stay in. 

Also didn't buy sugary cereal yesterday. But I'm realizing at my age any kind of restriction is better dealt with replacement behavior and a true understanding of what I'm trying to accomplish. Because while I left the Honeycomb and Cornpops in the aisle, I ended up walking out with a box of animal cookies. Whoops! 

It didn't even cross my mind what I was doing. They're tasty and they're usually sold out at Walmart, so it was an easy yes.

Speaking of Easy Yes, I made a list of things that would make staying in Newtown an easy Yes once the program is over:

1) sustained elevated mood

2) 3 friendships

3) sustainable social activity at least 3x/week

These aren't definite and I have the right to change my mind, but sometimes I forget what I'm looking for. So if in Mar of 2024, I find myself indecisive, I can just reference my notes (this is if I remember I have said notes!). 

At this point, the numbers suggest that I could make both a $60k and a $30k (leanFIRE+) budget work in Newtown, so the issue is really a lifestyle choice - do I want to keep being a homeowner? Somehow the influx of new residents in the newly built townhomes has got me vacillating on both. One can't help but pause  that people actually want to live here when I'm desperately trying to move out. It's cause for pause for sure. So on the one hand, it feels like an opportune time to sell my house if I really want to walk away with some money in my pocket. On the other hand, if other people want to live here, then maybe I should stick around and see. 

I was thinking last night that I had been to some meetups recently, and I realized I hadn't been all year. The only thing I've really done outside the house was 1 morning of volunteering with Science Olympiad in 3.5 months. Whoa, well I did kind of imagine this year would be me getting used to hanging around myself. The first 2 months of the year, I was sick and busy with work, so I didn't notice. I used the extra free time to sleep. Then March was a slow month and I spent most of it crying. Definitely my lowest mood to date, at least this year, if not since I've been tracking. 

I've significantly tamed contact with Maryland Aunty and Frenemy. Maryland Aunty moreso than Frenemy. But massive progress in both cases. 

Yes, friends. I'm really living this life solo.

It's so funny because the Meetup events seemed recent - like I just learned pickleball, and I did just go on that walk. But nope! My last Meetup event was Dec 3, 2022! That was 4 months ago! 

Today was payday, so that feels awesome. And New Bank was sending me alerts of my deposit that I didn't even remember setting up. So that feels like things are moving in the right direction! 

Having slept on it, I'm kind of loving the idea of getting a summer job, especially if I stick around this summer, and work is light. Not sure yet what that would look like, so we shall see. Oh! I might try those gig apps but my town is so small, who knows.