The littlest things can make the biggest difference

I've started budgeting my money. On Friday when I get my check, I put a certain percentage on my car loan, take out a small percentage for expenses (lunch, cigarettes, gas, books.) and put the rest in my savings. By the time I get my master's degree, I will have enough money to support myself financially in an apartment and still be able to pay my student loans and car payments each month.

 

Focus:

Just started doing this and have already fucked it up this week, but limiting online time at work (checking both personal and worke-mail, facebook, TIB, etc.) to two scheduled times per day, lunch and a half hour before leaving work. Not only am I more productive, but time seems to go by faster when I have no choice but to focus, it helps that I work for a small company so I get to leave earlier.

Making food in bulk and eating it through the week. Saves time and money, enough said. The key is to know when to cut your losses and throw out something you fucked up/don't like/are sick of, if you try to power through you'll be back to fast food in no time.

Also got rid of cable, just don't need it. Since ditching it I've bought two Apple TV's and two Rokus, still way ahead of the game cost wise.

You can obviously read the paleo thread to see what changes and progress I've made, but after six years of saying I'll get around to losing the weight I put on in my last year of college and subsequent desk jockey years I finally took control of my diet and lifestyle to get my health in line.

Alt Focus:

While this is brilliant for most people, there was a period where I was compulsively calculating and recalculating my budget multiple times per day, this was a huge waste of time. I've been trying to force myself to look at online bank accounts and credit card balances as little as necessary, the best I've been able to do so far is once a day (besides when I was in Asia, I pretty much cut the cord that whole trip).

 

Anti-Focus: Single ply.

 

For the folks who have gotten rid of cable--how do you watch live sports without it?? I'm essentially paying $80/month to watch sports (it's not the only thing I watch on TV, but it's the only thing I'd really miss or couldn't watch on Hulu/Netflix/etc.), as a huge sports nut it's worth it to me but if there was a way to watch all the games I want through another source in HD I could drop cable in a heartbeat.

 

Started jerking off with the left hand.

 

...Go on...

 

When I drop something on the kitchen floor, I now pick it up instead of kicking it under the refrigerator.

 

YEah, this is my question too. I could definitely get by w/o regular cable, but not watching sports would be a huge pain. Sure, you can stream them, but they typically look like absolute shit.

 

I have been taking an instant dislike to most new people that I meet.

I find that it tends to save a heap of time.

 

1) Gave up porn. Yes I know, sacrilege. And, considering where I work, somewhat ironic. My libido increased and my imagination has gotten a LOT better. It's probably not for everyone, but it worked for me.

2) Waking up a half hour earlier. Instead of running around with juuuuust enough time to make it to work, I can relax and read a magazine while I eat breakfast.

3) Make your own food. As Frank mentioned, making your food for the week ahead of time saves you a bunch of time and money. It's great.

 

This is by FAR the one thing I miss about not having cable. I buy the online package for baseball/basketball. It's relatively cheap, $25 a month for baseball gets you 90% of the games. With that package I can also watch the games on my iPhone for free if I'm out and about. Basketball gets a little tricker, as it costs more for less games. Also, if you go onto the NBA.com site(and the game is on TNT), there's a link where you can watch a feed of the game for free. All of these have an HD option by the way. I also have a cord that connects my computer to the TV so I don't have to watch the games on a laptop.

The biggest problem is football, as they don't have an official video option. The fiancee's dad put two wires on my TV(I can find out exactly what if anyone is interested) that allow us to watch the first 10 channels of basic cable for free. It's basically ABC/NBC/FOX/Mexican channel, but I can watch the majority of football games this way. Failing that, I just suck it up and watch the game at a bar.

 

I've been doing this for nearly 10 years, found it much easier than using the mouse with my left hand. Conversely...

Focus: Stopped masturbating to porn. I had performance issues before, sans porn things have righted themselves, I feel 17 again.

 

I quit drinking. Coming up on about 8 months now.

I never intended it to go this long. Mostly it was a weight loss issue, but then I started working out early in the morning and that didn't work if I had a few drinks the night before, so it's just kept going. Now I can't seem to come up with an event or occasion important enough to break my streak.

At this point given the weight I've shed and the length of time it's been since I had one I'll probably either fall asleep or fall down next time I have a glass of something.

 

1) I've made sure I'm in a good mood before I go out to have drinks with others. By no means was I an angry raging dickhead when I did drink with others before, but I did find I would occassionally be unhappy or not in the greatest mood if I was dwelling on something that was previously annoying me, which I could put on other friends or whatever. All it takes is a quick mental check on myself, but I've found if I go out with a better mindset and a clear head that everything is 20x better, and I have a much better time. It seems basic and obvious, but I've found that personally its a huge difference for me.

2) Less sporting related banter with friends that support other teams. I'm sick of getting caught in long-winded "arguments" over a game of sport that I'm not even playing in. I love the teams I support, but things are so much stressful if I'm not going out of my way to give someone shit because my team beat theirs. Again, I wasn't a raging dickhead when I did do this, but at the end of the day it doesn't hurt to get less involved in that sort of behaviour. I've found now that it's far easier to watch sport with other people, including when my team is playing or losing.

3) I can quite easily playing the ps3 for a couple of hours each day. Now I'm trying to combine it with some sort of exercise in-between game breaks whenever possible, whether it just be some weights or sit ups. It's healthier and means I am being active, even if it is for a short period of time.


I guess my changes are just me trying to be a happier person, and trying to avoid any sort of negativity wherever I can help it. People like being around those types of people, and I want to be that type of guy.

 

Like Noland, I quit drinking, 4 years ago today. But I can't really say that was a small, subtle change. For me, it was a major lifestyle overhaul comprised of numerous large and small changes, but all of them have had a positive effect on my life.

And I switched shampoo.

 

I started using the mouse with my left hand. Ambidexterity for the win.

 

At a bare minimum I'd want to be able to watch pro and college football, NHL, some soccer (US national team/big MLS and European games), and at least the same amount of baseball and college hockey I'm able to watch now living out of market (usually a game every week or two for the Phillies and BC in their respective seasons).

I'm sure it could be done....but I'm paying $80/month or so for cable (including HD, premium sports package, and DVR). Once you've factored in the cost of all the different online packages I'd need to buy in order to watch the sporting events I want to and the occasional bar trip for a game (figure conservatively at $20 if I'm just going to watch the game and not the kickoff to a drunken night out), plus Netflix/Hulu fees for TV shows/movies and a few bucks a month for a faster internet package than what I currently use (when I try to watch stuff on ESPN360 I'm almost always left with either frequent buffering or a horrible picture), would it even be worth it?? Keep in mind that setting all this up would be a huge pain in the ass and that I do watch other stuff on TV since I have it anyway, not to mention the difference in picture quality. I can definitely understand the "get rid of cable because it's destroying your life" argument but from a purely financial standpoint I'm not sure that it makes any sense if you watch as much sports as I do.

 

I think the problem is we just like different sports. I despise all college sports with a passion, so I have no idea if they offer anything online. I'm also very neutral about hockey and soccer in general. I basically just watch baseball(by far the favorite)/basketball/football. Baseball and basketball pretty much bookend each other, so I'm never paying for both at the same time. The basketball one is only slightly more expensive than the baseball one(can't remember off the top of my head...want to say $30 a month).

The "set up" for the online packages(and I'm using that term VERY loosely) takes less than five minutes each, and that's probably exaggerating. After that, you never have to worry about it again as it just bills you monthly(or you can save some money and pay for the entire season at once). The wire that hooks up the laptop to the TV is just that, a single wire. You could probably buy it at Best Buy for $10 and takes seconds to plug in.

Like I said, the biggest pain in the ass is football. I could easily see someone making the argument that going to the bar every Sunday is more expensive than paying cable/satellite/whatever for football on TV. From my point of view though, its just not worth it as I'm pretty adamant about my daughter being raised without cable/satellite. That sentence you typed about watching other stuff on TV because you have it anyway is exactly why I don't have it, because I'd probably be tempted to do the same.