Thoughts: I’ve been working on revising my budget and projecting my financial situation through the next 12 months with Microsoft Money 2005. (I’m one of those weirdos who enjoys fiddling with personal finance software almost as much as I like hacking and slashing my way through a dungeon in World of Warcraft. They are both vastly entertaining to me.)

In any event, after taking a good hard look at my accounts and cash flow forecasts for the next year, I’ve come to the realization that I could easily survive on a “necessities only” budget for the rest of the year, barring the occasional wedding, birthday, or Christmas present. I’m socking away $4000 a year in my Roth IRA, 15% (plus 2% employer match) into my 401K, and still have enough to pay for my day-to-day expenses and a bit of entertainment on the side.

On the flip side, I am not saving any extra outside of my (pretty substantial) retirement accounts, and I really need to get cracking on this if I want to get into my own house or condo next year.

With this in mind, I took the $25 Amazon.com gift certificate I earned with points on my Amazon Visa card and, instead of using it for another game, book, or computer thingie, I put it towards one of my monthly necessities: a 20 lb bag of Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classics Roasted Chicken Flavor dry cat food for my two kitties.

Mark down yet another milestone in my road towards prosaic maturity–On this day I chose cat food over Half-Life 2. All future Amazon Visa GCs will be used for the same purpose, or for offsetting the costs of those unavoidable presents I mentioned earlier. My Discover cash back bonuses from my gas card (which pays 5% cash back on gasoline purchases) will be automatically used toward my balance on the same card, thereby reducing the effective cost of my gasoline by 5%.

Juliet Schor’s Overspent American really altered my mindset on spending in general. I’ve always been pretty careful with my money, but in my office, it’s pretty easy to get sucked into the see-covet-buy-repeat cycle with electronics, technology, games, and even cars. Someone is always getting a new laptop or smart phone, or making a run to EBgames to grab the latest game console or game release. Nobody ever says “You know, I think I have *enough.* There’s nothing more I need to spend upon except food, shelter, other necessities.”

I’m a bit less susceptible to the see-covet-buy-repeat phenomenon than many others, but I’ve done my share of impulse buying with fitness gear, games, books, computer upgrades, kitchen stuff and clothes. However, looking around my apartment now, I think I WILL say “I have enough.” I don’t want to acquire any more unnecessary things, because at this point in my life, they would just be clutter. It’s time to appreciate the things I already own now, and see if I can get through the rest of the year without picking up anything extraneous. I’m not quite ready to downshift completely, but I can certainly freeze excessive discretionary spending given the stockpile of entertainment options (games, books, movies, computer gear), clothing, fabric/patterns, cookware, and running shoes I already own.

The Joneses can do what they like. This gal isn’t going to be pressured into keeping up with them anymore.

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Nutrition: SGX Training Day eating pattern
(Details omitted by request)

Regular (Non-SGX) Daily Supplements: multivitamin with iron, calcium 500 + D, flaxseed oil
Water for yesterday: 17 cups

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Workout:
8:00 AM Steady-state treadmill (4 mph / 7% incline / 45 minutes)
12:00 PM Upper body workout/ back focus

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The Awful Truth:
1. Mmm….cookies. 5 tea biscuits from last night’s dinner.

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Brownie Points:
1. Had a decent deficit yesterday.

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Short-term Goals:
1. Control myself at Kimonos tonight at the sushi bar.