But What About...?

I'm a little obsessed with the show Shark Tank.  What it is, if you're not familiar, is a show where entrepreneurs pitch product ideas to venture capitalists--the sharks-- in an attempt to get financial investments to expand their businesses. It's interesting because I'm fascinated but the ideas people come up with; I'm curious about venture capital and investing; and it's just a strangely entertaining show.

Some of the product ideas are just terrible, and occasionally people get laughed out of the room, but a lot of the ideas are surprisingly smart.  I even realized a while ago that a company that is next door to my yoga studio was on Shark Tank, and apparently their business has blown up.  The downside is that it sometimes feels a bit like advertising, but I've only ever bought one thing I saw on the show, and it was actually a product none of the sharks invested in:

The Rapid Ramen Cooker.  It's basically a square bowl the size of a dry cake of ramen noodles.  Certainly it didn't change my life, but it was pretty cheap (a set of two for $12.99) and we use it at least once a week.

I was watching a recent episode though, and I was just utterly confused by one of the products that got pitched.  A husband and wife came on pitching an alternative to paper towels called Bambooee.  The difference was that these towels are made of bamboo and they can be washed and re-used up to 20 times.  The couple went on and on about how the mission of their company was to reduce waste and be green.  That's awesome, but there are also things that already exist called: TOWELS.

I have towels that I've used far more than 20 times.  I use paper towels too, but either because I'm cheap or because I grew up in a house that considered paper towel use to be extravagant, I don't use them much.  

Bambooee is at the 20 minute mark

I bought a four pack of 3M microfiber cloths and a two pack of Trader Joe's Super Amazing Reuseable Kitchen Cloths.  I'm pretty much set.  The Trader Joe's cloths are the right size that I can clip them into my Swiffer Vac and mop the floor that way (found the Swiffer vac on a curb and it charges with the same size adapter that powers my tv speakers--free FTW!!), and I use the other cloths for cleaning everything else.  I wash them all with my gym clothes once a week.

Maybe there's something I'm just not getting here, but isn't the greenest option out there to just buy regular towels? I guess it's hard to keep turning a profit on something that people rarely need to replace, but I feel like I'm the smartest guy in the room.

2014, Oh My

So, my holiday season consisted of a lot of sloth and not a lot of blogging. I honestly have no excuse.  I don't do cards, bake cookies, travel--I didn't even put up a tree.  The only reason I have for being such a bloggy slacker is probably that really heavy lasagna I ate at the work holiday party.  Man, that was so tastey but it settled like a brick in my stomach and destroyed all ambition.

So, 2013 is done, and I could not be happier.  What a stupid year.  Yes, it did get better in the second half--for me and many of the people I love who were also having a shitty year, but still.  Perhaps I've gained perspective or something, but I'm still a bit cranky.

I've always hated the notion of New Year's resolutions, so I am loathe to say anything that sound like I'm making them, but I do have plans for 2014--better late than never.

1. Keep De-Cluttering
I'm doing well in this, and I intend to keep it up. I've reached the point where for some things in my house, they just have a place.  I don't have to think about cleaning up, because I just put things back where they go.  My mother always told me that life would ed be easier if you were organized and had less stuff, and I guess she was right.  Too bad it took me so long to believe it.

2. Keep Saving
I am a bit annoyed that my expenses seem to always be a too high to put as much money into regular savings as I'd like, but I am doing really well with putting money into retirement.  I'm going to scale that back a bit just so I have more liquid cash, and so I can still put money into my Roth IRA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oVpUimHiYg

3. Move More
My new job is pretty sedentary, and also pretty overwhelming at times.  I've been in the habit, since I don't have a gym membership, of just doing running and yoga and that's it.  That means, when I'm sick of running or yoga, I really don't get any exercise.  Well, I finally decided to actually do something about that besides just whining.  I bought a Rodeo Core, which is a rather ridiculous machine that supposedly works your abs.  While I find that if I sit on it for longer than 20 minutes, I get a bit of a headache, it's also really handy in that it's pretty quiet, uses no power and I can do it while I'm watching tv.  I honestly do get tired using this thing, so it must be somewhat effective at something besides making me look like a total moron.

I also have a membership to the gym at the college where I work.  It's a bit intimidating to work out next to 18-21 year olds, but it's cheap and since I no longer have a treadmill in my house, it's necessary.  In addition to those two things, I have completely fallen in love with DailyBurn, which is a streaming exercise video service.  It costs $10/month, but they have videos for everything.  when I was housebound the other day after my car wouldn't start, I did some kettlebells with Coach Cody, and felt totally badass.

Hopefully as it continues to warm up and we get more and more day light, I can run outside more often and start biking again.

And I think that's it!  Maybe I'll think of something else later, but probably not.  What are your plans for the year?

Closet Clean-out Continues

Thus far in my closet clean-out, I've dropped off two huge bags at Salvation Army along with a few other odds and ends that wouldn't fit in the bags.  The interesting thing is I kept the giant bag sitting on my floor, right in my way while I was filling them up (so as to encourage myself to fill them up); then when they were finally full enough to drop off, I missed having the bag around!  As soon as I dropped it off, I started seeing all other things in my closet that need getting rid of, so I implemented a slightly new system.

Yes, it's just a plastic bag, not a real system

Closet mini-bag! Whenever I find something in my closet that I haven't worn in at least a year, I try it on, and if I don't think I'll wear it, it goes in the bag.  Once the bag is full, it goes into the trunk of my car, once I'm in the neighborhood of Salvation Army, it goes in the donation bin.

It's a system--kind of!

Blurry picture of my crowded closet

As you can plainly see, I still have a lot of work to do.  It looks worse than it may be, just because my closet is long and deep (worst closet design ever!), but it also just has too much stuff in it.  I've also started cleaning out my drawers.  Did you know that I don't actually need ten bras I don't wear?  Even though I'm loathe to throw away something so expensive as a bra, if it doesn't do its job, and I'm not wearing it, why keep it hanging around?  I can now actually find things in my drawers!

This closet clean-out has also inspired me to keep the rest of my office tidier. Exhibit A:

Yes, that's a sign stolen from a public library (which I do not
advocate doing), but it was a gift!

That is a clean dresser top, people.  Normally, that would be covered in ten days' worth of clothes in various states of cleanness.  Then the cat would sleep on them, and they'd be covered in fur just in time for me to wear to work--so much for librarian cliches.  Now the cat has to sleep here:

Used Whole Foods bag--Watson recycles.

In about two years, I should be all done with the closet clean-out.... and I just bought two new skirts.  It's never going to end, is it?

The Big Spring Clean

Even though I make an effort to not buy more than I need, I still wind up with a lot of crap that I never use, that just takes up space. Thankfully, it's less than I would have had otherwise. For the past few weeks, I've been rooting through my stuff and doing a medium-sized purge. There is something so satisfying about taking a bag full of stuff you haven't used in forever out of the house. It's like the moment when I finally bought an iPod and got rid of all my CDs--my apartment was airy and seemed huge. I dig it in a big way.

So far I've gotten rid of:

Clothes--I mentioned this before, but so far I've got two big bags of clothes and shoes I either haven't worn in a year, or never liked in the first place. I have a pair of shoes I love looking at, but once I put them on I hate them. I finally put them in the bag to take to the Salvation Army and I've never felt so alive! The clothes purge is ongoing because I'm trying to try on all items that I haven't worn in a long time to see if they still fit/look good, and I don't really feel like trying on more than 20 outfits a day. This way I can make my peace with anything I'm on the fence about too.

DVDs-- The local library put out a call for DVD donations recently, and it got me realizing that DVDs that I own that I'll never watch again, or may watch one more time, could just as easily be donated and then re-borrowed from the library or netflix, should I ever want them. So I went through my collection and found about 20 DVDs that I either haven't watched, or will not watch again. My shelves already look better.

Topsy Turvy-- Last year I bought a Topsy Turvy, that upside down tomato grower thing. I have a lot of gardening guilt i.e. I want to garden, but I'm intimidated by it, but I also don't have a space to do it and am not ambitious enough to seek one out. Every spring, my friends start talking about seeds, and I think I should grow stuff too, but I just won't, I know this now. Maybe if I ever have a yard I will. So I bought the Tospy Turvy precisely because I don't have a yard, but I also don't have anywhere to hang it that actually gets sunlight. So I'm giving it to a gardening co-worker, and he's going to give me the tomatoes. That's a total win-win.

I'm feeling pretty darn good right now--maybe even good enough to tackle that storage space... though probably not.