#MoneyMasterClass — Week 6 Recap

This week’s tasks were to colour, take inventory, and practice gratitude.

Tracking our Spending

In addition to continuing to track food spending, Gail asked us to track our buying habits by colouring on our calendar each day we spend money shopping.

Take Inventory

The work started getting more real with week with instructions to take inventory of our stuff.

It was also suggested to take note of all the subscriptions we have and to cancel any that are no longer needed or wanted.

The thought of taking inventory of everything in my house is literally too overwhelming and I have a small space. I was happy that the next instruction was more attainable with focusing on 6 items.

I’ve completed five of my six counts so far by focusing on items I know I want to downsize or have spent money that I maybe shouldn’t have.

My List:
Scissors = 18 (13 craft, 5 regular)
Books = 219
Shoes = 31
DVDs = 71 (18 box sets, 53 singles)
Blank Notebooks = 12

I have this love of journals and notebooks and have this really bad habit of buying them on sale–the Chapters discount section is my kryptonite! I wanted to inventory this area to confront myself with the reality of what I own. While doing this, I actually found a receipt for some of these unused journals. This receipt was only for $13, but that’s still $13 I didn’t need to spend two years ago–that was a good dose of reality!

While taking inventory of my stuff, I’m also considering what I want to let go of. A few years ago, I challenged myself to get rid of 30 things in 30 days. I kept this quote in mind for some of my choices this week as I did back then: “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris

Counting 18 pairs of scissors and 12 blank notebooks was a reminder that I’ve got a ways to go on curbing spending and having a clutter free home, but it really is okay to be a work in progress. I’ve already sold 11 of those scissors and have added that money to my “Found Money” jar.

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Practicing Gratitude

We put our first jar to work, labeling it the “Found Money” jar and then we turned back to our notebooks.

I don’t practice intentional gratitude enough. 2019 was a difficult year and one that turned my focus from the positive to the negative. It’s been refreshing these last three days to stop and choose five things I am grateful for. It’s given me the opportunity to see how much life can change for the better in a year as 2020 is a much brighter one.

And one last reminder from Gail for the week:

How did the taking inventory tasks go for you? In the midst of all the counting, what things were you grateful for this week? 

New to the Money Master Class? There’s still time to get started!
Check out this tweet to see all of Gail’s #MoneyMasterClass tweets from the start.
Check out my weekly recaps to get caught up:
Money Master Class Intro
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Five Recap