July Happiness Project - Progress Update

Remember my post about The Happiness Project? This month's focus was on money. Specifically buying things that help contribute to my happiness, but that doesn't just mean buying everything I want to get a rush from shopping.

It has to be things that create a lasting impact on my day to day happiness, the book calls this "needful things". 

- Cupboard Organizer: I have a cupboard where I keep pots and pans that irritates me on a daily basis. This is a cheap remedy I should have bought ages ago.

-Plane Tickets: to Boston! Spending money on experiences instead of things is supposed to be one of the best contributors to happiness. I will write a separate post detailing plans for this trip soon.

- Vacuum: We had one big ticket purchase this month that I'm happy about, but also frustrated with myself about. When I first bought my house, I purchased a very small, cheap vacuum because most of the house was hardwood floors or tile. Well, once we had carpet installed upstairs and in the basement, this tiny little vacuum just wasn't cutting it. We then received another, larger vacuum as a wedding gift, but it was a cheaper one too. Well, recently I was vacuuming the house and all of a sudden it started making this weird noise and spewing dirt and dust bunnies everywhere. Among many other problems we've had with it. So we decided to buy this...

A new Dyson! I've always wanted one, but settled for cheaper options, which in the end, cost just as much as we would have spent on this one in the first place. Sometimes I frustrate myself with my cheapness on things that matter. I don't really enjoy housecleaning (who does?), so every time I pulled out my old vacuum I resented it even more. I just tried out the new Dyson last night and was very impressed by everything about it. 

- Goodwill Donation: After all of this buying, we also made a trip to Goodwill and dropped off a huge pile of clothes, house stuff, and books, etc. that we no longer need or want. It feels good to clear some of the clutter from my life, as well as share my excess with less fortunate people.

- Pay off Debt: I've never read Dave Ramsey's books, but have heard that one of the basic principles he teaches about debt is that it feels good to chip away at the smallest loan or debt you have until it gets paid off first. It gives you a boost in confidence and happiness, not to mention getting rid of a nagging problem every month. Well, we don't have any credit card debt and the only outstanding things we have to pay off every month are our student loans and our mortgage. HOWEVER, we did owe my parents a chunk of money they loaned us for some house projects. We've been chipping away at that for about two years and finally paid it all off this month! I was so happy to write that check and am so thankful to my parents for allowing us to make payments without interest all that time - especially since they paid for our wedding in the middle of it! I am very blessed :)

- Student Loan: Now that we're done with that, we are focusing on paying off what's left of my student loan balance. My debt is peanuts compared to Ted's (med school - ouch!), but it will be great to have one less bill to think about each month, and rather than put all of our extra money towards savings, I'd rather pay down our debt. We'll still save for a rainy day too, but it will be a great feeling to be down to just our house payment and Ted's loan payments each month.


So that was my first month of The Happiness Project. I think it was quite successful. I'm feeling good about all of the purchases we made this month, but I'm looking forward to hopefully being a bit less materialistic for next month's project!