F words...

Am I the only one who loves the first day of each month? I'm not sure if it's because for many years I worked in a role where I had monthly targets so the end of the month was intense followed by a clean slate and a day to sort and clean things up on the first before starting the whole process again.

For me the first day of the month is the time to:

* Do my end of month accounts for the month before and find out exactly how much I spent and on what (how exciting was it this morning to discover that, in January 2008, I spent under half what I spent in January 2007 (excluding rent and car loan payments) and still had a good time! This is just as well, really as last month I earned 60% of what I earned in January 2007...)
* Sort out my eBay accounts (this isn't particularly exciting but it's a nice feeling when it's done) and do my monthly Lundby stocktake and order.
* Change my dressing gown, mattress protector, razor and kitchen sponges
* Think about what I'd like to achieve in the coming month.

While lounging in bed this morning I decided February 2008 will be about:

* Finishing it off. My Finish it Off Fridays were a bit of a disaster in January. I'll keep trying this month. Also under this banner: the end of the month sees the end of Summer and thus the end of Seven Things Spring/ Summer. No more lists of the crap that comes into and out of my life!
* Ficton. I've realised in retrospect I've been keeping to a reading theme for the last couple of months: December was Dresses (ie: people involved in fashion in one way or another) January was about Juveniles (ie: people who had crap childhoods) so this month I'll take it easy and try and get through some of my backlog of Fiction.
* A Festival. I have plans to go to lots of free things during The Multicultural Festival this month. Cultuvorianism continues!
* Fitness. Can I make it back to the gym? Regularly??
* Frugality. I did good in January. I want to keep it up in February. And March, and...

Finally it would seem that I'm a flaming trendy. Taph forwarded me a link to an article from The Age which said in part:

"...There is, on the other hand, an influential band of about 4 million Australians who are happy to spend more on less. This new breed may not heed the call of Reverend Billy or become followers of The Compact and stop shopping entirely, but they are far more selective than their traditional cousins.

These new consumers are less interested in the commodities of life and more fascinated by discretionary spending: what is known as elective consumption. So they're buying less stuff and spending more on creating emotional experiences.

They are paying for yoga classes and private trainers; they're drinking fewer glasses of better-quality wine; they're travelling more; they're investing more; they're going to the theatre and opera more; they're reading more books and passing them on to their friends.

In short, they are becoming collectors of memories, not consumers of commodities. Those who aren't giving up alcohol entirely are drinking cocktails in some anonymous bar or meeting friends out for an espresso and pastry.

The traditional shopping centres are not for them - unless they need to make a flying visit to David Jones."

Sounds rather familiar, except for the wine bit - I'm drinking about the same amount of much cheaper plonk these days!