If you give a Mouse a Cookie (my edition)

  • If you give a woman a (personal finance) blog,
    she is going to lay her financial life out there.
  • When she lays out her financial life,
    she’ll find out it is in disarray.
  • When she realizes the extent of her dysfunctional financial life,
    she’ll ask for a tracking sheet.
  • Then she’ll want to update it everyday.
  • When she notices the (large) amount of credit card debt,
    she’ll notice she needs to do some card cutting.
  • So, she’ll probably ask for a pair of scissors.
  • When she’s finished cutting up her credit cards in little, tiny pieces,
    she’ll feel like cleaning the clutter out of another place.
  • She’ll start cleaning the house.
  • She might get carried away and clean every room in the house.
  • She may even completely declutter the closets and cupboards as well!
  • When she’s done, she’ll probably want to bag it all up.
  • She’ll throw it all in her car, take it to the Goodwill and donate the stuff to charity.
  • When she comes home,
    she’ll get excited at the thought, “less is more”.
  • Then she will look at the computer will remind her that…
  • she needs to share the excitement with you.
  • So…
  • She’ll open up her blog editor.
  • And chances are that when she opens up her blog,
    she is going to lay out her financial life (and tell you her excitement)!

I’ve been a CLEANING MAD WOMAN this weekend! Cleaned out closet and cupboards. My daughter cleared out 3 bags of old toys and clothes. I found a few items in the house that I took pics and am placing for sale at my work’s eBoards (selling mecha at work. Neat, huh?). But the rest of my stuff, I immediately packed in the car and drove it straight to Goodwill. If I didn’t complete that task right away, it would of piled up in our garage. Yes, I did consider a garage sale. But, until I find the time to clear out the remainder of the house…it would have piled up in our garage. It didn’t fit my mentality at that moment. I just wanted to GET RID OF IT! And so, I did. πŸ™‚

I still have a couple rooms left. The garage needs a serious decluttering, too. But, we are planning on doing a rehaul of the garage in the spring (new workbench, shelves, every box will be sorted and put into new rubbermaid boxes that are clearly labeled, the unused stuff will be sent to Goodwill, etc…). I will be sure to take pics of the before and after. That is going to be such a tiring project. But, so worth it!

Anyhow, back to clearing the Clutter. I thought it would be cute to mimic my thoughts to the kid’s story, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”. My daughter and I love to read it as a bedtime story. Same with, “If you have a Moose a Muffin”. A lot of times I ponder on the moral of a story in relations with money. Or even an event, like gardening (but, I will bring that analogy up in a future post). It’s kind of neat to see how the simple lessons in life can mean so much.

Perhaps that is why Confucius became so important with his teaching known as “brief aphoristic fragments”. Fragments with big meanings.

Clear out the clutter ladies. It will immediately lighten your mood! And it may fatten your wallet, too. πŸ™‚

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8 thoughts on “If you give a Mouse a Cookie (my edition)

  1. Sharon Rose

    Hi there-fabulous post and I so agree about decluttering!! I hate hoarding, so this is something I do every few months too! Well done, you’ve had a very productive week!

  2. Shtinkykat

    I love your personal “if you give a mouse” story. I’ve been meaning to declutter and I know I need to declutter but I can’t seem to get motivated. What was your motivation to declutter? (Maybe I’m just too darn lazy!)

  3. Budget Mama

    My son loved the ‘If you give a pig a pancake’. Those books are great fun. I love your edition and I love your motivation! I got a chance to declutter before I moved and it does lighten the load quite a bit!

  4. Money Funk

    sharon rose: i hate hoarding, too. But somehow it seems to happen. ha! Thank you! And I hope to keep up the productiveness.

    shtinkykat: it all started with clearing up the wallet. And my ‘clearing up’ mode continued. I just hope it keeps on going!

    budget mama: huh? ‘If you give a pig a pancake’? we didn’t know about that one! Yeah, found a new read. πŸ™‚
    everytime I move, i wonder..how did I freakin’ accumulate so much?
    And thanks!

  5. Mrs. Micah

    Lol, my version is pretty similar…if you give a woman a PF blog, then she will reveal her personal financial life.

    If she reveals her personal financial life, she will want to get it in order.

    If she starts getting it in order she will a) want spreadsheets and b) get readers.

    If she shows readers her spreadsheets she will get worried that people judge her.

    If she’s worried people will judge her, she’ll ignore her spreadsheets.

    If she ignores her spreadsheets, she’ll do her best to stay within the budget but never be sure.

    If she’s not sure, she’ll panic.

    If she panics she’ll whip out the spreadsheet, if she whips out the spreadsheet she’ll write about it.

    If she writes about it….etc.

    At least that’s the cycle I’m currently going through. Decluttering is on my list too…I want to get rid of most of the stuff we haven’t used in the 1 year we’ve been here.

  6. Money Funk

    jpkittie: thanks!

    mrs. micah: how funny that we are revising kid’s books. that is cute. πŸ™‚
    I love blogging… cuz you can say whatever you feel, regardless if people are judging or not.
    I’m finding the key to meeting my goals is truly keeping track daily of my finances. No matter how tiring it gets. Sometimes, its really difficult to pick up the pencil. But, it will definitely be worth it!
    And decluttering, truly helps to clear the mind. It’s nice.

  7. PJ

    Great post! I loved the story on the top!! brought a smile to my face – which was much needed since I am currently finishing up my work day….

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