i stopped working from a job i really loved a couple years back, and decided to live on savings and go after getting a degree which i also very much want. but lately i realised that if i go on living as i did while i was earning, i will have to take work again soon. not work that i love though. i hated that thought.

i got really sick of having no time when in fact, i have all the time in the world. not doing much the whole day, throwing together some quick dinner with whatever was there instead of preparing it ahead. i got sick of facebook. i deactivated the account there. i dont think anybody missed me anyway. suddenly i had sooo much more time. i stopped being in front of the desktop most of my day. i am concentrated now when i m studying as i'm not constantly interrupting myself to check the latest email that beeped its way in my inbox. also, i have my whole day to my hands and legs to go for walks, swims, watch movies, or take care of a big flat neglected for about two years. also, weird as it might sound, i have time to make tea in the mornings and the afternoons every day :)

back in august i told my flatmate that i am sick of all the paper mountains that added up for recycling, because he had the very bad habit of bringing the paper back home in the evenings. i forbid him to bring back the newspapers! the trains have a special bin for papers so he could dispose of them there if he forgot to do so at work. so, we have much less paper to recycle now. much, much less paper. you can see the other half floor of his office room.

i cancelled the cable tv subscription. well, that sort of took care of itself because the cable company decided to update the machines so that the old ones wouldnt work anymore. so i thought, fine. no cable. it's a blessing because tv really is crap. then i cancelled the landline telephone. with mobile phones, we hardly use it and mostly when it rings it's to sell insurance or whatever. i started barking at all those annoying callers, especially as they call often after 7 in the evening and even on saturdays and now i think the calls have diminished. but i cancelled the landline anyway, as it really was wasted money. i also cancelled my contract mobile phone, keeping the one which i can load up with credit whenever i want to. i minimised phone calls and write more texts and talk to people online.

i cancelled a couple magazine subscriptions that i hardly read and were crap and just ads that make you feel fat and ugly from first to last page. i kept one subscription of a magazine with well researched articles on women's issues, without fashion, dieting and all that bull.

just a few weeks ago, i decided to stop the online grocery deliveries, and get groceries on my way home from the stores next to the pool where i swim. also, i set aside a certain amount for groceries each month and now i check and compare prices before i put something in the basket. i keep the receipts, too. i have cut down dramatically on meat and anything processed or "specialties" that are simply expensive. i look for the day's "deals" and opt for those. i'm saving at least one third up to a half of what i spent before for food. i'm making my flatmate take lunch from home at least twice a week -oh and i sneak fruit into his backpack for snacks.

i ve been nagging him to get a third person in the household as the rent has gone up 15% since we moved here a little over two years ago, due to the increase in heating costs. i could move my workroom into my bedroom and free up that room for sublet but he is too afraid to have a stranger which i understand, but still when i think that "stranger" could take over one fourth of the rent i dont mind that much. besides it could turn out pretty cool.

housewise, i am more or less done with the big decluttering project i took on in august. i lightened my closet to about one third of its initial contents by giving away stuff or bringing it to charity. right now i dont need the second closet. i put away i ve put away the extra towels and bedstuff and the extras of the extras and now i can see what's in those cupboards... why on earth did i have that many towels or bedsheets in the first place escapes me as does why i have so many tablecloths, or curtains, or bath mats... and so on. they are all stacked away in the basement now together with a couple bags of summer clothes and i am undecided between giving it away or keeping them for replacement when my current things are worn off.

the prices of clothes and most everything, really, in switzerland are irritating me, especially after living a year abroad and seeing how much cheaper things are there. so i ve decided to only do shopping when i m abroad on a trip! speaking of trips i also decided to only take trips from now on that i am going to make the most of and enjoy fully. i was planning a trip to barcelona in february which i m sure would be a lovely city trip with museums and such but i realised what i really want is a beach and sun vacation so now looking for alternatives for the same budget...

xmas. i hate it. i hate the whole finding and buying gifts just because i have to. i have reduced gifts to the absolute minimum over the years, that means, only immediate family.