Too Smart to Live Like This

I want to thank all those who have joined me here, I had a bunch of kind comments to moderate. Thanks for your support.

I’ve had my posts included in several blog carnivals. Most recently my post Payroll Advance: Hitting Rock Bottom was chosen as an Editor’s Choice in the 145th Carnival of Debt Reduction. I’m proud of that.

I set out, just over a week ago, to try and get my head straight. I was posting as much for my own edification as for something I wanted other people to read.

I’ve had a rather ugly weekend. I spent most of friday and all of the weekend in a funk. I didn’t want to write because I’m concerned that the blog has taken on a life of its own.

It seems that when I write about how bad things are, or how I got to where I’m at, I tap into something primal and the words just tumble out. But these aren’t the things I want to write about, at least not completely. I want to be taking positive steps and writing about what I’m doing to get out of my situation, but when I try the words just dry up.

It makes sense, I guess. My whole psyche is based around the behaviors that got me where I am. I don’t really know the guy who wants to make changes, and so the words are forced.

I’ve got a few more posts about “rock bottom” in my mind, but I want to get some more positive, constructive posts out of the way first.

As a side note, I suspect there’s something wrong with my feeds. I have three feeds at feedburner, one for all posts, one for health only and one for money only. But the “all posts” feed doesn’t seem to be working. I’m going to fix that shortly, and I’m considering going back to one feed. I think I need TWO blogs, not one combined one. I’ll figure it out shortly. This may mean that all five of you who subscribe to my feeds may have to move. Sorry about that.

Jun 23rd, 2008 3 Comments »

My sub $5 shirts post was picked up by the Money Hacks Carnival over at Mrs. Nespy’s Frugal World and had the good graces to put me under a picture of Loverboy. How cool is that?

There are a ton of other great Money Hacks type links over there, well worth the visit.

Jun 18th, 2008 1 Comment »

Yet again the Carnivals come a-calling. My post, Dress for Less: The sub $5 shirt, has been included in today’s Carnival of Frugality over at Out of Debt Again.

I’m honored. Welcome to all! This is a very young blog, started when I realized I had to change my life, my entire life, pretty much from the ground up. I hope you enjoy what you read.

Big thanks to Mrs. Accountability for including me.

Jun 17th, 2008 1 Comment »

This blog is about making changes to my entire life. Every facet, whether health, money, relationships, or otherwise is fair game for painful reflection and radical overhaul.

That said, I realize that not everyone wants to read all of that. There are health blogs, and people who read those might not care about my financial woes. The same goes for personal finance blogs and their readers not wanting to read about me being a big fat guy.

I’ve made some tweaks to the site layout, so that if you’re one of those who doesn’t want the full site, you can just get what you want.

On the right, you’ll see a box listing my RSS feeds. I’ve added two, for only Health and Money posts, to the main feed which has all the posts.

If you aren’t the feed-reading type you can view the site by category like so:

http://www.too-smart.info/health/

http://www.too-smart.info/money/

In addition to the main site.

While I’d love to have all readers along for the whole experience, feel free to use one of these resources if you really only care about one piece of the puzzle.

Jun 16th, 2008 No Comments »

I’m very proud that my Lay of the Land post: Moneystupid has been included in the latest Carnival of Debt reduction over at Bluntmoney: Advice from Dad Edition.

I’m absolutely thrilled that my brand new, only three post blog made the cut. I’m still trying to make Wordpress do what I want, so things are a bit disheveled in here.

Right now I’m in a sort of reflection phase, which is what the Lay of the Land posts are for. You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you are. Very shortly I’m going to flip the switch and go from reflection to action.

This is not solely a personal finance blog, though that will be a significant portion. I’m trying to improve all facets of my life, so there will be posts on all sorts of things. If that doesn’t interest you, I hope to soon have separate RSS feeds and “viewing portals” that will let you see only a single subject, so if you’re just here for the money, you can see just those posts.

Welcome and enjoy, and big thanks to Bluntmoney for picking me after so short a time online.

Jun 16th, 2008 No Comments »

I refuse to feel sorry for myself. After all, that’s how I got here. It’s a very slippery slope between being honest with yourself, and being maudlin.

I’m 39 years old and pretty much every facet of my life is in shambles.

Health, relationships, money (especially money) you name it and I’m upside-down in relation to where a normal “grown up” should be.

The title of this blog is not self aggrandizing. I’m a relatively intelligent, educated person, and my wife is pursuing a Masters degree in education. But the title isn’t about us. It’s about the life we lead and the choices we make. The way we “live like this” is completely at odds with what an average person would find acceptable.

What I hope to do is use this blog as a tool to keep me honest, to provide some sort of external accountability, as if internal accountability weren’t enough. I’ll be focusing on a few things.

Health: I’m fat. There’s no getting around it. When I graduated from High School in 1987 I was ultra skinny, 6 feet tall and 135lbs. Today, 21 years later I’m 325lbs. Yes, really.

Relationships: My wife and I have been married for 15 years. The stress of the failings in the rest of our life have put a great deal of strain between us. My three otherwise wonderful kids have to deal with parents who are quick to yell, often overstressed, and who have zero tolerance.

Organization and Clutter: Our house is a mess. It’s a house, not a home. We have no organization whether that’s storing documents, organizing the laundry, or putting away toys.

Financial: This, for me at least, is the big one. I believe that all of the rest of our problems come from the stress and pain of dealing with crushing debt, unrealistic cash flow, and a complete lack of financial accountability.

I’ve tried, and failed, to blog in the past, because it feels self indulgent. I often wonder why I write if nobody reads. Now I’m going to write for me. If anyone wants to come along for the ride, so much the better.

If you choose to join in the fun, I promise you a frank, no holds barred discussion of how deep the hole we’ve dug goes, and what we’re doing to fix it. Buckle up.

Jun 13th, 2008 No Comments »