Tweaks for 2019 – Be frugal

I don’t have money, and I need a lot. So, I need to save money.

I have strict work and personal relations targets this year. They require me to be very focused, and not squander time or attention. I need to be frugal with my time and cognitive capacity this year.

I have set myself a target for running time, and I have an entry in London Marathon to address last year’s failings. Combined with demands for attention on work and relationships, I can’t afford to waste time or energy this year. I need to be frugal with my physical and mental energy, as well as with time.

I weigh too much, having gained 10 kg in the 7 months since the ankle injury. I need to lose weight, eat frugally.

Final tweak for the year: I will try to be frugal this year, with everything.

Expected difficulty

Moderate.

Tips & tactics

Money: I don’t have money to spend, so hopefully that bit should be easy¹.

Attention & Time: I will further prune the app development projects. Last year I promised myself to focus on just three – AutoConvert, Clutter Free, and Todo.txt (app, extension). However, I still ended up doing small updates on other extensions – mainly the AcceleReaders for Pocket and for Instapaper. This year I plan to either mothball the two, or open source them and leave them to whoever wants to pick them up.

Of the three apps that I intend to continue development on, I have already added subscriptions to Clutter Free and AutoConvert. I shall add them to Todo.txt as well. If I don’t see any revenue from them in six months, I’ll start mothballing / handing-over them as well (I’ll keep a private version for my own use).

No lingering apps to lay claim to energy, time and focus.

Energy & Time: I have already laid out the running target for the year. Apart from that, I will keep cycling and swimming to the minimum this year. I shall still cycle commute wherever is too far or time-constrained for walking. But I will not be cycling as exercise or activity – at least not till end of April. I will miss swimming the most. I enjoy it almost as much as running. However, since I am not a SSP member anymore, not swimming will also save me some money, along with time and energy.

Food: I have already transitioned to a diet that I’m fairly comfortable with. I eat little/no breakfast, I have a full lunch of Jyoti’s Indian food, and then have a very light dinner of open salad sandwich. For snacking, I ate mixed nuts (almonds, cashews and peanuts) most of last year. I have replaced them with assorted fruits and vegetables that I cut and keep – apples, carrots, plum tomatoes, and cucumber. I intend to stick to this change for most of this year as well.

Outside of these clear areas, being frugal will take active thought and mindfulness (yes, that again). Having grown up in lean years of pre-liberalisation India, I hope that the knack for living frugally will come back to me soon :)

Memorable phrase

Be Scrooge McDuck