as part of my current push to financially cleanse myself, today i reviewed my recurring payments to my credit cards and realized there were a number of items that were really unnecessary. i am no longer using kindle unlimited like i used to, instead using my library subscription to download kindle books, so that's $10 per month i don’t need to spend. i also don’t listen to music like ever any more, so there is no need to keep paying $10 per month for apple music. i’m also not really playing video games these days, so i don’t need to hold onto a server hosting subscription i had running for $5 per month, and as much as i like supporting creators, i was paying $10 per month to two separate friends and creators who i’m honestly not watching or interacting with at all anymore, so i shit those down, too. oh, and since we really never use zipcar, i shut down our monthly subscription. to that service as well. so altogether, i just cut out $42 per month of unnecessary spending within about 15 minutes. that’s $504 per year. bam.

overall, i’ve been pretty good about living within my means, and that is evidenced by the several thousand dollars i was able to save over the past year while also spending another few thousand on upcoming travel. but as the big trips approach, my financial capacity becomes ever slimmer. essentially, since i won’t be working for six weeks and potentially longer, i am going to be doubling my contribution to household expenses for the next couple of months, and since there is no certainty that i’ll even be employed when we get back, i can’t afford to have any money slipping out the door. with my latest adjustments, my monthly recurring payments will fall within the confines of the very limited recurring income i receive monthly from the va as a result of my partial disability status, and that is including my $120 monthly payment for my new eos rp camera.

beyond the upcoming constraints that will be limiting my income and capacity in the coming months, i think it’s as good a time as any to just slow the hemorrhaging and get a tight handle on all of my spending. i believe that it’s possible to live a wonderful and fulfilling life at an income level that is far below my current salary, and i want to squash my spending to fit within that profile so that i can basically set aside anything else that comes in for retirement and rainy days. maybe at some point i could even step away from the workforce for a while and focus entirely on my own creative and entrepreneurial projects. i’m not sure that is something i would ever do, but i would like to have the option. as it is, nima and i could cut ties and walk away from it all and we would be fine for a while, but sooner than i would like expenses would catch up with us. and agin, this isn’t to say that we would even consider doing that. the point isn’t that we would if we could. the point is that as of right now, we really couldn’t even if we wanted to, and so even with our significant annual combined income, we remain indentured to the wage system, so to speak.

maybe i’m getting a bit deep, but essentially my logic follows and i don’t like where it leads. so with that in mind, i cleanses a bit today, and i will continue to do so moving ahead. i still have a few key purchases to make before i shut down the spending tap, but in within $1,000 of that moment, and i am looking forward to crossing that line and locking away the credit cards for a while.