Simplicity (Monica)

As I sit here listing large, expensive, but unneeded stereo equipment on Craigslist and working to get a handle on various personal financial items, it occurs to me that my life has gotten WAY TOO COMPLEX. And, I know that many of my friend's lives are equally if not more complex.

It seems that we accumulate THINGS - and these THINGS are not only physical possessions, but also related to 'taking advantage of certain deals/offers', that cause us to waste time managing them. They own us more than we own them.

Here are some examples:

I have 585,000 Alaska Airlines miles, about $500 in Wallet funds, but it was cheaper to simply buy 2 tickets to Ohio to visit Joe's family (Unless we wanted a 24 hour each way travel time).

I have too many credit cards. Each with various rewards points and schemes... do these really add value to my life? Does it serve me to try to jump through hoops to try to use these points, while typically paying higher annual fees for rewards cards?

I have a timeshare thing that proves time consuming to manage.

I've purchased Groupons to save money, only to further complicate my life by trying to use them (I have to go through several steps to book a facial out 3 months from now for example).

I have 6 bank accounts (This is down from a recent 8, and on its way to 4).

I had two 401ks, an IRA, and an after tax investment account (This has since all been consolidated).

I have 3 layers of emails - each with its own spam folder that needs to be monitored.

So, I'm working on simplifying everything. Not just the physical. This will open up space for what is next.