Incentivizing Kates
I'm still disgusted by that weekend at the end of January where I got nothing done, even though I was home for two days with nothing planned. It's not like I did anything fun either, just sat on my couch, playing with my iPod - I didn't even play video games! Mistress Mary Poppins says that maybe I just need some vegging, but I felt guilty the whole time, so it's not like I enjoyed it.
Last time I was at the grocery store, I found myself in the tea aisle, pondering whether I should get some more bagged teas, now that I seem to be drinking more of them, mostly in cold water. I browsed what I mentally call the very fancy bagged teas, which I'd never buy bc zomg expensive, except I started thinking, How much =is= an expensive tea? About $6.50 for a box of 14, in case you were wondering. Which is ridiculous: fancy tea! that will make me feel luxurious! for <$0.50 a serving! when I regularly spend $4 on a cup of coffee, sometimes $5 when I'm really tired. People are so weird about money.
Similarly, I always feel horribly, horribly guilty buying books, let alone books I could borrow from the library, even though I spent more to have breakfast at the library a few weeks ago than I spent on books in all of 2010. Come to think of it, I may've spent more on overdue fees than physical books. oops.
To defuse that guilt and achieve the ends in which I'm interested, I've decided to start a new shiny system, wherein I pay myself an allowance to do housework. I feel guilty about this too - you're never ever supposed to pay kids to do housework and I should be internally motivated! excited to have a nicer environment! - but (a) I'm coming to realize I just feel guilty about everything in life and (b) if it gets my apt tidier, it's worthwhile. I decided $5/hour was the right rate, bc that means I can buy a Kindle book after 2 hours. I also decided that housework done while chatting with friends (on the phone or in person) does not count, although I'm dithering about whether unpleasant computer tasks like tidying my hard drive so I can buy a new computer does.
You'd think with such a generous system, my house would be tidier, but nooo... In the two weeks since I started the system, I've done little. Part of it is deciding what counts. For instance, I find laundry to be one of those tasks that make you feel you accomplished something on a Saturday, when you really haven't: it just has to be done. I spent 3 hours on Weds morning doing laundry and steadily putting things away, but I'm debating whether to pay myself the full rate, a half rate (bc it's productive but not =that= productive), or nothing at all. Elana says that people fail at these sorts of motivational systems bc they are too hard on themselves; her exact comment was, "Give yourself the credit, you can afford it." What do you think? Aside from that visitor-induced frenzy, I've *sighs* racked up maybe 1.5 hours in two weeks. I suck at this game.
The sad thing is, the next two books I want to buy for my iPod are Tyler Cowen's The Great Stagnation and Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. I'm such a bad girl.
Looking back, my last shiny system was intended to reward going to the gym. HAHAHAHA. Also, did I really have time to work out 8x a week?? But that's a different post on a different filter...
Last time I was at the grocery store, I found myself in the tea aisle, pondering whether I should get some more bagged teas, now that I seem to be drinking more of them, mostly in cold water. I browsed what I mentally call the very fancy bagged teas, which I'd never buy bc zomg expensive, except I started thinking, How much =is= an expensive tea? About $6.50 for a box of 14, in case you were wondering. Which is ridiculous: fancy tea! that will make me feel luxurious! for <$0.50 a serving! when I regularly spend $4 on a cup of coffee, sometimes $5 when I'm really tired. People are so weird about money.
Similarly, I always feel horribly, horribly guilty buying books, let alone books I could borrow from the library, even though I spent more to have breakfast at the library a few weeks ago than I spent on books in all of 2010. Come to think of it, I may've spent more on overdue fees than physical books. oops.
To defuse that guilt and achieve the ends in which I'm interested, I've decided to start a new shiny system, wherein I pay myself an allowance to do housework. I feel guilty about this too - you're never ever supposed to pay kids to do housework and I should be internally motivated! excited to have a nicer environment! - but (a) I'm coming to realize I just feel guilty about everything in life and (b) if it gets my apt tidier, it's worthwhile. I decided $5/hour was the right rate, bc that means I can buy a Kindle book after 2 hours. I also decided that housework done while chatting with friends (on the phone or in person) does not count, although I'm dithering about whether unpleasant computer tasks like tidying my hard drive so I can buy a new computer does.
You'd think with such a generous system, my house would be tidier, but nooo... In the two weeks since I started the system, I've done little. Part of it is deciding what counts. For instance, I find laundry to be one of those tasks that make you feel you accomplished something on a Saturday, when you really haven't: it just has to be done. I spent 3 hours on Weds morning doing laundry and steadily putting things away, but I'm debating whether to pay myself the full rate, a half rate (bc it's productive but not =that= productive), or nothing at all. Elana says that people fail at these sorts of motivational systems bc they are too hard on themselves; her exact comment was, "Give yourself the credit, you can afford it." What do you think? Aside from that visitor-induced frenzy, I've *sighs* racked up maybe 1.5 hours in two weeks. I suck at this game.
The sad thing is, the next two books I want to buy for my iPod are Tyler Cowen's The Great Stagnation and Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. I'm such a bad girl.
Looking back, my last shiny system was intended to reward going to the gym. HAHAHAHA. Also, did I really have time to work out 8x a week?? But that's a different post on a different filter...