Why I Blog

I've been wanting to write a post since … forever.  I can't believe how much time has passed since my last one.  There's just so much I need and want to do in my life.   There's a fulltime job, a child to raise, a husband to connect with, a home to keep somewhat clean, meals to cook, baking I want to try out, DIY and crafty projects begging for attention, and a garden to tend.  And, of course, time for friends and family.  I don't know how people can juggle it all, consistently, on-going.  And it pains me because I enjoy creating this blog.  Developing new ideas, building the content.  Yes, it's work, but it's different from my day job in such a fundamental way.  There's no set agenda - I create it, I decide everything.

All this fretting got me thinking about why I enjoy blogging because it does add stress and work to an already full existence.  I realized there are at least three compelling reasons why I feel committed to this blog - income, frugality, and creativity.

INCOME

Manuel and I have good paying jobs with wonderful benefits, and a strong pension plan to draw from when we retire.  We don't need more money (although extra money is always welcome in paying down the mortgage) … we do just fine on what comes in.  But there are no guarantees in life that tomorrow will be the same as today.  We could lose our jobs, there could be some natural disaster (we do live on the West Coast of Canada and an earthquake is a real possibility), one of our vehicles could need major repairs.  You just never know.  Developing and growing new skills is just a smart idea.  It gives you more flexibility in adjusting to changes that can come your way.

The blog allows me to think beyond my day job.  It grants me the opportunity to stretch my skills, to learn new concepts, and to try different ideas out without worrying about failure.  Some of the skills I've learned definitely have the potential to bring in income.  That's a total win for me.

FRUGALITY

It might sound strange to follow income with frugality, but they do go hand in hand.

There are two ways of growing income - being paid more, or doing with less.  Instead of working harder and harder we can choose to alter our life expectations so that we don't need as much money.  By learning to develop frugal skills I'm also working on that idea of you never know what tomorrow might bring.  If we lose one or both of our incomes having learned some frugal skills will definitely come in handy.  I also love the challenge of seeing how I can save money without feeling cheap.  And, there is the added benefit of having a gentler footprint on the Earth since many frugal ideas include recycling, reusing, and reducing.  Another win in my books.

CREATIVITY

I love being creative.  I was the kid with the huge Lego set who could build and re-build for hours.  I'm the one who loved drawing and painting.  The one who saved her money so that I could buy a 4-track machine to record music that I wrote and sang.

Having a grown-up job, with a family that I'm responsible to has meant me dropping many of the creative outlets I had when I was a young adult.  The blog gives me the freedom to delve back into that creative stream.  I love that - being able to photograph, to write, to design.  Coming up with ideas to try out at home, and then showing how I did it.  Wonderful.  That's one of the biggest wins for me.

There are other, lesser reasons for wanting to write a blog, but these three are definitely the most compelling for me.  With that in mind, I've got my creative energy revving and am planning future posts about … our new coffee machine (yes, we finally committed to one!), my decision to buy a Microsoft Surface RT (I wrote this blog post on it), and a baking challenge.

Do you have multiple sources of income or have you learned some frugal methods to help reduce your need for more income?  How do you bring creativity into your life?