50 Percent

I was trying to lose weight for a bit.  I started eating about half of what I had been eating at meals.  Then, if I was still hungry, I’d eat more.  It worked really well, and I discovered I felt better when I did it, because I wasn’t overeating and feeling sluggish.

It took me about two months to realize I could do this with other things.  I read a bunch of suggestions at Get Rich Slowly recently about making do with less.  What a lot of it summed up to was something very similar.  Try using half of what you normally would.  if that’s not enough, use more.  Try using half as much shampoo, dish soap, laundry detergent, etc.  Try getting have the subscriptions or paid services you have now maybe.  Then, if it isn’t enough, use more.  People tend to default to certain portions of things without considering that portion.  I know that every time I have gotten my hair cut after growing it long I have taken a day or two to adjust how much shampoo I need. You can also use 50% (or maybe two thirds) of things in recipes, assuming you know what you are doing.  I know a lot of people do this with sugar, and it can help with both health and budget.

So I am going to try using 50% of things for a bit and see how it goes.  If anything (including me) is less clean, I will up how much I am using.  This is going to be a goal for November.  Monday I will see if I have any more, and post how I did with October.  I think the answer is: not very well.   You?