If you're like me... Using what you have is really a guideline, not a rule.

The Story

If you're like me, you've been working hard at keeping things simple. Because it's so easy to get distracted with embellishments and setting up challenges, because you want to feel like something marvelous has been accomplished! When in truth, if you're like me, the project usually ends up half finished and avoided.

If you're like me, part of keeping things simple is using what you have. Use the tools that are there. Because, if you're like me, finding a new tool requires a lot of research, and then there's all these shiny buttons, and OH! look at what that does! and there goes the simple, right out the window, and two days later, nothing has gotten done.

But what if what you have just doesn't work? Just isn't simple? Is taking twice as long to figure out as it would to set up something new?

The Background
I want to go to the All Choir Gathering for Threshold Choir, for multiple reasons, including the fact that I've always wanted to go to Oregon, which is where it will be located this year.

I, and my spouse, want to get our finances back to a comfortable, small debt, spot.

The two goals currently seem exclusive on our consistent income. Therefore, I am getting ready to launch a fund-raising campaign. Of course, I hate just asking for money. So I want to offer writing or reading in exchange. (Though I will practice accepting gifts 😊) Which means setting up (again?) a shop or store or cart or something on my website.

I have prepped descriptions, written a fun poem, and I'm working on adding it all to this site. But of course, the thing about receiving money is, well, one needs a tool to receive money.

Since I've been using paypal, I thought I'd look at them. But honestly, it took me an hour or so to set up that tip button on the right. And when I tried to explore options about shopping carts and changing texts, I kept getting more confused instead of less..

So now I'm off exploring other options. And I really can't decide if I'm trying to make it more complicated, or more simple. But I do know I want to understand it. And I want it to be useable, by me and by you. And I want to be able to log off at the end of the day with the feeling that if something needs to be tweaked, I know how to figure it out.

The Conclusion
The balance between keeping it simple and keeping it significant could be finding a new complex tool. Because I want to use what I have for a long, long time. I want good tools. I want a phone that will hold a charge for longer than an hour. I want shoes that will be wearable for 8 hours a day, day after day! And I want an energy exchange / money system that will work over many years, and over many situations, as I grow and expand.

The tool may be complex. But it will keep my life simple. And what I have isn't doing the trick.

If you're like me, using what you have can mean using it as a guide to find something better.

I hope your explorations are fruitful!
-Lila