Friday 29 September 2017

Multi-Layered Budgeting

I am still weary of the upcoming Total Debt Freedom Day, and well aware of the many things that could still happen to throw that plan awry. 

I am starting to peer beyond the wall that is Total Debt Freedom Day, however, and that has been rewarding.

Once I achieve one goal, I head on towards another one; that is just what I do. To do otherwise would throw me back into the stagnation that was my life for oh so many years. 

After I pay off the Wanda Loan, and become Totally Debt Free, (save for one visa card) I will have only 4 paycheques before the end of the year.

I have four specific goals to achieve before the end of the year, however. The problem is that they will not be evenly divided into one per paycheque.

So how to do all that I want to do? The key is to work on each one, a little bit at a time, divide them into bits and move all of the goals ahead at the same time.

My four goals after Total Debt Freedom (save a visa card) are:

1. Rebuild my Personal Overdraft
2. Flush money down the toilet (AKA: Contribute to my RRSP)
3. Build up my Mid-Term Savings
4. Pay off the Visa Card (in full)

Okay, #1 I can and will do on the paycheque on Nov 7. Yet at the same time, and through all four paycheques I will work on #2 evenly.

I will work on #3, for the remaining 3 paycheques. 

I will also work on #4 through all 4 paycheques with any cash that I can free up. I do hope to get this done as soon as possible, while not endangering the other goals.

After the Visa is paid off, and if it happens before the end of the year, then any extra cash will go into the Mid-Term Savings. 

This is just one example of how you can work on multiple fiscal goals at the same time. I am able to do this because I budget multiple paycheques ahead.

It is important to note that the further you go into the future (with budgeting) the less accurate your budgets become. 

Each budget is built on the last one, so if you don’t accomplish your goals within this paycheque cycle, your next one will be thrown off.

Yet it is by budgeting into the future that you can catch a glimpse of the future that you could have, if you keep doing what you’re doing; if you keep working your plan.

For me, let’s just say that it looks like 2018, will be a very good year for me. While the pragmatist in me insists that the future is not set, I am certainly hopeful and positive for the future. 

As always: Keep your head up your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Thursday 28 September 2017

Wanda Payment Update

Today is not just any Thursday, but a Wanda Payment Thursday. Interestingly enough, the second to last one that shall ever be (he says gloatingly). 

The previous Regular Wanda Payment came out on Sept 7 and the extra bite that it took out of the Outstanding Balance was $2.76.

Yet, for whatever reason, today’s Regular Wanda Payment only took $2.56 out of the Outstanding Balance (of the Wanda Loan).

I am not sure why that is. I thought that the main factor was the amount of time from the previous payment, as in, this meant less time for the interest to accrue. 

Yet, the amount of time between the bulk payment and this regular payment was about the same in terms of days as the last one.

Perhaps it is the fact that the Outstanding Balance of the loan is creeping ever lower. Who knows, all I know is this loan is getting ever smaller with every payment I make.

Let this be a lesson to, whenever possible, make regular extra payments on any loans you have. Not only will it shorten the length of them, it will save you lots of cash in the long run as well.

Only one Regular Wanda Payment and one Paycheque stands between me and the glorious paycheque that will finally kill this loan (my last and largest) and in so doing, earn me my freedom.

As always: keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

Wednesday 27 September 2017

The Woo-Hoo Trap

A comment was made yesterday cautioning me against taking my vacation just after becoming Totally Debt Free. 

Moreover, it was the fact that the timing was wrong and the way that I had paid for said vacation that seemed to be the cause for concern. 

I respect this person and their point of view, but I am going ahead with my plans. I do want to pause to elaborate on the point that I think they were trying to make.

Or rather, the point that came to my mind, at any rate. (I never claim to speak for others.)

The Woo-Hoo Trap.

The Woo-Hoo Trap is what happens after you achieve some great goal such as paying off your debts, yet you have no plan afterwards. 

You relax and think that nothing like that terrible thing (of being mired in debt) will ever happen to you again, cause you are smart. 

Then the thoughts creep in . . . reminding you of all the things you missed out on. Whispering to you all the things you wanted to buy yet denied yourself during your journey. 

Advertising has a way of reminding you of these things.

So, you decide to just “treat yourself,” to just get that one thing . . . then that other thing . . . then, why not this as well? And so on until you are back where you started.

Why this happens is twofold. 

The first reason why this happens is that you never changed your mindset and how you relate to money. 

You still have your old impulsive habits in place and have thrown aside your frugal/budgeting ways after achieving your goal of debt freedom. 

The second reason is that you forgot that zero is not a resting place but a starting place. 

Being debt free is like clawing out of a hole that you have fallen into (or dug yourself into, rather) and you are now back up to ground level. 

You are back where you started at, at the beginning of your working life. That’s it, that’s all that you have accomplished. You are back up to zero, back at the starting line.

You need to continue to press forward, continue to set goals, continue to strive for more. 

Set a new goal, a higher goal, something that will take you to a better place than you are now. 

For me, as I have said before, the next phase that I will enter is the “Don’t Do This Again” phase. 

This will see me save up enough cash that I could live on for a year to a year or two (if needed) or weather a fiscal emergency. 

This phase should end sometime in April. 

After that, comes the Savings/Dreambuilding” phase. This will see me save up enough cash to buy some land and pay cash. (Quarter Section Minimum) Again, this should take me up until late in 2019. 

I will still take my break and take it when I become debt free, because it is important to celebrate your successes in the moment. That and I have earned it. 

I will move on, I will continue my frugal ways and do my best to avoid The Woo-Hoo Trap. I should be able to spot it this time, as I have fallen for that one before.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

Tuesday 26 September 2017

Celebration Vacation Booked!


I got to thinking as time ticked down towards the big day . . . how to celebrate it? The debate really was how to celebrate it frugally, and if I could afford to celebrate it at all.

Since my bank is closed on Sundays, I can’t do my banking on the actually payday of October 22nd. This means that I have to do my banking on Monday the 23rd. 

The plan was that after work I would do my usual running around . . . yet that seemed wrong somehow . . . to work? On Total Debt Freedom Day? Was that right? 

No, no it wasn’t.

So, I asked Boss, if I could have just Monday the 23rd off, but the whole week off as well, and he agreed. So, yesterday afternoon I booked my campsite in Banff. 

What will happen now is that, on the weekend of the Oct 20 – 22nd, I will stay in my Western Home, as per usual.

On Monday morning I will go to the bank and after doing my usual banking (at my appointment) pay off the Wanda Loan.

Then, that afternoon I will take the leisurely drive to Banff and setup camp. There I will stay until the following Monday morning, (when I will drive to work bright and early).

I will try to get out and do some hiking or rather do more than plop and twitch. At any rate I will relax and take the time for me, a small reward for accomplishing this great feat.

As you might have guessed the cost of this excursion has been put on a credit card and that card will not be paid off until November (either 7th or the 22nd is still under debate).

At any rate, this is my low interest card and I will pay $50.00 per payday in the meantime to keep it more than happy. Yes I had to rearrange my budget a bit.

Whilst it is debt, it is debt that is small and under control (less than $500.00, all told) and as I said, it will be paid off within two months (max). 

Once the Wanda Loan is paid off, I will control debt, it will not control me, and it will do so, no more.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

Monday 25 September 2017

In 0 And 4, It’ll Be No More!

And on the fourth Monday He shall be free . . . so sayeth the me. 
   

It will be four Mondays from now, that I will be walking into my bank and paying off my Wanda Loan. In so doing, I will be debt free. 

To be technical and in the interest of being honest, I will have a couple of hundred dollars on a Credit Card, but that is the subject of tomorrow’s blog, 

At any rate the balance of that card will be paid off on the payday on November the 7th. So, I consider that debt to be under the heading of “current expenses.”

For now, I am now really and truly in the home stretch and I am starting to feel better and more positive about things. 

It is like a weight is starting to lift from my shoulders. It is like I am starting to let myself actually believe this is going to happen. 

(Mental note to self: Watch out for fiscal snipers.)

Even though my life will not change all that much and I will endure much of the same, the thought of the freedom that I will gain, sustains me.

I will get through this month and then, after that, I will work to build my future. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

Friday 22 September 2017

One and None, I’ll Be Done!

It is now officially one calendar month until the payday that will make me Totally Debt Free. I swear this blog entry will not be focussed on that, but I had to mention it.
   

Today is also payday, more specifically it is the third payday (including the glorious one) before Total Debt Freedom. 

That means this is coming down to the wire time for me. I have the power to either make my goal or miss it, it is all up to me (and random chance).

So, I have no wiggle room with regards to my targets, and with this paycheque being about what I had expected (frustrating) I have to make cuts.

Yet, I can’t cut either my savings or my Extra Wanda payment targets. Neither can I cut my bills, as debts must be paid. You don’t need to eat, but you need to pay the cell bill.

So that leaves my expenses, and this payperiod the target is groceries. I will be underfunding my groceries wallet. 

This means I will only be putting back half of what I spent out of it during the last payperiod. (Part of the reason for having the wallets is for this eventuality.)

Since I am being frugal, I will still have more in the wallet, then I had spent out of it, so, I’ll be fine. This is also why being frugal in spending out of the wallets is good.

This is just another way for me to make sure that the glorious day of freedom happens, regardless of the mistakes of the recent past. 

I cannot control the income side, but I can control the expenses side of my budget, and control it I will. In so doing, I: have, can and will achieve my goals and better my life.

As always: keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Thursday 21 September 2017

Closing In

I stand now on the threshold of an auspicious barrier, tomorrow I will stand on it, and the day after I will break it. 

I am talking about the one month barrier: one month to Total Debt Freedom Day. 

Tomorrow is the 22nd of September, one calendar month to the 22nd of October. It is that paycheque, the paycheque on the 22nd of October that will buy me my freedom.

Through a twist of fate October 22nd is a Sunday, and my bank branch is close on Sundays. So, I will be doing my banking on Monday the 23rd. 

I could go to another branch or use a bank machine, and then call in to over the phone banking to close out the loan (I think). 

I have been banking there and I want to do this in person, so I will wait a day. So this Monday will be four weeks exactly to Total Debt Freedom Day.

This is getting close and so I am being extra careful with my cash, as I literally have none to spare and may take an advance on a credit card to get this done.

(A credit card advance or other credit card charge is okay, as long as the total credit card balance is paid off come the next payday). 

I would still rather not do that, so I am conserving all the cash that I can. The one thing is certain, baring a large unexpected event, I will be debt free in just over a month.

It is important to take the time to notice and recognize these milestones that we cross, as we cross them. Doing so helps keep you motivated.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Wednesday 20 September 2017

On Target For An Undesirable Goal

Part of my success is that I keep a weather eye on my finances, on a daily basis 

Each morning I login to my online banking to check the status of my bank accounts and credit cards. 

I want to know what payments have gone through, and which ones have not. I also want to keep an eye on what charges (if any) have gone through that shouldn’t have.

That is not all, every day or two (at max) I look at and review my budget. I look over what I have spent and what I have yet to spend and ask if that is necessary. 

I constantly tweak my budget to try to squeeze every dollar that I can out of it, yet somehow still do what I need to do. 

Then reality bites me in the butt, and shoves me back. 

For example, the cost of winterizing Wanda has gone up this year, considerably. 

I could possibly do it myself, but for me, the cost of having it done professionally is worth it. 

I know me and I would go to a campsite and be meticulous about it. I would spend more time and money than just grumbling and paying to have it done.

Each time that I am hit with one of these extra costs I am back to being on track to make that frustrating target. 

I am talking about the exasperating target of being debt free with less than $20.00 to my name, of course.

But, there is a bright side . . . it will make a great headline.

The truth is that as frustrating as it is, I don’t care if I end up with less than a dollar to spare, as long as I become debt free, (on the day) that is all that matters.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Tuesday 19 September 2017

Wanda Winterizing Date Set

It is that time of year, when I give up running water. The RV Dealership that I bought Wanda from has a drive through winterizing event each year at this time.

I keep an eye open to learn the exact date each year, but I know that it happens in early October. 

Well, this year it is happening a week this Saturday, Saturday the 30th to be exact.

It’s funny; this doesn’t really bother me that much, as I really haven’t used my indoor plumbing all that much this summer season. 

Sure, I use the taps, and that is nice, but a luxury. I haven’t used the shower for a few months, since before I lost the propane system. 

With the lack of convenient access to water to fill the main tank, it just isn’t worth it. So, I have my jug showers each morning, and that gets the job done. 

After I winterize I will officially be in Fall/Spring Mode. 

What this means is that I will still be able to use my grey water tanks (as in the sink and bathtub drains) and my Blackwater Tank (as in my toilet).

Those I can use until the temp drops down consistently below zero. At that point I will not be able to drain my tanks, as the valves (at the sewer connection end) will be frozen shut.

So, this is yet another way that life rolls on and I adapt to it. I have the better part of two weeks until my pipes run dry, so I will make the best of it. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

Monday 18 September 2017

Peering Beyond The Veil

No, I am not contemplating death, but I am starting to think about what my next steps are going to be, after achieving Total Debt Freedom.

For me, this day of finally achieving such a large and looming goal has always been something that I haven’t been able to look beyond.

This past weekend I started to think about where exactly I should go from here, what Milestone Goals to set as I work towards my next Crossroads Goal of Land Ownership.

The first phase should take me until April 2018, and that is what I call my “Rebuilding Phase.”

The Rebuilding Phase is me taking a pause and rebuilding my cash reserves up to a point that I never get into this kind of mess (of eternal debt) again.

After that comes the Dreambuilding Phase. This is the phase where I actually start to save the cash for my long-term goal of buying land. 

I am extending my Rebuilding Phase, by a few months before moving into my Dreambuilding Phase.

This will take longer, but I have decided to do this so that I can split my cash reserves from my Dreambuilding Account.

I am toying with the idea of renting a room, but only once I am in my Dreambuilding Phase. This is so I can start to have some semblance of a social life.

Again, I have a limited budget that I am willing to spend on this, so more than likely this won’t happen . . . I am cheap (but a good tenant).

These are dreams for the future, but for now I need to focus on the last few weeks (less than 5) before I achieve Total Debt Freedom. 

Everything I am dreaming about, is counting on that.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Friday 15 September 2017

Investing Troubles

Okay, so I thought that I would try my hand at investing in the short term. In that short term I got my shorts handed to me.

I lost a little bit, a couple of hundred dollars. Not enough to risk Total Debt Freedom Day, but enough to make me more cautious about doing that again. 

I will not go into what I invested in or why, as that is not important. The thing to remember is to never “gamble with the rent money,” which is kinda what I did.

What I did was shift the “robin’s egg” sided nest egg that I had put aside as a fiscal cushion from a safe (but with dismal returns) savings into a more volatile investment.

Well, it started to tank, and I panicked and pulled it out. So I lost enough to learn a lesson. “Don’t invest (or gamble) what you can’t afford to lose.” Cause you might. 

I did loose enough to make me tighten my belt even tighter, but I can still balance my budget and make the day. I will just be ever more frugal than ever.

If I’m lucky I will indeed have less than twenty bucks to my name once I become Totally Debt Free. (Yikes). I will still be totally debt free, though, and that is something.

Let this be another lesson in the column of “don’t do what I did.” When I do start long-term saving again, it will be in a nice safe (yet dismal) investment.

After all, I want a house and land as soon as I can manage it. In order to do that, I need my cash to be safe and readily available. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Thursday 14 September 2017

Click, It’s Fall

There was no gradual cooling down or otherwise easing into Fall. One day it was plus 30C and sunny, and the next day it is 10C and raining. 

I woke up this morning to it being 5C outside and 10C in my house. I even broke out the thermal undies and sleeping toque yesterday evening. 

(Mostly, just to locate them and for a systems test.) 

You neeeever want to be frantically searching for your cold weather gear (or one sock and/or mitten of it) when you reeeeeealy need it. 

Again, no matter what comes my way, I will deal with it. It would have been nice to have some 20C days, so I am not boiling my butt off or chilled.

I will try to resist bundling up too much, as I know that my body must start to adjust to fall and winter and become acclimatized to the colder temperatures. 

In so doing being cold will help my body to raise its temperature and get used to the cold. Just like my body adjusted to plus 30C temperatures for weeks on end.

I promise I won’t do the Californian thing of breaking out all of my winter gear for 5C weather. (Their bodies are acclimatized to the scorching heat, not the cold.)

This weather change just reminds me that this lifestyle requires me to constantly adjust what I am doing and adapt to what is happening around me. 

No matter what, I will survive and thrive. (Yet I reserve the right to grumble along the way.)

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Wednesday 13 September 2017

I Can’t Quit . . . I Don’t Know How

I am just too stubborn and determined to back down. Don’t get me wrong, I have failed, and I have given up . . . in the past. 

Now, I am a different person, now when I look up at the peak of the proverbial mountain that I want to climb, I just see the goal.

I have been through too much to go back to the way that I was, to just accept life as it was handed to me, ever again.

I only wish that I had gone through this process earlier, years earlier. It is what it is and I cannot change the past, only accept it.

I can only move forward and learn from the past, and try not to lament the past too much.

I will continue to move forward and work to make this Crossroad Goal of mine a reality. After that, I will look towards my next Crossroads Goal of land ownership.

First things first, become debt free, then rebuild my finances, then build my savings.

All while refusing to quit.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Tuesday 12 September 2017

Hopes, Expectations and Reality

I have had a lot of time to think about this upcoming moment, the moment that I become Totally Debt Free. 

After achieving such a large, life-changing goal, one expects your life to change . . . or at least one hopes it will.

Yet, the irony is that I know that my life won’t change. Not much anyways, at least not at first. Like the rest of this journey, change, for me, comes at a slow pace. 

I know that I will get up Tuesday morning (six weeks from now) and just go to work as usual. 

One hopes that somehow, there will be some prize or other award, some grand reward waiting for me . . . but nope, just the knowledge that I am debt free.

I know that it will be almost two years before I will be moving onto my property and that is an early estimate. 

Such is life, and the future is not set, there is no destiny but what we make for ourselves. 

Any number of things can happen, and so I chose to hope for the best, prepare for teh worst and work to make the future that I want.

Grand reward or no.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

Monday 11 September 2017

Six Weeks To The Day!

I will admit that I am focussed (you may even say obsessed) with paying off the last of my debts. 

Today is Monday the 11th which means it is now officially six weeks exactly until that glorious day of freedom, known as Total Debt Freedom Day. 

I am keeping focussed on that because it has been a long time coming and to me it means freedom itself.

For, once I am debt free, I am free to do what I want, as long as I can pay my current expenses . . . and that is freedom, isn’t it.

I could do any number of things like wander the earth as I try to “find myself.” I would rather stay where I am and find myself a fatter bank account thank you very much.

As I said, I could do all manner of things, but my life will not change all that much. I will get up and go to work the next day, just like any other day.

I will, however, finally be working to better myself, and the cash that I earn shall be my own. Finally, for the first time in years I will have discretionary income.

The paycheque on November 7, will be extra special, for that one will be mine and only mine, with no bills or debts to be paid with any of it.

Not one penny of that paycheque will be for this bill or that debt . . . but just for me to do with as I please. I will, of course, be building up my savings so as to prevent this from happening again. 

After all, I have frozen my hiney off for the past three and a half years to pay the banks off, why not continue doing what I have been doing and finally pay myself?

I will also be dealing with a boss who shall surely freak out and try to talk me into taking on any sort of debt: house/condo/new truck . . . anything. 

The thought of me being debt free seems to send a chill down his spine. (Yet another reason to press forward with my sacrilegious plan of staying debt free and building up my savings.)

I do this for me, for myself, for my sanity and yes for my future. Alone or with a family, one cannot be certain, hopeful, yes, but not certain. 

One thing at a time, one paycheque at a time, is the only way to take this journey towards freedom . . . in the form of Total Debt Freedom.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Friday 8 September 2017

People in Pain

I ran across a man who was not doing so well, last night. Don’t get me wrong, he seemed to be in decent health, yet not doing so well in spirit.

Yesterday was payday, so after doing my running around that I do each payday, I went back to my Western Home.

The trouble is that the end of the parking lot that I usually park in was full. So, I went back to an end of the parking lot that I have parked at before.

It is in this end that there are a cluster of RV units that I have seen in the same spots on a regular basis. 

Whether they have never moved or just keep going back to the same spots I can’t be sure; I just see them in the same spots.

I did a scant bit of grocery shopping, just a few items, I was tired, after which I relaxed. I will be back this weekend and do my regular shopping then.

It was around dusk when it started; a man berating an invisible companion. They were either invisible or totally silent; I suspect the former.

I won’t go into detail about what was, despite its volume, a private conversation. One thing was clear that this man was haunted by mistakes and ghosts of his past.

Things we could have or should have done all coming back to haunt us when we are still and quiet. 

Friends, lovers and companions gone by who have let us down or otherwise failed to live up to our expectations and standards, all leave a mark, a mark that can’t be seen.

I am not immune to such things, nor are any of us. So, I do not look down upon or otherwise wish to snicker at another’s pain and sorrow. 

I did, however, move. No, it was not because of the noise nor really because I felt in fear for my safety. 

I moved because I did not feel comfortable there. I have always had the attitude that for me to sleep in a place, I need to feel comfortable there. 

There are always other places to park, and my peace of mind is worth it. 

This blog entry is just to shine a light on the people who are out here as Urban Nomads of less than their own volition, who are living in less than ideal circumstances. 

Yet, despite how hard it is or what inner battles they are fighting, they are here, they are alive and they are surviving. May they, like all of us, finally put the ghosts of their past to rest.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Thursday 7 September 2017

Payday Reset

It happened again . . . my hiney was saved by payday. I had a slightly better than average paycheque, which compensated for some unforeseen expenses.

This means that I am now back on track, at least fiscally. I am still apprehensive as to how they the next three paycheques will unfold. 

This one, at least, sees me back on track and doing a-okay. I still (and eternally) need to watch my spending and stay on budget; but I am back on target.

I have resolved that I will make my minimum take home pay for each of the next three paycheques, no matter what. 

No, I won’t demand more money from my boss, rob a bank or do anything stupid. I will just take a bit from my holiday pay, if I need to. 

As I have said before, my income comes from two areas, neither one I control. One is from my hourly rate and the other is from commission from online sales.

I don’t control how many work days are in a given pay period, nor do I control who buys what or when online. 

(I just sacrifice an avocado to the gods of online shopping and hope for the best.)

All I can do is do my job the best that I can, manage my expenses, and hope for the best. 

So, if I need to make up an income shortfall, I will just take a bit of vacation pay from that pile. 

As in the vacation pay that I have built up with the company, by not going on any vacation, or taking very few vacation days.

(It’s not like I’m going on a vacation anytime soon . . . those things cost money.)

I am now feeling better and more confident to be on track and this close to this (for me) so momentous a goal. 

I will continue to be vigilant, hopeful yet optimistic as time ticks down. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward.   

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Feeling Better About The Future

It is funny, that even though I intellectually know that I am 1 month and 2 weeks (plus 2 days) away from being Totally Debt Free, that I don’t really believe it.

I am still battling the doubt and cynicism that accompanies the prospect of any massive positive life change. 

More specifically, the doubt and cynicism comes from having such massive positive life changes snatched away from you unexpectedly, at the last moment.

Yet, when I look back on where I was 4 years ago and how far I have come, I am hopeful for the future. 

I was still spending all of my income on debt and the cost of existence. I had no savings and had no plan to eliminate debt. 

On top of all that I had crushing stress that I had been living with for years (somehow) because I knew how insane and precarious my situation was. 

I am on the cusp of tuning the page on debt and beginning the savings phase of my life (massive negative life change notwithstanding). 

I am allowing myself to feel positive and look back on how far I have come in both fiscal position and life skills gained. 

Even if I were to be suddenly unemployed today, I would still be debt free. For that goal is constant, yet it is possible that the end date may change.

That is why I will be hopeful yet wary of celebrating the day before it has come. Anything can happen between now and 1 month and 2 weeks (plus 2 days).

I am committed to my goal and hopeful about the future. (I couldn’t say either, 4 years ago). 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Tuesday 5 September 2017

The Hopeful Realist

As this self-imposed deadline looms, I find myself focussing more and more on each day and what I am doing with it.

My “game” as in the tricks that I have been doing that are working and moving me forward have been upped. 

I am constantly evaluating what I am doing as how this will impact whether this will help me make the day (of Total Debt Freedom) or not. 

I know that I should relax a bit and just let things happen. I have been working so hard for so long to get to this point, to earn my freedom; I don’t want to screw up.

I am still waiting for that other shoe to drop and this one large wave to come crashing across and blindside me, capsizing me and my dreams of debt freedom. 

Yet, even as I stare down what looks, might be to be a dismal September (pay wise) I don’t care. 

I know that I have found ways to make things work in the past, so I will continue that trend now. I have met my goals before, so I will meet this one. 

This is what I do, this is the pattern of success that I have set for myself. It is not arrogance, it is confidence. 

I am still aware that I can screw up royally, which is why I am second-guessing each choice. I still have faith in myself though, I am just a realist. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward.

Friday 1 September 2017

In 1 and 3, I’ll be Free!

September has started, so that means that before the end of next month, I will be Totally Debt Free.

I am focussing on the positive moment of this date in an effort to try and avoid the pessimism that has been creeping in as of late. 

I will proceed with cautious optimism as I continue to save as much as I can so as to actually build up a bit of a cash cushion into my budget.

As I have said before, things have been tight and for a bit there it seemed like I wasn’t going to make it, but my super-frugal ways have helped turn that around.

I still know that I am at the mercy of the online shopping gods and that I could still suffer a dismal paycheque or two. 

After all I only have 4 paydays (including the glorious one on October 22nd)before I finally become Totally Debt Free. 

So this means that I don’t have the time to make up for bad paydays after the fact, I have to be prepared for them in advance. 

Besides, it would be nice to have more than $20.00 to my name after becoming Totally Debt Free.

Again there is that scepticism again, but I just choose to turn this into a positive. 

Going forward I will look for what could go wrong and try to enact measures to prevent or counteract those possible bad things.

One way or another, even if I suddenly become unemployed, I will be Totally Debt Free. The only thing that will change is the date that it will happen, but it will happen.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!