Friday 29 March 2019

To Buy or Not to Buy?

So, the whole decision as to whether to buy or not has been still ratting around in my head this past while. 

I will admit that I have still been looking on realtor websites and have been looking to see what I could get for my modest budget. 

As even if I were to buy something, I refuse to have the cost of owning and operating that house to be more than half of my income, in fact I expect it to be less than that.

With the warmer weather returning, I know that it is not pressing, so I have decided to push it off until I at least reach the one-third mark towards my savings goal.

That will be this fall, also come fall the weather will be getting colder again, so I will face the decision to either: 1) stick it out in Wanda, 2) rent a room or 3) buy a condo.

Even if I do buy a place, I will not evaporate my savings, as that would be far too dangerous and put me in a hazardous position. 

For now, I will just plod on forward and build my savings with each payday. As each time I put more into my savings, my options are increased that much more. 

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

Thursday 28 March 2019

Lumbering Along

Life is just ticking by slowly. I am just keeping on, keeping on, one day at a time. Some days there really isn’t much to say. This is one of those days.

I am still doing what I need to do. I am still managing to get done, what I need to get done in order to do what I need to do.

I know how to live in this lifestyle and while it is far from glamorous, it helps me get ahead. 

What keeps me going is the vision of that house/cabin/land out there that will be mine, and most importantly . . . paid for.

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

Wednesday 27 March 2019

Working To Focus On The Now

Okay, so things are frustrating with the limitations on my mobility. Time is dragging slowly forward, as I just want this over with so I can get back to doing what I do.

Yet, I cannot speed up time, I can only go through it at its pace. So, I have to calm down and just learn to take things as they come.

I have to learn to enjoy each day and find a bit of happiness and peace in the moment.

I continue to force myself to focus on the positive rather than the negative in what is happening to and around me. 

It is a struggle, but it is a struggle worth fighting, and one that I am winning. 

One day at a time.

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

Tuesday 26 March 2019

Making a Home In Eastern Home

I had a nice relaxing weekend, in Eastern Home. It was, among other things, spent making sure that I knew how to get done what I needed to get done. 

I can either walk to the places in Eastern Home or bike to the places that are a bit further away, such as the grocery store or bank. 

For things that are further than that, I have access to the bus and the transit system. 

Again, this is not forever, just for now, so I have to not only find a way to deal with it, but find ways to enjoy life as it is.

There are many things in the future that is not certain and undecided, so what I have to focus on, as always, is the now and this week.

So, I will take things one day at a time, one payday at a time as I continue to move forward.

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

Monday 25 March 2019

Grand Savings Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” 

Okay, so let’s see how I did . . . 
   

For review, here is how things looked from last payday . . .
   

That is 19.3% (of my Savings Target).

And this is how things look like, after the dust settled on this payday’s budget . . . 
   
 
That’s right things jumped up to 20.3% of my savings target. 

That means I put away 1% of my total Savings Target this payday.

So, it is official, I have made 20% and each ten percentage points is a big deal for me, and a reason to celebrate. 

Yet, funnily enough it kinda feels like only 13.33% because I increasingly discount the amount in my Mid-Term Savings Account. 

That is my Personal Line of Credit, and is available to me to spend in an emergency at any given time. 

I also don’t count the contents of my Main Account as savings, even the first thousand that I keep in there and designate my Personal Overdraft. 

Yet, I know that this is splitting hairs and savings is savings. 

To satisfy this urge I will continue to work and build my savings until I have put that extra ten grand in my Long Term Savings.

The point to focus on is the fact that I am continuing to build my savings with each and every payday.

What I will do with my savings, I have yet to decide or determine, yet as I do, I will continue to sock away cash. 

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

Friday 22 March 2019

Work On The Now

All I can really do, is work on the here and now, and continue to move forward. In essence that is all I really can do.

I still have some things to figure out, like what I really want to do, and how I want to do it. 

Yet, I still have to refocus on what I have to do here, now, today to move myself forward towards those goals.

That means getting my budget back on track and dealing with the new realities of the next few months. 

I can and will get it done, just like I will figure out my next steps. As in what I want to do for the coming winter.

Do I want to rent a room? Rent one just for the winter? Buy a condo/house? These are questions that are still rattling around in my head.

I will not even try to force an answer to them today, this week or even this month. I will just let the answer come to me, when it is ready.

All I can really do, is work on the here and now, as I move forward in the direction of my goals.

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

Thursday 21 March 2019

Defining The Dream, and The Path

So, I am still trying to figure out just what I want and how I want to get there. That is really the crux of the problem and what occupies my thoughts these days. 

In essence, do I want to found that town and do so as soon as possible? Is that really what I want to do with my life?

If that is the case then perhaps I should keep on going with my current path and lifestyle in order to shorten the length of time needed to raise up the cash required to start it. 

Or do I want to take a slower path and enjoy life along the way? Wait until fall and buy a place once I am at least one third of the way to my savings goal. 

That way I could still build my savings yet have a place to live in and start to socialize and have a life out of. When the time is right, sell the place and hopefully recoup the cash I put into it.

I am still pondering these things, as time is short, or rather it goes quickly. That much is certain when you look back on your life and realize that what you thought was a year or two ago, is actually a decade or two behind you.

All you have is now, and so I am trying to figure out the balance between living for the now, and building for the future. 

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

Wednesday 20 March 2019

It Happened, It Was Inevitable

Yesterday, I finally got the call that I had always expected to get. Somebody called the cops on me because I had been in one spot too long. 

Part of me thinks that the fact that another Truck and RV trailer started to park on the same street as me rose the fear in someone.

All I know was that I had to move last night after work, so move I did. 

With the help of a couple of my co-workers and the melting of the snow, I was finally able to park where I like to park, closer to work.

There are a thousand challenges and I will do what I always do: solve them one by one as I make my way in this world.

I will not be rude to the police or other authorities (if I can help it) as they are just doing their job and don’t deserve to be given guff. 

Likewise, I am a person and don’t deserve to be given attitude or treated poorly. The officer who phoned me was polite and professional; a real credit to the uniform.

For my part I said that I would move before the night was out and move I did. It remains to be seen if I get another call or visit today, but one problem at a time.

The latest challenge is how and when to run my generator in this area, as I don’t want to anger or upset my new neighbours.

I am still undecided as to what I will do, as far as living arrangements are concerned, but I will try to have more of a life, yet again, I need to get through the next three months first.

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

Tuesday 19 March 2019

The Plan For The Mid-Term

Okay, so while there are things that I would like to do, or at least would like to entertain the thought of doing, I know what will be happening for the next three months.

I will be living in my Eastern Home. As in, all week, and all weekend; period, non-stop. 

My truck and trailer can move forward and backwards a bit, on the street that they are parked (magically) so that they are seen to be moving, but that’s about as far as they is going to move.

Until this three months driving prohibition has passed, I really can’t do anything, even if I wanted to. 

Let’s say that I go crazy and buy a condo. I could get a friend to help me to move Wanda into a storage yard and park my truck in the parking spot that comes with the condo.

Yet, that condo would be totally empty, as I have no furniture and since I can’t drive, I have no way to get furniture.

Sooo three months of inflatable furniture it would be. 

The other thing is that I really don’t know if I actually want to buy a condo. 

If I buy something, it would have to be something, some place that I could see myself living in (and being happy in) for at least five years.

I know how to function, I know that I can ride my bike to the grocery store and my mailbox. It is not fancy, but I can at least make do with things.

I also know that I don’t want to do another winter in Wanda. I can do it, I just don’t want to. So, I see myself moving somewhere, into something at least for winter. 

I am trying to figure this out as I go and not do anything: crazy, impulsive or reckless. 

Yet, I do want to try to figure out how to have some pleasure in life as I continue to move forward. 

I know what my life will look like for the next three months at least. Just think of the amount of cash I will save on fuel.

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

Monday 18 March 2019

Finding The Balance While Moving Forward

Okay, so this whole health scare thing has shook me up and caused me to reflect on my life. 

Specifically I have been reflecting on what I have done with my life and how far along in my life I am. 

I will admit that this has me freaked out a bit as I realized that I am not as young as I thought I was and I don’t have as much time left as I thought that I did.

In reality, (as proven by one week ago today) none of us know exactly how much time we have left. 

Yes, it is exactly one week ago this morning (shortly before 9 am Mountain Time) that my health scare happened. 

I have another test to go to today, so I will be heading back to work tomorrow instead of today. 

Yet, as I do, and even this past week I have found that I have lost my taste for this harsh lifestyle. 

I want a bit of comfort and a fixed address to operate out of as I continue to build my savings. 

I want to start to be able to go out and enjoy life and socialize as I build my savings. 

Exactly what I will do, as far as: Renting a room, buy a condo, buy an acreage, etc, I don’t know. 

My thoughts have started to shift to finding a way to give up a bit of cash in my cashflow in order to gain a bit of comfort in my lifestyle. 

Not a lot but some in order to enjoy life now, as I move forward towards my dreams, building my savings along the way. 

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

Friday 15 March 2019

I’m Okay

I have been relaxing this week as well as trying to figure out what my next move should be. 

I need to figure out how to get through the next three months, after that I can figure out what direction I want to go. 

I am still not sure if I want to keep going living this Urban Nomad Lifestyle or not. 

There are so many things to consider and so many conflicting things going on, such as my wanting a place of my own yet not wanting to get a mortgage.

I have no answers yet, still questions, but one thing I do know is that I will be back at work on Monday morning. 

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

Thursday 14 March 2019

Prodded to Reflect

Okay, it is time to rethink why I am doing what I am doing and if I need to tweak my lifestyle. 

It is true that living in Wanda has done a lot of good for me, but it has also come at a cost, a cost of a social life/etc. 

I still want to build up my savings and buy something out in the country would be nice, so what changed. 

Something prodded me to rethink why I am still doing what I am doing. I won’t go into detail but there was a bit of a health scare at work on Monday. (I won’t go into it, so don’t ask.)

I am fine but I am taking this week off to relax. As a result of this health scare I am prohibited from driving for three months. 

Which throws a slight curve in my lifestyle, as my lifestyle is driving my house around with me. 

So, I see a lot of bussing and/or using ride sharing in my future, at least once a week, to go grocery shopping. 

This weekend I will be thinking how best to handle all this and if, perhaps it is time to rent a room and move out of Wanda. 

I am fine, don’t worry about me, I just can’t drive anywhere.

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

Wednesday 13 March 2019

I’m Thinking of Ending It . . . Living In My RV

It is a thing that has happened, a thought struck me and has stuck around . . . to move out of Wanda and into . . . a fixed address.

I have done what I have set out to do, and time is moving onwards. Perhaps the time has come to spend a bit and enjoy life a bit more.

Even if it is just rent a room somewhere, I would be in a better position to enjoy life, and . . . socialize. 

Who knows if anything will come of it, and I think a good place to start for me would be to rent a room. 

I could still grow my savings, just not as fast. I don’t know if I will do this, but it was a thought that has been with me for the past few days.

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

Tuesday 12 March 2019

One More Step In The Journey

That’s it, that’s all yesterday was, just one more way that I was moving forward towards my goals and dreams. 

There were ups and there where downs, but overall life just rolled along. I am still committed to getting that little place, in the country (Land, acreage, town, etc).

There will be nondescript days in your life, and yesterday was one of them.

Thus, this boring blog entry.

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

Monday 11 March 2019

My Return to Western Home

This past weekend I went back to my Western Home and it was nice to be able to put my slide-out out and have a bit of space.

The weather is on the verge of warming up and things are looking up for me, at least that is what I tell myself. 

I cling to the belief that the worst of winter is behind me, and that spring is coming with summer behind it; after Anti-Fall, of course.

My weekend was nice and relaxing, and I look forward to the warm weather that is on the way.

For now I will keep moving forward as I try to enjoy the weather more. 

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

Friday 8 March 2019

Grand Savings Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” 

Okay, so let’s see how I did . . . 
   

For review, here is how things looked from last payday . . .
   

That is 18.2% (of my Savings Target).

And this is how things look like, after the dust settled on this payday’s budget . . . 
   

That’s right things jumped up to 19.3% of my savings target. 

That means I put away 1.1% of my total Savings Target this payday.

Okay, so this is progress and as I said yesterday I stole an extra hundred in there by topping up what I made in interest on my savings up to the next hundred.

The big one will be next payday when I get to 20% of my savings target. Until then I will make sure to keep doing what I am doing until I get to that big number. 

Every 5% is a large deal for me. Yet another way to keep me motivated and moving forward on this journey. 

As well the further I go down this road, and the further away from 0% savings I have, the more at ease I will feel.

After living all of my working life (so far) with no savings, I never want to go without it again. 

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

Thursday 7 March 2019

Leveraging Interest

Okay, so today is payday and so I get to shuffle cash around. 

It is my favourite day because I get to put my hard earned cash into my bank account and do what I please with it. 

My Long-Term Savings have grown to the point that I am now actually making money off the bank.

In that I pay $15.95 a month in “Bank Fees” yet I make about $20.00 in interest each month in my Long-Term Savings Account.

I typically put in only multiples of $100.00 into my Long-Term Account, because . . . it just makes for easy math and it looks neater.

Well, this payday I broke that tradition and put in an extra $40.00 . . . why? Because that was all it took to lift the balance of my Long-Term Account up to the next hundred.

It’s fun and I plan on doing this again in a few months, as every dollar that goes into savings has been doubly earned.

I am still on my drive to 20% and that will happen next payday (on the 22nd). It is just nice to see the banks actually giving me some cash for a change. 

All in the effort to help build my savings . . . and my dreams. 

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

Wednesday 6 March 2019

Ready For The Warmth

Yep, I am now ready for the warmer weather to arrive. I am looking forward to tomorrow, because tomorrow is when the weather will get better.

It gets a bit better today, as in a step in the right direction but tomorrow it will get even better. 

I have been watching the weather for a while and the turnover day seems to be holding and tomorrow is it. 

I want to see the sidewalk again. I want to see the dead grass again (and watch it grow green again).

I want to BBQ again and yes I want to be able to use my sinks and toilets again. 

I am looking forward to another warm season and can’t wait to get started doing all the things I can do in the warmth.

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

Tuesday 5 March 2019

The Last Days of The Bitter Cold

I keep looking to next week to keep me going, but so far I am still in the cold.

It is the last days of the bitter cold for this winter season, or so I keep telling myself. 

I still keep up my cold weather routine, yet I am able to get a bit of heat in the trailer in the evening, after work. 

Things are changing, things are warming up, yet not as quickly as I would like. 

Yet the same can be said about my finances, my savings are growing, yet not as fast as I would like. 

I will continue to trudge forward and keep reminding myself of my progress, now and again. You know, by pausing to look back at how far I have come.

I try to not look too far forward at how far I have to go, after all, all I have to do is look to this week, today in order to just keep trudging . . . cold or no cold.

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

Monday 4 March 2019

The Verge of Anti-Fall

Yes, we are on the verge of a warming spell, who knows how long it will last, but I will take the not-so-cold weather no matter how briefly it stays.

I, for one, have had enough of being bitterly cold for one winter, and perhaps for the ones to come as well. 

I am not done my Grand Savings Plan, as I am only (currently) at 18.2% complete and it looks as though I won’t be to move on to the next phase of my life until April of 2023.

That is three full years from now, and three more winters in Wanda on these cold Prairie streets. 

For the most part, I get buy okay, it is just these really cold snaps that I hate. This is because it is when they daytime highs are below -20C that my lifestyle is really adversely affected.

My furnace has a hard time to heat the place up when it is that cold and the best I can seem to do is get it near zero with the furnace running full tilt.

My electric heater does a better job but that means I need to run my generator but it can get the place nice and balmy. 

Again, either choice means using more resources and yes costing me more. I will, however explore this as . . . I hate being cold. 

I am much more a: shorts, sandles and a loose shirt kinda guy with a light breeze blowing through Wanda. 

Oh yeah, that’s nice, that’s what I like. I endure the cold, I don’t frolic in it. 

So, I will spend a bit more resources next cold snap to make things nicer and warm(er).

Moving out of Wanda, even temporarily, is out of the question due to a promise I made to myself. Renting a spot at a local Year Round Campground is stupidly expensive. 

So, a bit more generator fuel and propane is a cheaper option to make my Wanda a bit more liveable in the cold months. 

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

Friday 1 March 2019

New Month Same Cold (For Now)


So, here we are into a new month and yet one more weekend of bitter cold. I am still holding on to the fact that this time next week it should be warmer. 


It will still be cold but it will be warmer, as in Not-All-That-Bad-And-I-Can-Function-Okay, cold. As in the daytime highs near or above zero and the nightime lows only in the teens.

That I can do standing on my head, I can handle this bitter cold, but I don’t have to like it. I am still trying to get through this cold without blowing my budget.

One way or another, I will be okay, as things will get warmer and my budgets will stop bleeding so much. (Okay a bit melodramatic, but I will get back to more normal budgets).

I am looking towards getting on with my savings plan but mostly, I am looking forward to the warmer weather.

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