Tuesday 28 February 2017

Not Officially Cold

It’s funny, to me it is not really winter again until I pull out that -40C Rated Sleeping Bag. As long as that thing stays packed away, the weather is just a bit nippy.

So to me and my delusional mind, we are still in Fall/Winter Mode, yet things are just a wee bit nippy. 

This too shall pass and then the warmer weather shall return. Until then I shall continue to hibernate away under my covers wearing my warm clothes (yet only 5 layers).

I keep my eyes on the prize of being debt free, and beyond to land ownership and the beginnings of settlement thereof. 

I can do this, after all it is less than a week for this cold stuff to go away. The not-so-cold weather of Fall/Anti-Fall is much easier to deal with than the bitter cold of winter.

Another happy note is that it is exactly one week before payday which marks yet another step on the long journey that is this path towards my lofty (yet attainable) goals.

(Yet it is still not officially cold).

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

Monday 27 February 2017

I Had A Good Laugh This Weekend

It was Friday Evening, and all of my weekly running around was done. I then settled down to do something I shouldn’t put off for long.

I get out of work early on Fridays and so I make a point to do my grocery shopping and check my mail. 

After that I go back to my little spot where I park to sleep and stay there for the weekend. 

I live an exciting life, I know, after all this is the one weekly trip out (and it is only a few blocks away).

This Friday I did my taxes. I decided not to put it off because I had both the T4 from work and the slip from my RRSP. So, I had everything that I needed to do it, so I did it.

I used a reputable online software/website to do the taxes and just filled in the boxes and blanks, double checking for accuracy. 

I am not one to fudge the numbers, and certainly not when it comes to taxes!

I had a hearty laugh when the software reported a nice and healthy tax refund. I of course have no faith whatsoever that I will see anything near that amount.

In fact I don’t budget for any tax refund at all, I consider it bonus money. Why? 

Well, with me at least, the Taxman has a history of turning a modest refund into a miniscule bill (as in the famous $24 tax bill).

Last year my refund was cut in half (for no stated reason whatsoever). So this year, if I get anything, I will just celebrate that and stuff it into the Long-Term Savings.

It would be nice if the stars aligned and I got that nice healthy refund, as that alone could almost shift Total Debt Freedom Day up yet another month. 

Again, I will remain calm and just be thankful for whatever amount I get back. It is my way of looking to see the positive in all of this. 

After all, no matter what, I will be totally debt free this year (economic calamity notwithstanding).

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

Friday 24 February 2017

Old Man Winter Pokes Back

Okay, I’ll admit, I was a bit eager for Anti-Fall to start sooner rather than later. So, here we are and out here at least, the cold weather has returned, for the next week at least.

Again, this is nothing that I haven’t seen before and more than likely I won’t even bother to pull the -40C Rated Sleeping Bag out of the closet.

I can and will get through this and the warmer weather will come back (yay). As always, I will adjust and adapt what I am doing to suit the temperatures and conditions.

I will keep my eyes on the prize of being debt free this year, and with that in mind I can endure just about anything. 

(But yes, sorry about the cold weather, after all this is my fault for actually thinking that the cold weather was behind us this winter . . . my bad.)

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

Thursday 23 February 2017

I Need to Out-Scrooge Scrooge (Yet be Nice)

Okay, so I have officially made that insanely large payment on the Wanda Loan. Now I have the daunting task of rebuilding my, now decimated, savings.

I can mathematically do it, but it will take me stuffing aside almost every last dime I can spare (no joke) in order to do it.

So, here I am, I have set yet another impossible goal for myself in order to reach some arbitrary deadline that I have set for myself . . . so . . . all in all . . . things are “normal.”

I can do this, and I will do this. Yet even if I somehow miss this target, I will still be debt free. It will just take an extra payday or two (oh no).

This is what happens when you aim high, even if you miss (unless you do so in some spectacular fashion) you will still hit a pretty high mark. All in all not a bad way to fail.

So, I will not be camping anytime soon, nor driving anywhere that I don’t need to drive. Nor will I be eating fancy, yet I will still keep up my weekly trip cheapo meal out.

Naturally, after this deadline is met, there will be another one, yet that one will be more fun, it will be me seeing how much I can put aside in my own savings account (how radical).

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

Wednesday 22 February 2017

The Big Push

Okay, so today is payday and not only that but the day that I make a large gamble, of sorts. 

I have a plan and a schedule to get my last and largest debt paid off before the end of the year. 

As it stands now, it will happen sometime before the end of this year, in fact better than I had expected. 

I am now about to embark on a plan whereas to pay a large lump sum down on that loan in order to shift that up a whole month.

This is to simply see if I can but also to just bring that blessed day of Total Debt Freedom that much closer.

This could also go wrong as in order to do so I am taking some cash out of my savings to make this large payment.

I am paying my savings back by taking some cash out of my vacation pay fund at work. 

Boss is nice in the fact that he lets me do that, I can say “please put X amount from that fund on my paycheque, and he will do it. As long as there is cash in there of course. 

I also want to leave a bit in there for actual vacation pay, but I don’t plan on taking any vacations until after Total Debt Freedom Day. 

I look forward to turning the corner and working towards building up something. Of building up my cash reserve. Of working towards buying a home (debt free) for myself and my future family.

As it stands now, I am in the final push towards paying off the last of my debts that bind and enslave me. 

Once it is paid off, I can relax as each passing payday will elevate my savings and take me that much further away from destitution.

I still will not say exactly when the targeted Total Debt Freedom Day is only that I am saving every last dime I can in order to make it happen even one payday sooner. 

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

Tuesday 21 February 2017

Hello, Goodbye Western Home

So, with this past weekend being a long weekend, I decided to chance it and sneak back into my Western Home. I haven't been there in months and decided to try going back there again.

It was nice to be able to put my stabilizer jacks down and the slide-out out. That and not having large trucks zipping by two feet from my window was also a plus.

I noticed the same few RV’s there in the same spots, so I figured that I would be okay. I circled the parking lot, looking for the right spot. 

I picked an out of the way spot that was in an isolated part of the parking lot and made myself at home. 

I found that being in the parking lot of a large store with many others right nearby was a bit of a challenge for the budget. 

There was lots of those little things, things that you would like, but don’t need right now. I bought a few of those things, because I was constantly in the store’s parking lot.

Then there was what happened around two yesterday afternoon. There I was sitting in my trailer, listening to music while the generator droned on, charging the batteries (and everything else).

Then a yellow SUV pulled up beside my trailer a few feet away (and I mean a few feet). 
I noticed that this SUV was not marked in anyway so this was not security or so forth.

The driver then took a picture with their phone even before I did what came naturally to me. 

I opened my door and proudly stood in the doorway as I waved at them. I didn’t have enough time to take a picture myself. 

I didn’t bother to challenge them even as they pulled up next to the next nearest RV in the parking lot and did the same thing. 

I just packed up and left, knowing that my welcome had been worn out. I won’t be back.

I could have stayed but since I sleep where I stay I need to feel comfortable being parked in a certain area.

This has killed that area for me, as I know that I am not welcome there, I tried to make arrangements but the management there was immovable in their position.

I will respect their right to limit who comes onto their property and for how long they can stay. After all, it is their right as the owners of that land. 

It is just an inconvenience for me and takes away the one nice place that I found.  

It was there, in my western home that I could have a little bit nicer of a weekend, with that extra space both in the trailer and around me.

I will be okay, I will adapt and adjust to what has happened, that is the mainstay of this lifestyle: adapting and adjusting. 

I keep myself focussed on my goals of debt freedom, and land ownership, that keeps me going. That is worth a bit of uncomfortable living now. 

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

Friday 17 February 2017

Winter Baiting

Okay, so on one hand I am just adapting to the weather conditions, but on the other hand I feel like I am poking Old Man Winter in the eye with a stick.

As I have said before, I adapt what I am doing to the current weather conditions, or at least the current temperatures. 

Lately, I have been sneaking into Spring/Fall Mode, yet not entirely. I have not started to use my gray water tanks, yet I have started to use my toilet. 

(Peeing by a fence, or trudging to the nearest coffee shop in search of a toilet is not fun.)

I have even put the -40C Rated Sleeping Bag away and actually slept in regular sheets last night . . . Ooooo almost like a “normal” person.

I know that more cold will come, yet I still am holding out hope that the weather will dance around zero until the coming of Anti-Fall.

Whatever happens, I will of course adapt and adjust what I am doing to survive. For now, though, I will enjoy the warmer weather and take advantage of it. 

I also know that I may have to dump my tanks in a hurry ($3.00 well spent, I say.)

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

Thursday 16 February 2017

Sorry If I’m Boring You

It has been said that perhaps my blogs have been less than informative on the subject of how to live in an RV full-time as of late. I will concede that perhaps that is true.

The reason is that this blog is, and always has been, a public record of my struggle to master debt in an unorthodox way.

I have been putting out there: what I have done, what I have been going through, my successes and even more importantly (yet humbling) my mistakes.

I have done this not to entertain but to let people know that it is possible to get out from under debt once and for all, yet also, to allow people to learn from my mistakes.

I am three years into this journey, and am on the home stretch of Phase 3 (I suppose) of this journey to Total Debt Freedom.

Phase 1: Eliminating Credit Card Debt
Phase 2: Paying off the Truck (2 + years early)
Phase 3: Paying off the Trailer (20+ years early)

As of late, I generally have a good understanding on what to do and how to make this lifestyle work.

(Famous last words, I know) but what I mean is that for the most part, I know what to do and what not to do.

I don’t know everything, that’s for sure, as there is always more to learn about everything and I am always facing a new challenge or have to figure something out.

I have tried to sprinkle a few words of wisdom and others to provoke thought as my outlook and mindset has shifted along this journey.

Yet, I will put this out there, though it has always been the case, if you have a question or a topic that you would like me to look at, feel free to drop me a line.

Otherwise I will continue to clomp on forward and stay focussed as I head towards that glorious day this year when I will be totally debt free!

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

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Unwelcoming Western Home

On Friday, I had to do my laundry, no big deal. The Laundromat that I frequent is not that far from my Western Home. 

After doing my laundry I decided to swing by my Western Home and see if I could talk to someone about returning to stay there. 

As I pulled into the parking lot I was emboldened to see the same regular motorhomes still there. Suspiciously seeming to be in the same places.

When I talked to the manager on duty, however, I got the same line about that they don’t allow that sort of thing and that people can only stay for 24 hours.

I was trying to get them to allow me to stay there just on weekends and in return I would do my weekly grocery shopping there (as I had done in the past).

No amount of reasoning on my part could shift their firm commitment to the policy. I will admit that this person was not at liberty to diverge from said policy.

I even pointed out that I recognized a few montorhomes out in the parking lot that appeared to never have moved. I got a grumbling about their working on it. 

I gave up and left.

I may return on the long weekends(s) as the person I spoke to admitted that they are more lax on those weekends. I will not, however, return before then and just “risk it.”

For me, getting that tag on my window telling me to leave is an insult. If you have a problem with me being there, talk to me, I’ll move. 

Besides, with me staying in my Eastern Home, even on weekends, I am saving more in fuel by not driving anywhere I don’t absolutely have to.

Since I am in the last home stretch of this push to be totally debt free, I am saving as much cash as I can in all areas of my life in order to make that day come a little bit sooner.

That is worth a little bit of discomfort, to me anyways.

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

Tuesday 14 February 2017

Valentine’s Day . . . Oh Joy

Okay, so here we are on this day to celebrate love . . . with me trying to write a balanced blog entry about it.

I have said that I do want: love, family, children and all that. I do, I really do.

I want a large home with lots of space for anyone who shows up to get: a warm welcome, a full belly, and a bed to stay in for as long as they need (but they will contribute and work . . . let’s be fair).

I just don’t see the sense in even starting to look right now. I am in a phase in my life where I am living as cheaply as I can and let’s face it . . . I’m not exactly giving off that “Mr. Provider” vibe.

I suppose I should at least socialize, but I don’t because sooner or later how and where I live will come up. 

I just don’t see any woman getting serious with a guy living in an RV that he parks on industrial side streets and even worse doesn’t have any cash in the budget to go out and date.

I know that women can, and do, endure this lifestyle, (so no list of Amazonian Wonder Women, thanks) but I just don’t see any woman jumping into my life now. 

After all, I am not travelling around the country going where I like, when I like, seeing all sorts of wonderful and exotic things . . .

With me, it’s more like . . . “Hey, Babe, wanna come freeze your ass off with me in my trailer this prairie winter? We can snuggle!” (Any takers? . . . I didn’t think so.) 

I would love to have that special gal in my life as we work together towards our common goal of getting debt free (her debts as well as mine) and get that land out there . . . somewhere that we can build up and settle in any way we like (whilst staying debt free). 

I just won’t hold my breath until that special gal comes along . . . I’d pass out first and most likely will bonk my head on something.

I will date, just not now. I just don’t see the sense in it, not yet anyways. For those of you who are lucky to have that someone special in your life . . . happy Valentine’s Day.

Monday 13 February 2017

Signs of Non-Winter

So, it was a warm weekend . . . but, out here on the prairies, that doesn’t mean that the warm weather will last. After all, it could still dip down to the deep freeze again on a dime.

So, you find yourself looking for signs, little rays of hope that such bitterly cold temperatures will not return until the next winter.

For me, it was the birds . . . yep, I saw a few flocks of geese flying north(ish) over the weekend. 

To me I am counting on some sort of magical, mystical ability they have to know that it is not suicidal for them to head back north again.

Yep . . . it is going to stay non-freezing because a . . . wait for it . . . (not so little) bird told me.

Even if it does get cold again, I can handle it, as I am heading down towards that finish line. 

I am focussed on that glorious day in the not too distant future, where I make my last payment on my last debt.

I am also doing everything in my power to nudge that date up at least one payday, to be debt free one payday sooner. 

To me this is a struggle for freedom itself.

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

Friday 10 February 2017

Had a Nice Evening

Okay, so looking on the positive side, I was able to have a pleasant “non-hibernating” evening . . . as in actually sit in my trailer in some semblance of heat.

This morning . . . not so much;  it was cold so I just stayed in bed, instead of getting up early (or rather at my usual time).

However, this evening should be different as the overnight temps are nowhere near as cold. If the overnight temps are low, then the trailer will be cold come morning.

Again, I don’t want to spend too much in the way of resources in order to heat up my trailer for the morning, just for me to play on the laptop.

Yeah, I actually do those sorts of resource vs. benefit evaluations/arguments in my head all the time. 

Heck I still light my house with candles most of the time (and not for the romantic ambiance, either) . . . (And yes, I already have LED replacement bulbs in all of my lighting fixtures.

This weekend and on into next week looks to be warmer and so I will return to some sort of “normal” routine. As far as whatever “normal” is when you live in an RV.

You see, I find myself constantly changing, or tweaking rather, what I do in order to change and adapt to various conditions, usually the light level and the temperature.

I will adapt, and I will survive and yes I will thrive, and see this through to the end of my debts and yes that patch of land that shall be mine.

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

Thursday 9 February 2017

Turnaround Thursday!

Okay, so here it is, the day that things start to get warmer (don’t look at the overnight temps tonight, let’s just gloss them over).

From here on out (he says with blind, desperate faith) the temps will hover around zero and never ever again (till next winter) stray to the negative double digits. 

Okay, back to reality. We all know that the weather is unpredictable and that nobody really knows what will happen. 

For all we know the latter half of this month may be an even worse deep freeze than this part (as the Old Farmer’s Almanac says) has been.

A twisted part of me wants it to dip down to -40C for a few days just so I can say that I did it, that I lived through it. (As it is -32C I think is the coldest that I have seen it.)

Again, focussing on the happy moments, the weather for the next few weeks at least (according to my weather app) is going to get warmer.

I may even be able to thaw out the block of ice that is my half-full 5 gallon jug of water. 

For that, put said jug on something so it is not resting on the ground, outside and in direct sunlight from sunup to sundown and hope for the best. 

Don’t drain the water as it melts because ice thaws out quicker when it is surrounded by water as opposed to sitting by itself and just melting away into a pan.

I will take this day, as I do all of them, in stride and try to enjoy the happy moments and see the positive in each day as I continue to plod forward, onwards towards my goals.

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

Wednesday 8 February 2017

It’s a Record!

I’m not sure but I think that I have just broken a record as to the lowest amount of cash used for filling my gas tank! 

You see, yesterday was payday, so that means that as a course of my running around, I fill the gas tank in the truck and the jerry can for the generator.

I always make sure to top up the gas tank on the generator itself right before payday. This way I have the maximum amount of fuel on board . . . just in case. 

What that means, is: a full tank of gas in the truck, a full jerry can for the generator and the generator’s fuel tank is also full. 

Well, after doing all that I only purchased 40.69 Litres of fuel at a total cost of $36.17 (That’s 88.9 cents per litre, for anyone who is curious.) 

This means that over the last two weeks (technically from January 22nd to February 7th that was all the gasoline that I used for my truck and generator. 

As far as propane goes, I only went through one 20 pound tank of propane over that period of time, so all in all not bad. 

($36.17 for the Gasoline and $13.00 for the propane . . . so still less than $50.00.)

This is why I freeze my tuchus off, so I don’t have the large utility bills that I had during the first winter. 

That was when I ran the generator every night and ran kept the furnace going when I was home. 

These days I just bundle up and tough it out, so I can get through to spring and the warmer temperatures. (Tomorrow is coming, today we should see things warm up a bit.)

I have said it before and I will say it again, once you winterize your rig (as in put that special anti-freeze through your water lines) all you have to do is heat yourself.

Your body will generate all the heat you need to stay alive and well. All you have to do is bundle up (in layers preferred) in order to keep that heat in. 

I do this not to prove a point or to prove how tough or manly I am, but to get through to the end of this nomadic journey quicker.

I want land, a home and yes a family. In order to have those things, I need to follow through on this nomadic journey, quest if you will, in order to get debt free, and beyond into financial independence. 

So, I will continue to tough it out and find ways to live as cheaply as I can, because the cheaper I live now, the shorter I will have to live like I do. 

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

Tuesday 7 February 2017

Almost Through It

(The following is to be read with a thick, English accent).

The weather-chap said that it was going to be cold this week, but so far, with the state of the weather, a Scotsman wouldn't trade in his Kilt for pants.

I would dare say that it has been a bit nippy over the past couple of days, but nothing that a good jacket and a stiff upper lip wouldn’t see you though.

If it gets any colder, I may even have to put on a jacket myself. Just remember all to think of the Queen, keep calm and carry on . . .  

(sorry the Brit in me had to say that.)

Okay, so it did get cold, down to -30C (or thereabouts). For me, this is nothing new, and so I just got up to my old tricks of bundling up and hibernating.

Again, so layers is the key, many layers, but the trouble with layers is that it then gets hard to bend your arms. 

This makes buttoning up the top button on my coat especially challenging. Of course if I don’t button it up, my neck gets cold when I trudge through the snow to work.

For the last two mornings I have not moved the Truck and Trailer as I usually would. I can’t for the next few days either, as there is a snow route parking ban in effect.

I will go for my usual running around on payday today after work, but I will not move the truck in the morning. This does save me gas money, though, so that is a plus.

The batteries are totally inefficient when the weather gets this cold that it is just not worth even charging them up. 

I don’t plan to run the generator to give them a decent charge until Thursday night. It just doesn’t seem worth it, after running it for three hours during the day, they are drained by morning.

I will get through this and I will stick to my new even more stringent budgets as I race down this last stretch towards total debt freedom. 

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

Monday 6 February 2017

Meh, So It Snowed

Okay, it snowed a bit over the weekend, again, nothing I haven’t seen before. I know what to do and how to handle it.

While I am not saying I know how to handle any situation, I know that I have the resourcefulness, tenacity and dogged determination to tackle any situation. 

After going to check my mail and do a bit of grocery shopping (as I do on Friday afternoons) I returned to my sleeping spot in my Eastern Home. 

After all of the snow, I didn’t move this morning either. You see, where I park at night is not on a “snow route” but where I park during day at work is. 

This means that city crews will be ploughing today, tonight and into tomorrow. So, it means that most likely I won’t move tomorrow as well.  

I did idle the truck for a ten minutes this morning, though. Don’t yell at me, that was to make sure that the truck will be able to start when I need it to. 

I also brushed the snow off of the truck and trailer. This was to make the truck and trailer look as if someone cared about it and that it was not abandoned. 

I don’t like parking in one spot on the street for too long, but in times like this, I have little other choice. I may move to another spot on the street, if need be, but I will see if I get shooed along.

As far as little old me, I was able to run the furnace and keep warm during the days on Saturday and Sunday. This also meant running the generator, as the efficiency of the batteries suck in winter.

So, for the next few days I don’t plan on running the furnace at all. After all, in winter, all I really have to do is heat myself and I can do that with just my layers of clothes.

I only need to heat the place if I use my laptop, as my fingers are exposed and they get cold and clumsy fairly soon. 

Ah well, this is only for a few more days, and then the warmer weather will return. (Emphasis on the “er”) as the temp will be dancing above zero during they days then to below zero at night. Thankfully this will mostly remain in the single digits. 

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

Friday 3 February 2017

Another Week of Winter

That’s what my weather app tells me, so that’s what I’m holding it to . . . yep. 

Who knows what will actually come about, but for the next week (till Thursday morning, or so it says) the weather will drop into the deep freeze.

Again, this is nothing new, nothing I haven’t seen before but I have renewed vigour to see this through due to my recent calculations with regards to the Wanda Loan.

Whether or not it is an early spring, doesn’t matter, the warm weather will return, and my hibernating will come to an end. 

So to, will my constant and never ending paying of debts to others. This is also keeping me going, and helping to bolster my spirits.

I am thinking beyond debt freedom, beyond building up my savings again and to land and home ownership, all whilst remaining debt free. 

A little cold cannot stop me, for I will keep going and I will see this through, for me and my future family.

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

Thursday 2 February 2017

Wanda Paydown Update

So, so far this plan to pay the Wanda Loan down by giving fistfuls of cash directly to the banks each payday is working, rather well in fact (despite how counterintuitive this is for me).

I have a spreadsheet (okay, two: one for the official record, and one to estimate the future) which helps me to keep track of how things are going on the Wanda Loan Paydown Plan.

One of the key metrics is how much of a bite each payment takes out of the principle. Well, that is the interesting thing to report today.

Today was not just any Thursday, but a Regular Wanda Payment Thursday! Since the regular payment went through today, I can see how much the principle dropped.

This means that I can measure just what effect my large payments are having on those regular payments.

Well, before I made these large payments that bite out of the principle increased by $0.10. It was like clockwork, the amount that came off of the principle increased by ten cents.

After the first large payment, that amount of difference jumped up by (in comparison) a whopping $2.23! I figured that this was likely some sort of anomaly and disregarded it.

This time, after the next large payment, that amount of difference increased by $3.10! That’s huge and in a way, using this whole compound interest thing, to my advantage.

It is now possible to predict that these jumps will increase in a similarly startling fashion. After a few I may even see a pattern and predict just how much these increases will increase by.

The lesson today kids, is to pay as much as you can as often as you can on any Loan, in order to kill it faster. Wow, I should have done this on the Truck loan. 

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

Wednesday 1 February 2017

AAAAAAAND We’re Back to Winter

It was nice, that taste of spring last week; but alas, we are back to the coldness that is winter. 

I know that I really don’t have much to complain about, after all it only got down to -12C last night and it doesn’t look like it will dip much below -20C, anytime soon.

I have done this and worse before, so whoopee, big deal. It is just an adjustment period and a mindset shift that I have to get back into.

It was nice being able to lounge around my trailer in the mornings and evenings and play on the laptop or write. 

Now, I am back to my hibernating mode and leaving the laptop at work. After all, what is the point of bringing it back to the trailer if I can’t use it?

If it is too cold, my fingers get clumsy and I am constantly hitting the wrong keys.

I have yet to find decent gloves (send me a link please) that would keep my fingers warm yet allow me to type in near freezing temps.

Again, I am not complaining, I am just relaying what I am going through. I will get through this by keeping my mind focussed on the doubly greener days to come.

The days of the green grass (I would settle for the non-snow-covered-brown-grass-of-real-spring) and the days where I am flushed with the green of the cash that will be flowing into my savings account to stay.

The days where I have control of my paycheque back. These days, all of my money is allocated so it is not really mine. 

As I have said before every nickel of cash that I have falls into three categories: 

  1. What I need to exist. 
  2. What I may need to exist.
  3. Debt elimination.


I don’t count taxes as there is nothing I can do about them. They take them off my cheque before I get my cash and keep almost all of it come tax “refund” time anyways (don’t get me started). 

I will adapt, I will adjust, I will survive and yes, I will get through this, and on to those doubly-green days ahead. 

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