Friday, 29 May 2020

Not De-Wintering Wanda This Year

So, I have been looking around and it seems that campgrounds are still closed in my neck of the woods and will be for a bit longer yet.

While it is true that it seems that the provincial campgrounds will be opening up June 1st, that is Monday, as in after this weekend.

So, I could book a site and go camping at a provincial campground next weekend, it is not happening this weekend.

Yet the provincial campgrounds have water at a few taps here and there but only have electricity at the campsites themselves.

So, flushing the system out is not possible at a provincial campground, despite how nice they are.

So, here I am at June and staring down the first weekend in October when I winterize Wanda, and saying to myself . . . it’s just not worth de-winterizing this year.

This whole Covid-19 thing just threw everything off kilter, including my de-winterizing. 

Add to that the block of ice in my Black-Water Tank, and you see why things took longer than usual for me to be ready to de-winterize.

I will be okay, as running water in Wanda is a luxury and one that I can take or leave as it has been so long since I have had steady 24/7/365 running water in my home.

I’m used to packing water in off my back and just being thankful for being able to use my toilet, sinks and shower drain.

Oh look I just saved the cost of de-winterizing and the cost of winterizing in October.

This is just one of those little speed-bumps that happens in life and something that you just have to get used to taking in stride.

Such is life.

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

Thursday, 28 May 2020

Just Puttering Along

I am doing okay, could be better, could be worse, but all in all, I’m doing fine.

I am working on just being happy with who I am and my current situation, yet never lose that drive to better myself and my situation.

I am on track to having my home, a home that I plan to be a large home full of people and life.

I’m not there yet, not close, but I am just puttering along, towards that goal.

As I keep saying: I’ve got a plan, I’m working that plan, and the plan is working!

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

Wednesday, 27 May 2020

Funding Two Funds

So, a couple of months back I dipped into my Mid-Term Savings (Considerably) in order to do some investments. 

Once was back in February to top up my TFSA to a target level (seriously, I don’t know why I did this as it was just an arbitrary number in a savings account).

The other time was when the market crashed and I decided that then was the best time to get into the stock market. 

(As in the day that the market wiped out all of the gains that it had made since 2016).

Since then I have been trying to put some cash into my Mid-Term Account as well as the markets (my TFSA).

I want to do both, and do them aggressively but I can’t, so I can either do one aggressively and ignore the other or do them both cautiously.

I do want to have my Mid-Term Account fully-funded, but I also know that the stocks that I like are now in a “Buy” position, so they are relatively cheap right now.

So, I will continue to do both, as my plan is a medium-term plan that will take 5 years to run, so I can take the next three months to fund my Mid-Term Account.

Things may happen that will cause me to change my plan, as I always have to be adaptable.

I may not know exactly what my future holds, but I do know that it will require, or be enhanced, by having some sort of savings.

Both the kind that I can access right away (Mid-Term Account) and the kind that I will build up and access for larger life goals (Long-Term Account/TFSA).

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

Tuesday, 26 May 2020

The Second Coming of Covid-19

So, here we are standing at the cusp of the “reopening strategy” for at least the corner of the world where I live, and already people are talking about the second coming of this virus.

We are just in the midst of trying to open things again and do so in a manner that doesn’t make people sick or kill them, and others are talking about the next bout of this virus.

We haven’t even finished dealing with this bout yet, and people are fretting about the next go round.

Almost all businesses have been affected. Scores of workers and average folks have taken a financial hit due to this current bout of this virus.

I understand that part of this is to remind people to keep doing all of the things, social distancing and the like, that we have been told to do.

It serves as a warning that if we don’t keep doing these things we will see this virus come back.

There are some people who are ready to run to the hills over this thing. I will admit that I have perused a few “survival items” online recently “just in case.” 

It is quite scary and the outlook both, health-wise and fiscally, looks bleak and uncertain at best.

I have to hold onto the basic belief and understanding that this too shall pass. One way or another this virus will come and go.

Whatever damage both in the numbers of sick and dead and the economic fallout as a result of this thing will come.

Yet we as a people and yes society will remain here, simply because we will it to be. I for one refuse to accept the inevitability of our own destruction.

I despise the “road warrior” future and shall fight it with everything that I have. For we as a people and a species have not come as far as we have to be done in by a virus.

We will get through this and we will see daylight and happy days on the other side of this pandemic.

This too shall pass.

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

Monday, 25 May 2020

I Am Happy, But Not Content

I know that I have said this before and being happy is a struggle, at least for me, as I do have my ups and downs, but for the most part, I am happy.

This is in part due to a process that I went through recently, a process which allowed me to let go of some guilt that I had been carrying around within me since childhood.

I won’t go into it as it is personal, too personal for this blog, but rest assured that it was guilt that I wasn’t really aware that I was carrying. 

Worse yet was that it was not my guilt to carry, such is the case with a lot of childhood guilt, I would wager.

The point is that as a result of unburdening myself I find myself much happier with just being. 

Not happy because of making a large deposit into my savings, or happy because of it being a warm and sunny day, just happy with being.

Yet I do not love my life, I like it but I do not love it. I do not want to live in an RV for the rest of my life.

If that were the case I would buy a larger and fancier one, perhaps one the size of a bus, or some such thing.

I want land, and a house. As I have said before, I have a plan, I’m working that plan, and the plan is working.

So while I am happy with myself I am not content with the state of my life. It is a work in progress and my current situation is but a temporary and transient phase of my life.

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

Friday, 22 May 2020

The Homestead Fund Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” (to build my "Homestead Fund") 

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

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

That is 36.3% (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 37.2% of my savings target. 

That means I put away 0.9% of my total Savings Target this payday.

It has been a bit of a bumpy ride with regards to my investments, as they have dropped then come up. 

Since there are two different types of investments, they tend to go in different directions. Such is the case with what happened this previous payperiod.

One of my investments dropped so much that it wiped out the value of what I usually put into my Long-Term Savings Account.

It has crawled back up to losing only a modest portion of what I usually put into my Long-Term Savings Account.

The other type of investment went up a bit, and was able to compensate for the unrealized loss of the previously mentioned investment and then some.

Not much but enough to make me look good this payperiod (as in putting in close to a whole percentage point of my target.

The whole nature of investing is risky and is a bit of a gamble but in the long run it tends to pay off, but there is no guarantee.

My investments are still in an area where they are good to buy, so I will happily put more money into them on the belief that they will rise in the future.

So ends theory, I will let you know how it works out in practice.

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

Thursday, 21 May 2020

Who I Choose To Be

We are all people of our own choosing, we may let ourselves get upset with this that or the other or we may choose to rise above it.

Feeling mad, or just about any other feeling is okay, it is dwelling on it, wallowing in it or letting it take over you that is the problem.

All in all I am doing okay. There are things in my life that could be better, but there are always things in my life that could be worse.

I decide to see the positive and the progress in my constant movement forward. 

I do get angry with things, I express that anger but there are two things I don’t let happen . . . not anymore that is.

The first is that I don’t let myself get overwhelmed with that anger or dwell in it or on it too long.

The second is that I don’t let that anger turn on me, and become the: self-doubt, self-blame, and self-hate that anger can do if you let it hang around long enough.

I make sure to make a conscious choice as I get up each day, who I will be and how I see myself. 

I refuse to let in the negative emotions, at least anymore, as they have clearly overstayed their welcome.

So ends theory, I’ll let you know how it goes in practice. 

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

Wednesday, 20 May 2020

Being Proud Of Yourself Is Okay

It is okay to be proud of yourself and being proud of yourself and what you have done does not detract from others.

It is okay to take pride in your accomplishments and your ability to have done them. It is only when that pride starts to turn to a competition with others that it can turn bad.

When you start to compare yourself to others, generally in a disparaging way to them, it is unhealthy (and yes jerkish).

So as I move forward I pause now and again to remind myself of what I have accomplished and take pride in having done so. 

I also take pride in the person that I am and the skills and abilities that I have honed and developed along the way.

I confidently stare out into the future as I point to where I want to go, assured that I will get there, simply because I will it.

I know that I will do what is needed to accomplish my goals. I know that I will put in the effort needed to get from where I am to where I want to be.

Yet as I take pride in myself and even speak about my accomplishments I never compare myself to others or do so to boast, and especially not to belittle others.

For there is always someone out there who has accomplished more than you and others who have accomplished less than you.

If you must turn your focus to others, help lift up those who have accomplished less than you and seek to learn from those who have accomplished more.

Do not seek to keep down those who have accomplished less than you and tear down those who have accomplished more than you. Small, petty people do that. Be not one of them.

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

Tuesday, 19 May 2020

First Jug-Shower Of The Season

So, yesterday I had the first of my improvised showers at home for the warm season. It is a shower that I have with a jug (a juice jug) filled with warm water as I stand in my shower.

I haven’t de-winterized yet and I am still debating the wisdom of doing so this season, given that I will be winterizing again in early October.

We shall see, but I am able to use my toilets, my sinks and at least pour water down the drain in my bathtub/shower.

So, I have once again begun doing that and it is nice to return to a smidgen of normalcy, rather than doing my bachelor’s bath at . . . not home.

I will continue to enjoy the warmth and all that entails. All in all it was a good weekend, in my Lakeside Home.

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

Friday, 15 May 2020

Happy Birthday Wanda!

It is six years ago today that I bought Wanda! At least this is the day that I am celebrating, as it is the date of the first payment that came out of my bank account.

It is something to think that the journey of actually living in my RV started six years ago today. 

While I did not move into Wanda until July 12 of that year, a little over a month later, the journey of doing so started the day I took possession of Wanda.

It simply took a bit of time for me to warm up to the idea of actually living in my RV full-time.

So, I owned the trailer for a month and a bit, almost two months actually, before I moved into the trailer. I just wasn’t ready before then.

It has been a constant learning process since then, and while it has been hard at times, the only regret I have is not doing this earlier.

For it is through living in my RV full-time that I was able to get a hold of my finances and get debt free. 

I am continuing to live in my Wanda as I work towards home and land ownership, something that has eluded me all my life.

While I have owned a home (a mobile trailer) and I have owned land (not at the same time), I have never lived in a home that I owned on land that I also owned.

With Wanda’s help, I will do that . . . someday.

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

Thursday, 14 May 2020

Oh Look, I Just Saved Money

So, that is how I am looking at it, that is how I choose to look at it. 

You see, the campsite that I thought (or hoped) that I had booked for this weekend told me that they could not take my reservation.

I was mildly-miffed, since on their website they said that they were open and accepting reservations during the pandemic.

So, why did they not take my reservation?

Small details like they ARE open to take reservations, but ONLY reservations that are a month or longer.

So, little old me wanting to come somewhere for the weekend just to dewinterize my trailer is not allowed.

So, rather than me having to push off dewinterizing Wanda until next month I am considering just not bothering, since I winterize in early October (as in the first Saturday).

We shall see what happens, but for now, I get to put a bit extra into my savings . . . and that is how I am choosing to look at it.

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

Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Be A Cash-Sprinkler, Or Western Civilization Will Crumble

That is the message that a few economists and business pundits are spouting. At least that is my paraphrase of their message.

I read a news article yesterday that touted that the newest danger to the economy was that people were starting to save more and pay off their debts.

I’m not kidding, here is the article.


I read that and I was astonished as to the brazenness and brashness of so bold a claim that people looking after their own financial self-interests was a bad thing.

In truth and strictly speaking they (the economists and business pundits) are not wrong, the economy will suffer if people pause their spending in favour of paying off debt and building up their savings.

I say the sluggish return of the economy is worth it if it means that people finally get rid of debt and build up savings. 

For it is the combination of the two that gives a person more control over their lives and their future.

With little to no debt and increased savings, you can weather financial storms better and you can choose to do with your life what you truly want to do, not just do what you have to do.

I still say that we need to return to a system of Capitalism and leave Creditism behind. 

Capitalism is a system based on Capital (as in cash). You earn capital, you spend capital and you save capital. If you don’t have capital you don’t spend it.

Sure you have credit and you have some debt but it is manageable and not out of control. 

You have a mortgage but there is an end date. You have credit cards but you keep them either paid off or pay them off in the matter of months, not years or  . . . never. 

Creditism is a system based on credit, you have credit, you use that credit to spend on things you don’t really need and in so doing incur debt. 

You tell yourself that you will pay this debt off, but you never do. It is an endless cycle unless you do something drastic to free yourself from the chains of debt. 

Doubt me? Think I’m exaggerating that debt is enslavement? 

Imagine if someone offered you a year-long cruise or a fabulous job at a far off resort, but you would not be paid a dime, but all of your expenses were taken care of. 

Could you go? 

You are tied to your job by debt, ensnare by the use (or misuse rather) of credit.

We teach our youth that being in debt eternally is normal, by giving them a mortgage without a house, after they get out of school, simply to learn the skills to get a job. 

We do this WHY? 

So, if the economy takes a year or two longer to recover but people pay down (hopefully off) their debts that will be worth it.

Heck if people stop spending, maybe, just maybe prices and the cost of living will drop. After all that is what the law of supply and demand teaches us, right?

I still say that the cost of living should drop by a quarter to a third overnight. It won’t, but it should.

I have rambled on long enough about things that all of us know is not right and not fair, but persist anyways. 

Please, for yourself and your own future, eliminate your debts and build up your savings, you are worth it.

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

Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Booked A Site For Victoria Day

So, I have reserved a campsite for the Victoria Day Long Weekend. I was hemming and hawing, but I decided to go ahead and book the site.

This was because I wanted to finally get my spring cleaning done as well as de-winterize Wanda.

It will cost more than I had wanted, but the campground is near town and a full hook-up, site. This means that I will save on gas getting to and from there.

I never usually go to a full-hook-up site as I don’t need the full hook ups for the weekend. 

Heck, I don’t really need anything other than perhaps access to a dump station (that has water) and I’m good for the weekend.

A full-hook-up campsite is required in the de-winterizing process, and so I will just bite the bullet and go this weekend.

I am still focussed on my savings but this is a necessary, or allowable rather, expense. 

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

Monday, 11 May 2020

The Homestead Fund (Interim) Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” (to build my "Homestead Fund") 

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

For review, here is how things looked from last payday (as in on Thursday the 7th) . . .
   

That is 36.2% (of my Savings Target).

And this is how things look like, after the dust settled on after my weekly running around . . . 
   

That’s right things jumped up to 36.3% of my savings target. 

That means I put away 0.1% more of my total Savings Target this payday.

So what happened in a day? I tried to do some banking, that’s what. Let me explain.

I went to the bank on Friday afternoon, because I wanted to wait until then to see if a package I was waiting for was going to arrive (it didn’t).

I had wanted to get some coins and some cash from the bank (yes actual cash money as in dollar bills) 

I had wanted to fund my wallets a bit better for once this whole “anti cash nonsense” is over and done with.

So, I went to the bank and got in line, outside, as is usual these days. 

I was waiting in line when someone from the bank went up to each of us and told us we needed to get into a digital line.

What is a digital line? Well, you scan a QR Code on a poster on the bank wall, enter your phone number and the system will text you when your number is called.

I found out then that not only did I have to do this nonsense but I was way further down the actual line than I had thought.

I decided that I didn’t really need the cash and coins that badly, so I just left.

By doing that, that left the cash in my bank account rather than being drawn out in the form of that cash and coins I had wanted.

That then pushed the amount in my Main Account over the $100.00 mark (as in $100.00 over the amount of my Personal Overdraft of $1000.00).

So, that $100.00 had to go into my savings and so it did. Thus ticking up my savings percentage that 0.1% this payday; every little bit helps.

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

Friday, 8 May 2020

Neighbours In Eastern Home

So, it is no surprise that I am not the only person living full-time in an RV, not even close. 

Yet it may surprise some people to learn that I have neighbours in my Eastern Home. Yep, I have counted two other RV units in the industrial area that I work and live in.

The first is around the corner from where I work, so they are my neighbour during the workweek. 

The other is located along the stretch of street that borders the storm drain pond that I park at during the weekends.

I recognize the second one as being one of the regular RV’s that used to park in Western Home. 

I suppose that answers the question if people can park in Western Home again anytime soon.

I am not bothered to see other people living in RV’s as there are many different reasons for people to do so.

With the turbulent economic times that we are in, I surmise we may see more people doing so for economic reasons. 

The hardest thing to see is to see a family living in a minivan, I have seen a few.

I am still not sure what the future will hold, or when the economy will get back on track but the underlying message is that it won’t get back on track until people start spending (stupidly) again.

So, the fiscal recovery is waiting for people who have been the hardest hit to spend money they don’t have, and/or can’t afford to spend, to just go and waste it? 

Just go be a cash sprinkler again and everything will be fine? That’s your plan? 

That would put people in a further bad place and shove more people out of their houses and into RV’s because they would have lost their houses.

I say spend what you have to and PAY OFF your debt and then build up your own savings, as in cash in the bank that you don’t touch. 

Or, start looking for a nice RV that you can live in, as you may be my neighbour and not by your own choice, but by circumstance.

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

Thursday, 7 May 2020

The Homestead Fund Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” (to build my "Homestead Fund") 

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

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

That is 35.4% (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 36.2% of my savings target. 

That means I put away 0.8% of my total Savings Target this payday.

So, this was not going to be a great payday for savings because I had to (and did) pay for my trailer insurance. 

I pay for my insurance (both for the truck and the trailer) in one lump sum when they are due. 

I don’t do the monthly payments, as that is more expensive (there are financing charges built in when you go that route.

The value of my investments went sideways, as in they didn’t go up or down that much. Still, they went up a smidge and that is a good thing.

I am not concerned that the investments didn’t go up all that much, in fact I like that. 

Considering that I am planning on continuing to invest in those investments, the stagnation in pricing is a good thing . . . for now.

A nice flat stock market for the next five years would do me fine. In January of 2025 it could rally like crazy and shoot for the moon, that would be fine with me.

No matter what happens, I will continue to plod on forward and make my investments each payday as I put away for my future. 

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

Wednesday, 6 May 2020

New Total Freedom Date!

So, one of the things that keeps me going, as well as freaks me out, is the thought of the day when I stop working for the last time and begin the next phase of my journey.

As in when I start The Homesteading Process. That is where I search for the land that I will buy, buy it and establish my Homestead on it. 

A Homestead where it will be not just Off-Grid but establish its own grid. A place that will always have an over-abundance of: food and lodging for all of those who wish to come.

A place where people can get out of the rat race and do what they are called to do, do what they love, as long as they are contributing to the community in a real and practical way. 

It is a few years out yet, as I need to raise the funds before I can start, and the only source of funds that I have is my own paycheque.

I can’t Crowdfund worth a darn, so I won’t even try.

Anyways, the date of my last day of work is  . . . 

Though this date is subject to change without notice at anytime and for any reason . . . 
   

That’s it, yes, my last day of work will be (or is scheduled to be) the last day of March in 2025! (March 31, 2025).

We shall see how things turn out, but that is the plan for now. The obvious question is: why that date?

Well, I had thought about working till I was 55 (which would be June 11, 2025. The trouble is that, that date would make me ending work and leaving in late June.

I would have enough time to travel around, find a patch of land, buy it and maybe toss up a hurried shelter for winter. 

If I leave earlier, say, early Spring, I can have more time to search for land, buy it and then actually do something with it before Winter hits.

That and I have the chance of celebrating my 55th birthday on my land . . . wherever that will be. That sounds like a nice way to spend my birthday to me.

Again, this is too far out to etch that date in stone, but having a date on the wall gives me hope and something to work towards. 

I want to live in a nice house or cabin on my land and not in my trailer for the rest of my life. 

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

Tuesday, 5 May 2020

Another Batch of Weekly Food

So, I made another batch of food that will last me the better part of a week, for not all that much money (maybe $12 -$15).

So, here is a bowl of my latest batch (and it’s tasty).
   

Here is what went into it:

2 boxes of mac ‘n cheese
1 can of chilli
1 can of beef stew
2 cans of mixed vegetables 
1 pound of ground beef
1 packet of taco seasoning

Okay, so how you make it is you make the two boxes of mac ‘n cheese as per normal. Put that in a large bowl and set aside.

Brown the ground beef in a frying pan. Drain the ground beef. Sprinkle the packet of taco seasoning evenly over it. 

Pour water over the mixture until it covers the bottom with 5 to 10 millimetres of water. 

Simmer it for 5 -8 minutes, stirring regularly. Set aside but leave in the frying pan.

In a saucepan put the can of chilly, the can of beef stew and the two cans of mixed vegetables. Bring to a simmer and simmer it for 5 – 8 minutes.

Mix the taco seasoned beef into the mixture from the saucepan (preferably in a large bowl or larger pot. Stir in the mac ‘n cheese mixture and stir liberally.
   

Cover and set aside for a day (in the fridge). This will let the liquid portions of the mixture to be soaked up by the non-liquid bits, as well as allow the flavours to mix and blend.
  

After that, simply scoop out what you want to eat into a frying pan, warm it up over medium heat and you are eating. 


It’s tasty and filling.


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

Monday, 4 May 2020

First BBQ of The Non-Cold Season

So, this past weekend, yesterday as a matter of fact, I actually hauled out and fired up my BBQ.

I made my usual (‘cause they’re cheap) hot dogs . . . just because.


I was lucky as it was relatively calm when I did so.

This was fortunate because I did not have to build a windbreak on four sides of the BBQ as I formed the windbreak on the last side.

It was nice to get out of the trailer and enjoy the warmer weather.

I went for a few walks around the place and enjoyed watching the birds frolic, play and scrap around the pond that I park in front of on the weekends.

All in all, it was a nice weekend and I tried my best to enjoy it.

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

Friday, 1 May 2020

Lakeside Home is Lovely Again

So, here I am at my Lakeside Home and I have to say that it is much nicer now that the ice has melted off the water.
   

I can look out my window and see Canada Geese, ducks, small black birds and who knows what else all enjoying the water.

In short, spring and thus life has returned to the little storm water pond that I call my Lakeside Home. 

It is a bit of nature in the middle of the industrial park that is my Eastern Home. It is a bit of a delusion to think of this as my Lakeside Home, but that is the key to happiness.

It is finding things that are good in the midst of the bad. It is figuring out how to look at things to see the good in the mountain of bad that faces us each day.

All we can do is find a way to make things work and do the best with what we have. Being happy is not being up and chipper all the time but simply being okay with now.

You cannot enjoy the high moments unless you have experienced the low moments. You cannot truly know the light until you have known the darkness.

So, I can and will enjoy the loveliness of spring and the life that it brings because I have known winter and the bitterness and emptiness that it brings.

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