Tuesday 8 December 2020

Shifting To The Next Phase

Okay, so as of this past Saturday (December 5, 2020) I will have been on this “Urban Nomad” Journey for 7 years. 

What that means is that I have been blogging about my life and my journey towards Debt Freedom and beyond for seven years (since December, 5, 2013).

As with all phases of life this one has come to a close, or rather shifted to the next phase, and like most changes, it came suddenly and subtly. 

I have been mentioning and working towards moving in with Kim as of the end of this month, as I wanted to meet a few savings targets first of all. 

As well, Kim and I have been working on our relationship and asking ourselves the great question, “Can I tolerate this person being around me more, long-term?” 

Well, one of thing things on the road to living together was the question as to where to put my clothes. Thankfully Kim did not say “In a cardboard box in the corner.”

So, off to a thrift store that is one of her favourite places to shop (I like a deal so why not).

We got there and found a nice dresser for a good price, yet it was not going to fit into Kim’s car (which was the original plan, I’m not kidding).

So that meant putting said dresser in a pickup truck. There is a guy in Kim’s neighbourhood who does runs for cheap, so we called him . . . but he was booked into next week.

And the thrift store only holds your stuff for two days.

So . . . since I do have a pickup truck but it is attached to Wanda, we were left with using my truck. 

We even thought about driving the truck, with Wanda attached, to the store and stuff the dresser into Wanda . . . but we realized how silly and chaotic that would be.

Since we had an eye on a particular RV storage lot anyways we just . . . put Wanda into storage and that was that, I had moved in with Kim.

Now, there was the matter of loading what stuff I wanted to keep with me into the truck while keeping Wanda in a state as so she could be lived in at a moment’s notice.

We picked up the dresser and spent that weekend (last weekend) organizing the bedroom and most of the house. It worked, as I didn’t bring much stuff.

The point is that now that I am living with Kim, I am no longer Nomadic in an Urban Setting.

My life has changed and I have moved on to another phase of it . . . living with Kim as we work towards our shared goal of starting the Homestead Freedom development.

We will still blog, but it will be a weekly blog at that website . . . www.homesteadfreedom.ca

I will post the links to it on my Facebook and Twitter, as I usually do, but it will be more about the project in general rather than my life.

I have done the living in the RV full-time and that is behind me (for now). Never say never, as who knows, I may be back living in Wanda full-time before long.

Then there is the phase where Kim and I head on out to buy and settle our land. That will be done living in Wanda.

As well, since I am sharing my life with someone (Kim) there is a measure of privacy expected when another person is involved. 

I don’t mind blogging about my life and my mistakes when it is just me, but I won’t go into such detail when it involves another person.

So, check out my/our new website or my Personal Facebook Profile or even our Facebook Group

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

Monday 7 December 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 51.6% (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 52.6% of my savings target.

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

Okay, so this is also one of those that is actually better than it already impressively seems.

As investments go, one goes up and others go down, at least that is the way that my investments go, and for the most part I am okay with that.

It would be so cool of they both go up at the same time and sometimes they do that, but investing is gambling, never forget that.

I am just happy to be still steadily on track to be to the “Insane” mark of my fundraising efforts by next payday (the last one of the year).

There are many concerns and worries when it comes to the economy and if I and others will be allowed to keep working (as in if there is some sort of lockdown or my work closes).

All one can do is keep your focus on what you can do today, this week this payperiod in order to keep yourself moving towards your goals.

For me, it could be better, it could be worse.

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

Friday 4 December 2020

The Urban Nomad’s Seventh Anniversary

So, it is that time of year again, the anniversary of when I started this Urban Nomad’s Journey. 

It was on December 5, 2013 that I made the decision to downgrade my lifestyle to get rid of debt.   

Okay, so today is the 4th of December, but I blog on weekdays and not on weekends, so I will do the anniversary blog one day early.

It has been an eventful year, but let’s look back on my goals from last year. They are, or were . . . 

I will continue to hold true to my Fiscal Directives, but I will also rededicate myself to my Grand Savings Plan.

For the past while I have been concerned about what is going on in the world and unsure of how much to save and in what form.

I have to remember that I do want to move on to the next phase of my life as soon as possible, and that is the Homesteading Phase. 

I know that to be successful I will need cash, so I am increasing my target amount and pushing back my target end date. 

I am now going to save up $200,000 by . . . well . . . let’s say summer (or at worst late) 2024.

Okay, so I have held true to my Fiscal Directives and kept on with my Grand Savings Plan. The Target is still $200K and that is on track to being met on or before spring of 2025.

I am still working on all of that and I am happy to not be alone on this journey now, yes, I am speaking of Kim.

I am pretty much just carrying on from last year, still working to save as much as I can as fast as I can. 

Life and expenses get in the way and it is true that I could do more to spend less, but for the most part most of my free cash goes into savings.

The stock market seems to be helping to make up for my poorer choices in the gains that I have seen over the past year.

I know that the stock market is gambling and so it could go down as fast, or faster, than it went up. All I can do is keep on with the ride and try to get out before it drops.

It is still hard to believe that it was seven years ago (tomorrow) that I had that fateful moment where I decided to just do something in order to eliminate my debts.

I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do it, I just knew that I was going to upend my life in order to become Totally Debt Free.

Once I became Totally Debt Free, I decided to build up my savings, which is what is on the other side of Total Debt Freedom . . . Wealth Building. 

I know that I am not a rich man, not by a loooooooong shot, but I am on my way and at the very least I have my freedom because I have no debts. 

I could upend my life once again and just go somewhere and do something radical, simply because I have no debts to tie me down, only current expenses to look after.

That in itself is what freedom looks like.

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

Thursday 3 December 2020

Not Looking Forward To Winter

So, we are in the midst of a mild December and I am more than okay with that. It is nice to have these warm temps during a time of year that is traditionally cold.

Yet those balmy temps won’t stick around forever and the one thing I know is that once January hits, the cold weather comes in with a wallop. 

This year looks to be no exception as the weather prognosticators are saying that this December will be mild but it will be a cold winter: meaning January and February with an extension into March.

Who knows really, but the one thing that I do know is that I do know how to handle the cold weather. I loathe it but I know how to handle it.

This is the realities of this life, living in an RV full-time, for the longer that you are out here living in this RV the quicker you can get yourself ahead.

The whole secret to this “Urban Nomad” lifestyle is to downgrade your lifestyle so as to upgrade your cash flow.

You don’t have to live in an RV in the dead of winter necessarily, but you do have to find a way to live cheaper. As in considerably cheaper. 

The idea is to lower the standard and quality of your lifestyle for a short period of time so as to lower your cost of living.

It is not forever, just for a short period of time. nobody says that you have to live in an RV in winter. You could rent a room or stay with a friend in the coldest months of the year. 

You set the rules, you decide what you can do and what you are comfortable doing. The point is to do something to help ELIMINATE your debt, not just reduce it.

And Total Debt Freedom is worth freezing your ass off in an RV in the dead of winter, believe me, for Total Debt Freedom is freedom itself.

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

Wednesday 2 December 2020

Hedging Your Bets For The Future

So, as I have said, we live in uncertain times. Having said that, and despite that we still have to prepare for the future . . . whatever future that is.

All of this pandemic along with the economic uncertainty associated with it could just blow over and be done with before long . . . or . . . it could not.

So in essence things could either get much better sometime soon, get much worse sometime soon, or blunder along just as it is for some time to come and truly become “the new normal.”

There we have it, those three different possible outcomes: good, bad or the same.

What all this boils down to is that we have to prepare for the future and still better ourselves and our situations, regardless of what is happening or may come to pass.

Yet as we do that, we have to keep in mind that things could go in one of those three ways. So . . . prepare for all three possible outcomes.

What you do is dream and work for the positive outcome, the positive future. Great, wonderful, do that.

Yet as you are doing that keep in mind how things might go bad, asking “how can this bite me in the ass?” and prepare for that eventuality.

One thing to keep in mind is not to go too far down that rabbit hole or you might find yourself living in a bunker of your own making waiting and actually hoping for the end of the world, so as to prove you right in making said bunker.

In amongst all of that is the pesky problem of dealing with the dance that is today’s Pandemic regulations and realities. 

We all have to do our part to help stop the spread of this disease, yet as we do that we have to build for the future, but just be ready for either a good or bad future. 

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

Tuesday 1 December 2020

Closing In On Closing-Out 2020

So, it is December first and so a new month begins. Yet this day is not all that much different from yesterday, as life just rolls along, uncaring about the calendar.

We know that this year has been less than grand, but if pressed I am sure that we can all come up with a number of good and positive things that happened this year, pandemic or no.

Yet it will do us all good to see the back of 2020; that much is certain.

Times are largely what you make it, largely shaped by your attitude. It really is how you look at things that will determine how “bad” they are.

Okay, if you get sick with Covid-19 that is bad, fine, I’ll grant you. Simply doing the necessary steps to help prevent its spread is not all that onerous or change your life all that much.

We can all just take bad things in stride and keep on moving forward or we can let the smallest thing stop us cold, like a pebble on the pavement for a shopping cart.

We have all been at a store and had our shopping cart stopped cold by the immovable small yet mighty rock. 

You can either back up and go around, power over it, or just stand there and give up on going shopping . . . the choice is yours . . . but if you let a pebble stop you, you’ll look silly.

My point is that when adversity strikes, just see it as a stubborn pebble and either go around it or power over it. The one thing you should not do is let it stop you cold.

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