The Frustration of Fat Feet

It’s official . . . I broke out the boots this morning . . . those boots . . . (Pause for a moment of silence.)

Last night I bundled up in my thermal undies, sleeping toque and yes indoor mittens and didn’t turn the heater on. It was okay, and I was fine, I even slept in this getup.

The reason I sleep in my warm clothes is so that when I wake up (and the house is at its coldest) I am still toasty warm and my warm clothes are “pre-warmed.”

Trust me, wearing pre-warmed, warm clothes makes it much easier to get out of bed when it is literally freezing inside your house.

Again, I have seen (and will see soon enough) much colder conditions inside my house, but I am trying to get myself, (and my body) back to being used to those cold conditions.

The boot-situation came about when it was time for my walk. Each day before work, and just after breakfast, I walk around the block for a bit of exercise.

My block is a standard industrial block so it takes about twenty minutes to walk around it. With my two pairs of thick winter socks, however, my now warm and toasty, yet fat feet were not going to fit into my favourite boots.

That was when the sad moment came and my winter boots came out of storage, as they are large enough to accommodate my warm and toasty fat feet.

This is a sad moment for me because it means that the cold weather is indeed upon us, yet I am hoping for a reprieve (or stay of refrigeration, rather).

Yet, I did bundle up and toddle on off for my walk around the block with my winter boots on and yes even earmuffs. I was warm, fine and yes grumbled along the way.

More grumbling and blue words were uttered when I was drying myself off in the balmy 10C temp of my moderately heated trailer (didn’t want to waste too much propane or coddle myself).

Again, this just means that winter is approaching, and soon enough much colder times are ahead. I have managed two previous winters in Wanda, so I will manage this one two.

Gee, any ladies out there want to freeze your butt off in Wanda this winter with me? Applications for being my Schmoopy now being accepted.

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

Thanksgiving Weekend

All in all it was a good weekend, not a stellar one, nor a disastrous one either, so all in all, a good one.

The weekend started off right with me doing my one last errand before taking off for the weekend: depositing my paycheque.

Friday was payday so that meant that I made my bi-weekly trek to the bank. It also meant that I was going to have a talk with them about those automatic withdrawals that go to pay my now paid off truck loan.

Since I do not have authority to tell them to cancel those payments altogether what they could do was put a stop payment on them.

Sure this stop payment would be in force for a few months, but I am hoping that it won’t take that long for the other bank to realize I don’t owe them anymore money and stop trying to take money out of my account.

I will call that other bank later this week, say in a day or two to follow up. Who knows, there may be that nice “you’re free” letter waiting for me in my mail box.

The best news was the fact that the bank, my main bank, decided to wave the usual fee that would apply for that stop payment. Who knew a bank could be nice?

This weekend I essentially moved out of Dropbox. What I did was copy my data from the online storage service to two external hard drives as well as putting the data that I use all the time on my laptop.

One of the external drives I will lock away in my fire safe as a safety backup. The other external drive I will keep accessible and near my laptop so I can access the data that I don’t use all the time yet still might want to.

I have my few spreadsheets on the iCloud and a few key text file “Memos” on my Dropbox (as in my grocery list), ETC. I will also use the Dropbox to get the photos that I take from my iPad or phone onto my laptop.

I just don’t like paying for a service that is essentially not that secure. True my laptop, or any compute is not that secure, but if you really want my data you will have to come and physically steal it. (Not that there is anything worth stealing.)

I also dumped my tanks and yes flushed out that blackwater tank, something that was needed, that’s for sure. Something tells me that I will be in full-blown winter mode before too long.

All it will take is consistent temperatures (day and night) below zero for me to be forced to switch to Winter Mode, as in don’t use my sinks or toilet.

As always, I will survive and I will thrive. I am thankful that I am on this journey to not only fiscal improvement but improvements in myself and my outlook as well.

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

New Wanda Payment Estimator

Okay, so now that the Truck Loan is behind me (save for tying up those loose ends) I can now turn my attention to the next great challenge . . . the Wanda Loan.

As it stands now, the outstanding balance for Wanda is $34,558.75. How do I know this so accurately? 

Well the bank that I deal with (my main bank) and the one that the Wanda Loan is with allows me to see what that outstanding balance is on the handy-dandy banking app that I have for my iPad. 

This then got me to thinking, I can see what that balance is just before and then just after a payment is made. 

With this information and, you guessed it, another spreadsheet, I can make a tool that will let me estimate what that outstanding loan balance will be over time. 

At the same time with that same tool, I can not only predict my savings but measure my progress, see if I am on target and also figure out what I will have to save each payday in order to get back on track.

So, here it is, the Wanda Payment Estimator!

 

If interested, you can download it here: Wanda Payment Estimator

On the left side is the status of the Wanda Loan and what it should be after each consecutive payment. 

How this is derived is by the simple subtraction in the box on the extreme right. The previous payment (as entered here) is subtracted from the current payment (as entered here) and the difference is the amount that my principle dropped. That amount is then used for the projections. 

Each time a payment is made I will check the balance from my banking app and enter it for the appropriate date entry. 

I could then also put those payment numbers into the formula on the right to see if the actual amount has fluctuated any. 

This way the further I go down this side, the more accurate my predictions will become, for they will further and further be based on actual numbers.

The savings side has each of my paydays for the next year or so outlined. On the left column of this side is the target, as in that $1500.00 per payday that I am hoping to put aside.

On the right column is the actual side where I will put in my actual balance of my Long Term Savings each and every payday. 

This side is also full of projections, yet they are based on different projections for my two different paydays. 

The first and second payday of the month has different things coming out of them, so I may be able to put a little more out of the second payday than the first. 

This way I can see how my actual savings plan is going and forecast when my savings will overtake that ever decreasing Wanda Loan Balance (at which point I can actually pay the Wanda Loan off all at once).

The column of check boxes is there for me to tick off that a certain payment or payday has happened. This lets me know where exactly I am in this wall of numbers.

  

If you can use this to help predict a savings plan to eliminate a certain debt, by all means, feel free to download and use it. I will add this to the downloadable tools on the side of this blog, if you change your mind.

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

Running Around Before the Runaway

It is usual that I do some errands including fueling up the truck (and generator gas can), buy groceries and what have you all on payday.

Well, since this payday is the Friday of this long weekend, I decided that I would run around a day early on Thursday, instead.

This seemed like a bad idea, because the oil companies decided to jack up the price of gasoline by about 13 cents a litre, because . . . they could.

So, that meant that I did my running around yesterday after work, with the first stop, you guessed it, my favourite and place that is most reliably the cheapest place in town to buy fuel (a large warehouse store that requires a membership to shop there).

I ended up in the slowest lane and the lineup reminded me of crossing the border into the US when I lived on the coast.

Since this was not delaying me from getting to my campsite, it was not that big a deal. I did manage to get my gasoline at the “cheaper” rate.

This way, I can relax tonight and then as soon as work is finished on Friday, I only have to stop by the bank and then I can literally run for the hills!

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

Low-Tech Solution to a High-Tech Problem

One of the other things I did this weekend was finally solve the puzzle of how to write on a Laptop that does not have a backlit keyboard in the darkness of early morning.

I am sure I am not the only person to have experienced the problem of trying to type in a darkened space on a laptop that doesn’t have keys that are lit up from underneath.

This means that the only light in the space is that coming from your laptop screen itself. If you have a word processor open, that is a large blast of white light.

You would think, this itself would solve the problem, and in a way this can work. If you tilt the screen down so that it is facing the keys more than you, sure. This leaves you looking at the screen on an angle, which is just a pain and is not a long-term solution.

I have tried various things to shed some light on the issue (literally) that does not waste Wanda’s main batteries. So, while the simple solution is to just turn on a nearby light, that is not advisable, or  a long term solution.

I have been through two winters before so I know that in the dead of winter, every scrap of electricity is important and not to be wasted. In the dead of winter, electricity is mostly reserved for running the furnace fan.

One of the things I tried was a clip-on bright LED lamp. With small led lamps, while they are bright in the darkness, they can’t compete with the light from the screen.

What happens is that your eyes get used to the extra light but still they dominant light is from that screen. In the end, after a few minutes, you see nothing much more than the screen. 

After all that, you still can’t see the keys, despite having more light around.

The solution I came up with is indeed quite low-tech, but quite effective, let me assure you.

 

The candles are quite bright and with the two of them, they do the job perfectly. I can actually see to type without wasting electricity. The candles and candle holders I got at IKEA, and both were not that expensive.

Just remember to be careful with open flames that candles are, otherwise it is worth a try if you face a similar situation. I do a lot by candlelight and find it a practical source of light.

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

Ooops, I Did It Again!

Yes I did it, I did it . . . I did it, alright . . . with malice of forethought I did it. I’ve done it before and by gosh I’ll do it again . . . I paid off another bill!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I paid off my truck last night, after work.

It all started a few weeks ago when I was trying to get an answer to two key questions, for my budget:

1) What would the amount needed to pay the loan out on October 7 (Payday)

2) How exactly do you actually pay a car loan off early?

Being as I have usually either traded in a vehicle for another before the loan is paid off (not advisable) or just let them run their course until paid off, I wasn’t sure on these two key details.

Okay, so they answered #2 fine: bank draft made out to the bank that holds the car loan, in the amount needed to pay it out, and on the memo line put the account number of the actual loan.

As always, if you are about to pay a loan off, check with your bank and see what YOU actually need to do to pay off YOUR loan. Always double check your facts and never take my (or anyone’s) advice as the truth, make sure.

Back to paying the truck off, at first they said that they couldn’t give me an answer because it wasn’t October yet. There was a glitch in the system that wouldn’t tell them what it was unless we were in the same month as they pay out date.

Fine, so I called on the 1st after the whole winterizing thing. They said they couldn’t tell me because it wasn’t a business day (another glitch in the system).

So, I called yesterday during coffee break at work and they said that they could only tell me the buyout amount for today.

Stellar staff and computer system at this bank, I am thankful that it is not my main bank. I was so frustrated that I decided just to go down to the nearest branch of this bank and talk to someone in person.

Then it twinged . . . if I was going down there, why not just pay it off today. I had enough cash in my accounts, all told, sure it would dip me into my personal overdraft, but this is what it is there for.

So down I went and double checked with the teller what to do and exactly the amount. There happened to be a branch of my main bank across the street. So, over I walked, got the bank draft and returned.

Not long after that I walked out with receipt in hand. The truck is paid off, so that’s that, right? Wrong!

There are three things that need to happen to close this off, so I need to be vigilant and stay on top of them to make sure that they happen.

The first thing is that the bank needs to send me a letter saying that the loan is actually paid off and they are happy (as happy as banks get).

The second thing that needs to happen is that those automatic payments pulling the truck payments out of my account need to stop.

It may come as a shock that while banks are fantastically efficient in STARTING to pull money out of your account, they can be a little slow to STOP pulling money out of your account.

I will stay on this, and phone this bank next week. The next payment isn’t due until the 15th so there is a bit of time.

I really don’t want to have to wait six weeks in processing and so forth for them to mail me a cheque, thank you very much.

I will talk to my bank on payday to see if they can put a stop to those automatic payments. I will bring in my receipt as proof of payment so it doesn’t look like I am trying to pull a fast one.

The last thing that needs to happen, is that lien on the tuck needs to be removed. The bank that the truck loan was with has a hold on the truck for the amount of that truck loan.

With it, they can repossess the truck if they want (Highly unlikely and would be a media fiasco if they did, trust me).

The main reason for concern is that I can’t sell this truck or use it as collateral in another loan until that lien is removed. 

Typically these things happen automatically and are done by the bank, but I need to be aware of them and stay on top of things and ensure that they are done. If I don’t, it could hurt me in the future.

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

Winterizing Went Well

On Saturday I drove up to the RV Dealership to their annual “Winterizing Special” where you drive up, hand your keys to someone and their staff winterize your RV for you.

In a nutshell what “Winterizing” an RV is, is draining all of the water from your fresh water tanks, hot water tank, as well as your water lines (both cold and hot).

They open a valve which bypasses the hot water tank so that your hot and cold lines are now joined into one.

Then a special kind of antifreeze is (pink stuff) is run through your water lines so that no matter what, your water lines won’t freeze.

Trust me, this is important as when water freezes it expands and when it expands in a pipe or water pump, it causes expensive damage. The first winter, not doing this cost me my water pump, I was lucky.

So, in reality this past weekend was when I officially kissed my indoor running water goodbye, but since I can’t get any fresh water at any of the dump stations, there really is no point not to winterize.

When I was there, I picked up a couple of roof vents as the one over the bedroom is cracked and so I decided to replace them both so that they are both “tinted” and match each other.  I will do this repair when at the campground this weekend for Thanksgiving.

I also bought a stick on, outdoor thermometer.

 

This way I can see what the temp is outside my window while still inside. Thus, I can do the self-torturous thing of knowing just how cold it is outside at any given moment.

 

(See, it actually got to freezing overnight).

After putting it on the window I soon realized that I had to take it off and do a bit of modification.

You see, since this thing is made in the USA, and they only recognize the Fahrenheit system.

So the large blue numbers are in useless Fahrenheit, the tiny white numbers are in Celsius. So I had to take it off, write the Celsius in black felt and stick it back on.  No, America, Celsius and the metric system is not a communist plot, it’s just a scientifically based measuring system, that’s all.

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