Stash or Pay?

For the most part I try to be neutral and non-political, yet as a result of last night’s US election I feel I have to say something. 

Rarely does the machinations and plotting of foreign (I am a Canadian and darn proud of it) affects me in the slightest, this one does. 

The President-Elect of the US has vowed to rip up or renegotiate NAFTA, that free trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico.

This is bad and bodes ill for the Kingdom of Geffieland, because the company I work for does approximately 80% of our business exporting directly into the US.

Essentially, NAFTA has made our business quite profitable, yet the prosperity does not stop there. We sell to manufacturers, electricians; companies large and small. 

We sell them good quality product at a competitive price, and back that up with advice, knowledge and yes a good, no hassle warranty.  

(I swear this is not a paid plug for the company I work for). 

In essence, we benefit by selling our products to people and companies in the US and in turn they benefit by being able to be more competitive and prosperous using/selling/installing our products. 

(It is a Win-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win) (We win, the manufacturers we buy from win, our customers win and their customers win, and yes even both of the economies of the US and Canada win.)

What the tearing up of NAFTA means for little old me goes back to the question that loomed over me as I started this blog and Urban Nomad Journey . . . 

What if the boss decided to shut down the company or go back to a one-man operation? (He has done this before, before my time.)

What if I find myself suddenly unemployed? 

It may not happen overnight, but it may happen now that the future of NAFTA is uncertain. 

So, the question I face is do I continue with my plan to stuff all extra cash onto the Wanda Loan, or do I stuff the cash into the bank and pay it off when I have enough to do so all at once? 

If I stuff the cash into the bank I then have that cushion of cash in case I am suddenly unemployed. Then again I have been told to rely on Unemployment Insurance, 

History has taught me, however, that UIC is not all that dissimilar to a lottery ticket; it is unsure and not guaranteed.  

I will move forward with my project for the months of December and January, and see from there what to do. 

If it does not look like I will pay the loan off any faster then I will likely bank the cash and hedge my bets. 

If it does look like I will pay the loan off quicker, then I will keep moving forward with my massive payments on the Wanda loan. 

Either way, I need to get that loan paid off as soon as possible, because once I am totally debt free, I can live cheaply and breathe easier, if I was suddenly unemployed.

If any of you need the nudge to do something drastic to eliminate your own debt load, might I suggest that you wonder what would happen to you and y our family if you were to find yourself suddenly unemployed for reasons out of your control?

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

Why I Stay Mobile

There are drawbacks and benefits to being always mobile and always being at home, no matter where you are. 

There are days when I muse about somehow finding a way to stake a claim to a small parcel of land and setting down roots, yet that is not to be, not yet anyways.

I had a reminder this past weekend of just how important it is that I keep Wanda hitched to Trea and ever-mobile. 

It was time for the semi-annual servicing of Trea (my truck) so the simple solution was to park Wanda across the road, unhitch and wait in there while the truck was being serviced.

I decided to be generous and let them keep Trea, all day. After all, I didn’t have anywhere particular to go, and I was, after all, still at home.

I wasn’t bothering anyone, the street was an unassuming side street and there were no parking limitations (i.e. pay parking, or time limited parking).

Well, I had only been there for a few hours when a bylaw officer came pulling up with modern ticket book I hand.

Someone had complained to the city about the grievous and heinous offence of a “detached RV trailer parked within the city limits.”

The officer was nice and understood that my truck was in for service (at the dealership that he was parked in front of) and that I had only been there a few hours. 

Apparently it made a big difference that I was actually with the trailer, I’m not sure why, but maybe that means that it has not been “abandoned.”

After that, I then politely asked the dealership to hurry up, as I was unsure how the next (and there would be) bylaw officer would be and I didn’t want a ticket or further hassle with the fuzz.

They obliged and I was on my way in a few hours yet it reminded me that I can’t just find a forlorn patch of dirt, unhitch and make a home, not anywhere near civilization anyways.

I have thought about renting a space in the back of someone’s house, you know beside the garage in the back. 

I think that I might be able to be there for about three days before the neighbours would freak out and call the city on me. Again, I don’t need the hassle or the expense.

Then again, I could just park my trailer and live in my Western Home, as I have seen others do. 

I just don’t like the idea of disconnecting and leaving Wanda anywhere so, public. Nor do I like the idea of taking advantage so extremely of the generosity of my weekend hosts.

I will keep Wanda attached to Trea, and keep moving around, as I have been. I have less than a year to go before I am totally debt free. 

After that I work towards buying a place, something that is mine and somewhere where I can put down roots. Until then I will stay mobile.

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

Three-Sixty-Five-and-a-Wake-up . . . OOOOH Lord

Yep, it's official . . .
 

I have just one year (or less) until I am totally and completely debt free and even own my home. So there!

Okay, technically my house has wheels under it and they spin as I move around daily, since I don’t own or even rent the land beneath it, but hey, let’s not get picky.

It is one full year until I am debt free (fiscal disaster notwithstanding) and that deserves a moment of pause, and perhaps a minor splurge.

The other nice thing that happened this weekend was that the boss gave me my paycheque early.

Not that it did me a whole lot of good, as I can’t cash it until today (after work) but it does let me see what the amount actually is.

This allows me to finalize my budget for the upcoming payperiod. Most times I do this while at work, just before the day, and other times it is after work and before I drive to the bank.

My paycheques have been a little larger as of late, and the reason is, is in fact that apparently I have paid my share of CPP and UIC this year.

This means less taxes coming off and so what I get left over is larger. January, of course, will be a bite back into reality, but that is life, and as always I will deal with it.

What this windfall means is that I can still keep my goals for this month on track while stealing away to Banff for the weekend.

It is important to take a bit of time to enjoy the nice things in life while still keeping yourself and your path to your goals, on track and on schedule.

This is a difficult balance to make, but it can be done, yet there are sacrifices to be made, as nothing worth having has ever been achieved without sacrificing something to get it.

(Just make sure that you don’t sacrifice humans to appease a deity in order to get what you want.)

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

Fwump Day Cometh

I had never heard of the word “Chinook” until I came to Calgary, yet, after being here for a few years, it is, by far my most favourite word in the whole world.

To me, it means “a respite from winter,” and/or “not freezing your butt off,” weather. I won’t bother to explain the science but it has something to do with wind coming down off the mountain, somehow bringing warm winds and weather. 

What it means is that here in early November it is plus 20 during the day this week when last year it was dipping down to -7 overnight (regularly). 

While I am enjoying the weather and liking the warm temperatures, there is always the thought that lingers . . . real winter is coming.

I know that winter will come and when it does it will come with a vengeance, and the weather can turn on a dime. 

Let’s not forget that the prairies are a place where you can (regurlarly) experience all four seasons in the same day.

No matter how lovely and nice the weather is now, that day, the day the weather turns is coming and I call that day “Fwump Day.”

That day when the temp drops suddenly and you wake up to a few feet of snow and an apocalyptic “winter wonderland” everywhere.

The back of my mind wonders if we will pay later (say January and February) for the nice weather now. 

I will survive and adapt though, I always do. I just keep a weather eye on the horizon and another on the weather predictions.

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

Netless Fears

When you’re young you have no fear, you can charge at anything, do anything, be reckless and not think twice. 

As you get older, however, time, experience has a way of instilling and imparting wisdom to you that such actions are . . . unwise and ill-advised. 

I have been living paycheque to paycheque without any savings whatsoever for my entire working life (thusfar). Let’s just say that’s been a decade or three.

Now that I have been on this journey and particularly with this past year actually had that cushion of my savings, the thought of being without it is like skydiving with a tea towel as a parachute.  

This month is particularly stressful for me as it means not only paying my Low-Interest Credit Card off (again) but also rebuilding my savings accounts to their mini um acceptable levels. 

Even then, even if I have accomplished all that I would still only have a month or two before my savings would be depleted.

The thought of entering a phase of this journey where I give large wads of cash to a bank directly on the loan feels like throwing cash on a fire. Once you do that, you can’t get it back.

I am tempted to do what I did before, and just sock cash away until I have enough saved to pay the loan off outright.

I know that the best option is to just stay the course and trudge on ahead with this new plan, this new way of doing things. 

Fear of the unknown and fear of operating without a safety-net does scare me. I will survive, I will be okay, and I will settle my nerves. I am nothing, if not adaptable and survivable. 

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

The Almost Payment

Today is Wednesday, more specifically it is the Wednesday of a Non-Wanda Payment Week. 

That means that when I enact my plan that tonight, after work, I would have made that extra $100.00 payment on the Wanda Loan.

I was tempted and would like to get started on this, but I just don’t have the room in my budget. 

It is even a stretch to make room in the 22nd payday budget for the extra payment on December 1st (okay, technically November 30th).

In doing so, I will then fully enact my pilot project that will run for two consecutive months at least. 

This way I can see if the payments in December somehow affect the payments in January. 

It is still a toss-up what effect any of these extra payments will have on the loan, but I will forge on ahead regardless, trying to bolster my savings along the way. 

Bolstering my Savings is a good way to put my goals for this month, as that is the plan, to have a bit of a cushion, just in case of the unforeseen.

It is that unforeseen which also drives me to paying off the Wanda Loan as quickly as I can, so that I can be still sitting pretty, no matter what life throws at me. 

(No, fate that is not me tempting or daring you to toss a large ball of muck at me.) 

I will boldly forge on ahead with: Optimism, Courage, tempered with Prudence.

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

The Hidden Long Weekend

Now that Halloween is over and done with, thoughts turn to Remembrance Day, at least for me. 

As a side-note, I had no trick-or-treater’s, as for some reason parents don’t want to take their kids to the industrial section of town and knock on the doors of RV’s parked there . . . funny that.

Back to Remembrance Day In years gone by I would go down and find some sort of Remembrance Day ceremonies to partake in.

Due to the fact that I drag Wanda with me wherever I go, so parking is a challenge and I refuse to drive downtown, in recent years I will watch the ceremonies on the TV.

This year November 11 falls on a Friday, so that means that it is a defacto long weekend. I am considering heading to the hills (I can watch the ceremonies from there).

Yet, with the fact that my budgets for November are so tight and my goals so lofty, it seems just too risky and reckless (financially) to do.

I could put it on a card, but I have just paid this one off (this upcoming payday) and so the rule is to keep it at a zero balance each payday. 

With this month being like it is, I won’t be able to do that and so I am back to carrying a balance . . . no thanks.

So, I will see how this payday actually is, and if I can somehow squeak out enough to pay cash for this retreat and still do what I plan to do, okay, I go, otherwise I won’t.

After all, my priorities are to get back to a level fiscal position so I can move ahead to get totally debt free by the end of next year. I can manage without heading to the hills to make sure that happens.

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