Countdown to Christmas Break

Okay, so while the nice weather is a nice break, it is not the break that I need. For some reason I find the dragging drudgery of work and the cold weather of late has taken its toll on me.

I need: warmth, space, peace and quiet, lack of rushing traffic two feet from my door and yes free-flowing electricity.

So I find my thoughts drifting and planning for the wondrous and delightful days that are coming, the ten days and eleven nights that is my Christmas Break in Banff.

Sure it is a break where I am by myself at a time when one should be surrounded by family, but this is my life these days. 

I do plan to have a family and all that, I know that time is just not yet; first things first things first: Get debt free, get land, then start family (but I digress).

I will make it through this week that seems to tic by much slower than most, due to the wonderful reward that lies at the end of it: peace and quiet.

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

Hibernation Halted (For Now)

Friday night was spent first running around, then hibernating. Saturday was spent at the library, so as to use someone else’s heat and electricity for the day. 

Saturday night found me retreating ever further into my sleeping bag. I found myself curled up somewhere in the middle of it. 

I still turned my face to face the opening of the bag so as to ensure that I could still get fresh air, yet not stick my face out in the sub -20C temperatures of the trailer. 

This changed Sunday morning when finally the cold snap lifted and manageable temperatures returned. This meant that no longer needed to hibernate.

I was even able to run my furnace and get the temperature above zero, by noon I could push things to a balmy 10C. I was even able to keep this up until I went to bed.

I spent a lot of time wiping things down as the frost that covered most surfaces of the insides of the trailer melted. 

Such is life, but I am just happy that I was able to defrost my trailer and even use my deadbolt lock again. For the past few weeks it has been immobilized by frost in the open position. 

This meant piling things up in front of the door, so as to ensure that if anyone tried to enter, they would make noise and wake me.

That is all changed now, for the foreseeable future at least. I should be able to keep my trailer above zero, for the foreseeable future. 

I am still looking forward to my Christmas Break in Banff that is set to commence this Friday afternoon. 

I will do whatever shopping and running around that I have to do Thursday night (which is payday) so I can just run to the hills, as soon as I get off of work Friday.

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

Random Act of Kudos

Last night I had a visit from a stranger, but it was not an unwelcome visit.  This individual had apparently been driving past my trailer (in my Eastern Home) for months and wanted to stop by, yet never did.

Last evening this guy did stop by and the only thing he wanted to say (apart from hi) was the fact that he respected me for what I was doing. 

He also said that I had more courage for living in my RV and actually tackling my debt rather than just give into it. This is one of those things that I have never really given much thought to (how “courageous” I am).

I, for one, just see this as a path that I must walk, because I want greater and better things for me, most of them revolve around and require freedom. 

For me, that is what total debt freedom is . . . freedom, the freedom to do what I want, and go where I want. 

After all, I will not only own (outright) my little home on wheels, but also know how to live in it in any climate. 

That will mean that as long as I have cash to cover my living expenses, (Say $600.00 a month) I can truly to where I want and do what I want.

It was nice to hear from someone and hear that not everyone thinks I’m nuts or the local hobo. It was also nice to remind myself of why I am out here . . . freedom. 

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

Winter Water Woes

Okay, so with the deep freeze still with us, for a few days yet, I thought I would let people know how I have been keeping my water liquid. 

There are a few options, one is to store water in metal containers each one able to contain a gallon. 

Why? Well you can put the metal container on your stove and melt the solid block of ice, yet it is not too large or heavy to handle.

I have not found those yet, so I will go with my backup plan which is to have a number of smaller water containers, such as 1.5 litre water bottles. 

I keep filling them up at work and taking them home each day. This way I let work keep my water liquid during the day for me.

At home I fill up a hot water bottle and snuggle my bottles of water (and coffee creamer) in a bag wrapped in a towel.

This way the water (and coffee creamer) will stay (mostly) liquid by morning (mmm, coffee cream slushie). 

I still do my trick of filling my coffee percolator and kettle the night before. Logic and experience have taught me that one. 

This way it doesn’t matter if the water in them freezes overnight as I can simply put the kettle or coffee percolator on the stove . . . they’ll defrost quickly enough.

When the weather is warmer I can go back to filling my five gallon jugs of water at the grocery store, as I prefer. 

When I have water in them I shake the jugs up like a martini shaker. This is to break up the ice in them as at least you can pour out shards of ice into the kettle to melt.

With the weather in the deep freeze, though, my large jugs can and will freeze solid in no time flat. This makes them ineffective to use south of -20C

Just try defrosting a large block of ice . . . it may freeze fast, but it won’t melt fast. At least not without the heat of summer (which is a long time coming.)

My trick these days is to only bring home enough water to last me the night and morning. That way I can function yet not have useless blocks of ice. 

The absolute backup plan is to melt snow, but I haven’t done that yet, as I would prefer to do that and then put that melted water through some sort of water filter.

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

Bucking a Disturbing Trend

Statistics Canada released a report today that stated that household debt has risen in this country to a point where the average person owes $1.67 for every $1.00 earned 

Technically they said “Disposable Income” but nobody elaborated just what that means, is that after tax income, or what?

Anyways, the trend is that people are piling on debt at an alarming rate. I, for one, have no illusion as to why . . . 

People are tapped out and just can’t make ends meet, so they turn to credit cards, lines of credit and other forms of credit to keep going.

Sooner or later this will run out and people’s fiscal house of cards will collapse. This is why this blog entry is for anyone reading this to seriously consider tackling your own debt.

Once again, you don’t have to go to my extreme to get your debt under control, and eventually eliminated (yes it is possible).

What you do need to do is to downgrade your lifestyle in order to free up cash in your monthly budget and put that cash towards your debt.

You can do this in a number of ways: rent a room, rent a house with another family, or even move in with family. 

There are a thousand ways to do it and the best way to start would be to imagine what you would do if you were suddenly unemployed.

That will get you thinking of the drastic ways that you could downgrade your lifestyle to balance your shockingly drastic reduction in your monthly income.

Just think about it, because being mired in debt is not right, nor acceptable, even if it has become “normal.”

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

Budget Alchemy

Okay, with time ticking down to payday, and my Christmas Break, my thoughts turn towards my last budget of 2016. 

Specifically, me finding a way to pay for what I need to pay for and still end the month with my three accounts fully funded. To make a long story short, I have managed to do it.

Sure it is an arbitrary dollar figure that I have put on myself but it is a target that I have set for myself and, if I must say, a good target. 

This is key for me moving forward is to build up an “Oops Fund” into each and all of my three accounts. 

This is because I will be doing the unthinkable . . . handing over large wads of cash to the bank when they are not asking for it.

Again, this goes back to my experiment that I will commence next year so that I can pay the Wanda Loan off faster, by paying the bank directly.

The plan that I did for the truck was to save the principle up in my long term savings account. This is a bit dangerous as I can start seeing things (or property) that I could by.

With all of the fuss that I have made about Total Debt Freedom Day: Nov, 7, 2017, anything less than sudden and unexpected unemployment would be allowable in order for me to miss that deadline.

The key today is that I have a plan to fund my three accounts back up to what I deem the minimum acceptable levels. 

Remember, you can’t control the future all you can do is control the present and in so doing, direct your future. 

What that means is you can shape your future by managing your money wisely, here, now today, as in this payperiod.

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

Cold Snap Snap

Okay, so I did run to the hills this weekend and I will admit that it was just to give myself a break from the deep freeze.

All in all it was a good weekend and I was able to warm the trailer up and defrost most of my belongings. 

I have seen things freeze that most people don’t think could/would freeze. Did you know that dish soap turns to a foamy consistency when it freezes? I do.

Now I am back at it and after that little break I know that I can and will hunker down and continue to make it through winter as efficiently as possible. 

Again, another twisted game in my near future is to see how much cash I can save even in the depths of the deep freeze that is this latest cold snap. 

After all, all I really have to do is heat me, as in my body, not my trailer . . . I see a lot of my Bear Mode in my future.

As in just not bothering to run the furnace and spending as much time as possible out of the trailer and in a building or in my sleeping bag when I am in the trailer.

Ah yes, that wonderful place called the library is calling me next weekend. I can think of a number of things and projects that I should be working on that can take up my time.

The break this past weekend was needed and did not cost as much as I had thought that it would. I will have to break down and take more of these breaks in the future, as it is necessary.

I will make it through winter and quickly put my budget back on track and top up the Mid-Term Savings Account that I raided for this sojourn.

The view was fantastic, though, due to the fact that I was able to get my favourite spot.

  

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