To Account or not to Account?

As I look to my future, beyond “Liberation Day” of October, 22, 2017, I have had a strange impulse . . . to learn something.

That something is accounting, or more specifically, bookkeeping. Why should I do this, when I have a decent system already to manage my finances, you ask?

The reason is that as I move forward, I plan to move further and further away from the payday to payday world and towards some form of self-employment.

At this point I don’t know exactly what shape that will take, either in the form of a scientific research community or just a farm/community, or something else altogether. 

One thing is certain, no matter what form it will be in, I will need to know how to keep the finances straight and keep the books. 

I could just get someone else to do that, but at the beginning, like now, there will only be me, doing everything. So, I might as well learn how to do this. 

I am toying with the idea of starting the books at the beginning of the next calendar year (2018). This gives me the remainder of this year to learn how to keep books. 

I thought of taking a course, but then I realized that I don’t need a piece of paper that says I know how to do this, I just need to know how, thus reading a book comes to mind.

I have my eye on a book that is about to be released that should be good for me to read and learn from. 

At the beginning of next year, I can start to go through the process to keep the books for myself, as if I was a business.

Again, this is all for practice and personal growth, as I won’t actually start a business, at least not yet, as I am still working for someone else and don’t intend to rock the boat. 

Learning how to keep books and gaining valuable experience in doing so, is worth something to me, however. As it will help me build towards my future, and that is always a happy thought.

For now, I will keep doing what I am doing with regards to how I keep track of my finances, yet I will learn and grow as I constantly take small steps towards my future.

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

Busted BBQ

So there I was, getting setup to fire up the BBQ, a nightly ritual for me these days. I like to enjoy a bit of outdoor cooking, just because I can. 

Yet, when I pulled out my BBQ, I noticed something odd, something was amiss with my trust BBQ, something that I couldn’t just fix with duct tape or a bit of wire . . . 

  

This is the regulator, and what is broken on it is the knob. I store the regulator and the hose (which attaches to the tank) inside the BBQ when it is tucked away.

Somehow the regulator bumped around and the knob broke off. I knew that this was not something to be messed with as this is a vital part of the safe operation of the BBQ.

So, I needed a new one. Considering that I had spent $30.00 on the BBQ in the first place, I just figured I would pick up another BBQ and say goodbye to this one.

Well, when I got to the store, the exact same model of BBQ as mine was now $90.00! 

I decided to explore my options and see if there was either one cheaper or a more solidly looked one for that price. 

Nope, they all were stupidly priced, and this one was the cheapest.

So, down to the BBQ parts isle I went and found this for about $20.00.

  

This fit perfectly! I can safely BBQ again, and keep this old gal still working away. My BBQ does work and works well; it has just seen better days (like most of us).

  

After dinner was done and the BBQ was set to be tucked away, I took a precaution to help prevent the knob from breaking off again.

  

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

Grocery Spreadsheet’s Inauguration

Okay, so one thing I did over the weekend was to give my Grocery List Spreadsheet a trial run, and it worked great.

First of all I needed to populate the spreadsheet with data, not only on what stuff that I would want to buy, but also on what price they were.

To do this I went around both stores and pretended to shop with my iPad. To look less conspicuous, I pushed a shopping cart around the store while holding iPad.

My cart was empty but for the few times I had to grab an item and to in search of the “check price here” scanning device in the store.

At the start I had an identical list of items in each store’s list. If an item wasn’t available in a certain store, or a particular brand I liked wasn’t there, I just deleted that line from that store’s list.

When it came time to make my shopping list I found a flaw in the sheet and had to make a change. 

That change was to add a line at the footer of each sheet, telling me how much both stores were going to cost me.

This line is just under the line which totals up what that particular store is going to cost me. 

This way I can see what my overall grocery expenditure is going to be and adjust it accordingly, before I go to either store.

I am not sure if I will run around both stores again before shopping or just update the sheet as I go. I will see how it rolls out, but for now it is working as expected.

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

The Outlook Cycle

I am not without my frustrations and self-doubts. I battle them daily, yet refuse to let them win. The basic reason should be self-evident and is twofold. 

The first is that I have to live with myself, so I might as well be a good person to be around.

The other is that your outlook shapes how you view the world and perceive things that are happening to you. 

A positive outlook will cause you to see the good and positive things that are happening around you, thereby elevating your mood.

A negative outlook will cause you to see the negative and bad things that are happening around you, thereby worsening your mood.

Both are self-feeding cycles, you chose which direction you want to go, you choose your outlook and so you choose your mood.

I am not an expert on this, nor am I a constantly-happy-yippie-skippy person, I am trying though, and that in itself is good enough.

I have my bad days, but I put them behind me and leave them there, I choose to move forward and just forget about that bad day. 

To dwell on and beat myself up over it will therefore worsen my mood and view of myself. This will put me on that negative cycle that I want to avoid. 

So, I will look forward to being totally debt free and the great release of tension and stress that will come once I finally achieve that, earn that.

I will buckle down, and make work whatever I need to in order to achieve that. I will, however, try to enjoy the ride as I continue to work towards my goals.

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

Debt Slave, Indentured Servant, or Freeman?

I watched a video on YouTube last night and it got me thinking. I know what you’re thinking, you can’t believe everything you see or read on the internet, and I don’t.

There are times when little nuggets of knowledge will stick with and resonate within you. This was one of those times.

The video was on the theory that five very rich families rule the world. (FYI, they were: The Rothschilds, The Duponts, The Rockefellers, The Morgans, and The Bushes.)

I won’t get into the validity of the video or the theory that it was discussing. 

I, for one, am not sure if “The Illuminati,” “The New World Order” or any of that is true. That is the subject of a separate debate, to be sure.

What did resonate with me was a graph splashed on the screen and at the bottom was a band called “Debt Slaves.” It was this title that got me thinking . . . 

All our lives we are taught that money is vital, and that being in debt is not just okay, but “normal.” We buy things, not only to live, but also just to have then throw away.

We earn money just to turn around and give most of it away on or just after payday. We have come to accept that money is life, without it you die. 

Yet strangely, we can’t keep any of it. Odd, eh? 

Most of us have “debt which springs eternal,” meaning we can and will never see the end of it. This kind of debt truly makes you a Debt Slave. 

For you are a slave to “whoever runs the show,” because of, and enslaved by, debt. Take heart, for you can still find a way to buy your freedom, yet it will be harder, and take much longer.

If you have a big fat asset, like a house and you have enough equity in it that if you sold it, you could pay your debts off, congrats, you are just an “Indentured Servant.” 

This is because, while it is possible for you to buy your freedom in on fell swoop, you are still tied and indentured to whoever “they” are. 

You are better off than the Debt Slave, but you are still owned. 

Then there are the Freeman . . . no, not “Freeman on The Land.” 

I don’t agree with them because you can’t just ignore the laws or governments, just because you want to. Like it or not, they control the country you’re in. 

As long as you are in “Bob’s House,” you have to go by Bob’s Rules . . . it’s his house, after all! If you don’t like Bob’s Rules . . . leave Bob’s House. (But I digress.)

I use the term “Freeman” to mean any person (man, woman, trans, etc) who has freed themselves from debt and is therefore in control of their lives.

You can still use debt, but make sure it is on your terms, with a fixed end date, and that you are the master of it, not the other way around. 

A Freeman has more assets and cash reserves than debt, therefore still in control, and still free. A Freeman is free because they can choose to do what they wish, even stop working (for a time) if they wish.

As for me, I am an Indentured Servant, on my way to becoming a Freeman. I don’t write this blog entry to preach or push the theory of “New World Order” or any of that stuff. Stuff that I am not sure is real or not, but to do what I always want to do . . . inspire.

I hope that those of you who are Debt Slaves see this as a wakeup call and use my experience as an example that it is possible to buy your freedom and in so doing, take control of your life back.

If you need a few pointers or just encouragement, message me, I will offer what assistance I can, but is up to you to begin that journey and work to earn your freedom. 

It is possible and it is worth it . . . buy your freeeeeeeeeeedooooooooom!

The Grocery List Evolution

Okay, so I have done the whole “Grocery List” thing a few different ways over the years. 

At first there was the “Just Wing-It” approach. This means going to the store and grab things that you remember that you need. 

This of course leads you to having to go back to the store to get a few items that you missed. 

After a few times of that, you write the list down . . . as in on a piece of paper. After putting an item in the cart, you cross that item off of your list.

This then morphs into the “text file on my phone” style. After you put an item in your cart you then delete that line from the text file.

Both of these styles leave two key things out . . . How much is all this going to cost me?  . . . And which store is cheaper?

There are two major grocery stores in My Western Home. I won’t mention them but if you are astute you can figure them out. 

They are comparable and competitive on prices for most items. Sometimes, however, the price varies greatly on a particular item. 

Then there are also the times when I know that I have a very limited amount of money to spend on this grocery run. What then?

I then end up having my calculator app open on my phone and adding items up as I go through the store. 

I do this to avoid the shock at the till or worse, having to put items back. I know that I am not the only person to have to do this.

How to avoid that embarrassment and capitalize on the price variance (on the stuff I buy on a regular basis) between stores?

I will now try this little gem out this weekend in order to eliminate all that. 

  

This is a spreadsheet that I have created on my iPad. It is just a simple list of the items that I buy on a regular basis. 

There are two identical sheets, one for each store that I go to. As I go through the store I can update the price of each item at that store.

When I am done I will know how much each item is and what the total should be. This way I can put items back if I have to BEFORE getting to the till. 

Even better, is that when I am at home, making my list, I can have an estimate of what I expect to spend at the store. 

As well, I can see, which store is cheaper on which items and make a list for each store on which items are cheaper/best to get at each store. 

This may entail me to go around each store first pretending to shop and just updating prices on my iPad. I have the time and both stores are my “corner store” so to speak.

I have no idea what kind of reaction the store people will have with me shopping with my iPad with me. My phone is very old, so it won’t work for this.

If you want a copy of this Grocery List Spreadsheet for yourself just message me and let me know: What format? (Numbers or Excel) and what email address to send it to. 

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

Plant Your Feet and Stand Tall

I know that my chosen lifestyle (being an Urban Nomad) may seem odd to some/most people. I for one find this funny.

To me, to stay in a fixed address whilst it buries you in debt and takes most of your take home pay just to exist . . . that is something I can’t understand.

Certain people in my life, one in particular, routinely suggests that I should buy a place (even a one bedroom condo) or even just rent a room somewhere. 

I listen to them, but politely answer that I have no interest in doing so at this time. 

Why? Because I am five months and two weeks away from being totally debt free, after which my paycheque will be mine to do with as I please.

After that, after that glorious day of October, 22, 2017, I will be able to put up to 90% of my take home pay into savings (or do with whatever else I choose).  

*** Pause for the reader’s shouting and cursing ***

So why would I stop now? Just to make other people more comfortable? I am living my life, nobody else is. 

I am the one who has to deal with the consequences and reap the benefits of my decisions. 

So why should I care if I make others uncomfortable? I shouldn’t and don’t; and neither should you. 

Your life is your own to do with whatever you choose. So do what you need to do in order to better your life and situation. 

Just remember, kids, that while you are free to do what you choose, you are not free from the consequences (legal or otherwise) of those choices.

So do something, but own the decision and deal with the results (positive or negative).

As for me, I am going to be debt free, then move on to bigger and better things . . . like freeeeeeedoooooom!

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