Clomping Forward in Uncertain Times

I have set an ambitious goal for myself and my future, yet I will admit that I am not sure that I will achieve it. 

It is not a lack of faith in my abilities or my timeline. I have long since accepted that the specific date of grand goals may not be reached. 

As long as the goal is achieved, the specific date is inconsequential. 

I am uncertain if I will achieve this goal of $150,000.00 in my Long Term Savings by April 7, 2022 (just under 4 years from now) due to the uncertain times.

For one the company that I work in imports products from China and exports most of them (70 – 80%) to the US.

With a global trade ware brewing, started by an administration that seems to be bent on “Fortress America” and all but stopping global trade, this puts my job and company in jeopardy. 

Regardless of politics and what you think of the current American administration, times are uncertain and I may find myself “actively encouraged to seek other employment opportunities” in the near future.

This does weigh on me, and I take solace in the fact that I am debt free and in the process of building my savings as quickly as I can.

It may be true that I may be drawing on those savings to live as I go in search of a job or some way to make money in the soon to be economic wasteland that would be Canada without global trade. 

Okay, perhaps that was a bit melodramatic, but my point is that things may go bad and soon.

The only thing I can do is keep on doing what I am doing and try to hedge my bets as it were. Prepare for the worst, yet hope for the best.

And . . . 

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

An Important Addition to The Archives

Okay, so over time I have been adding things to my “When You Need To Know It, But Can’t Google It” archives.

This is the plastic box that I store books full of information I may need in case things go sour quickly. 

As in head to the hills and hide out until things blow over . . . or I get to the property and start the homesteading process . . . whichever comes first.

To add to that archive, I bought this . . . 

   

This is a map book, for those of you who don’t know what that is just imagine this as someone printed out “Google Maps” and put it in a book form.

These things used to be quite handy and revolutionary from the old massive fold out maps.

This one is different in that it not only has the entire country on it (Canada, eh) but it also has all of the back roads on it, as well.

The information may be a bit out of date (circa 2008, I think) but it beats dead reckoning when and if I am in an area where there is no internet or no Google Maps. 

I can always buy more maps but at least I have one map that covers the whole country, if I ever need it.

We rely on these digital and connected devices that we can’t imagine functioning without them. 

All it would take is one good and very large EMP (electromagnetic pulse) for all of us to learn how to do without them in a shocking hurry. 

That is one of the reasons why I buy books instead of download digital copies. This way the information is available even if my batteries are flatlined.

I am not one who professes that these are the “end times” but I do believe in preparing a bit for the future, just in case. 

I have a saying, “Through my strength and vigilance I shall protect and foster my peace and prosperity.” 

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

Playing With Solar

There I was, fuming mad at the injustice of it all. The truck’s fuel gauge was just off of full and yet I spent $53 on fuel. I spent $30 on generator fuel and $23 on fuel for the truck.

It just so happened that I had (on a whim) bought a solar panel with the intension of charging my laptop/iPad/phone with it (it was a 40 watt).

I got the idea to see if solar panels would do any good for Wanda’s batteries. It didn’t take long to get it setup and underway. 

   

I simply clipped the panel’s output to the battery posts.

This panel folds out, so it has easy storage and has a built in charge controller .

   

It worked in so far as it raised the voltage in the low voltage system of Wanda.

Here is the voltage level without the panel.

  

Here is the voltage level with the panel hooked up.

  

As the day got later I had to move the panel around.

   

I was even able to get it to charge my laptop (in the middle of the day).

   

All in all it was interesting and fun but not a practical solution (not that I thought that it would be. 

When I started Wanda’s batteries were flatlined. As in the radio display was off and the fridge wouldn’t work. 

This is usually the time when I would run my generator, but that day, Saturday, I decided to see if my panel would do any good.

In the end, while the panel was enough to turn the display of the radio on and run the fridge all day, it was not enough to put any charge into the batteries.

That next morning I had to repeat this trick to keep the fridge going until it was late enough for me to run my generator.

I also found that while my panel would charge my iPad no problem, it would not charge the laptop in the evening, yet while the sun was still out.

I have read somewhere the peak charging (and only useable solar hours are between 2 – 2pm. 

Who knows if that is true, but solar panels will not always kick out the wattage they are rated at all times. 

This is why you see large banks of solar panels in any successful installation. So, while this was fun and it will do what I had intended it to do (charge my main communication devices when needed) solar is not the answer for me.

This experiment reinforces for me the understanding that I would need to install a couple of high wattage panels 500 Watts minimum for them to make any difference to me.

I will find other ways to conserve electricity and fuel even further, but solar isn’t it, not until I get to the property and can install a large bank of them.

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

It Has Come To This

So, tomorrow is payday, yet here I am, still looking for ways to economize. 

I was fortunate enough with this being a short week to not have to move Wanda until last night.

This saves gasoline for driving yet I had to run the generator, and with this being summer, I don’t have the luxury of not having the fridge running for even a day.

Thus, I had to move so I could run my generator in my sleeping spot (and in so doing upset nobody).

Yet, I didn’t want to waist the fuel to drive back to my spot where I work, so I just left Wanda in my sleeping spot and walked to work.

I will stay in my sleeping spot tonight too and so only drive tomorrow to check my mail, then go to the bank, and do my other payday running around.

I will end up at my Western Home at some point Saturday, probably early afternoon.

All in the name of saving fuel and therefore saving cash. 

It is partly out of necessity and partly out of practicality . . . but also a game.

Once again, I am trying to keep my bills paid as I race towards my first goal of 2 years of living expenses put away in my savings accounts.

After that the pressure is relieved a little bit as I race on ahead towards my target amount before I can move on to my next phase of my life (starting that town).

Yet, one thing at a time and even, and especially, in turbulent times all you really can do is ask yourself “what can I do today, this week, this payperiod to move myself towards my goals?” Once you answer that . . . focus on that.

For me, it is saving as much fuel and cash as I can. 

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

The Orphan Annie Budget

Okay, so as I have touched on, things are a bit tight now, in so far as sales at work have been slow as of late. 

This affects my paycheque as part of my paycheque comes from commissions on online sales (sales that I have no control over).

In “normal” times I can just boldly go forth with my expectation budget of expecting to make Budgetary Minimum during this payperiod.

Yet, in time like this, that method becomes rather depressing. 

You see, I have a tab on my timesheet spreadsheet that guestimates what my paycheque will look like right now. (As in, if no more sales are made).

As the days tick on I check that tab to see how close I am to my target. These days I am limping along, yet always looking like I will fall far short of my Budgetary Minimum.

Now, these days I am far from where I was five years ago, where I would be in serious trouble if I did not make my Budgetary Minimum.

So, I have decided to change things around. I will start from the most depressing number of my estimated paycheque (as in at the start of the timesheet with no sales in there) and watch that grow as the payperiod goes forward.

This way I get to see my paycheque grow each day rather than watch my paycheque shrink as I cut my estimations further and further.

I always balance my budget, so this will not screw up my future payperiod budgets. If my paycheque is smaller, all it means is less money going into savings. 

This will push my “Freedom Day” off a bit, but that is all. My bills will be paid and I will have food to eat and be able to live. To do that still only requires around 10 – 20% of my take home pay.

So I will go forth with this “eternal optimist budget” named after a certain redheaded orphan. 

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

I’ve Been Ordered to Subsidize A Large Corporation’s Losses

I’ve been told that it’s fair, that it’s just “Market Forces” and all that. I have no choice, after all someone has to make up those losses, so it may as well be me, right?

What am I talking about? Well, it is truck insurance time and so I got my renewal notice from my insurance company that I have been dealing with for a number of years.

It was $200.00 higher than last year despite that I cost them nothing and am no greater a risk than I was last year.

Last year’s insurance went up to, with the same explanation “We’ve experienced a large number of claims and so our rates have to go up to cover that.”

Translation: “We’ve lost money and so you have to make up for that.”

I have shopped around with the help of an Insurance Broker friend of mine to see if I could get anything cheaper elsewhere . . . nope. They’re all doing it.

I guess it isn’t collusion if the whole industry (or all insurance companies are doing it). That’s just the MARKET FORCING all of us to pay more when it is not justified.

I have incurred no tickets, speeding, parking or otherwise. I as an individual do not deserve to be charged more when I have done my part and not incurred them any extra costs.

They’ll drop their rates once they make their cash back . . . right?  . . . right?

Of course not. That’s because the “Market” can “Bear” to pay more. either that or not drive, and let’s face it, our cities are not laid out to live economically or efficiently without a motor vehicle.

So, I will pay the increase and just hope that the pendulum swings the other way, that I may get a break sooner rather than later.

The one thing I will not do is go on the monthly plan for insurance again. Let me let you in on a little secret, you are financing your insurance through a bank.

Look at the fine print, you are paying somewhere around 7% or so to a bank for the privledge of borrowing the amount for the full year’s worth of insurance.

Save the interest, save the cash and pay for it up front, if you can. (After all, you have to save cash wherever you can.)

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

It Only Took Two Klonks on the Head

Okay, I’ll admit, I can be a bit of a procrastinator, I push things off that I don’t want to do. I do what I have to do but some things I take my time getting around to.

I have been propping up my bed with a lone table leg.

  

This has not been affixed, I just lift the bed up, grab this leg and position it so that it is propping up the bed. For the most part it has worked out okay.

It has happened (twice) that the leg has let go and the bed has hit my head on the way down.

Now, this is not the mattress that has hit me, but the plywood lid of he under the bed storage compartment.

The second time was this weekend, so, in response I did this . . .

    

More specifically I did this . . .

   

I found four screws that I had lying around the place and finally screwed that leg bracket in place.

I then used a hacksaw blade (just the blade itself) to saw off the pointy bits of the screws that poked through the other side of the plywood storage lid.

Now what I do is lift the mattress up, hold it up with one hand as I grab the leg and screw it into place with the other.

(It has yet to fail but time will tell how secure it is.)

I still treat the under the bed storage area as if I am putting my head in a crocodile’s mouth. (As in: carefully, quickly and with a cautious eye.)

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