Weekend Warm-up-ish

So, it is the weekend and I am celebrating that last night it did not dip below zero (yay). 

Also, for this weekend it will get warmer (sorta) and I will take that, more specifically, I will take the fact that the overnight lows will not dip below zero.

Next week we should get warmer temps, into the double digits, and that is something to celebrate. 

I have no idea what the weather or the future will be. All I can do is prepare for both the best that I can, and deal with whatever comes.

That is all that any of us really can do, because all we can do is control (as best as we can) our present, and in so doing, help shape our future. 

After all, the direction that you start walking in now, is where you will be headed in the future, so you might as well pick a good destination . . . come what may.

New Way to Bank

Okay, so I am not one that likes to change, or at least do radical changes all the time. I know it sounds funny, but I am a creature of habit. 

I like going to the bank on payday and depositing my paycheque and getting my cash. 

Yet, with this last payday being on Sunday, and the Monday being a holiday, that meant that I would have to wait two extra days in order to deposit my paycheque.

Now, I could have done my banking through the cash machine, but making a special driving trip to my bank to use the ATM seems silly.

So, on Friday, I withdrew the cash that I needed to fund my wallets. I waited until mid morning on Sunday and then deposited my paycheque through the app on my iPad.

I had always resisted this as I was not sure if there would be any holds on my cash or what have you. Again, I was not about to muck about with my paycheque. 

This time, I was willing to give it a try, and so I did. In the end it went well and was painless. I deposited my paycheque from my trailer and the cash was in my account instantly. 

I am considering doing this trick again, withdraw cash on the Friday before payday and just do the e-deposit thing through the app on payday itself. 

We shall see how things go, but now and again, you can teach me a new trick or two.

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

More Snow, Then Sun

It snowed again yesterday and it snowed again last night. Nothing serious and not even enough to gather on the roads, but it snowed and freaked some drivers out.

As for me, I take it all in stride, depending on how much snow is out there I break out my winter boots. Otherwise I just wear my regular boots.

It will warm up soon, so they say. There is even some talk about getting up to 20C early next week.

That is a nice thought when it has been hovering around 0C for the past few days.

Again, this is life on the prairies as the saying goes “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”

Some people get all bent out of shape over the weather, but I don’t. I have just learned to continually adapt what I am doing in relation to the weather and the temperature.

It is a dance that I dance with the temperature, as I must move in concert with it in order for me to not only survive, but thrive. 

You can fight the weather, but you will spend a lot on resources in order to make things how you want them. (Excess use of furnace or air conditioner for example).

So, it snowed a bit, big deal. 

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

Grand Savings Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” 

Okay, so let’s see how I did . . . 

   

For review, here is how things looked from last payday . . .

   

That is 8.7% of my Savings Target. 

And this is how things look like, after the dust settled on this payday’s budget . . . 

   

That’s right things increased to jumped up to 9.2% of my savings target. That means I put away 0/5% of my total Savings Target this payday.

So, that is a rather dismal showing but I am solacing myself with the fact that I at least moved the number forward. 

I am also consoling myself with the fact that I was able to cross off a square. This is because even though I just flopped over the line from 8% to 9% I still got over that line.

This was due to the fact of me paying for my camping spot in my Mountain Home for my Christmas Break. 

Due to the fact that I did not put at least a whole percentage point of my Savings Target into my Savings, I lost ground on the estimated done payday. 

As you saw, the payday that I estimate that I will have my savings fully funded has been moved from July 7, 2022, to July 22, 2022. 

I can and will still make up ground on this as I am quite early my Grand Savings Plan.

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

Being Thankful

So, it is that time of year again, and Thanksgiving us upon us and so it is time for reflection. It is time to pause to remind oneself what we are or should be thankful for.

The big thing for me to be thankful for is that I am debt free. I am one payday (the next one, the one on the 22nd) away from the one year anniversary of becoming Totally Debt Free.

It is important, because I have remained debt free and while I had a bit of a rocky start I am on track again and not only remaining debt free, but building my savings.

I am continuing to train myself to be good with what cash I get so that can use it to not only live but also to get myself further ahead.

I am thankful for my good fiscal habits (that have been hard earned).

I have been living in Wanda for 4 years and so I pretty much know what to expect and how to deal with whatever comes my way. 

I am thankful for the confidence and knowledge that comes with the experience of just figuring out what to do and how to live in an RV trailer year round.

It is true that life could be better, but life could also be worse. It is true that happiness comes from being happy with what you have right now.

That does not mean that you must be complacent and not strive and work to improve your situation, just find a way to be at peace and be happy with what you have.

Be thankful for what you have as you work to improve your life and lot in it.

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

I Got My New Wallets

So, in late August, I ordered some new wallets online. I selected the cheapest shipping and knew it would take the longest to get here . . . it arrived last Friday Sept 28.

I wanted to replace a rather silly looking wallet that was for one of my departments. The trouble was that I could not find any cheap wallets anywhere (dollar stores, big box stores, etc).

So, for review, I use wallets in order to separate out various “Petty Cash” accounts for my day to day expenses. 

This way, it is easier to budget and easier to stay within the budget for each petty cash expenditure department.

Instead of buying just one wallet online I ended up buying five, in order to replace all five of my Wallets: 

1. Groceries

2. Utilities (propane/dumping fees)

3. Treats (coffee, the odd meal out, etc)

4. Entertainment

5. Contingency (the on hand oops fund)

Anyways, my wallets arrived and one look at the package told me why it took so long. . . 

  

They were mailed from China. Still, I got them and didn’t have to pay any duty, or what have you (yay).

With my old wallets I slapped a label on each wallet to tell me which one was which. With these new, snazzy wallets I decided to label them with a bit of style.

  

What I did was put a piece of paper with the name of each wallet printed on it and slipped it into the clear wallet that is there for “identification cards”

So, here are they all lined up.

  

And here they are with my two coin wallets all tucked away in my safe.

  

It is a simple yet effective way to handle and budget day to day expenses between paydays. 

This lets me life and do what I need to do, yet stop spending using my bank card or credit card. 

Those are the number one drain on any bank account as they are sooo easy to spend with and not realize how much you are spending. 

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

Yeah, It Snowed

So, it snowed yesterday and we all had to deal with it. You see, in a 36 hour period it snowed quite a bit, again, such is life (at least life on the prairies).

So here is what my truck looked like after work. It had been snowing for about 24 hours by this point. 

   

Doesn’t look that bad, right? This is what it looked like after I started to brush the snow off.

  

I had to move because the city declared a “snow route parking ban” meaning that you can’t park at all on any of bus routes. Since work is on a bus route, I had to move.

I decided to move in the evening yesterday, to be safe and do so without any traffic. 

It got dark fast and so after I cleaned the truck off and moved, here is what the truck looked like.

   

I will be getting my ladder out tonight and brushing the roof of Wanda off. I just wanted to wait until I was sure all of the snow was done falling and it was daylight.

This morning, this is how much snow had fallen just overnight. 

   

I will be here until the weekend as it makes sense and the “snow route parking ban” lasts for 72 hours or until they either cancel it early or extend it.

The one thing about living in a trailer and parking so close to work is that:

1. I never have to worry about traffic or bad weather hampering my ability to get to work.

2. I have no excuse to be late . . . ever.

Ah well, I do save on gasoline though.

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

PS: due to all of this snow, I have already cancelled my plans to head to Banff this weekend. Call me chicken, but I’m not risking it.