The Silly Things We Do

It’s funny, here I am in the midst of the dying days of summer, a treasured treat here on the prairies to be sure and I am thinking of fall and beyond that to winter.

I am going through my mental checklist of things that I will need to be sure to do or have before the cold winter hits. 

I am also taking time to appreciate the little things that I will miss once fall hits and even further, when winter hits.

Little things like: running water, having a shower in my bathroom. Not worrying about water freezing overnight. 

Lounging around in my shorts with the door and windows open, that light breeze floating through the house. 

Then on to being able to still be able to use my sink to wash my hands and yes use my toilet.

It is part of the mourning process of loosing these little pleasures and knowing that the hard times of the cold season will soon be upon me.

What sparked my thoughts on such a path? Well, they say that the winter this year will be colder and much harsher than last year.

I have been through this before and I will be okay, I know that. I have been down to -30C in my trailer and survived.

I know that I could pack it in or go rent a space somewhere to weather winter in a warm and cosy fashion. 

I know, however that this would mean that I would not be able to meet my target of total debt freedom by Total Debt Freedom Day.

It is just funny how when we are enjoying something nice and cosy that we tend to think about the hard times to come. Perhaps it is prudence perhaps it is worry, or perhaps it is self-sabotage.

It is just interesting, that’s all, but whatever it is, it will not dissuade me.

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

Doldrums Dashing

It happens, we all get to a point where our frustrations fester and nurture negativity and it drags us down, slowly at first until, before we know it, we are in the doldrums.

I have let my mood slip and my outlook to be frustrated and negative, I admit it. There comes a time when you need to stop, look at yourself and say “I am as far down as I am willing to go.”

This is not a major depression or anything like that, don’t me wrong, I’ve been there, and don’t intend to go back anytime soon. 

No, this is just a mild case of the downers, with a downward slide. It could, however get worse if left unchecked, and that is what I am doing now.

The next natural question is how do you pull yourself out of them. I suppose the exact answer is different for each one of us but for me this is what works.

The first step is to recognize what is happening, check! After that, you need to identify what it is that is dragging you down. 

For me that is the frustration of juxtaposing my current situation with where I want to be. In essence, my progress is not fast enough, part of me wants to get to the end faster.

I want to be debt free, I want to be on my piece of land and I want it to come to fruition now. This is not reasonable and perhaps not desirable, let me explain.

By going through this process, I am learning how to manage my finances as well as master my mental state. I am learning fiscal and resource prudency and yes a massive helping of patience. 

I am also going to earn every square inch of that patch of ground that I will eventually own and settle on. 

The main thing to do to pull yourself out of the doldrums is just to resolve to, decide to just get your head on straight and stop looking and feeling so negative.

Things will get better, things will improve but you need to stop and choose to see the good rather than see the negative. 

For me, I need to continue to look at my progress, the good things in my life and move forward towards that eventual goal. 

I know, intellectually that seventeen months is not that long a time until total debt freedom. 

I also know that a little over a year after that is also not that long until I am able to buy a small piece of paradise with cash. 

I need to continue to get out of my little house, meet people and perhaps socialize a bit more. (Thanks, bud.)

I will now look forward to this weekend and my trip to Lake Louise for the last outing of the summer. Fall is coming, and winter after that. 

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

Back To Work(ing the plan)

Okay, so I have been slacking off a tad with regards to my fiscal prudency this summer. The trip to the coast did put me in a more spendthrift mood (for me anyways.)

I have tended to cheat a bit on my two cards. The low interest rate card has had a bit of a balance on it due to me buying a laptop and new glasses and I have been adding to it. 

Thankfully the rate is low and so are the minimum payments. I have been charging sometimes more than the payments that I have put on this card, however. 

I have named this card EF’it but don’t despair, I do have a plan to get it paid off, and it is next in line after paying that IOU to the Long-Term Savings Account.

Still, the fact that I have been nudging the balance up is not a good thing and needs to stop. This was one of the resolutions that I came to this weekend.

The other card is my higher interest rate card and this one I have been able to keep at a zero balance. I still pay it off in full each and every payday, so I am still doing that.

I do charge a few things on it, but mostly these have been things for the house that I need. Still, each charge on this card is cash stolen from the next payday’s budget.

So, I will resume my winter and miserly ways, as I have lofty goals and all that this spending will do is: blow my budget, sink my plans, and put me back where I was three years ago.

I will continue to walk that balance between being too much of a miser and too much of a spendthrift. 

It is a greater challenge when, in essence, now and for the last two and three-quarters of a year my cash is not my own, it still is allocated. 

In truth, for the last decade, at least, my cash has not been my own. That is, in essence, what I am working towards: debt freedom and therefore total freedom.

So, for now, I need to continue to hunker down, stay miserly and live cheaply. In so doing I will better my life and my situation. 

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

Now, Next, and What Could Be

This blog entry ties into the one from the day before last, the one about the dancing budgets. This is to expand on that concept and let you know the real secret about the power that those budgets have.

The idea of those three budgets is to keep me focussed on what is important and in a certain order. By doing this I can control the direction that my life and fiscal situation are moving in.

I don’t care about the budget from the previous payday, because that is in the past and what’s done is done. Spent money can’t be recuperated.

Sure, I always pause and reflect on payday what happened and what I can learn from the previous payday but I don’t dwell on the past, I look to the future.

1) The Now Budget

The purpose of keeping the budget for the payday that I am in, even though most of the activity, spending and allocating of funds happens on payday is to remind me of my targets.

This also allows me to alter that budget to reflect any changes in my actual spending during the pay period.

This will let me see in real time the impact of this or that spend. This serves as a deterrent to straying from the plan and budget.

2) The Next Budget

The purpose of the starting a budget for the next pay period while I am still in the current pay period is to let me plan out what I will do with the next paycheque.

This also lets me see how I can nudge myself ahead by not only doing what I plan to do in this pay period but also what I could achieve in the next pay period.

3) The What Could Be Budget

The purpose of starting a budget for the pay period after the upcoming one is to give me a glimpse of a possible future.

This budget is based on assumptions which are based on other assumptions. As such, this budget is woefully inaccurate and inherently unreliable.

This budget does let me see what might happen if things go as I hope and assume for the next month. The purpose of this budget is that it lets me see a little further down the road, to inspire me.

By keeping my focus on the future, the immediate future that is, it helps me take the necessary steps today that move me steadily and surely towards my long term goals.

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

Seven Traits for Urban Nomad Success

Today I thought that I would do a list of traits that you will need and/or acquire should you decide to follow my path of being an Urban Nomad.

1) Patience: 

This is a big one, as the main reason that you are doing this is to improve your life by temporarily downgrading your lifestyle. Yet change is not easy, nor is it quick (lottery wins/disasters notwithstanding). So that means that you will have to stick out this hard and uncomfortable life longer than you may desire. Thus patience will be required.

2) Determination: 

In order to stick it out for the long haul (and succeed) you need to have the wherewithal and plain ability to stick to your plan and do what needs to be done in order to get through. This stick-to-itiveness and refusal to give up is the crux of what determination really is. 

3) Embracing of Failure:

This does not mean that you need to celebrate or look for ways to fail, no. What this means is to embrace the fact that 1) you will fail and 2) that you can learn a great deal from your failures. Do not fear failure, accept that it will come, that it is not something to feel shame over, learn from it and move on.

4) Attitude is Everything:

Your attitude will determine how you deal with situations as they arise. I still struggle daily with my attitude but I do find ways to keep my attitude positive. Or at the very least, correct my attitude when it strays to the negative. It is a negative attitude that will make a mountain out of a mole hill. Yet it is positive attitude that will make a mole hill out of a mountain. Again, you decide, you choose, you can shape your attitude, so make it a positive one.

5) Resourcefulness:

This is another key trait that you will need, the ability to use whatever resources that are at your disposal in the most effective and efficient manner. Not only that, but look at what you are using and question “Is this the best use of this resource?” Finding new ways to stretch out what: cash, electricity, water, propane and other consumables are key to success as an Urban Nomad.

6) Adaptability:

Stuff happens, stuff that you can’t control happens, stuff just comes out of the blue and smacks you in the face . . . that’s life, deal with it. It will go from over 30C in your house to below -30C in your house in the course of a year and that swing can happen within a matter of months. Learning to just roll with the punches and adapt what you are doing so as to best meet the current set of circumstances is vital. Fine, throw that hissy fit if you need to, but after your two minute (therapeutic) meltdown, pause, breathe, then get to adapting to whatever change in your situation has happened. (As for me, I still have my annual hissy fit when the first snowfall happens.)

7) Decisiveness:

I will say that the first and most important trait that you need to have is the ability to make a choice and stick with it. Yet you still need to be flexible enough to reverse that choice, if the current course of action proves unwise. It is finding and determining that balance which takes time to work out. Yet being able to make a choice (such as to downgrade your lifestyle so you can upgrade your finances . . . hint, hint) and stick with it, are the first and foremost quality that you will need for success as an Urban Nomad.  

There are a few thoughts on what qualities are required for success as an Urban Nomad. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of them yet, trust me, you will learn and adopt them as you go, all you really need to get going is Number 7.

Remember: Tracy Chapman (from her song “Fast Car”) was right: “Leave tonight, or live and die this way.”

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

Dancing Budgets

As I have said I use a spreadsheet to budget what to do with my paycheque. I plan out what I will spend on what and when with my pay during that whole payday cycle. 

FYI: I call the time from one payday to the next a “payday cycle.”

I have gotten so good with my budgeting that I can accurately predict what cash I will have left in the bank at the end of the current payday cycle.

This allows me to not only budget but forecast; as in plan out what my next payday cycle will look like. 

This is for fun and for motivation for me to stay on track during this payday cycle. I don’t really take these forecasts seriously, you can’t.

This is because the further you go out into the future, the less reliable your forecasts become.

Why? Well I take my expected bank balances at the end of this payday cycle and plunk them into the beginning of the next payday cycle.

I then input my best guess as to what that paycheque will look like and guestimate my expenses. This then lets me play with these numbers to determine what will be spent and what will be saved.

I now work with three budget spreadsheets looking at three different payday periods. Again this is for fun and motivation. 

How is this? Well, I get to see what could happen in the near future if I keep on being a good boy. This helps me not spend wildly and resist the urge to buy something new and shiny.

Once payday has arrived I do the following: 

1. Delete the budget that was this current pay period (the one that just ended the previous night)

2. Copy the budget for the next pay period to a new spreadsheet called “1) This Payperiod”

3. Rename the budget for next payperiod “2) [date] Payperiod”

4. Rename the budget for the payperiod after that “3) [date] Payperiod”

Why I do this is that I have two pay period budget sheets one is called “7th Payperiod” and the other is called 22nd Payperiod.”

Depending on what part of the month I am in will determine what one is next. As it is right now the 7th pay period is next, because my next payday is on the 7th of September.

After the payday on the 7th of September, the 22nd Payperiod will be first because that is my closest payday (22nd of September). That is why I rename them, just to keep this straight and know which one is next.

It is a silly game, but it lets me forecast out about as far as I dare. After all, all we have is the cash in hand and your next payday. After that it is a crap shoot.

For me, though, it allows me to see progression and active and real steps working towards my goals. 

I will need this especially once winter hits, as this winter is predicted to be colder and worse than last year. One thing is for certain, I will not only survive but thrive.

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

The Payday Nudge

Yesterday was Payday, so that means that after work I did my running around. It also means that I paid my bills and yes even one to myself.

I am referring to my IOU of $1500.00 to the Long Term Savings account for the pausing my savings plan in May to give myself a nudge forward in other areas.

I was not able to pay it all off, or rather I chose not to, but I did take a bite out of it. 

I was able to pay a third of it off this month. (Yay!) I intend to take another bite out of that IOU next month and finish it off in October. 

I will keep my Personal Overdraft fully funded as well as maintain my Mid-Term Savings funded up to its minimum acceptable levels ($1k) as I pay this debt off.

I will admit that I did have to dip into my Mid-Term Savings a bit to do that this month. I was able to keep myself on track, and that is important for me to do.

I should be able to fund that back up past $1K next payday (the 7th) and then again be able to take that bite out of the IOU on the 22nd 

This brings up a point which may be helpful when staring down a seemingly impossible task such as paying off long term debt. 

All you have, all you really have is the cash that you have in hand, and your next paycheque. After that, there are no guarantees; you are not owed any further money.

There are a thousand reasons why you could or would not be gainfully employed anymore, most of which are no fault of your own. (Happy thought I know).

What that means is use what cash you have in hand wisely. Look for a way to somehow nudge yourself towards a better and more balanced fiscal position during this pay period. (As in, don’t wait.)

What keeps me going is not simply daydreaming about my long term goals and wishing they were already achieved. (I do, do that now and again, sure.)

What keeps me going is seeing the small steps that I am making towards these goals each and every payday.

I have my savings plan and yes my RRSP plan, sure, but those are automatic and expected. I treat them like bills that I can’t avoid (like rent). 

The steps that I am talking about are the things that I do with my surplus money, that one extra thing that I can do with this payday to nude myself forward to a better fiscal position.

This is why I really have no extra cash in my budget and won’t for at least 16 months to come. Every last cent that I can spare goes to getting myself to that place of total debt freedom.

That place is achievable, but you have to work towards it, by taking one step each payday, and do so consistently. Trust me, you can do it, you just have to start (as in, now . . . now’s good).

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