Good Boy, To Get Ahead

Okay, so since today is the Friday of the Labour Day Long Weekend, this means that I am being tempted to run to the hills.

I also know that since it is the beginnings of September, that October is coming and with it the Winterizing of Wanda. 

Whether winter comes in a day or months from now, it doesn’t matter, I lose my indoor plumbing. 

Whenever the RV Dealership has their special day to winterize the trailer (in early October) I pay to have Wanda Winterized. 

This means that I lose the use of my fresh water lines until spring (when I de-winterize).

So, this particular weekend I have been particularly tempted to run to a full hook-up campground so as to be able to splurge and have an actual shower in my trailer and do other silly things like not care about how much water I am using. (Wasteful I know).

Yet, in order to do that it would cost the camping fees (which is more for a long weekend as there is an extra day) and also the fuel costs to drive to and from the campsite.

This time, if I do this I am stealing from my savings and in so doing putting my fiscal plans in jeopardy. 

I have a timeline and goals and as silly as it may sound, I have things that I want to get done before this year is out. 

Things that are (as is normal for me) ambitious goals; yet they are goals that I can accomplish, if I am a good boy and not spend extravagantly. 

I can spend a little bit along the way on cash and get a few things, even go for a weekend of camping, just not this month. 

This month I have been focusing on another small task, all focussed on getting myself further ahead, one step at a time, one payday at a time.

You know . . . if I continue to be a good boy.

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

A Tale of Two Winters

I have seen two different predictions for this upcoming winter. One says that it will be warmer than normal and the other says it will be bitterly colder than normal. 

I gotta tell you, I am hoping for the former, rather than the later. (But that’s just me).

Warmer winters are so much nicer, I can stay in Spring/Fall Mode longer. (Meaning that I can use my sinks and toilets longer.)

As well there is the fact that I don’t have to do my “Michelin Man” impersonation on a daily basis (You know, bundle up to 5 – 7 layers just to lounge around the house and watch things freeze).

Yet, the truth is that a big, bad, nasty, bitterly cold winter does not scare me (it doesn’t enthuse me either) but it does not scare me.

After surviving my first night at -30C in Wanda, not much scares me, because I know that I can handle it.

I take each day in stride and ask “What can I get away with today?”  

As in: 

• Can I keep water liquid just sitting around the house?

• Can I run my fridge for half a day rather than 24/7?

• Can I open the: windows, vents, and door so as to enjoy some fresh air?

• Can I wear normal clothes and not bundle up so much that I have trouble bending my knees and elbows?

You know, normal, everyday stuff like that.

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

Wallet Budgets’ Shakeup

Okay, so I have said a few times that I use wallets in order to help budget for my spending between paydays. 

I do this by putting and keeping cash in various physical wallets, that are labelled and allocated for different types of spending. 

The theory is simple: when there is no more cash in the wallet that budget is spent until payday. 

Also every dollar I spend out of each wallet between paydays has to be put back in that wallet come next payday.

So this way, when I spend cash out of a wallet, I am actually spending money out of next payday’s budget.

So, this gives me a reward for not spending cash, (as I will have to put less cash back in the wallet next payday).

Yet this also gives me a double pain of the spend, as there is the pain when you hand over cash for something (the spend feels more real). 

Yet also I know that I have to take cash out of the next payday’s budget to put the cash back in the wallet that I have just spent.

For me the magic number that I base these wallets around is $20.00. Why is that? 

Well, it’s simple, it’s easier to divvy up a fistful of twenties between wallets, than have to calculate out how many twenties, how many tens, and how many fives you will need.

So, each time I “Crack a Twenty” I have to update the next payday’s budget to reflect that I am going to put that twenty back in to that particular wallet.

This system also generates a fair bit of coins, which accumulates across a few different wallets. This got me thinking, why not consolidate those coins?

Here are my wallets as they stand now.

 

Okay so you see the labelled ones, they are self explanatory. You can also guess which wallet I use the most due to the wear on its label (Hint, it’s the Grocery Wallet).

The black square wallet on an angle is my regular wallet which contains all of my essential cards that I need on a regular basis.

So, what I have done is order new wallets (I simply could not find wallets locally that were not stupidly expensive.)

The new coin wallets arrived just now and they are the two new black ones with the coloured tags in the front. They are identical so the tags are so I can tell them apart. 

The blue tag is for my Laundry Wallet (for the coins to use in the machines at the Laundromat).

 

And the yellow tag is for all of my coins to go into (you know, other than the ones for the laundry machines).

 

This new system collects all of my coins and forms a new “slush fund” of coins. This way I can try to spend with exact change or just steal a twonie to buy a loaf of bread.

This way I can reduce the amount of bills that I crack and hopefully save a bit more.

Also, I can perhaps be a bit freer with the smaller spends, say a cup of coffee or a candy bar.

We shall see how this works out.

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

Camping No-Go

So, as expected, I waited too long before booking my campsite for this upcoming weekend (the Labour Day Long Weekend). 

I had wanted to give myself more time in order to make my goal of Fully Funding my Mid-Term Account (to contain one year of living expenses) . . . and I did that.

But, in so doing, I waited too long and as a result there are no spaces available (other than stupidly far away ones, as in north of Edmonton.

Since, when I am towing Wanda I get about 23 Litres per 100 Km, I am not driving anywhere close to that far unless I have to (as in a giant asteroid is hurtling towards the city where I live.)  

So, I will stay around town and even more so, most likely in my Eastern Home as I try to make the best of it. 

I will remind myself that I am doing this in order to save as much cash and get some traction on my Grand Savings Project.

After all, I don’t want to live in this trailer forever. 

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

The Sly Cutbacks

So, this is one of those situations where we will have to wait and see how it plays out. 

We knew all week that Boss was planning on heading up to his cabin for this week. Fine. 

We also knew that he seemed to want to leave early on Friday, Fine.

So when Boss said that “We will be closing at 1:00” it was not a big deal because we all figured that this was just because of that. 

(We typically close at 1:30 on Fridays.)

Yet, when it came time to leave, Boss was still in his office and said “Bye.” (Boss likes to work a little bit after we leave for the day, yet not if he has to leave early.)

This was odd, and yet something that had happened before. 

Way back when I first started, Boss would run some errands on Fridays (like everyday) and say “I’ll be back by 1:30” only to almost never do so.

This lead to me saying “Fine, if you’re not back and I can’t leave, then I’m still on the clock, and so I marked on my timesheet that I worked until 2:00.

Fast forward to a number of months ago, where Boss let us go at 1:30, and told us to mark on our timesheet that.

Okay, fine, it is his right as Boss, but it seemed a little sneaky.

“Do you guys want to leave at 1:30?” Boss said.

“Sure,” we all casually replied.

“Fine! Put that down on your time sheets!” Boss proudly said and went into his office.

That was the death of working till 2:00 . . . But Boss always did make a point to be back before 1:30 after that.

Then there is this latest thing and something tells me that this is another one of those “sneaky cutbacks.”

I will not know until next Friday and if Boss says again that we are closing at 1:00 that we have all officially lost another half-hour of pay.

I will be okay, and I get that it is his right as the employer and that it may be necessary, but, if you’re going to do it, just come out and say it.

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

It’s Okay To Keep Your Money

That seems like an odd thing to say and one that shouldn’t need to be said, but sometimes you need to restate the obvious. This is one of those times.

I find it interesting that for the most part we average people ‘consumers’ have been . . . wait a minute why are we thinking of ourselves as ‘consumers’ all the time?

Is that it? Is that the sum purpose of our existence? To go out, get a job to earn money, then turn around to buy stuff in order to CONSUME, only to turn around and do it all again. 

Then when you run out of money, you borrow some from your neighbourhood friendly bank in order to go out and buy more stuff only to CONSUME it. 

Let me ask you this . . . what’s in it for you? All that nifty stuff you bought? You mean, last year’s stuff? That obsolete stuff? That stuff that is breaking down and needs to be replaced? 

I know that people will be calling me a heretic and saying that I am an inadvertent proponent of a recession or even depression, but I say . . .

SCREW YOU, IT’S MY DAMN MONEY AND I CAN KEEP IT IF I WANT TO!

I don’t need to buy the latest and greatest stuff. I don’t need constantly replace what I have with newer stuff. 

I don’t need to run out and buy the newest shiny bauble (just because it is new and shiny.)

Buy what you need, sure, but don’t, inadvertently and/or subconsciously, take the weight and guilt of ‘spend or the economy crashes’ upon you.

Your first responsibility should be to yourself and ensuring the financial wellbeing of you and your family. 

Put cash away for that rainy day . . . and keep using the old crap if you have to.

I’ll get off my soap box now. 

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 . . .

   

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

   

That’s right things jumped up to 6.7% of my savings target. That means I put away 1.1% of my total Savings Target this payday.

Now, I can either look at that as a depressing number and tell myself “This is taking too long, I will never get this done!”

Or, I can look at this as progress, small progress, but progress nonetheless. I choose to look at this in the latter sense, because I refuse to accept the status quo.

The other win was the fact that I was able to save on fuel, both in generator fuel and in truck fuel. 

That means that despite fuel prices being high, I was able to come in $7.00 under mu fuel budget. (That means $7.00 more dollars in my pocket, thanks.)

It is by looking for all of these little wins that I am able to stay motivated and keep going. 

What is also working for me is that I have done this type of thing before. Success breeds success. Wins breed wins (at least in a personal sense). 

So, look for the little wins in your life, recognize that and then go for another slightly larger win. 

Each time you do, each time you succeed, your self-confidence will increase. Trust me, I know. 

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