Back To Reality

Okay, so today I am back at work and so last night and this morning were a shock as I was back at it. 

Last night was not all that cold, but I was not happy waking up to it being -5C in my house as opposed to it being 10C in my house.

I had gotten used to having my electric heater going all the time, yet turning it down to the lower wattage range setting overnight (so as to not trip the breaker).

I also got used to having my slide-out out, meaning that I had more space. It was nice, as well as that view from my front door all Christmas Break.

I decided to run my furnace at an unheard of 20C when I got back and all was well . . . that is until twilight approached and I noticed that my batteries were down to 71%.

So I had to shut the furnace off (I can’t run my laptop lower than 47%) in order to save power for what was important, the lights, radio and fridge. 

(Weirdly enough unless I let my house turn into a freezer, I need to run my fridge in the dead of winter.)

When I got up this morning I was warm and toasty in bed . . . then I got out . . . and grumbled as I got dressed and situated so I could write. 

I turned the furnace on to the acceptable compromise setting of 10C and then got my morning coffee going.

Once I was in my sleeping bag on the couch writing away I was okay. I know how to handle it but I was spoiled in Banff. 

I am still committed to getting the last credit card paid off by April 7. After that I will most likely try to mix building up savings with building up my Homestead Supplies.

That is a matter for another day, and I will deal with it after I have achieved my Mid-Term Goal of paying off the last credit card.

After that is accomplished, I will set another few Mid-Term Goals and work on them at the same time. 

I keep my focus on my Mid-Term Goals because those are within reach and accomplishing them moves me closer to my Long-Term Goal.

I just need to get back into game shape again and just endure the cold. I will say that the weather that we are having and expected to have over the next bit looks nice and warm-ish.

Warm enough that I don’t have to hibernate or do my “voluntary watchman” duties at work, so that is a plus and each day that I can do that is a day stolen from the dead of winter . . . and that certainly is a plus. 

I can do this, I’ve done this before, and I will do it again.

The Dawn Of A New Year!

Here we are on the first day of the first workweek of 2023 and it is time to look ahead and set goals for the new year.

I have had a good Christmas Break, and while I am technically not back to work yet, that is tomorrow, I am back at blogging.

As I look to this year and set goals I have three categories of goals:

1. Short Term (1 – 4 weeks)

2. Medium-Term (2 – 6 Months)

3. Long-Term (7 Months +)

This is a general gauge but you get the idea. Typically my Short-Term Goals are for this payday or the next one. 

These are goals that I can have a good certainty that I can get them done (baring the unknown).

My Medium-Term Goals are the ones that I am focussed on and striving hard to get done, as these ones are also within the realm of possibility of getting done.

They take more than a few paydays to achieve, so the level of uncertainty increases with them. 

When you meet a Short-Term Goal, set a new one that will move you towards achieving your Mid-Term Goal.

When you meet a Mid-Term Goal, set a new one that will move you towards achieving your Long-Term Goal.

One thing to keep in mind is that the longer that you go into the future with your Goal Setting, the greater the uncertainty.

My Long-Term Goals are goals that are more aspirational in nature. They are goals that I am working towards and certainly want, but achieving those goals are uncertain.

These goals are so far out into the future that so many things could get in the way of my achieving them, or just plain, my goals may change.

It is important to have those Long-Term, Aspirational Goals, as those are your dreams that you want to have happen, those keep you motivated to keep going through the hard times, when you want to quit.

You need to focus on the here and now, this week, this payday, your Short-Term Goals as you move towards achieving your Medium-Term Goals while you keep your Long-Term Goals in mind.

As for me, with all of the uncertainty that I see this year, my Long-Term Goal of having some place by next winter remains foggy at best. 

I still want it, but with housing prices still elevated and rent in the stupid and ludicrous range, this all remains to be seen.

Add to that the economic uncertainty and if you have been paying attention, you have an inkling, a fear of how bad things might get, and getting a mortgage in the midst of all this might now be wise.

So, I will focus on my Medium-Term Goal of paying off my last credit card by April 7.

That date has changed as I have bought more tools for my Homestead Supplies. There is always more that I want to get, but I am resisting buying more just yet.

With uncertainty on the horizon this year, I want to face it debt-free and with a modest amount of cash in the bank. 

I really have no idea what this year will bring, but every fibre in my being tells me that something wicked this way comes. 

I will continue to work towards some sort of happy future as I prepare for the worst, hedging my bets as it were.

I will also do my best to resist the urge to purchase ever more tools and supplies for the ever growing Homestead Supplies.

So, Dream for the Long-Term, plan for the Mid-Term but work on the now.

Off To My Mountain Home!

At least I will be after I get this pesky thing called work out of the way today. 

Regardless, this is the day that I head to Banff (My Mountain Home) for my Christmas Break, one that I am greatly looking forward to.

I am already going over what I have to do after work, what to pick up, what errands to do and in what order. 

While I tried to push it off because of cash considerations, having this one week of a break is important to me. 

It gives me this one week to plop down and relax, and do so in comfort and surrounded by lovely scenery.

I don’t know what the future holds, what kind of year that 2023 will bring, but I do know that I will face it and make it the best year that I can make it regardless of what comes my way. 

Sleeping at work has been an odd experience and while sleeping on concrete is not fun, it is not as bad as it seems.

I have been spoiled by the heat . . . heat that I have not paid for. Though I would like to consider my “voluntary night-watchman” services as a fair trade for staying indoors.

I still plan to be in something, hopefully own, but at least renting an apartment somewhere by December 1, 2023. 

I have run the numbers and it is looking good that that will happen (major calamities economic, social or otherwise notwithstanding). 

All while keeping my investments and savings untouched. So ends theory.

Ding Dong One Card Is Dead (Paid Off)

Or, it will be . . . when I get paid today. Anyways, the first of the two cards that I have will be paid off today, as soon as I get paid. 

This is an oddity in me not having my paycheque before payday. Usually I get my cheque a day or two early and so early in the morning of payday I do my banking online.

So, ordinarily I would have already deposited and spent my paycheque by now. The money is allocated in the budget and I have it all worked out what goes where.

My best guess is the fact that it is the last payday of the year that Boss wants to make a bit of a presentation. 

Regardless, he has until close of business today to give me my paycheque. The one thing Boss has not been is one to play games with my paycheque, so I am not worried.

So, technically I haven’t paid anything off as I haven’t been paid yet . . . but I will.

With regards to credit and debt, the one point that I wanted to make was that one way to look at it is bringing future money into the present to spend now.

What that means is that when you spend on credit you are bringing money that you will make in the future into the present to spend on something right now.

At some point in you will have to send that money back to the past, in order to pay for that spend that you made back then. You do this by paying that debt off. 

That is why it is so much fun to buy on credit, as you get to spend now with money that you did not have. You get to have the spend and have it not impact your cash on hand.

Which is why it is so hard and so boring to pay off debt, you get the pain of the spend but you don’t get the fun of getting the item that you bought.

I use credit cards for two things, the first is for the ease of spending on my day to day things. 

I make sure to allocate the money to pay off each and every spend in the next payday’s budget right away, so I can:

• See the pain of that spend

• See how that spend impacts my next payday’s budget

• Set my mindset that that spend will be paid off right away

The other thing I use credit for (these days) is to stock up my homestead supplies with what I deem essential, stuff that I must have. 

The prudent part of me wants to wait and buy this stuff over time, but there are things that I just don’t want to wait and risk it either not being available or going up in price.

I am trying to do this dance of being debt free (or as close to it as possible) and having the essential supplies I would need if I was somehow forced to start that homestead right away.

I have my savings, and investments, so technically I could pay both cards off right now. 

The thing with investments and savings is that you don’t dip into them unless you absolutely have to (or to enact that big spend you planned) . .  . such as buying that land/cabin/house/something  that I want to buy. 

None of the things that I am buying are what I call wasteful purchases, but it still aggravates me every time I spend on one of these items.

It is a dance between having what I need and paying off what I have already bought. 

I am doing okay, not great, but okay. I endure what I have to endure today so I can have a better future (so ends theory).

At least I know that one of my credit cards is paid off, and I only have the other “low interest” credit card remaining.

I Cheated Last Night

Okay, so I did not sleep in Wanda last night . . . so . . . I guess my tough guy image is gone. I slept here . . . 

I slept at work, that is a nice little place between the shelves where I was able to lay my sleeping bag down and sleep. (On the carpet-covered concrete, but whatever.)

Here is why . . .

For added incentive, as I went back to Wanda to check on her as well as to pack my lunch and get fresh clothes, here is the temp inside Wanda . . .

Yep, that’s -25C in my house (I have to hang an "outside" thermometer in my house as "inside" thermometers don't go down cold enough) .

So, I slept at work on concrete in 18.33C (65F) at work rather than tough it out in Wanda.

Running the furnace just is not an option, at that temp, as the furnace will run constantly (draining the propane take more than likely)  and my batteries would be flatlined before morning . . . and it would still be cold in Wanda. 

Not only that but it would take days (it is Winter Solstice) to recharge Wanda’s batteries.

Today is Winter Solstice, which means that it is the shortest day of the year. For someone who gets all of my electricity from solar, this is a big deal.

This means that after today, every day is getting longer and longer. I (we) will get more sunlight each day (clouds notwithstanding) from now until Summer Solstice (June 21) . . . the longest day of the year.

The point that I want to make is that it is important to be adaptable, swallow your pride and just do what you have to do, what is necessary to get the job done. In this case, it is to get through the cold snap. 

Come Friday night I will (hopefully) be in Banff, plugged in and enjoying the view.

When I come back it (hopefully) won’t be this cold and I can continue sleeping in Wanda and get through this winter and into spring. I will be okay, though, one way or another.

2nd Night of The Bitter Cold

So, it was below -30C last night and about -23C in my trailer last night . . . and I made it to morning. 

(Figuratively speaking that is, as it is still night when I am writing this, but tomorrow is the winter solstice so give me a break.)

Regardless, I am okay and while I did get a bit of sleep, I didn’t get as much as I would have liked, once again my feet kept me up.

If you are not comfortable, you will not relax enough for sleep. I have learned this much. I will take a look for my hot water bottle (which is somewhere in Wanda) after work tonight.

I am spending a lot of time at work both before work and after work. Again, work is heating the building up anyways (even though the heat is turned down for nighttime).

What is keeping me going is the knowledge that this cold snap won’t last forever, only till Friday morning and then it gets not sooo cold.

Heating the trailer is not an option at this time of night, and parking the trailer somewhere near a forlorn outside electrical outlet is not an option either., 

Both because stealing power is not within me and I am bared from parking actually on work’s parking lot. 

(The business condo association made that decree a number of years ago and I have respected it.) 

I have not yet brought a sleeping bag into work and slept at work, but I did think about it.

Just renting a place is not really an option as I would have to pause my debt paying plan in order to do that and this payday (the day after tomorrow) I will pay off my first credit card, and I won’t pause that.

I just have to tough it out and make it work and just move on. Again, I need to be debt free so I have the freedom to do what I want and choose.

Debt freedom gives you more options, and that is essential for what is coming (you will wish it was just a recession).

So, I will bundle up, find my hot water bottle and just make it work during these really cold bits, and grumble and bear it through the not so cold but still cold bits.

Another Cold Snap Has Arrived

So, for the next few days, it will be south of -20C during the day and south of -30C overnight. Last night was “definitely a warm socks and sleeping toque” kinda night.

I did get some sleep but mostly my cold feet kept me up . . . not my reluctance or anything, my feet were actually cold. 

It was almost -20C in my house last night, so it was also a “turn the fridge off and prop open the doors to get the cold INTO the freezer” . . . kinda night.

I can do this lifestyle, I can make it work, but my desire to do so is quickly leaving me.

I still have the determination to push through and the willingness to do what I need to do to get through this winter, it is just that my want to do this has left me. 

Any sort of fun-factor or just take it in stride as left me. I hate the cold, I mean I really hate the f*cking cold. I can handle it, I know what to do, but I hate it.

Any thoughts of modifying Wanda so as to be more comfortable just seems like me making a long-term home out of Wanda, and that is not what I want.

I have depleted my cash reserves to pay my credit cards off, so “just getting a place” would require me to save up . . . which would take a month at least. 

That would put me getting a place for February 1 and . . . well . . . by that point, why bother screwing up my plans for that.

As with other cold-snaps this one will not last all that long, a few days. By Friday it should warm up to -18C. 

So I should be able to get the truck started so as to be able to drive to Banff for my Christmas Break. 

If I have to I can jump-start the truck with Wanda’s batteries . . . I’ve done that before.

Again, I know what to do, I can get through it, I just don’t want to. Having said that, it is only two months and then it starts to get better. 

January and February are cold, but things will start to warm up in March; by April we are back to Fall/Spring mode.

Again, I can do this, I will do this, I will get through another winter in Wanda, I will just grumble more.

Somehow, someway I really don’t want to do another winter in Wanda. Only time will tell and necessity will dictate if I will or will not do another winter in Wanda.

Just get through this next bit and deal with the future when it comes. Dream for the Future, Plan for the Mid-Term, but Work on the Now. (Just bundle up).