New Financial Goals

After reviewing my previous goals; resume working out, save an emergency fund &c, I realized that they are just too small to be motivating.

Working out:  I am already quite fit and healthy.  I ride my bike daily, and can run at least 3 8-minute miles with no discomfort of resulting soreness.  I snowboard weekly and don’t have many challengers.  I am quite efficient at what I do and rarely need break a sweat.  Also, I don’t have body issues; no problem areas that make me feel embarrassed.  It’s not that I am perfect, just that I accept my body and appreciate its beautiful utility.  Sure, I’d like to be more fit, I mean, I guess…  I am particularly inspired by someone in my life who is extremely fit (and awesome and inspiring in many other ways).   (sigh, gasp, catch breath) …but to what purpose?

For people who don’t exercise, I suppose it is a victory just to walk up the stairs instead of using the elevator.  I wish them well on their way.  I mastered this challenge at the age of two -good for me.  (snark, snark)   I realized that I needed a larger goal to serve as motivation to improve.  So, I signed up to run the Steamboat half-marathon.  Now that it is getting down to the wire (the race is June 6), I am stepping up my training and focusing more on health and nutrition.  I feel great and the rush I feel from exercise is indescribable.

Save an Emergency Fund:  Taking this experience and lesson and applying it to other areas of my life, I realized that the goal of saving an emergency fund just doesn’t make sense for me.  It isn’t motivating to save for the eventuality that I will get laid off or fired.  What is more motivating is to save in order to work less and live more.  I want to explore the world and saving $3000 per year for my vacation fund is a weak and myopic goal.  Thus, my resolution to save $500,000 in the next five years and walk away from wage-slavery entirely.  Coincident with this goal is my aim to reduce the mortgage on my rental property so that I can expect a more reasonable and steady stream of income from this investment but I’ll save that for a different post.

This goal, to save $500,000.00 in five years is an awesome motivator.  I have already begun making several positive changes in my life as a result of setting this goal.

1. I have moved to minimize my physical possessions.
2. I have adopted alternative transportation as my primary means of travel.
3. I currently live off just over half of my take home pay.
4. I have identified areas where my expenses can be further reduced and am moving in that direction.
   
5. I am extremely budget conscious and consider every penny carefully.
6. I’ve created a new mantra “a purchase deferred is a gain incurred”.  I already have enough.
   
7. I am educating myself about investments.
8. I am motivated to perform well at work and am more involved.
   
9. I now take an active interest in my rental property as opposed to my previous apathetic approach.

This goal is enormously beneficial to me and I feel happy about it every day.  Every other decision is filtered through the lens of my goal.  This makes life quite simple and I feel enormously liberated. Before I started this blog, I was in the lurch and my life almost took a serious turn for the worse.  I woke up; started listening to the music, my senses, myself and respecting what I heard.  Everything turned upside down.  Having this goal as a filter would have helped me immensely to avoid the lurch altogether or at least not remain there long.

This goal is about money but it also represents a choice about life.  I choose to live life and avoid anything dead that feeds off the living, that includes emotional vampyres, corporations, and a lifestyle based on fear and consumption.    As an interesting aside, before doctors had names for many diseases, people frequently died of “consumption”.  America, possibly the world, and the Earth are dying of consumption today as we live and breathe.

This goal is big enough, worthy of my life, my energy, my thoughts.  Find a goal that is worthy of your thoughts, time, action.  Spend no more time on goals, things, people and ideals that do. not. worth.

Alt. Commute Update

Well, I’d like to congratulate myself and say that I’ve done a great job.  -grab myself a cookie, a balloon and a pat on the back. Yep -other than doctor’s appointments and other necessary uses of the car, I’ve not driven to work this past month.  In truth, I did take the VW on a weekend adventure to the mountains.  It was great.  I had awesome music and actually enjoyed driving -a joy that had only become a vague memory or feeling of unease that occurred as I cursed the driver in front of me for some a-hole move or other.  Wasn’t this supposed to be fun?  Yes, it is, but daily commuting sucks away the soul and leaves an empty, crusty, brittle shell.  So, I skip the daily commute and enjoy driving again.

A week ago, a typical Colorado spring snowstorm dumped two feet of snow on the ground so I put on my nasty old Ugg boots (my mother insisted I have them even though I just don’t get it -I wear them to walk the dog) and trudged up the the bus stop.  People offered me rides on two occasions and I relished the opportunity for a five-minute friendship.

It felt good to commune and commute with new people.  I now have a regular bus and a regular bus -homie.  It feels similar to having a male hair dresser -we talk about everything; nothing is taboo; comments are outrageous, truthful, sincere and hilarious.

I fell off the bus this week!  I suppose that may have been the impetus for updating the ole blog; to confess my sins and success.  I have driven to work every day.  Driving was the most justifiable yesterday.

I tore the valve stem out of my bike tire while trying to inflate the rotten thing.  I had decided at the last minute to bike instead of walk and figured the time it would take to inflate the tire (instead of departing immediately for the bus) could be made up for by the increased speed of travel.  When the valve stem ripped out of the rim it was too late to walk to the bus and hope to arrive at work on time.

Of course, I could have taken care of my bike tires the night before but….  I like to live on the edge and the valve stem would have torn sooner rather than later anyway.  On the plus side, I invested money in new tubes for my bike and new cork wrap for the handlebars.  I changed the tube myself last night.  I was a bit intimidated by the cassette, derailleur and chain and for a moment after I’d already partially removed the tire from the wheel, considered taking it to a bike shop to have the tube changed.

I sat back in a chair and stared at the bike for a few minutes, distracted myself with other things in the kitchen then returned to pondering the bike.  I can’t say whether it was the shame of having to bring a partially disassembled bike to the bikesmith or the realization that if I didn’t change the tire myself, I’d have to admit to myself that I was defeated by such a simple mechanical contraption (pride).  I knew I was smarter than that.  In the end, I decided to give it another go and you know what?   My bike is riding fine today.  Feeling like a champ, I next opened a beer and tore into the handle bar padding, replacing it with beautiful white cork wrap.  [pics to come].  My next project will be the seat and possibly a set of panniers and a rack.

So, why didn’t I ride it to work or the bus today?  Well…. It is far easier to justify driving because the benefits are so tangible than it is to justify not driving because the benefits are specious at times and intangible.  As I mentioned before, the joy of driving has returned and my car is apparently something of an addiction.

I have a kickball game tonight way across the metropolitan area and a dog who needs a walk after work and little time between the end of the work day and the kickoff.  This is one of the problems with living neither directly where I work or play.  Long story short -it may be less expensive to hire a dog walker.  This is something to look into…

Alt. Commute Challenge

“One does not leap a chasm by taking a series of small steps.”

I can’t remember who said this but it is immensely powerful knowledge.  That being said and understood, I am announcing today my intention not to drive to or from work for an entire month.  Instead I will make use of my employer-provided bus pass, my body and my bicycle.  Winter’s chill still abounds but that is no excuse.  The only exception that will be made is for the one day in the upcoming month that I have a daytime appointment outside of work.  This is next Tuesday.

Oh, hell.  Why just do it for a month?  I am trying to leap a chasm right?  I will use alternative transportation to and from work every day until at least October, 2010.  Again, of course excusing daytime appointments as required.  That is 8 months total or $1200 in savings, by a conservative estimate.  I will have to maintain insurance as I often plan to and do use my car for grocery shopping trips, evenings out and to get out of town for weekend activities.  I carpool when possible, of course.  Still, this is a huge boon to my finances and health and to the environment.  $1200 doesn’t seem like much but it will add up quickly.  By investing this money instead of burning it in my tank, in just a few years, I can earn enough residual income to fund my weekend excursions.

As a natural extension, I will strive to utilize alternate transportation during my non-commuting excursions.  For instance, I can bike to the store once the ice melts off the by-roads.  I may even invest some of my extra cash in a set of panniers and some other bike accessories that I have been drooling over for at least a year.

Of course, taking an extreme measure, I could just dump the car all together and save an additional $700 in annual insurance costs but, at this point in my life, I am not ready to part with this fanciful illusion of freedom.  Perhaps some day and maybe soon.

Friday Notes on Gift Buying

One aside:

I feel clumsier than a bull in a china shop today!

I broke one mug from a set of six -almost caught it but even ninja skills couldn’t save the falling mug.  Luckily, it was empty.  Then I spilled sea salt and chili powder all over the kitchen counter.  Finally, I slipped on the ice trying to bring too many bags from the car up to my apartment.

Each time, something has been just a little off, and chaos ensued.

Purchasing Angst:

I am having a hard time gearing up for the Holidays.  I would rather keep my money in my savings account than spend it on anything.  Really.  I couldn’t even buy tea lights at the hobby store for fear of missing out on a better deal somewhere else (like Ikea).  Am I becoming a Scrooge?

Paring down the Gift List:

I’ve arranged a gift exchange with my three brothers so that each of us will buy only one of our siblings a present.  This is my first time doing this and I expect it to be awesome.  I just hope I receive an explicit and detailed list of appropriate items from the brother for whom I am buying.

Homemade Gifts:

Nearly every item, besides my brother’s gift (can’t imagine him asking for anything crocheted), will be homemade this year.

I plan on making the following:

For my girl friends – Hand-beaded pearl “spray” necklaces (good thing they don’t read this blog yet).   My goal for next year is to make every one of them a beautiful robe but I am not up to it this year and should have already started in order to be finished by Christmas

For my guy friends who own their homes – Natural Cleaning solutions for windows, multiple surfaces and wood.  I will probably scent them with tea-tree and bergamont oils to keep them fresh and manly.

Sisters-in-Law and Aunt Ann:  Feather & Flower covered headbands

All the little children (neices and nephews, cousins):  Outdoor ice skating and hot chocolate.  I am all about the experience Gifts and spending time with family.

Parents (both sets):  Small, decoratively painted pottery bowls.  One in a 1950′s art-deco motif and one in a southwestern/ Spanish-colonial motif.

Holiday Presents -for everyone else:

Brownies and Eggnog (pasteurized and bottled)

Appropriate Gift Giving:

I’ve often struggled with knowing what is an appropriate gift.  I bought my college boyfriend a four-track recorder for something like $500.  When I was in College!  It made me so happy to give it to him but it made him feel very uncomfortable; I could see it when he opened the present.  So, the next year, I framed a magazine picture of a Ducati and gave it to him because I didn’t want to relive the uncomfortable feeling but it was still awkward.  He is an extremely talented musician and I know that he still uses the recorder to this day but it was an inappropriate gift.

The fact is, I often don’t know what to gift a person on the spot and the pressure of the holidays basically makes my mind blank.   In the past, I compensated by spending a lot of money on the present.  Remember my brothers from the prior note?  In college, I set a limit of $100 per present for each of them, every year.  Absolutely crazy and disgusting, I know.

I still struggle with knowing what is appropriate.  If you have any guidelines, they would be devoured, digested, applied and greatly appreciated.   My guidelines are, usually, “would I want another person to do/buy this for me? / Do I want this for myself?”.  i.e. I would love to buy train tickets from here to DC and visit my family, so do I take someone along (purchase a train ticket for them) whose family also lives in DC?   I know this isn’t appropriate but it is still temping.