In my retired world I am reminded, almost on a daily basis, of how important some of the habits I acquired over the last fifteen years of my working life were.
Although, I suspect some of those latent habits had been there from my parents influences, one such thing was that in 1952, when they married, they did not sell the farm to do so.
I'm watching a cute TV show at the moment called "Rich bride, Poor bride" that demonstrates some of the absolute stupidity that brides, and grooms, indulge in for the special day.
In life, staying together and working at happiness has to be more important than that one day, and one of the things that tears couples apart is money and the constant tug of war that the substance can bring in a relationship.
So, if you are planning that special day, remember that it is just one, in potentially twenty thousand days to experience together so don't start the process with a wallet flush, or worse, debt, to attempt to prove to your friends how much you love each other.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Bring home the Bacon
Convenience food is bad for your checking account.
A few products available today, from a list of thousands I suspect, show that the consumer can be robbed of precious dollars for so called, time saving foods.
I've said before, I don't want the blog turning into a series of lists, but a couple of items have caught my eye in this weeks grocery flyer, the first being bacon.
Fully cooked bacon, 65 grams of it, for $3.49 a package, which on closer inspection has 15 slices of the precious metal. That's thirty cents a slice, and a small slice at 4 grams a piece. Now, call me crazy, but I hear that a whole pound of bacon, a whacking great 454 grams of bacon, can be bought in the same store for $3.99
The second item that riles me, is a new product called purely potato chunks, that can be steamed and mashed, they have been selected, peeled, chunked and all you have to do is defrost and steam them, oh and then mash them. $3.99 for 750 grams, which, by my reckoning is less than two pounds of potato.
In the same store, potatoes can be had for $3.99 for a ten pound bag (and that is expensive).
The point, well, roll up your sleeves and cook your own bacon, peel your own spuds and eat lots of fresh vegetables instead of frozen.
The only thing that will be fatter is your wallet.
A few products available today, from a list of thousands I suspect, show that the consumer can be robbed of precious dollars for so called, time saving foods.
I've said before, I don't want the blog turning into a series of lists, but a couple of items have caught my eye in this weeks grocery flyer, the first being bacon.
Fully cooked bacon, 65 grams of it, for $3.49 a package, which on closer inspection has 15 slices of the precious metal. That's thirty cents a slice, and a small slice at 4 grams a piece. Now, call me crazy, but I hear that a whole pound of bacon, a whacking great 454 grams of bacon, can be bought in the same store for $3.99
The second item that riles me, is a new product called purely potato chunks, that can be steamed and mashed, they have been selected, peeled, chunked and all you have to do is defrost and steam them, oh and then mash them. $3.99 for 750 grams, which, by my reckoning is less than two pounds of potato.
In the same store, potatoes can be had for $3.99 for a ten pound bag (and that is expensive).
The point, well, roll up your sleeves and cook your own bacon, peel your own spuds and eat lots of fresh vegetables instead of frozen.
The only thing that will be fatter is your wallet.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Beware the fine print
I am amazes me that companies like the Brick offer to give their customers 40" Plasma TVs free with mattresses or furniture sets.
Free.
The advert is running on national TV at the moment and there always seem to be BIG FONTS that announce the free deal and then a tiny asterix somewhere on the screen, at the end of the commercial there are very small fonts at the bottom of the screen visible for a microsecond or two.
I can read the big fonts, can't read the small fonts, even if I grabbed my reading glasses those little fonts would disappear from the screen before I knelt before it.
The so called free things, "no money miracles" are not, yet we all, at one point in our lives, fall for this nonsense. After all, I was looking for a mattresses and a plasma TV and here, by coincidence, the Brick are giving one or the other away free.
The warning here, for the up and coming financial masters out there is that, in this life, very little is free, and all these companies are doing is confusing the issues, if you want a mattress, buy a mattress, don't buy an inferior mattress bundled with an inferior TV.
The second point, the "no money down" or "no money miracle" concept.
It isn't.
Free.
The advert is running on national TV at the moment and there always seem to be BIG FONTS that announce the free deal and then a tiny asterix somewhere on the screen, at the end of the commercial there are very small fonts at the bottom of the screen visible for a microsecond or two.
I can read the big fonts, can't read the small fonts, even if I grabbed my reading glasses those little fonts would disappear from the screen before I knelt before it.
The so called free things, "no money miracles" are not, yet we all, at one point in our lives, fall for this nonsense. After all, I was looking for a mattresses and a plasma TV and here, by coincidence, the Brick are giving one or the other away free.
The warning here, for the up and coming financial masters out there is that, in this life, very little is free, and all these companies are doing is confusing the issues, if you want a mattress, buy a mattress, don't buy an inferior mattress bundled with an inferior TV.
The second point, the "no money down" or "no money miracle" concept.
It isn't.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Plan
I've been busy, retirement has done that, more time to do things and less done.
An interesting aspect of retirement is that your thought process is modified because of a number of factors. In the work environment, besides the annoying aspect of work itself, there are all the distractions of coworkers, be they friendly or hostile/toxic, they are there to break your line of thought.
In retirement, there is a lot more “me” time and that can result in a lot more in depth analysis of most things, remember that a lot of thought pre-retirement was spent daydreaming about retirement.
There are days, especially in the winter months, where there appears to be absolutely nothing to do, however, I recall days in my cubicle like that, and I know where I’d rather be. There really is no such thing as wasted time when it is time of total choice.
There are really no words to describe the feeling of turning over in bed on a winters morning and investing in another hour of sleep.
And that, is why you should have a plan.
An interesting aspect of retirement is that your thought process is modified because of a number of factors. In the work environment, besides the annoying aspect of work itself, there are all the distractions of coworkers, be they friendly or hostile/toxic, they are there to break your line of thought.
In retirement, there is a lot more “me” time and that can result in a lot more in depth analysis of most things, remember that a lot of thought pre-retirement was spent daydreaming about retirement.
There are days, especially in the winter months, where there appears to be absolutely nothing to do, however, I recall days in my cubicle like that, and I know where I’d rather be. There really is no such thing as wasted time when it is time of total choice.
There are really no words to describe the feeling of turning over in bed on a winters morning and investing in another hour of sleep.
And that, is why you should have a plan.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Impossibles
The Millionaires Club exists as the brainchild of a couple of young lads, decades ago, it was always a bit of a laugh and a reason to write things down and when we achieved goals, we awarded ourselves little trinkets and souvenirs along the way to reward milestones.
The club card, the tee shirt "I'm out from under it" for destroying a mortgage, the beautiful MF bucket (mortgage free), the foreign banknote award for money in the bank, the peaked "Millionaires Club" hat and microphone all helped along the way to keep members focused.
Along the way we have grown a thicker skin to the outsiders who taunt us with the idea that what we proposed to do was impossible, that it wasn't going to work and that penny pinching was rather silly and a waste of effort.
Jimmy is a good example, and his skin must be inches thick by now because he has been the object of much ridicule in his path to early retirement, in fact sometimes even club members have debated some of his tactics, only to adopt them later.
The group of naysayers we will label "The Impossibles" because they insisted that what we where trying to do was impossible, even in the face of members actually retiring by the age of 50, the Impossibles inwardly believed that it was not so, that there must be some other reason, some hidden trick, to that achievement.
It's human nature, their belief being "If we can't do it, how can they?".
If you adopt some of the ways of the Millionaires Club, some of the tracking and penny "pinching" manners that are detailed here, then you will find your own group of the Impossibles, waiting in the wings, ready to chip away at your goal.
Don't listen to them.
The club card, the tee shirt "I'm out from under it" for destroying a mortgage, the beautiful MF bucket (mortgage free), the foreign banknote award for money in the bank, the peaked "Millionaires Club" hat and microphone all helped along the way to keep members focused.
Along the way we have grown a thicker skin to the outsiders who taunt us with the idea that what we proposed to do was impossible, that it wasn't going to work and that penny pinching was rather silly and a waste of effort.
Jimmy is a good example, and his skin must be inches thick by now because he has been the object of much ridicule in his path to early retirement, in fact sometimes even club members have debated some of his tactics, only to adopt them later.
The group of naysayers we will label "The Impossibles" because they insisted that what we where trying to do was impossible, even in the face of members actually retiring by the age of 50, the Impossibles inwardly believed that it was not so, that there must be some other reason, some hidden trick, to that achievement.
It's human nature, their belief being "If we can't do it, how can they?".
If you adopt some of the ways of the Millionaires Club, some of the tracking and penny "pinching" manners that are detailed here, then you will find your own group of the Impossibles, waiting in the wings, ready to chip away at your goal.
Don't listen to them.
I deserve this
I was going to call this entry "The Comfort Trap" but that will be a much bigger post, lets look at the "I deserve this" concept and how it can hurt your early retirement.
I've been guilty of this, and on occasion, still am. However, I'm retired and yes, I deserve this.
Starbucks and other higher end coffee houses have done a great job in bringing the daily beverage into the the destroying early retirement sweepstakes. In a world of expense, the two or three dollars we spend on a daily coffee, or a bottle of fancy water can seriously affect our chances of retiring early.
Oh, don't be silly, it's only a couple of bucks and lets face it, we work hard and by golly we deserve it.
Oh yes, you do, it's true, and well, don't deny yourself of anything.
I'll harp back to the days of my father, when mother would brew a thermos full of tea, or coffee, for his morning break. It would be a relaxing moment, cracking open that flask, pouring a slightly tinny flavoured beverage into a slightly plastic flavoured cup, perhaps not as hot as he liked, but nevertheless, a welcome break from the morning.
He deserved it.
It's something we all can do now, and with todays materials, home brewed coffee can taste just as good an hour or so later, and if we do our research, can taste better than anything the exotic coffee houses can serve up. If you like the bottled water, get into the habit of using filtered or bulk buy spring water and use a trendy container.
And the cost?, well, after the initial ten dollar outlay for your flask or stainless steel water bottle, your custom coffee or filtered water can cost just pennies a day.
Pennies a day, saving dollars per day.
I like that concept.
I've been guilty of this, and on occasion, still am. However, I'm retired and yes, I deserve this.
Starbucks and other higher end coffee houses have done a great job in bringing the daily beverage into the the destroying early retirement sweepstakes. In a world of expense, the two or three dollars we spend on a daily coffee, or a bottle of fancy water can seriously affect our chances of retiring early.
Oh, don't be silly, it's only a couple of bucks and lets face it, we work hard and by golly we deserve it.
Oh yes, you do, it's true, and well, don't deny yourself of anything.
I'll harp back to the days of my father, when mother would brew a thermos full of tea, or coffee, for his morning break. It would be a relaxing moment, cracking open that flask, pouring a slightly tinny flavoured beverage into a slightly plastic flavoured cup, perhaps not as hot as he liked, but nevertheless, a welcome break from the morning.
He deserved it.
It's something we all can do now, and with todays materials, home brewed coffee can taste just as good an hour or so later, and if we do our research, can taste better than anything the exotic coffee houses can serve up. If you like the bottled water, get into the habit of using filtered or bulk buy spring water and use a trendy container.
And the cost?, well, after the initial ten dollar outlay for your flask or stainless steel water bottle, your custom coffee or filtered water can cost just pennies a day.
Pennies a day, saving dollars per day.
I like that concept.
Water
Living on the coast it appears, at first glance, that water is plentiful.
In our daily lives we think that too, and without thinking, we waste it and along with the bathwater the baby slips away, the baby being our hard earned dollars.
If you're on a metered supply, every litre of water costs, water you wash the car with, jet wash your driveway or water your lawn with.
Common sense yes, use less, costs less.
What about your value added water? - cold water maybe costs a penny or two a litre out of your tap, maybe you filter it, adding another penny or two (if you use filters within safe limits) and what about hot water? - that basin full of water is going to be 10 cents for the water and 10 cents for the heat, and that's if you have the plug in, running the hot tap and allowing it to run down the plughole is literally throwing money down the drain.
Oh, and don't say this is petty. It's not.
The water on our planet is precious, and should not be wasted.
In your life your money is precious, and yes, pennies per day are important, so if you really want financial freedom eventually, they also should not be wasted.
Stop flushing your money away.....
In our daily lives we think that too, and without thinking, we waste it and along with the bathwater the baby slips away, the baby being our hard earned dollars.
If you're on a metered supply, every litre of water costs, water you wash the car with, jet wash your driveway or water your lawn with.
Common sense yes, use less, costs less.
What about your value added water? - cold water maybe costs a penny or two a litre out of your tap, maybe you filter it, adding another penny or two (if you use filters within safe limits) and what about hot water? - that basin full of water is going to be 10 cents for the water and 10 cents for the heat, and that's if you have the plug in, running the hot tap and allowing it to run down the plughole is literally throwing money down the drain.
Oh, and don't say this is petty. It's not.
The water on our planet is precious, and should not be wasted.
In your life your money is precious, and yes, pennies per day are important, so if you really want financial freedom eventually, they also should not be wasted.
Stop flushing your money away.....
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