Killing Time or Living Life

Posted by Canadian Dream on June 17, 2009

Planning for an early retirement does pose certain threats to those that undertake a serious plan to pull it off.  One of the major issues I’ve noticed with myself now and again is an obsessive focus on early retirement issues at the expense of my time in the present.  Are you living your life now or just killing time until you retire?

The attitude of killing time is a bit of a problem as it can often distract you from living your life the fullest now.  I don’t mind not spending money on things I don’t care about, but I should never stop spending money on things I do enjoy.  That’s one of my early warning calls when I notice a build of my spending cash for more than a month.  For one month it might be I just didn’t need much, but if it occurs for two in a row something is up.  In a 60 day cycle I should usually find a couple of things to spend some money on.

Your own sign of killing time will be different, so I won’t try to point them all out.  Instead I’ll offer a few hints of how to get over killing time and get back to living life.

1. Get Back to a Hobby.  I find I tend to ignore a few of my hobbies for periods of time.  For example, I make wine and paint, but usually not that often.  So it is fun to get back into a hobby after a break.
2. Try Something New.  Take a class, seminar or read a different kind of book then you are used to.  Getting out of your established tastes can often result in interesting new finds.
3. Be Spontaneous.  Browse a store you would normal never set foot in.  Take off a day of work and spoil yourself for just one day doing some of your favorite things.  Cook something you can’t even say the title of properly aloud.
4. Meet Someone New.  Be extra friendly for a day or two and see who you end up meeting.  New people can often bring out different ideas and force you to think outside your box and usual friends.
5. Live a Dream.  Pick out a dream you have always had and then work at making it happen.  It does not have to huge, but it can be if you like.  Save and start planning for a trip.  Learn new skills if you need to.

Ironically killing time attitude is also toxic to your early retirement.  If you spend all your time planning for just one event, what the hell are you going to do with yourself after that event has occurred?  You could turn into one of those poor people who dislike their retirement because they don’t have a life without work.   So always keep an eye out for when you start to just kill time and make sure you get back to living life.  The future can be nice, but we have to live in the present.

How Not to Use the Air Conditioner

Posted by Canadian Dream on June 16, 2009

Ok, now it’s hot.  For weeks the temperature has been below normal in my little part of the world, so until yesterday I forgot how different I am to a lot of other people.  I rarely use my air conditioner.  I went for a walk last night and just about every house had the low hum of the air conditioner going full tilt trying to keep up.  Heck, even at work I could see the system load demand just keep climbing as the outside temperature rose.  Air conditioning (AC) is nice, but it sucks up a lot of power which costs money.  Here are a few tips on keeping cool on the cheap

1. Seal the house.  Beyond saving money in the winter sealing your house keeps it cooler in the summer too.  So stuff cracks and fill gaps and keep out the heat.
2. Cool the house overnight.  Open the windows the second the outside temperature is within a degree or two of the temperature in the house.  The air flow will feel good and overnight you can often get down to a comfortable 19 C depending on the overnight low.
3. Close the windows and doors in the day.  Now you have cooled the house, keep it that way.  Shut blinds and keep doors closed and keep in all that cool air from overnight.
4. Use Fans.  Keeping air moving sometimes can help a lot.  So consider turning on ceiling fans and getting a few portable fans in gear.  They are a lot cheaper than the AC to run.
5. Hang out in the basement.  If you have a basement spend more time down there during the hotest point of the evening.  I found mine was a nice 18 C when outside temperature was over 30 C.  All for the cost of nothing.

So how do you keep cool without AC?  If you have an idea, please share.

Crawling Out of Debt For Good

Posted by Canadian Dream on June 15, 2009

I’ve been having a long debate in my head.  Pay off the mortgage and be done with it or invest or do a bit of both.  The debate goes something like this: I could pay off the mortgage easier since interest rates are so low and interest rates are likely to rise in the future are rising so I could save that future debt load.  Or do I invest since interest rates are so low and try to get a better rate of return in the mean time and off set future interest costs.

Since my crystal ball is cracked and foggy I know I can’t know the future on this one.  In reality the debate is rather useless, both are good ideas.  Either way I’m investing for my future which is a good idea.  So once I realized the numbers don’t matter so much about this debate it got easy.  It’s really about what do I feel is the right way to go.

So after a short discussion with my wife where she asked a few questions about either way I found out we are thinking the same way.  We have decided to kill off the mortgage over the next several years.  We will only been doing a bit this year as I still want to finish off my other goals for this year first and then at the start of 2010 we will kick the process into high gear.