What to buy with $50?

Posted by Canadian Dream on May 27, 2010

By quirk of fate I now have an extra $50 to my name.  The only problem is I don’t have the slightest clue on what to spend it on.  I don’t want to save the money and I’ve decided I want to spend it on something different than I usually do.  So I need your help to answer the question: what would you spend an extra $50 on?

I’m open to just about any idea with the following restrictions (other than those mentioned above):

• No I won’t give it to you
• It can’t be something illegal
• No one should get hurt

Otherwise feel feel to suggest anything and if I really like your idea I might just spend the money the same way.

Getting Older and Closer to Financial Independence

Posted by Canadian Dream on May 20, 2010

So I have a spring birthday and I have managed to get a year closer to my goal of free at 45 which got my thinking about how much progress I’ve made toward financial independence.  In a world that too often sends a lot of time on numbers as measures of progress I thought I would point out the other side of the coin: what am I going to do with all of that extra time?

I personally have tried to ensure I have a well rounded set of interests to support a meaningful life when I leave the world of full time work.  As such here are a few things that I will continue to build capacity in:

1. Volunteering.  I have to admit after doing the school board trustee job for a while I rather like doing some  meaningful work in my life.  I can see helping out in various organizations as I have the time and using my skills to support the work they do (I’ll have to shop around and find out who’s work I like the best).
2. Reading.  I continue to read a lot regardless of how busy I become.  I also try to keep expanding my sphere of interest by trying new topics.
3. Gardening.  I’m not a good gardener, but I keep trying to get better at it as I learn more from others and library books.
4. Writing.  Beyond keeping working on this blog I’m going to try to working on a couple of manuscripts that I have going.  I will also expand into the publishing side a bit by trying to self publish at least one book.
5. Physical activity.  Including yoga, roller blading and I’m thinking about buying a bike (I haven’t owned one for years) since my oldest has now learned to ride a bike.
6. Wine Making.  An old hobby of my that I could easily spend more time doing in the future.
7. Building Things.  I enjoy fixing things and in the next couple of years a couple of family members will be building new cottages so I intend to help out and expand my skill sets in construction, electrical and plumbing. I’m also thinking about doing a furniture project as I can’t find a new desk that I like.
8. Politics.  I’ve also been a bit of political junkie so I might spend more time supporting a party or running for a different office in the future.  The other side of the coin would be to do more on the activist side for a particular cause.
9. Family and friends.  I could easily spend more time keeping in better contact with people.  This is one of my week spots at the moment as time has been tight lately.

Of course this isn’t every I could do, but rather some ideas for building capacity in various interests.  Over all I’m not even worried about filling my time.  I think at least on that side of the coin I’m ready for early retirement when I get there.  So do you try to expand your interests and try new things?  If so what have you tried lately?

Inside My Neurotic Head

Posted by Canadian Dream on March 3, 2010

I recently borrowed a book from the library that focuses on the neurotic habits of writers.  It is interesting to see that some writers like to write in empty rooms and alone, while others do it on ships, coffee shops and middle of living rooms with kids around.  Then some people have quirks all the way down to writing a first draft in pen with a specific brand of pen and the colour of the paper (apparently yellow is often used for drafts).  Of course while reading this I started to realize some of my own neurotic habits around writing.  So in the interest of some entertainment of how things work to generate this blog I present: my neurotic head.

I keep a small black moleskin notebook with me most of the time to write down random ideas for blog posts. Everything from noting an interesting survey on TFSA’s where 92% of people didn’t get all five questions correct to wondering if the decay of the financial standing of the US will lead civilization’s downfall.  Perhaps at best half of the ideas get used.  The other half are often too short of a post or get lost in the idea bank.  I consider writing for the blog more habit than difficult and generating ideas take no effort at all. Yet I will go out of my way and invent things to do avoid writing other things, but I will always write for the blog (unless I’m sick).    Somehow I find the other writing more stressful than blog (even including the book based on the blog, ironic eh?).

To warm up some days for some writing I’ll open a file and just type what ever happens to come into my head for ten minutes.  I often have a candle lit near me because I find the smell and the motion of the flame soothing.  I prefer to write early in the morning because I enjoy the quiet of the house.  Yet I can also write with the kids less than 10 feet away and playing.

I’m terrified at times at having success with my writing, like some how having a huge blog or a decent selling book would create expectations that I couldn’t live up to.  I often wonder if I’m a fraud for having the readership I currently do on this blog.  It’s like the feeling that you, the readers, can’t possibly be interesting my opinion of personal finance.  I’m just some guy from the prairies with a wife, two kids and a crazy dream.  I have often doubted that anything I’ve ever written was even good, despite the assurances of many others that at least parts of it are good.

I get downright bitchy if I don’t have some time to myself each week and it will even show up in my writing if I fail to get away for an hour.  The post/page will lose a certain readability that occurs with my better writing.  Interestingly enough I can handle negative feedback fine at work on my writing, but are more sensitive about my other writing.

So that’s a snap shot of my neurotic head.  So if you have any doubts, yes all writers, including bloggers have their habits and odd beliefs around their work.  It just comes with the job.  So if you do any writing, what are your habits around it?  Do you have a chair you love or an item near by when it do it?  Or can you write on post it notes in the bathroom?