Posted by Tim Stobbs on June 24, 2008
On my quest to retire at 45 I’ve noticed the single biggest thing I still face very frequently is staying on the path of saving and not getting too distracted by “I wish..” “I want…” and other temptations. Let’s face it there are a huge number of ways to spend your money and all of them have some appeal at some point.
One of my recent temptations was a lot in the same beach community as my parents cabin. I thought “Oh, that could be nice. My own place to get away and not have to be surrounded by family when I go!” The issue of coarse is it is huge sum of cash to buy the lot and then build a cabin. Then I would have to deal with a second set of property taxes, a second set of bills and then looking after the place.
In the end I decided not to. Yet the temptation was there and I had to work it over in my head before I could say no thanks. It is fun to play with this ideas, but don’t let yourself get seduced by all the good parts try to also consider the drawbacks to the situation as well. It can often be an eye opening exercise when you realize your little dream has some pitfalls as well as good parts.
So how do you handle temptation and keep on your path?
Posted by Tim Stobbs on June 23, 2008
Well I did manage to wake up before my alarm. So that is a good sign as I head back to work after being off for the last 7 weeks. The bad news was a power surge to the house had reset the clocks in the house, so thank goodness for those late night baby feeds otherwise I could have been late for work this morning.
I have to admit I’m feeling a little nervous about it all. So what has happened when I’ve been gone? How much work is piling up on my desk? How many emails, voice mails and meetings will I have to attend to come up to speed?
On the other hand I’m worried about how the boys will handle being home with mom all day long. Also how mom will handle the boys. We’ve all grow rather used to having each other around, so going back is going to be a little bit of an adjustment for everyone.
Overall regardless of what happens today. I’m so happy I did it. This time with my family was great and I would encourage any fathers thinking of taking some time off to talk to their spouses about it. It really is a very good thing to help a family adjust at the start of a new baby at home.
Not to mention I’ve decided I could handle the early retirement lifestyle. I had no problems at all filling up seven weeks with things to do and I could easily see filling up 52 weeks a year without work (even without kids). Perhaps my only problem going forward now will be the slowness of the projects that I now face using regular weekends.
Posted by Tim Stobbs on June 20, 2008
According the the government my household income last year was about $70,000. Of that I spend on maintaining my lifestyle about half of that or $35,000/year for a family of four. Which the majority of the spending was on my mortgage (principle and interest) and property taxes for about $15,800. So that leaves me $400 per person per month to feed, cloth, keep warm, clean, entertain and gas to keep our car running.
Some people would assume this means I’m living a dreadful existence while I’m actually find I’m thriving. So how did I do it? Well that is a long answer and you can read this blog for more ideas, but here are some of the biggest things I’ve learned.
- Entertainment should be free or nearly free most of the time. We love to read books and watch movies, both of which are free from our local library. Actually I’ve worked it out that I haven’t rented a movie for over two years now from a store and I see a movie in on the big screen perhaps three times a year. Other entertainments include playing with my boys or visiting family and friends.
- Stop eating your money. I’m near constantly amazed on what people spend on food a month. Eating out is an entertainment and should not be a weekly event (and this includes the daily buying of coffee). Also start eating what is in season. Last week was the first time I had bought a grape in over eight months. Did it kill me to wait? No. Did I love that grape? YES! Also cut back on the meat and cheese and discover the wonderful world of beans and lentils. Start a small garden and for a few bucks in seeds and little time weeding and watering you can get great food from a pot on your balcony or your backyard. Oh, and stop throwing out food and just eat your leftovers already!
- Cut back your stupid wasting of resources. Did leaving a light on when you are not in a room give you joy? Does running water while brushing your teeth give you inner peace? Is your health so delicate you need the house at 22C in the middle of summer or the winter? If your like me and answered NO to all of those questions then you need to stop leaving on lights, running water and a bit more of temperature extremes and save your money.
- Drive less. You know I don’t typically even empty a 45 L tank of gas in a month. Really most of the time we use about half a tank of month (23L) provided I don’t travel out of town for some special event. Why? I get rides with other people to work and we only take the car out when we are going to make more than two errands. I also just walk more to things close buy. My seven year old car only has 96,000 km on it and I typically spend less than $1000/year on gas including trips out of town.
- Invest in what you do love. The reason I do all of the above is to save money for things I do love. I like fixing up my house, so I buy paint, flooring (I just got a deal to get some oak hardwood for $2.50/sq foot), and patio stones. I also love spending time with my family (which is often free). So spend your money where your passion lies. If you love art, buy some. If you love travel, take a great trip. Make your money give you the most joy it can.
