by Chris | Mar 5, 2015 | Variable Income
Your number is what your life costs.
Knowing how much YOUR life costs, is a really important piece of information, especially for those of us living on variable income.
You know that fantastic feeling. You’ve just been cut a check for 4,000 dollars. Let the caviar RAAAIIIINNNN!!!!
Or wait. I’m not working for the next couple of months. I wonder how much of this cheque I’m going to need…
So you do some quick calculations, add up your rent, what you imagine you spend on food, a phone bill… oh right, and internet…..um.. There’s probably lots left. I’m just gonna make it rain a little bit, then go hot air ballooning with my friends… okay????
*Sigh*
This is why you need to know your number!!! (more…)
by Chris | Mar 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
I’m not a negative dude, but honestly February was a tough slog. And it wasn’t because anything dramatic happened. It’s just the time when all my motivation seemed to run out, and the big goals and dreams of January started to feel heavy and impossible.
It’s a pretty classic February feeling, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
But it does really bother me.
I know it’s just a winter thing. Everyone feels this way.
But I’m sick of justifications, and I’m sick of excuses.
If there’s one thing that I know for sure it’s that waiting for habits and patterns to change doesn’t do anything. (more…)
by Chris | Feb 24, 2015 | Uncategorized
You know how by the end of January all the gyms start to empty of all those fresh-faced eager members who joined in the first few weeks of the year.
It's not that those wonderful well meaning folks are the worst.... it's just that change is freaking hard. After all the excitement of the new year fades (usually around January 10th), the following few weeks of the month take all of your stick-to-it discipline to plow through. And just when you’re celebrating the conquering of January, February hits like a hammer.
Changing habits and patterns is hard.
And not because it’s hard to get to the gym, or make time to make better meals, or come up with a budget.
In fact, I don’t think it has much to do with the actual ‘thing’ you're trying to change at all.
It’s mostly all in your head.
That doesn’t mean that it’s any less real (for confirmation of this please refer to the great wizard Dumbledore’s last words to the significantly less great Harry Potter).
We’re all walking around with tons of set patterns that we picked up years ago and that, since then, we haven't ever really given a second thought to.
Understanding those patterns is a really important part of trying to change them.
So, what money habits are floating around in your head? (more…)
by Chris | Feb 22, 2015 | Budgets, Saving
You remember how amazing Christmas or your birthday was when you were a kid?
The anticipation. The sleepless night. The setting out of the cookies… the eating of ice cream for breakfast (I’ll let you decide which tradition goes with which event). And the getting of sweet sweet stuff.
You’d made your list, or dropped super subtle hints about the exact lego set that you definitely wanted.
Then you wait, and the waiting is intolerable. But it finally comes. And there’s more anticipation. Will it be there? Will Santa come through? (Yes. He came every year on my birthday, too. We have a special bond.)
Now, as a legally defined grown-up, it’s pretty different. (more…)
by Chris | Feb 21, 2015 | Saving
Whenever I used to think about the idea of saving my money, it just seemed….impossible.
As far as tough financial words go, ‘savings’ isn’t really one of them. Everyone has a general idea of what ‘savings’ are, and that they should have them. But there are still different ideas about what they represent.
To me, savings are just the dollars that aren’t going towards your immediate needs.
They're the leftovers. The stuff that can carry over.
The problem was that generally, in my life, there wasn’t a lot left over.
I was barely scrapping by. How was I supposed to be saving for anything?
So I just stuck it at the end of the list. Something that future Chris would have to worry about. (Poor future Chris… I am rarely doing that guy any favours.)
It’s a fair question:
How do you think about savings, if you don’t have any money?
It’s a question that I grapple with, but current Chris (previously known as future Chris) has come through again with a (most likely imperfect) method, that really really helps, and has proven to me that… you don’t need much money to save money. (more…)
