Awesome

If you know me or if you've read much of this blog, you'll understand how awesome I am. I'm not perfect but I'm well on the way. 

One of the biggest things to help me along this path to (near) perfection has been to change the way I think about things. 

I've mentioned before that finding the right motivation is key. But also you have to have a belief in yourself - sometimes this may come off as bravado (see above), this is usually the result of achieving a lot of your goals. I've found that this feeling multiplies with every goal achieved until you have your very own shield of self belief. 

Do you have some nay sayers that are always bad mouthing your frugal ways? HA! Watch them eat their words as your next self-made project comes to fruition and watch your shield grow. Be careful not to rub this new found awesomeness in any ones face, in fact take time to help people grow their own ego shield. It will give you an enormous sense of well being. 

I'm currently looking at my next project. Project wedding and baby. They seem to be coming along okay. But I think they need a shot in the arm. One of the more ambitious aspects, making and sending out the 100+ invites has come to an inescapable impasse. Unfortunately this is wholly my fault. The only limiting factor is my laziness. 

Yes, I freely admit I'm almost perfect however not all the time. When I'm on my game I can beat anyone, but when I'm in a lazy mood, well, nothing get's done. In fact this whole blog has really been a productivity drain. It is pretty enjoyable though.

Anyone got any tips to get me off my arse?

Stay well,

Dom

Well done!!!

Source: Wikimedia commons

A lot of bloggers this time of year are doing their yearly reviews. I think I've already covered most of my good news and my plans for the coming year. So I guess I'll cover current affairs. 

You may or may not have realised that the end of the world didn't happen yesterday as "predicted". I'm glad because I wouldn't have been able to read Monevator's great round up, the highlight for me - "Everyone likes money" - I think we can all at least agree on that. 

The other blog I wanted to point out was mortgagefreeby30, who not only completed his challenge in amazingly quick time, but was also one of the inspirations behind this blog. Well done! Mike has worked really hard on a side hustle, to help him pay off his mortgage. What's next for him? Holidays and a well earned rest I think!

Make it count.

So what's the next step? I've been thinking a lot about whether retiring early is really what I want to do. I think it's a difficult decision to make with the thick end of 70 years in front of me. So I'll just let future Dom worry about it. 

For now I'm still going to concentrate on living well and on a lot lower level of consumerism than the average Joe. 

The new focus will be making each pound count. This thought came to me after talking about Christmas shopping.

Someone told me I was a scrooge for setting spending limits on peoples presents. I tried to educate them in the ways of frugal living. Obviously they didn't get it, FI/RE didn't appeal to them (how would I afford my trip to Disney Land?! WAH WAH). 

So I tried a different tack - not wasting money - squeezing every penny from every pound. Getting exactly your money's worth, if not more! This means not wasting and maybe accepting all the good stuff that comes with this. 

Another benefit of living this way is the change in mindset. You are no longer thinking oh I'll get so and so this jokey gift, they'll think it's hilarious. You start thinking, this joke gift would be hilarious but after 5 mins it would be binned, maybe this useful gift would help them out with that problem they were talking about, or maybe even - hmm, they don't really need anything maybe I'll just focus on cooking a really excellent meal that will be enjoyed by all. Or get a good board game that can get all the family involved in some banter and maybe even let us turn the TV off for half an hour.

Installing this kind of thought pattern has really helped me so far. Or should I say reinstalling? I believe this is what we all grow up having then as consumerism grinds down our conscious thought into the "what to buy nextathon" that is Christmas / sale shopping.

Anyway, hopefully this will be a little food for thought.

Enjoy your holidays.

Stay well.

Dom

Waste

Pic: By Tilo Hauke,

Waste, pretty much all of us are guilty of some kind or another. Whether it be the Christmas wrapping waste that piles up after all the presents have been ripped open. 

Or maybe your just printing out some useless report at work which you don't really need. 

When I think of waste I think of two things. Wasting time and wasting effort.

My time is very important to me, using my time usefully rather than sitting in traffic or working late for no benefit makes me happy. Happiness is what it's all about. So I want to waste time less.

I thought I had reached an impasse, I had become uber efficient, not just at work but at home. I was keeping up to date with the housework, I was seeing friends/family regularly. Then BAM! It hit's me again. Cold and flu like symptoms. I immediately feel terrible, my efficient ways get shoved to the side and I just want to curl up in bed and let the world pass me by.

A couple of paracetamol based lemon drinks and I'm feeling better but still not over it quite yet. So how to get rid of the build up of wasteful ways and waste items. 

Firstly, clearout time - RECYCLE! Get rid of some crap, that always makes me feel better, even better shove it on ebay, get a couple of quid for that book/cd etc. It's worth the walk to the post box alone.

Get creative, spice things up in the kitchen, this time of year the winter veg can really start getting on your tits, so bust out some Mexican flavour! Get some fajitas on the go, they're easy -  cooked chicken in a bit of chilli powder and whack them in some wraps with a bit of lettuce and some tomatoes. Hey grate some cheese on it for an exuberant finish (I must be hungry).

Walk / jog / run / cycle - EXERCISE! Get your arse out of the house, I know it's cold, wrap up! Walk to the local shop/pub treat yourself to a quick half, you'll walk off the calories on the way home and it won't break the bank. If you cant indulge at Christmas when can you?

Stop procrastinating, you've been putting off the washing up / hoovering because you've been feeling all poorly, well suck it up boyo, stop thinking about doing it and JUST DO IT. It won't be half as bad or take half as long as you think it will.

See, now do you feel better? No? Well at least you'll sleep.

Stay well

Dom

Is one income for a family enough?

I've been thinking more and more about the past recently. Mainly on how it has affected my family.

After having a few conversations with my Dad over the last week or two, it became apparent how little I know about the country and even the town I grew up in before I was about 16-17 years old and started paying a bit more attention (not a lot of attention).

The growth of standards of living have gone up enormously. I would say most people in Britain now live in houses that have some kind of heating. This wasn't so up to even 20 years ago.

I couldn't even fathom this. I took it completely as a given that everyone had heating, electric lights and a power shower*!

Then you start thinking about other "technologies" that have bedded themselves in just in my lifetime (I'm still young I tell thee!), think of mobile phones, solar panels, efficient cars.

I remember growing up, not that long ago, in the mid 90's having to wait for my sister to finish her phone call on the landline so I could ring my friend. This is completely unheard of now. You just whip out your mobile and bam, text your friend, send them a picture of a particularlly long cat or whatever.

You can even speak to a friend in Australia whilst walking through the countryside of Cumbria (if you can get signal). Come on, that is amazing. 

I guess we take these things as read now. 

Anyway, back to my point. Have these technological advancements increased the costs of the standard persons life. 

Well there's one thing I can see stick out like a sore thumb. How many couples do you know now, where both of them work full-time, I would say over 95% of the people I know do and hate it! 

Do they do it because they are chasing Financial independence and want to retire early? No, is it because they love their work and wouldn't give it up for BILLIONS OF DOLLARS? Nope. 

It's because if they didn't both work they couldn't afford to live. It's as simple as that. You now have single mums working full-time to fund their child care costs. Couples working 80-100 hours a week between them to try and afford the wedding they just have to have.

So are we better off than my parents generation? Yeah! We live in comfy ass homes where you flick a switch for heat, with fancy insulation that retains the heat and drive a car EACH to our jobs that we want to try and excel in because goddamnit I am good at this.

But if I could swap for one of us working a 40 hour week, not having a mobile/laptop/internet/abroad holidays and having every weekend free, to give my other half a rest because the kids have been running riot all week. I would in a heartbeat.

I think as much as possible, I'm going to cut out that excess crap until I'm at the "bare minimum" for living a modern life. But am riding a rocket ship compared to peoples lives in the 80-90's. 

Hopefully, these technological advances that seem to have turned us into a nation of workaholics can be kept at bay with a little effort and a little thought and I can live well, because really that's all that matters.

Stay well,

Dom


* A power/electric shower is one of my necessities for life, along with double glazing and love :D

picture: longcat