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Archive for April, 2014

Not born frugal

April 21st, 2014 at 05:06 am

I'm not gonna lie. There's this phone I really want. I want it bad, and what's worse is that I have the money to get it right now without breaking the piggy bank....

However, I don't need it. In fact, my current phone is pretty darn nice too.

So, it's hard fighting temptation sometimes, but in the end, I did not buy it. I will seek other options, or at the very least sleep on it. It's just hard sometimes because I was not always frugal to begin with, and once in a while, I also forget why I became frugal in the first place. The dark hole I crawled out from. The hardship I had to endure to get to where I am now.

While I'm here, I need to call my cellphone provider and see if I can't get the monthly cost lower. Last month, I only used 20 phone minutes and had 40 texts. Really, I should be on Virgin Mobile or Ting, and may do just that if they can't lower it.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a nice Happy Easter.

I lose so many entries that way

April 15th, 2014 at 09:35 am

I kept losing blog entries and, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. But now I think I know. Maybe. Is it because this place has a timer? Like if I don't finish my entry within say an hour, it is gone? If so, anybody know how long I have before it expires?

I am writing at work so I don't always finish in a timely fashion, but if this is indeed what is making me lose my entries, then I will be much more observant about my time from now on.

Anyways, uh, what was I going to say again? It wasn't very interesting to be honest. Probably just as well that the original entry got lost this time.

Oh yeah, I meant to say that I am tired and I worked like 122+ hours the past two weeks, and yet, my taxes, insurance, retirement contribution, and so forth is eating a third of my entire gross. Yikes.

Also, summer heat seems to have arrived early for me. Early enough to make me sweat and itch and not sleep well... which is bad when paired with working so many hours. (It's also crazy that I know some who have worked even more than that.) So, I broke out my room AC, but this time, I even bought and added window insulation to both improve my AC's efficiency, as well as effective block out the sun light in my room. I work night shift and I read that the sun can be quite disruptive when trying to sleep during the day.

Finally, I am probably close to replacing my current car... which will be a pain, but I guess the day was going to arrive inevitably. This time, I am seriously staring at vehicles that can allow me to modify and turn into campers, at least for part-time living. Yes, it is a crazy idea... but I just really hate mortgages and rent that much.

The biggest challenge with vandwelling (as the community likes to call it) believe it or not is with the AC. ACs draw an extremely large amount of power; enough that portable electrical power just isn't going to cut it. Most just end up traveling further up north during the summer time, but I can't leave due to family and work. This is the one aspect of mobile life that I have yet to crack....

I can probably ramble on more about this, but I better stop here and post before I lose this entry as well.

There's frugal, there's cheap, and then there's this.

April 8th, 2014 at 02:22 am

Text is This should be illegal. and Link is http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/china-eastern-airlines-passenger-uses-first-class-ticket-for-free-meals/story-e6frfq80-1226811109390
This should be illegal. However, according to current rules at the time, it was not, and they could not stop him. I'm sure they have closed the loophole by now.

Myopic bond

April 6th, 2014 at 08:06 am

So I have another co-worker, and she and I get along well enough. However, being fairly attractive, she tends to garner quite a bit of attention from the boys if you know what I mean.

We hang out sometimes, especially when she forgets to bring lunch to work, because she knows that I would be willing to foot her lunch bill. I don't mind that part myself, since it's not a regular occurrence, and even without money talking, we do get along at work.

But we certainly share different worldviews in the world of finances. I suppose I can't entirely fault hers seeing as how she is used to other boys constantly shower her with material gifts, in a bid to impress her.

So we were just talking about her love for toy dogs, and she "jokingly" mentioned how we could split the cost for one 50-50, and it would be like we are sharing a "child" together. Mmmmmmkay.

Purebreds for these.... Teacup Toy Maltese are like no less than $300 at the very cheapest. Some of the best ones command a price as high as $4000 each.

Wow.

I mean, paying for lunch because she hasn't eaten all day is one thing, but something like this? No way.

She says that she's kidding, but there is no doubt in my mind that if I ran out there and bought her one, she would happily accept.

Except, I don't think she understands MY financial worldview yet. I just don't make a very good sugar daddy....

First real frugal co-worker I've ever seen

April 4th, 2014 at 07:37 am

I've seen a lot of co-workers throughout the years who supposedly claim to be financially savvy or even frugal, but in my eyes anyway, they are not really so.

That is until now.

And what makes this guy so remarkable is that he is in his early 20's. And yet, he is more frugal than I am.

So last night, I asked him how he became so frugal and why he remains so adamant to continue this way. His response was that he grew up poor. He parents were poor, and his grandparents were poorer still. Plus, I believe they've also worked as missionaries in poor countries as well, which may have helped shape his world view.

I knew I was looking at a true fruggie when I was telling him about my food budget (which I admit isn't that great, but is still reasonably frugal) and his response was, "You say you are frugal, but I don't think you are." Hahah! He called me out! Amazing, I love it!

So yeah, maybe we will talk about that some more later on, when we have the chance.