Trying to keep Tabs on my finances

So it appears that I've gotten to a point where I think I'm dieting and counting calories now. Interesting since I wasn't planning on doing so, but it's always amusing to see where life takes you when you follow certain paths.

However, I've never dieted before, so all this stuff is just new-- and yet fascinating-- to me. All these numbers and categories, it's like learning defense from the dark arts or something.

For example, one online calculator is telling me that I should have a daily intake of roughly 1700 calories, with 230g of carbs, 55g of fat, and 65g of protein. Being new, I have no sense of how accurate this is, but it seems good enough.

Based on these numbers, and noting the supplements that I am taking from a prior entry, it would appear that I have absolutely no problem taking in enough protein (and often times, take in more than I need), fat can be ignored completely, but it still leaves me about 1000 calories and about 230g of carbs to work with and fill in (ideally over breakfast).

I am still not sure what to make of all this yet, but so far, I think I can adjust to replacing two of my three meals with protein supplements. And best of all, they're not expensive. Just $1.00 to $1.50 per bar or shake.

and as anyone who has tried or is trying knows, it's not easy and it's not cheap!

Or maybe it is. You tell me.

I think for guys, it's also slightly different as well, such as more protein intake to promote muscle growth versus trying to slim down.

So, here's my basic diet plan thus far:

I eat regular food, but a big meal first thing during the day. I try to make it breakfast, but life being how it is, sometimes it is pushed back to lunch.

For my late lunch (or more like supper since sometimes it gets that late), I am recently trying out just a meal replacement bar, which I think is enough, but really, only time will tell.

And then for dinner (which is sometimes late night after my workout), I just down a whey protein shake.

How's it working out? Not sure yet. I've only started this diet about a month ago, but I am optimistic that it is doable. From a numbers perspective, it should work out in terms of daily nutritional intake, but the hard part will probably be not giving into the temptation of eating more food than I am suppose to.

Oh yeah, and I also take sport multivitamins. Wow, if there's anything out there that can get truly expensive, it is this right here. To save money, I have to special order mine, in bulk, from online sources because it's hard to track down EXACTLY what I am looking for.

Here it is by the way.

However, all this is a work in progress, and any nutrition and health advice is greatly appreciate it, and of course, that it can be done affordably. What do you think?

So, when was the last time I've posted here? Let's conveniently ignore that, shall we? Haha.

Once in a long while, I'll end up having an introspection, and get a status update if you will on where I stand in my life right now.

So, what is happiness? I don't really know, but if there's anything I've learned about heady subject matters, it is that sometimes over-thinking it is about as productive as not thinking about it at all.

With that in mind, I think saying, "Having enough love, enough money, and enough self-satisfaction in your life." is good enough for today's purposes.

Then I started breaking it down further, though anybody can do that for themselves, so I'm not going to bother you guys with it here.

Sadly, the overall status looks bad. Well, I'm not saying my life is going badly. Certainly, it's quite rosy compared to anyone else who is struggling with anything out there right now. I'm not struggling with my life at least, just that things could be much better.

Now the real question to me is, "How do we fix it?" Luckily, the "enough money" and "enough self-satisfaction" part is doable. I just need to continue to apply effort and patience. The "enough love" part is much trickier.

If you guys have any suggestions-- no matter how crazy-- I'm willing to hear it.

This being a financial site, however, perhaps it's best to end this rambling entry on that aspect. I plan to take a multi-prong approach by looking for a second job, as well as start a home business.

Certainly, I don't expect instant overnight success or anything, but it certainly doesn't hurt to try. And that's on the earnings side.

On the savings side... well, actually I'm not entirely sure what I can do here. As a fellow saver, I've always done what I can here, like anybody else. I suppose I could consolidate my finances into a simpler structure. My portfolio is also overdue for a re-balance as well....

So, yeah, if you've read this much, thanks for letting me ramble. Hope you have a nice and happy day.

Being a guy, I generally pay no mind to matters related to showering. Just hand me a bar of soap or something. However, I am feeling rather itchy lately. At first, I thought it could be my clothes, but now, I think it's the cold air being dry.

The itchy feeling is pretty bad though, and I think it's also irritating my throat to the point of consistent coughing.

Sooo, anybody know if that's the cause and how do I go about fixing it?

I wish I had thought of asking you guys first, but I bought one of these mitts:



I thought maybe that would help with the itching or something, and well, it does feel good. I've tried regular loofahs in the past, but they tend to fall apart after a while. Hoping something like this will hold up better.

Back to the dry throat thing, I've been hanging a wet towel in my bed room, hoping that it will help. I think it does, though I can't be sure. Also, it doesn't rid of the coughing completely. I've also been taking cough drops, which is nice until I accidentally swallow the drop and then try to cough it back up.

Yeah, so, I am a bit of a mess lately. Any advice would be appreciate. Oh, and while I'm here, any advice on cheap soap and shampoo? I don't need anything more than that, right? Like conditioners or whatever else? I'm a guy.

I keep slipping, but I'm back, giving it another go.

My bank just issued me a new card, and figured it was a good time to check on all my bills, set all my relevant bills to that new card number, etc etc.

Squashed all my personal bills basically down to 5: Gas, electric, water/sewer, internet, and cellphone. Average cost of bills, based on the past 12 months, is about $210 per month. It's not bad, but that's before car expenses and rent.

Next is to do the long overdue spring cleaning on my retirement accounts. Yikes. Hoping to get that done before I get all my statements to do taxes.

I thought maybe you guys might enjoy

this link.

The relevant one is the first one, so if you get bored, feel free to skip the rest. Otherwise, they are all really interesting though.

I love steak, but eating out is expensive. "I know! Why not learn to cook it at home?" So begins another chapter of comedy/tragedy in my autobiography.

But why not, right? There is a dearth of quality YouTube videos showing just how easy and fun it is to cook your very own restaurant quality steak at home. For that matter, my very own first attempt was a delightful cornucopia of learning experiences. For example:

* There is apparently a difference between "hot enough" and "too hot", and as a constructive feedback, perhaps YouTube celebrity chefs should take some time to explain the difference.

* I believe I have figured out what "too hot" looks like. It is when dark smoke that resembles a miniature forest fire rises from your pan and quickly engulfs the entire kitchen.

* I have also-- to my long term benefit I'm sure-- figured out exactly where my smoke alarm is, and that the back-up battery does not need replacing at this time.

* Flies apparently also love steak, and when you open your windows to vent your kitchen forest fire, they will quickly swarm in to judge your culinary efforts. At least they seem to approve, though not without some reluctance and trepidation.

* Celebrity chefs on YouTube will not mention this, but I think it is also handy to note that setting off grease fires should not be attempted while wearing your Sunday's best. I also see now the merit of "Kiss the Chef" aprons.

* Last but not least, it seems that no amount of salt can cover the taste of charred meat, and perhaps it is best cut it off with a steak knife that I do not have and will have to get some time in the near future because butter knives don't work very well.

Oh yes! There will be a re-match in the not-too-distant future. I may stumble and I may fall, but I will not surrender so easily. As the Spartan women would say to their men, "Come back with the steak on your plate, or come back with your plate and on the ambulance stretcher." This isn't over yet.

In the meantime, enjoy a shot of the carnage.

I don't know exactly when summer starts on the calendar, but for me, it's when I break out the room air conditioner.

I have a relatively expensive in-room unit because the subdivision does not allow window units. However, if it can hold up for a couple more years, I think I will be able to break even with its cost through energy savings.

The unit isn't as powerful as I had hoped either, but when combined with my cheapie box fan, it does the job well enough.

Another thing about the unit is that it also produces a substantial amount of grey water. I do use that to water the plants and flush the toilet, but I tend to get more than I can use still. And when I'm not sure what to do with it, well, I dump it into the bath tub. I wish I can think of other uses though? Can you think of any?

But yeah, happy Summer everybody.

There is a mild thunderstorm that is causing a surprising amount of power outages here. Hopefully I can finish this entry before anything else happens.

Between these outages though, it quickly dawned on me what I have on hand that works and what doesn't in the event of power outages.

For one thing, my relatively cheap cellphone still works, because it runs on batteries, and with it, I can still access 3G for weather information and sense quick texts or emails to friends and family to see if they are OK and if they need anything.

The other is my

2-LED Tikkina headlamp by Petzl. I think every self-styled handyman should have one of these.

Granted, my low-end model still cost $20, so it's not exactly cheap, but in return, you're getting a lightweight LED flashlight that you can wear on your head, so your hands are free to work on other things. Also, on low-light setting, which is enough light for me, it will last for as long as 190 hours out of 3 AAA batteries! Unless you run it constantly, that translates to months and months of usage.

While having the ability to run on standard ni-cad batteries are nice because of their accessibility, the greener and ultimately more frugal option is to also buy the company's core pack. It is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for the light.

Now, I admit the core pack isn't cheap at an additional $40, but the manufacturer guarantees at least 300 charges, and advertises as many as 900 charges during the course of its lifetime. Assuming an equivalent per-charge of 3 AAA ni-cads, and assuming an average recharge life of 600 charges, that's an equivalent of 1800 AAA batteries! That's also more than $1000 worth of AAA batteries that you won't be spending and then throwing into landfills! All for $40!

The other advantage about the core pack is the fact that it's charged through an USB interface. In other words, it can be readily charged through small, portable solar panels. I haven't gotten this part yet, but when I do, I will have a portable light source that is completely grid-free.

It may be strange for me to spend so much time talking about a little flashlight, but if you are looking for a simple, light, and effective flashlight, and if long lasting life is more important than lumens, then I highly recommend the Petzl Tikkina.

I really like the idea of solar power. I really do. Who wouldn't like free, passive electricity?

It's just so unfortunate that they are so darn expensive. A modest 80 watt kit can cost as much as $1000 to $2000. This does not include accessories such as voltmeters, mounts, and sometimes, not even charge regulators and inverters. Oh yeah, and don't forget the batteries.

Solar is also a finicky beast, where cloudy days can reduce efficiency as much as 40 to 50%. Heat exposure can knock that down even further. Solar panels also have a shelf life, and could lose around 15% more efficiency naturally in the first two years. Batteries will need to be replaced eventually as well.

In all, and depending on who you ask, solar panel owners don't break even until about 10 to 20 years later. That's a long time.

Still though, solar seems irresistible to me. It can be an affordable enough option if you can reduce your energy needs low enough. This is doubly so for small, specific energy needs. For example, I am thinking about getting an emergency flash light and radio that can be charged by solar or by hand crank, and I am going to try to use it every night for ambient back lighting instead.

However, my dream some day is having a powerful enough system to be able to charge a laptop and cellphone every day. I don't think that's being entirely unreasonable, especially if I am going to try to pare down to a less costly and more mobile lifestyle.

Anybody know of any good systems or resource on solar power I should look at?

Ok, so some people, out of frugality, may have a wood burning type stove or fireplace. If so,

I thought this was interesting. Even if not, you still might find it interesting.

I used to have a pre-pay phone, but I think "shocked" would be a good word for it when I finally realized just how many minutes I am actually using.

Well, you see, everything on those phones cost minutes, and although they tend to be cheap, if there is enough traffic on it at all, I learned the hard way that it will add up!

What's worse, it seems like the previous owner of my phone used it for everything under the sun. I've gotten everything from debt collectors looking for someone I've never heard of, to image and texts of "Happy Mother's Day" and "Spread your joy to your friends, girl!" I'm a guy.

Well, that and it seems that I use more phone than I thought. So, after looking around, I decided to go with Virgin Mobile. The $25 starting deal can't be beat, because although I have only 300 minutes per month, texts, emails, and even 3G is unlimited. Well, I chose the Blackberry, and that costs another $10 premium, but $35 a month is still a very reasonable phone bill to me.

Ok, so my spring cleaning is a bit over-due. At least I managed to get around to it eventually, right?

As I was cleaning up, I started to wonder just how much space do I actually need and use, and not just want or have? Once cleaning was done, I broke out the tape measure to find out. Here are the results:

Bed: 36 sq. ft.

Kitchen: 5.25 sq. ft.

Desk: 15.75 sq. ft.

Closet: 15 sq. ft.

Bathroom: 24 sq. ft

Total sq. ft.: 96 sq. ft

The figures are rounded, but they are close enough. Also, please keep in mind that this is actual working space, and does not include space to move around (except perhaps the bed, which is wide because of my nightstands).

Only thing I disagree with is the dumpster comment. I don't think that qualifies as theft, but that's just me.

or the practice of living inside a van. From a financial standpoint, this has intrigued me as an option.

I know some have lived in one for years, but I wonder if it's possible to live in one... for decades? Possibly the rest of my life?

Certainly, it would be a cheap way to live. However, cheap isn't always frugal, and I wonder if this crosses that fine line?

I know it's pretty extreme, but right now, it's purely a theoretical consideration. I wonder if there's a way I can somehow make it work?

I just read elsewhere one of the most insane comments I have ever seen. Basically, some guy makes $250k a year, but thinks that is only middle class, and that he is only somewhat getting by. This despite acknowledging the fact that only 3% of the population makes that much. You can't be MIDDLE class if you are in the top 3%!

And what is causing them to struggle with their "middle class" money? 4200 sq. ft. house in an affluent neighborhood, 2 kids in private school, only 2-3 week-long vacations a year, and investing heavily in college and retirement funds (which I have no problems with).

What really kills me is that he thinks he is very frugal. And that may very well be true for someone who makes $250k a year. However, the vast majority of the population do not make that much, and have had to eek out a life with much less. So PLEASE do not tell us how to be frugal like you. For you, frugality is buying the 42" TV instead of the 50". For the rest of us, we have real choices and real sacrifices to make in our version of frugality.

A bunch of free video classes, including stuff on investing, money, and the economy.

While I'm here, many of the free videos on RSAnimate are also pretty cool.

So a friend of mine decided to give Cha Cha a try. Basically, a question comes in, he Googles it, copy and pastes the answer back, and gets $0.02 for it. He said that he averages around $1.50 per hour.

This is a little late, but in light of St. Patrick's Day, I learned that the Oxalis (or more commonly known as Shamrocks) make for amazing house plants. But then, I guess any resilient "weeds" are strong candidates for it.

Cheap, easy to care for, and adds a little green to my life. Now if I can just add more of the other kind of green to my life.

Hi everyone. I've been lurking for a while, and decided to take the plunge and try this out.