Ramblings
Hoarding?
I’ve been slowly working on getting rid of a bunch of stuff that has randomly made it into my apartment over the past few years. A lot of the stuff, either gifts, or impulse purchases, have been hiding away in cupboards for long enough and finally have either been given away or tossed — it feels good to get rid of this crap.
Now, I’m not like the hoarders on HBO, but I want to live a fairly minimal lifestyle. I’m doing all right at it, but I can always stand to get rid of some more stuff.
In the process, I’ve realized how much extra stuff I’ve bought, not knowing I already had it… probably cause its been hidden out of sight. I took a look under my bathroom sink, and found 6 tubes of toothpaste, 4 sticks of deodorant, and a few bottles of shampoo. Why? Cause when I’m grocery shopping and see the ‘save’ sign on it, I pick it up, because I never realized I had some left to begin with.
I’m trying to break this habit, and actually use what I have now. Same goes with the food in my cupboards and freezer — theres lots in it, but most of it needs to be eaten at some point.
And to top it off — I already bought it, so I can save money as I work my way through it, since I don’t have to buy new things. This is my goal for the rest of the month, is to slowly use/eat the stuff I already have. I’ll save money, and clear shelf space.
Can anyone beat my 6 tubes of toothpaste?
Where I’ve Been
So I’ve gone missing for the last month or so, but haven’t gone anywhere fun. With all the changes at work, I’ve been slammed with work left and right, along with a brand new team that I have to bring up to speed. Thus, my life has been absorbed by work as of late.
But, on the bright side, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone’s starting to get up to speed, which will still take a little while, but once they are, I should be able to take on a lot more interesting projects. I still think it’ll take a month or so more to get there, but every week that goes by, the amount of work I have to do on the weekend gets smaller and smaller.
Its a hard run right now, working 12+ hour days… but from a career-growth perspective, it’s awesome.
Summer Cooking Challenge
One of my biggest budget busters has been my inability to eat at home… Mostly because I’m lazy, and can’t really cook. So this summer, I’m going to try to change it.
At least once each week, I’m going to go out of my way to make something brand new. This is not only good for the budget, but its probably a lot better and more healthy for me. I figure the internet offers more than enough step-by-step recipes & videos, that even someone like me could cook something edible. As I find something I’m able to make — and like — I’ll add it to the list, and hopefully by the end of the summer I’ll have enough different meal ideas to last me a while.
This is a big challenge for me, as ever since I moved out on my own, I’ve never been big on cooking. Opening the pre-packaged stuff, frozen food from Costco, or the simple meals have been staples in my life… now that I’m done school, and have all the free time in the world, I figure should work on improving that.
Of course, eating at home isn’t just about the budget, its also better food. I’ve been steering away from typical fast food — Burgers, fries, pizza — to “better” fast food, like Sushi and indian food, but even that isn’t the best. Cooking and eating at home will let me see, and control, exactly what I put in my body.
Sounds simple enough…?
Small Change = Big Bucks
Today I did something I don’t do very often… I got off my ass, and found the bucket I always throw my spare change in.
Personally, I hate carrying change around with me, so whenever I break a bill, everything else goes into the bucket when I get home. This means, when I make a $2 purchase, and pay with a $5 dollar bill, I have 3 bucks or so in change that starts piling up.
The good news is, when I finally counted it all, I have $351. Thats 1/3rd of a rent payment! I’m going to go cash this into the bank, and then throw the money onto my student loan. I figure its a nice way to use up the money that has just been sitting around – literally – collecting dust.
If you hate counting and rolling money like me, some of the Bank of Montreal locations now have change counting machines that are free. These machines save so much time, in that you just dump in your change, it counts it, then issues a receipt that you take to the teller to cash out.
For a very lazy weekend, it turned out to be quite profitable.
Giving up 25%
I’ve lived in my apartment for 4 years now, and over that time, I seem to have accumulated a bunch off stuff I don’t use. Living in a major city, I live in a really tiny box — a shoebox to be exact — so space is at a premium.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to hack and slash everything I own, and try to get rid of 25% of it. Old clothes, books, things I have duplicates of, etc, are all going to head out of my home for good. And this includes my storage locker, also known as the place I put random crap to disappear.
I’m usually pretty good at avoiding adding to what I already have, but somehow, you just accumulate more and more ‘stuff’ without really noticing. My closets are now getting full of it, and none of it means anything to me whatsoever. Most of the stuff isn’t worth much of any value, but for the stuff that can be reused/donated, I’ll send it off to a good home.
I think in life, I lean towards the minimalism lifestyle. I’d rather have a handful of things I really like and need, than anything and everything under the sun. It’s almost ironic, as I’ve always lived in the mindset that if I need something, I’ll buy it… but I’m really good at only buying things I need.
Has anyone else tried doing this before? Results?
Cost of Caffeine
Today I realized, that basically every day, I drink about $5 in caffeine – in coffee, ice coffee, ice caps, coke, pepsi, rockstar, redbull, you name it. (though I have nearly-completely stopped the energy drinks). So I thought it would be fun to do some math:
- In a week… = $35
- In a month… = $150
- In a year… = $1,825
Its a bit mind blowing when you do the actual math. $1800 is about 3% of my annual pay… I could do a lot more fun things with $1800 than just drink coffee. I should really give this “water” another chance.
How much do you spend on Caffeine each year? Or another daily crutch in life?
Canadian Bank iPhone Apps
Banks in Canada are typically slow — and conservative — when it comes to implementing new technology. But, it looks like most of the major banks have now gotten onboard with having iPhone apps. The apps themselves are quite simple, that they just offer the basic balance information and let you do transfers… but they’re quite handy.
I’m a Bank of Montreal customer, and like having all my finances a click or two away. I’m always good with my spending, but it always helps to see my balance in a crunch, or even transfer money on the fly.
I took a look, and most banks have them. Here’s the roundup of Canadian iPhone Bank apps. Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments!
- Bank of Montreal BMO Mobile
- TD Canada iPhone App
- CIBC Mobile Banking
- Royal Bank RBC Mobile
- Scotia bank Mobile App
I can only comment on the BMO one, but it does almost everything I need.
What I’d like to see down the road is money tracking software integrated — tell me where my money is going (eg: home expenses, groceries, dining, auto, etc), like Mint.com does. (their app, by the way, is great. It just sometimes has trouble connecting to my bank).
(ps, that’s not my account in the image… its from BMO’s site)
Ironic
The other day I got a cheque from Yahoo for $5 USD, as they’re closing some service that I apparently had money in, eons ago. Well, I’m in Canada, and have use the ‘student’ banking plan. So to cash a foreign cheque costs $5 CAD.
With the exchange rate… $5 CAD > $5 USD. To cash this, will COST me more money than its worth… Ironic.
May Challenge: Halfway Point
Earlier this month I wrote a post about how I’m going to try to clean out my cupboards/freezer of food, by actually eating at home. It’s been going alright — I’ve definitely been making a dent, but theres still a lot left. So far, I’ve had a lot of soup, a bunch of frozen food, a bunch of canned food, and some of the random crackers/granola bars.
Here’s where I’m at so far — still have half the month left, hoping to make it even further. A couple things, I outright threw out, as it was expired. But its getting there.
I Suck at Networking
One of my goals this year is to network more — to get myself out there, and meet like minded people with similar interests and career paths. While I’m an on-and-off again networker, when the opportunity does come up, I tend to do quite poorly at it. Rather than being my outgoing self (well, most of the time), I find it hard to just walk up to some random person and introduce myself.
The other day, I was put in the same situation — went to an industry event, and knew no one. In situations like this, I like to whip out the “oh no, theres some urgent emails that needs dealing with, and I’ll get to networking right after that, I swear” strategy. Basically, I sit by myself and type away on my computer or phone, until the event/presentations start. It works for avoiding people, but not so much networking.
This year, I’m trying to make an active change to become better at it. This includes actually talking with people (either in registration lines, lunch lines, before, after, etc), but it takes a bit of a push.
To help counter this, I ended up buying an ebook on it, called Networking for People Who Hate Networking. While I think its only part of the solution, its a good step. I’m 1/4th the way in, and it seems to be helping a bit… but I still think I need more practice.
The good thing though is — I’m fairly committed to continue attending these networking functions. Its part of my professional growth plan/goals, so its not going away. I figure, the more events I attend, the easier it will get. Its the motion of getting the ball rolling that takes the most effort I find — once I’m past that, I’ll be better off.
How do you network — online or off. Share your tips in the comments below. Any idea helps!