Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

savingwannabe

You are a magnet for good will and prosperity Firewalker. And you will live long and prosper. I am v confident of it.

Firewalker

Today I realised that I have become really serious about all things financial. There was no way that eight-nine months ago I would have spend any time chasing the payment of my expenses – in fact back then I would have not even known that I am owed expenses or whether they were paid. But today I contacted all organisations owing me money and three things emerged: I should expect about £100 more expenses (again forgot exactly how much I claimed); that one batch will be paid this week; and a large sum (over £500) will be paid next week. Good I am thinking.

Also today I realised something very strange. My relationship with the last two gadgets I got is not the same as it used to be. What is different? Well I am not obsessed with them as I used to be – in fact I have hardly used my Kindle which is rather surprising. But then it occurred to me that this all might be down to the ‘protected wants’. Working out my protected wants made me decide that I will indulge – as a result they are not such strong wants any longer; they have been tamed. Isn’t this wonderful?

And I also received this:

“When life hits you hard, don't complain. Cry out loud, curse, but don't complain. You are not a victim.” - Paolo Coelho

How true and spooky – this is one of the things that I have been puzzling over lately. People meta-morphing from victims into powerful agents of change, goodness and abundance.

Sleep well – now I’ll watch Desperate Housewives which I have watched for a long time now; it is an institution in our house.

Firewalker

hypno06

sleep well yourself xx

Firewalker

We have visitors – my wonderful SIL is here with her granddaughter. Little Boy is very happy to have his cousin here (poor child is longing for a large family; which he has but half of it is on the other side of the continent and all are two-three times his age) and she is only three years older than him. They are very close and have been spending their time doing things together – although this has mainly been to watch movies on different devices.

Later today we are off to Lausanne where I was to run a marathon – before I got hurt and discovered that I need inserts. I am not running (don’t even ask how I feel about it – I am certainly doing the thing next year; it is a beautiful run) but we are still going. Everything is booked anyway and we are going to support the friend I was running it with. But I will not be writing here till Monday or Tuesday next week.

Financially, this week has been a disappointment. We have done well on food (£39.38) even with two visitors; our expenditure on regular items is rather higher than usual (£78.77) mainly because I had to buy some wine and take the children to the cinema; but what really brought the expenditure up (£149) was my inserts (75% covered by insurance but still pricey), buying some necessary items for me and buying some English cheese to take for our friends in Switzerland (I know this sounds strange but we like taking English cheese to top cheese making places; it compares very well). Altogether, we have spent £267.15 which takes us £200 over what we bring in every month (which is our PSB and a bit). But I am not too upset because this includes paying the car insurance (£300) and we are not overdrawn (DS2 paid back £200 that we lent him several months back). And the £300 or so that was saved by be in the States is still in our account.

October has been a rather good month financially – we are getting there (we shall get there).

And the thought for today is:

“Fate, is an excuse for why we end up where we do. Our actions predetermine our destiny, our reactions seal that fate.” ~ Carl Stoynoff

I did love this one and, interestingly, his family-name tells me that his parents or grandparents went to the US from Bulgaria. Just can’t be anything else.

Firewalker

Firewalker

We are back – arrived today at lunch time after a wonderful and very emotional weekend in Lausanne. In fact we stayed in a little village called Cully about 10 minutes by train from Lausanne. This is where my friend and his family live. The weekend was an emotional rollercoaster – it was really great to meet his family. I have known the guy and worked with him (we write together occasionally, organize events together and do funded research together) for about ten years now but we have not met each other’s family. And now it happened – OH and Little Boy met my friend and we met his wife and children.

They are wonderful people and we had a weekend of jokes, laughter and beautiful scenery. Cully (where they live as well) is on the Geneva Lake. We stayed in a B&B in the vineyards (this is actually 7 min walk from the centre of the village) and the first morning woke up, drew the curtains and …the view took my breath away. Then we had a walk along the lake – it was sunny, the lake was calm and blue, and the mountains were snowy and misty; a view that sooths one’s soul.

But I cannot say that not running was easy. My friend did do the marathon and we supported him and watched. I started crying three times – but then this was the decision to take. If I ran this one there might not have been any more marathons left in me. As it is, once I sort out my feet there will be loads more running to be done.

And surprisingly, this visit was very MSE – the B&B was relatively in-expensive, we paid only for the trains to and from Lausanne and for a breakfast and a sandwich. Otherwise, our friends took care of us – it seems I have really become a magnet for good will and prosperity. So, apart from the flights (Easy Jet, of course and booked a long time ago) the weekend worked out at about £400. Which given that we were in Switzerland is not bad at all. And next year I am going to run this marathon.

Tomorrow the decorator is coming to start on the kitchen – by November 13 the house will look great.

Good night.

Firewalker

Firewalker

I did not write yesterday – not because there is nothing to write about, or because ‘I have run out of steam’. It is a very busy period and I am feeling really tired. But tonight I remembered that I have not updated my monthly record of negative wealth eliminating and the rest. So here it is.

At the beginning of November the accounts are as follows:

Negative wealth: (- £23,010)
First reserve: £4,206
Millionaire account: £287.58

Just to remind you what is the Millionaire account (also affectionately known as the ‘play’ account). Sometime ago I read that saving £1.87 a day can make one a millionaire and some might remember that I did the calculation as to how this is possible (in fact done properly and compounded this can generate over £7 million within five years). In August we made a return of £10 to £1 on an ‘investment of £6.5 and this put the foundations of the Millionaire account. Every month £57 goes in and the funds are used for playful investments and experiments – at least this is the intention. But the assumption is that this is money we can afford to lose.

And yes I know that having savings and negative wealth is very much frowned upon on this website but on this one I am going against competent advice and the experience of seasoned MSEers. There are several reasons for that but I will mention only two. First, the money in the savings account has been going down because some of it has been used to pay for bathrooms and decoration. It is likely it is going to go down even more (although OH has work for about £7,000 so it will be topped up soon). Second, the money if the savings account is my sense of security: without a cushion, however, small it may be, I will start feeling neurotic. Not good.

I am still working on the whole ’increase your income’ thing. Like with limiting spending I would like to take this from beyond the surface of things – meaning that the way for people to increase their income is very individual. For instance, the £10 to £1 return last summer – it was trade and I feel very proud to have done it; I had never done anything like that before. But this is probably not my way to increase my income or to achieve prosperity.

“The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands.” - Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

Firewalker

gallygirl

Firewalker wrote: »

And yes I know that having savings and negative wealth is very much frowned upon on this website but on this one I am going against competent advice and the experience of seasoned MSEers.

Firewalker how you organise your finances is entirely up to you. If we were all Spock-like emotionless creatures then you would be doing the wrong thing. But we are not. Emotions and frames of mind play a very important role in our lives and that must be taken into account. By finding a balance that is right for you it may take a little longer to clear your negative wealth, however if as a result your journey is happier then it is entirely the right thing to do. Which you know anyway. Don't know why I'm wittering on. Will shut up now

hypno06

I agree with Firewalker - different things work for different people - it has to be that way because we all have different attitudes and lives.

If you find methods or terminology that works for you then run with it - it is not important what other people may or may not approve of! And FWIW, I don't think that :money:would say have no savings. He would say run your finances in a way that is going to produce results for you - and that is exactly what you are doing!

Re the marathon - I feel for you, incredibly. Almost 20 years ago, I was fired up for an excellent time in London and on the Wednesday before, I broke one of the metatarsals in my foot. Of course, that meant no running.......except, being the stubborn so and so that I was, I decided on the day to "just see how it goes".....and ended up doing the whole thing, with a time only 2 mins slower than my previous attempt 2 years earlier!!

Now, looking back, that was a bloomin stupid thing to do, and I wouldn't recommend to anyone that they do anything similar! It went ok for me on the day, but it could have been disastrous, and I wouldn't have deserved anything less

Firewalker

Gally and Hypno, thanks for your support.

Gally, about taking longer to get rid of the negative wealth - this is the point, you see. My guess is that having two months Personal Survival Budget worth of savings is the way to get rid of the negative wealth faster because by being calm and collected I am able to earn more than if I am in a tizzy. And, bless the Universe, it has been working; things are started to happen...

Hypno, I just had to decise not to be childish about the marathon - although as I mentioned before I can still be fairly irresponsible (this is fun some of the time).

Have a good day all - I am looking forward to another highly productive day although I am surrounded by stuff from the bathrooms and the kitchen; and different men are working in the house as well - today we have the floors put in the bathrooms and the kitchen is being decorated. I love the smell of paint but it still gives me a head-ache.

Firewalker

Firewalker

Today, for the first time it feels like the end of the building work and decorating is near. All the woodwork in the bathrooms was painted yesterday and today people were putting the floors (doing the preparation work to put the tiles tomorrow in fact). The ceiling in the kitchen has been painted and the woodwork has been prepared for painting. By next Wednesday I hope to have a house that is not full of strange men doing noisy things, has beautiful bathrooms and a kitchen that can be used, and the main thing – a house that is clean and I can find things in it.

Despite all the disruption today was a productive day. My goal was to finish things – and at least one task has been finished. My presentation for next Tuesday is almost there but will have to be finished tomorrow. Had a haircut, my eyebrows done and read with Little Boy.
Today I also mind mapped possible income streams (for me) but the whole thing is still at a very preliminary stage. Sometime ago I worked out the framework within which I can increase my income – what concerns me is that it is pretty much along the lines of what I have always done. Is there a way that might help me think outside the box, I wonder?

The reason I am wondering this is quite simple really. A way to figure out the ways in which we can increase our income (and I am not talking about surveys and other similar that I would count as an absolute emergency measures but not as long term strategic propositions for anyone) is to think about things that we really love doing. This is because I tend to believe that becoming exceptionally and seamlessly good in anything needs two things: passion and talent. If one finds this combination – one is on to a winner and the only thing that might be missing is the idea, the inspiration. But inspiration can be found if we know where to look.

Identifying the broad area of passion and talent is not as straight forward as it may seem. I have mentioned before that we have a tendency to neglect our talents and focus not on the things we really love doing but on the things that we think we would love doing. There is also the danger that we might be trying to either stay with the thing we think we love doing or with things we think we should love doing - inertia and duty are very powerful obstacles.

Help – how does one break away and explore much more freely? Even if what they thought is confirmed at least it is tested.

And the thought for today is:

“If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.” - Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001)

Firewalker