Saturday, July 25, 2009

Second jobs, more savings, no interest



^ a preview of my budget



Danielle's been bugging me for weeks, if not months to work at the restaurant where she manages, the Fox Den.

After much cajoling I finally agreed. First I was a little hesitant about the job. I have never served and have a terrible short term memory.

But I reluctantly agreed and as of today worked my third shift.

Taking the job was a ver important step towards our goal of world travel. In order to go out there, we obviously need all the money we can get and as it stands, Danielle makes more money than I do.

It's one of the things that is often overlooked when you're trying to save money. We've already cut our expenses down to the bone, upped our savings and done just about as much as we can to be frugal. So what's left?

What's left is also one of the best ways to increase savings - increasing your income.

Most people, like myself, have a few hours a week that could honestly be better spent. I'm only working about one day a week, but it's helping me make about $100 a shift, from wages and tips.

And that's all I need. That extra money means that I can almost save my entire newspaper paycheque, at least the 2/3 that doesn't go to bills.

Plus, last month, I spent much too much money on trip supplies and found I had an unusually high cell phone bill so I was almost panicking in terms of how I pay off my upcoming bills.

As a plus note, it only reduce my monthly savings deposit to pay those, but it's still not something I wanted to do.

So with the help of the second job, I manage to do just that. Balance my books and even earn a little extra.

The fact that I was only worried about digging into my savings instead of defaulting on a payment is my next important point.

I use the BUDGET app on my iPhone. It works like a giant cheque book where I record all my income and expenses.

The way I use it is that as soon as I get paid, I automatically subtract my upcoming expenses. That way the moneys already allocated and I don't have to worry.

For instance, I've got about $1,700 in my chequing account, but on my Budget app it says I'm in the hole $150 because i've already allocated money for rent, insurance, cell phone bills and all the money I've put on my credit and debit cards. Come the first of the month, I won't even know I've physically paid the bills (added to that, all my bills, including my credit card, are pre authorized so I literally don't think about it.) I'll be out of that $150 hole when I get my paycheque from the Fox Den.

The biggest benefit of budgeting here is that it's a load off my mind.

And lastly I'll touch on the fact that I refuse to pay credit card interest. I could easily have dealt with mybudget if I hadn't gotten a second job if I decided to just pay some of my credit card bill. But why give credit card companies more of my money?

So in closing, remember these few things.
- the easiest way to save money is to earn more of it.
- budgeting takes a load off your mind and keeps a load in your wallet.
- interest is money you're just throwing away.

Cheers!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

On setting goals

I spoke with a friend today who was down on his luck and I tried my
best give some advice. I can only hope any of my advice was worth
anything, but what do I know.

It did get thinking though that life is about goals. You need to have
something worth stryving for or you're just trying to survive.

Survival maybe noble but, it's only the first goal that any reasonable
person, and indeed every other living thing on the earth - if not in
the entire universe -tries to accomplish.

It's those things beyond simple survival that makes humanity something
to admire and appreciate.

As you're probably aware my current goal is go travel some parts of
the world to experience more of life and the planet. As well I'm
looking forward to the food!

But here are a few goals I'm also interested in over the long run on
my life, subject to availability, finances and lifespan.

1. I want to be a certified skydiver. Danielle and I went yesterday
and passes our first paper pull. Doing so is the first step in pulling
your own chute.

The idea is that once you jump out of the plane you reach behind you
and pull a piece of paper out of the slot where you chute would be.
The idea is that you do that enough times and prove you have the
mental fortitude to not die by not pulling you chute.

Anyway, we have to keep doing it until our teachers are satisfies that
were competant enough to pull our own then I guess we get to do that.
Then there's a bunch of other stuff we have to do such as accurately
landing, free falling, etc., before were certified anywhere in Canada.

2. I want to be a certified private pilot. I won't pretend I've got
half the skill of my buddy Joel when it comes to flying planes but I
definitely think I could fly a little one.

This goal is more for the joy of flying then anything else and if I
can afford the classes ( which inidently aren't that expensive ) I
will do it. Buying a plane is a whole othe story.

3. I want get a masters degree in something, hopefully journalism.
First I need a regular degree, which I'm working on now through
Athabasca University, albeit very slowly. It will take me about 4
years to earn it one credit at a time, but it's doable and affordable
that way.

I shouldn't have to tell you the benefits of education.

4. I want to see most, if not all of the world. Basically, once
Danielle and I come home from our trip, we're just going to be saving
up for the next one. Hopefully each time we come home well have better
jobs and can therefore save up more money, be gone for longer and
therefore see more of the world.

5. I want to own a business. I don't know what kind by I want to.

6. I want to have a million dollars. This is not at all because I'm
greedy or want to buy anything. I just think I can be frugal enough
and save enough money over a long enough time to have $1,000,000.

7. A big family would be cool. It's probably contradictory to the
previous goal, but I figure if I'd have as many kids as I could afford
without impoverishing the family and ruining their chances for an
education.

In reality, no matter what I accomplish, none of these things matter
if my genes and the human race don't continue.

These are just some goals I sometimes think about. What are some goals
you have?

Of course, these are all liquid. My goals and ideas change on a daily
basis. The importan thing is that you focus on goals and try to
acheive them.

How to climb a mountain? One step at a time.

Cheers

Thursday, July 16, 2009

I'll hide out under there...

First of all, sorry about that redirect business, I was trying to set up a website.

Moving on.

I will first say today is the 40th Anniversary of...
That's right Lloyd, we landed on the moon.

And by we, I mean Americans. Good for them.

And by the 40th anniversary, I should clarify that today is the anniversary of the LAUNCH. the landing is in a few days.

On that, this is coolest website. It's a "live" real-time travel to the moon. It basically is a second for second recreation of the entire mission that you can watch in real time like you were there! insane, but it'll be a few days before they get to the moon and I missed the launch so it's a little boring at the time of writing this.

But! it is the coolest thing ever to hear them like its happening right now. Check it out!

Anyway, I wanted to write about my trip planning, so here it goes.

I went to Edmonton and bought some stuff for my trip, which included the most expensive pair of underwear I've ever bought.

They are ICEBREAKER BEAST underwear. The websites a little over the top... but I bought them because on my world trip I'm going to need solid, breathable comfortable underwear and this is the current experiment. I figure if they suck, they'll still be darn good underwear, and if they're awesome, well, they're coming with me to far off places.

Anyway, they were $35. Not TOO much, but for pete's sake it's underwear!

I did the same for socks, bought $20 Smartwool socks, for the same reasons as above. Let me just say, I'm rockin in both right now, and I have never been more comfortable in all the right places.

I also found an adventure shirt that was on sale. It's apparently made of soy and it's quick drying, anti-odour, easy clean and it wicks away moisture. It was $20.

Anyway, all this stuff is expensive, but if it works and it lasts, I'm more than happy to INVEST in good stuff than suffer on the road for having saved a few bucks.

But, that being said, I'll give them a few days.

As it stands, that means I've got almost everything I need for my trip except: adventure pants, a little computer, and a few odds and ends and I'll be done!

Some of the websites I've been using are PRACTICAL TRAVEL GEAR review, BACKING AROUND THE WORLD, and CHEAPEST PLACES ON EARTH, all SOLID websites.

I'll end with a rumination.

The reason why I'm deciding to travel is multi-layered.

I'll start by saying I have nothing against this part of the world, or this time in humanity or anything of that nature, nor am I running away from any particular problem.

I mean, as it stands, I've got a great job, an awesome girlfriend, a steady money plan, loving family and kick-ass friends (though they're far the heck away).

But what it's about is wanting to do more than all that. It's not that those things aren't enough, it's just that there's so much more.

It's not unlike when I decided to move to Alberta. It wasn't that I wanted to leave things behind, it was that deep down, I knew I wasn't leaving forever. It's not like I was dying or everyone else was, it was just that I was going on a mission and I'd be back to report on it. Everyone's lives would go on and it be a life-experience.

So that's one reason: it's something new, awesome and interesting to do. People probably thought along the same lines of going to the moon.

Secondly, I can afford it. It's not like I'm raking in the dough here, it's just that since being here, I've had to pay for just about everything myself, and thus have developed a saving mentality. Thankfully I've got no home, family (well family would be alright to have :p) or debts, so I'm free to do it. I might never be in this position again, so I have to take it.

Further, I simply want to see awesome things, talk to new people, enjoy beautiful scenery, eat exotic food, swim in oceans, jump off mountains, climb hills, whatever!

Basically, I ruminate with the hopes that somebody catches the bug and decides they want to go to.

So go! and tell me about it.

I'll show you some of gear later this week.

-Drew

Sunday, July 12, 2009

more trip planning

As I was saying in an earlier post, Danielle and I are planning our world trip.

The biggest part is figuring out where to go, and how much it costs. Flights are easily the most expensive thing.

BUT thank whomever for the website WHICH BUDGET. It is a comprehensive website that lists every single discount airline in the world and allows you to search based on where you're going or where you're coming from. It's seriously the best thing ever.

Because of that website we've been able to find cheaper prices on literally every flight in our itinerary and therfore can squeeze in a few more places. It's pretty epic.

Anyway, I've created a simple budget spreadsheet for our trip HERE. It outlines most of our expenses and our so far conservative estimates of how much we can spend at maximum at each place. Hopefully it would be less in some places and even zero in others where there is family involved but I can only imagine.

Anyway, check it out and tell me what you think! later

in case you don't know her...

Danielle is now an author on this blog and will occasionally write stuff and post pictures as she sees fit. I'm getting her to be a photographer and general reporter-personality person so she'll definitely have cool things to say.

so wait for her posts and check them out!

Also, when we start our world adventure, I'm going to switch to our other blog called DANIELLE AND DREW'S AWESOME ADVENTURE.

There's nothing on that blog yet, but there will be. That way OUR stuff isn't just on MY blog (you know how girls are :D )

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Planning the trip...

Danielle and I are sometimes crazy. We've been buying most of the stuff we need because it's so intoxicating to have them. It's often counterproductive to the efforts of saving money all the time, but on the other hand, it gets those things out of the way.

Anyway, since we've now almost bought everything we need (and here's hoping I have enough to pay for my credit card bill), we've started actually planning the trip. It's a crazy and long process, and I've been working on it just about all day.

And, in my spare time I made this handy-dandy map:


You can click on it to look at it better.

Basically, it outlines some of the different routes we've been looking at. The pink route is the one we've more or less decided on and the other colours are the other alternative routes we've looked at.

Of course, nothing is final. You'll notice the question mark, which represents our inability to plan where and for what reason we want to go around there.

Regardless, our goal is to hit Goa, Thailand, and New Zealand, and anywhere we hit along the way is ok with is and indeed, is what we want to do.

So there you have it.

In order to plan our trip we have to of course find how much all this shit costs. I've been using Google Docs to plan it, which is essentially Excel, but free and on the internet. I'll try to link to it but i don't know how yet.

Anyway, all those plans essentially cost $10,000 for flights and accomodations. Thankfullmy some of those places have family, which we will visit/sleep on their furniture to save money and increase adventure potential.

Planning is essentially the most important part of our trip. There is, in reality, too much to see in a lifetime and we could endlessly plan and plan and eventually have such a large and expensive itinerary, that it would not be feasible. Already I'm having doubts that I will save enough money in time, but I'm trying.

Anyway, there's so many ways to plan. Danielle and I are just in the stage of finding where we want to go and for roughly how long. This current plan has us gone until April!

Once we've figured that out, we'll get into the nitty-gritty of where we'll stay, for how long and what we'll try to look at. So in the meantime, stay tuned.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

The lights just too nice

Beautiful light on my walk home

Danielle and Drew's Awesome Adventure Episode 1

Here it is folks, after forever of tinkering and figuring it out, here's episode 1! Keep in mind that I am not a videographer. I did take some TV journalism in school so I know what I'm doing but I'm very unpolished and PROMISE that future episodes will be not only awesome, but of the highest (at least high-ER) quality.

For the record: I don't want to put it on youtube because of the music in it... hopefully it stays up here even though both blogger and youtube are owned by the same company...

ENJOY!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

best pic ever! well, up there anyway


this pic is in the last post and was taken by danielle. In my opinion it is friggin AWESOME

... I went rocky mountain climbing...

As part of our efforts to become better suited to walk the wide world, Danielle and I opted to go to things that require effort on our part. This time, we decided wed do some hiking a la Jasper National Park.

If Alberta's got one amazing thing, aside from endless wilderness, billions of barrels of oil and cowgirls, it's got Jasper and Banff (as well as another one) National Parks. If you've never been, go. It's arguably the best part of all of Canada, though I haven't been to more than Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia once.
Anyway, for Danielle's birthday and Canada we decided we'd go for a little camping and some hiking.
It was originally supposed to be a surprise for Danielle's birthday but I figured it would be impossible to lie about why we're driving five hours in a direction that only goes to Jasper to say "Surprise! we're walking eight kilometres!"
So I eventually ruined the surprise. But to determine what would be the best hike, I found the awesome website HIKE JASPER. It's a great site, with basically a synopsis of every trail in the park. It's good because it tells you what you're in for both as effort and reward for those efforts view wise.
We chose the SULPHUR SKYLINE trail. To get there we drove about 500 kms to Jasper, paid the 19 odd bucks to ensure that grizzly bears have a place to live and drove to Pocahontas campsite. It cost about $33 for the night and the fire permit, which included unlimited wood, as I'm sure most of you campers would know out there.
We stayed there the night, cooked smokies and played some Texas Hold'em, then camped in Danielle's Ford Edge, which has a huge trunk (big enough to sleep in with the seats pulled down) and sunroof that makes it in some ways better to sleep in than a tent. (I'm not a big fan of tents personally)

In the morning we left the campsite and drove the next fifteen kilometres to the Miette Hot Springs, where the Suplfur Skyline trail begins.
The trail paved for the first for the first kilometre or so, then becomes rocky for the rest of way. It goes in a relatively straight line, at a semi-steep incline for about 2 more kilometres, then it winds back and forth up the final mountain for about another kilometer as it elevates to like 700 meteres.
It was beast.
When you get to the top of the penultimate peak, it's a mossy, nice plateau where you can eat your lunch, and then make for the summit, which is a barren hump of a mountain.
Once you get there, it's hang out time. Danielle and I stayed up there for the better part of an hour, snapping photos, talking with some people and playing with the chipmunks (I kicked this one.) Also we made an Inukshuk, so if you're ever there, look for it.
Ironically, the walk down was ten times worse on the body. It wasn't the sheer workout like the climb, but it KILLED the ankles and had us begging for non-inclined ground just so we could stand still for a few seconds.
Afterwards, we sat in the Hot Springs, which are the hottest springs in the rockies to relax, then drove the 500 kms home.
all in a two-days non-work. :) Try it! also, all these pics, except for the first one were taken by Danielle! she's gettin good eh?
peace and love

I get bored and gear up

Here's what I plan on travelling the world wearing for all wondering
how I'll do it.

In the pic you can see my backpack on my back, my day pack strapped to
the front and my camera bag around my waist and on my shoulder.

Altogether it was about 20 lbs. That may seem like a lot but I'm lame
and walk around my house wearing it after work getting used to it.

As well when you're travelling you should carry at most 35% of your
weight and I've put on some pounds since most of you last saw me.

Anyway, it's surprisingy comfortable.

Once Danielle and I have everthig we need for a trip well do a total
inventory for you guys.

Also watch for our Jasper trips and our video coming soon. Peace!

Monday, July 6, 2009

I'm trying to figure out how if I can update this blog on my phone.
Here's hoping.

So here's a pic of Danielle I also took on my phone!

Unfortunately, all my phone updates will have un-pretty formatting because i dont know enough about HTML and all that. do you? email me.

Also, you'll notice I've added a twitter updater on you're right so I can be even more annoying.

Peace and love homies

Tips on saving money...

I don't know if anyone out there cares/is actively trying to save money and that's cool with me really. But if you're interested, ING Direct has a promotional Tax-Free Savings Account interest rate of 3%.
That's not a lot, but it's more than any other bank or savings account is giving for anything else that I know of.
For those that don't know, I'll attempt to give a layman's definition of what a TFSA is.
Basically, it's set up by the government as a way of encouraging more savings from people.
Currently, if you've filed your income tax and are above 18, you can put up to $5000 a year into a TFSA. That number will go up in like 2012 to $5500.
Anyway, the basic premise is that you put money in the TFSA and any interest you earn is tax free. You can take out the money, tax-free anytime.
This is unlinke a RRSP for several reasons. When you put money into an RRSP, it's tax deductible. Meaning you get the income tax back off and you reduce your claimable income by the amount you put into. Further, you can only take the money out when you're... i dont know... 71? you'll have to check youself. Regarldess, the intent that you don't take the money out until you've retired. The government gives you a break because they know it means they'll have to pay for your retired, sick ass less when you need it most.
Anyway, so there's a promotional offer of 3 per cent interest on a TFSA until Oct. 1.
So that fits into my savings plan because I've moved all my current savings (less than $5000) into the TFSA. The current interest rate on my regular ING is 1.35 per cent, which is like the lowest it's been since as long as I've had one (little more than a year).
So essentially, because there's no tax benefit or burden by putting my money there, I'll essentially make more than twice as much interest on the same amount of money. sweet.

For more info on TFSAs, visit this site.
Also, if you want to open an ING account, you can go here. TIP AND SHAMLESS MONEY GRAB: If you use my ORANGE CODE: 20743897S1 when you open an account and put in $100 or more we'll both get $25. that's super sweet AND, not to promote it, but it's sweet. no fees, complete access, you can get a debit card and make your money go straight from your paycheques.

Do I have to tell you why NO FEEs is a good thing?

peace