Travel the World for Two Dollars a Day

October 17, 2010 4 Comments

The other day on the Hundred Goals Facebook Page I asked “What can you buy for two dollars?”  It didn’t take long for some really interesting (and admittedly strange) responses to start coming in.  Tony from Venezuela says he “can’t buy shit” in his country for two dollars.  Isaac can park his car for two hours in the metered parking on campus and two dollars will pay for Sheena’s ATM fees for withdrawing cash from her bank account.

It seems that our feelings for two dollars isn’t much different from two cents…in other words, pretty worthless.  On its own, two dollars really isn’t much.  Maybe it’d get you a couple of McDonald’s cheeseburgers or a few minutes on a payphone but you probably won’t get very much more than that.  You can’t even get a Starbucks coffee for less than two dollars!

If two dollars is such a measly sum, how can anyone possibly travel the world on that kind of money?

In the book The Art of Non-Conformity, Chris Guillebeau points out on page 194 that you can get to almost anywhere in the world for two dollars a day:

I’ve found that even people who say they don’t like travel can usually think of at least one place somewhere in the world they’d like to visit before they die.  I believe that if you can save as little as $2 a day, you can get to that place within two years or less.  Many places cost less, and if you can save more than $2 a day, you can get there sooner.

Two years, 365 days a year, two dollars a day: $1,460.

Seeing it like that makes it look like a pretty impressive amount of money, doesn’t it?  And all you thought two dollars could get you was nothing.  But the question now is, can $1,460 really get you anywhere in the world?  In my experience, yes.  I’ve never paid that much for a plane ticket, so you’ll probably even have money left over to pay for other expenses like a room and the cost of food while you are there.  Okay, it’s probably true that getting to Bora Bora might cost a little more, but in all honesty, not that much more.  To get there in two years, just save a little more each day or save a little while longer.

Maybe you can’t afford to be a world traveler at this point in your life but that doesn’t mean you can’t see the world.  Saving even a small amount of money each day will eventually get you to anywhere you want to be.  Egypt, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Alaska, Russia…anywhere you can imagine.

The next time you think two dollars can’t buy you anything, or that the ATM fee isn’t a big deal, think about what you might be missing out on.  Change your perspective about those two dollars and give your money its value again.  Just imagine yourself wandering around the ancient cities in Greece or riding through the Serengeti on safari and adjust your spending habits accordingly.

Think of your money in terms of how it will bring you closer to accomplishing your goal.  Ask yourself, “What can two dollars buy me in France?”  The answer might be “Not much!” but wouldn’t you rather spend your two dollars in France than wherever you are now?  I don’t know about you, but it always seems just a little better sipping on a soda halfway around the world than it does on the couch in my living room.

Spend wisely my friends!

Filed under Goals, Money, Opportunity, Prioritizing, Savings, Spending, Travel

The Life You’ve Always Wanted?

August 8, 2010 10 Comments

We all have our ideas of what the “perfect life” would be like but often the images in our mind are a far cry from the reality we are living.  If you were able to travel back in time and ask a younger version of yourself if this is the future they’d choose for themselves, what would their answer be?  Twenty years ago, could you have envisioned the life you have today?  Is it everything you’d imagined or have your dreams evaporated into thin air?

Chances are, the life you are living today is nothing like the life you expected to have.  You sold your ideals for a dollar bill.  Why?  “Because that’s just what adults do.” We have to make a living to pay the bills.  There’s food to buy and television to watch.  How are we supposed to save the world when we’re up to our eyeballs in debt?  The mortgage isn’t going to pay for itself, is it?

“It is what it is.” There’s no time for dreams.  Dreams don’t pay the bills or put food on the table.  Our younger selves didn’t understand what it meant to be adults.  We have obligations now and we’ve built our lives around some idea of what it means to be a “responsible adult” in today’s world.  What we ended up with is a career that steals our time and energy, a mortgage that drains our income and debt from all the Stuff we bought to furnish and decorate our home.  We have many thousands of dollars in Student Loans and a couple of cars to pay for.  Oh yeah, and the credit cards…

It looks like being an adult isn’t all that we’ve been led to believe.  All of our lives we’ve been told that adults are “responsible”, implying that it’s somehow more virtuous to fall in line and follow the leader than it is to follow our youthful ambitions.  The “responsible” thing to do is find a job, get married and have children, buy a house and a couple of cars, then keep your nose to the grindstone until it’s finally time to retire.  When that day does come, we hope that our health will last long enough to enjoy the life of our dreams; the life we’ve been waiting our whole life to live.

And what has it all amounted to?  A garage full of Stuff we never really needed in the first place, kids that seem to resent our very existence unless we’re buying them something, a spouse that we barely seem to know anymore and a huge house we aren’t able to enjoy because we are at the office earning a paycheck to pay the mortgage.

Sure, we have all the Stuff we could ever imagine.  We drive nice cars and wear nice clothes.  Our home is decorated like a magazine cover and on the weekends we are able to relax with a cold beer in the backyard.  On the surface things seem wonderful.  A little deeper though and things don’t look as good anymore.

What are we sacrificing to create this image of the “perfect” life?  Our time, our energy, our sanity?  If the average person starts working fresh out of college at the age of 22 and retires at 67, that’s 45 years of life sold for a dollar bill.  We’re trading our life to fill our garage with junk, for a heap of metal to take us to a job so that we can pay for that same heap of metal.

What if there were a different way?  What if you didn’t have to spend your entire life working?  Would you do it?  If you knew that in 10 years you could be financially able to walk away from your job with enough money to pay for all your expenses, would you have the ambition to make it happen?

There is a way, it is possible!  The only problem – of course there’s a problem – is that to get there, you have to minimize your spending and save.  “But that’s Un-American!” Our entire lives we’ve been told to “get out there and boost the economy.”  After the attacks on September 11 we were told to go shopping as a way to stand up against terrorism.  Does that mean we’re supporting terrorism by saving money?  Of course not!

What I’m talking about isn’t a new concept.  It isn’t impossible.  It’s been done before and it’ll be done again.  And not just by a few outliers but by many thousands of people.  Will you be one of them???

What’s the secret?

Live Frugally: Cut your expenses to the bone.  Anything that doesn’t offer real value to your life is out.  That might mean going without a contracted cell phone, cable television, TiVo or Netflix.  Find alternatives or other ways to occupy your time.  It may seem impossible now but you can live without these things.

Get Out of Debt: You can’t be financially independent when you’re in debt.  Get out, get out, get out! By adopting a frugal lifestyle, the extra money you’re able to save can be applied towards eliminating your debt.  After you’ve saved up enough money to cover six months of living expenses, every penny should be thrown at your debt.

Save: Once you’ve paid off the last of your debt it’s time to save like never before.  It may take you a few years, maybe even ten or 15, to save enough money to become financially independent but that’s better than 45 years!

Invest: This is where the magic is!  With the money you’ve saved, you can invest it into conservative investment vehicles which will pay you interest in fixed intervals over a specific length of time.  If you’ve saved and invested enough, this interest will cover all of your monthly expenses.  Now your money is working for you, not the other way around!

If you’d like to learn more about the process outlined above, I recommend checking out the book Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

Filed under Book Reviews, Budgeting, Career, Consumerism, Debt, Employment, Family, Freedom, Frugality, Goals, Investing, Lifestyle Engineering, Money, Opportunity, Potential, Preparation, Prioritizing, Retirement, Savings, Spending

Feeling a Little Like John Kerry

June 10, 2010 2 Comments

I’m the type of person that when I make up my mind, I stick to the plan.  Lately, though, this hasn’t been the case.  I’ve struggled to stick to spending plans, failed to keep a balanced budget and have been indecisive about whether to save money or pay down debt.  Cue the Swift Boat Veterans!

Even more than you’re probably sick of hearing about my struggle with my spending and the battle to balance savings and debt repayment, I’m sick of struggling to reach a solution to the problems.  It is frustrating to continually fail at reaching my spending goals and even more troubling to realize that what had been a surplus at the beginning of the year has become a deficit.

Exposing these challenges fills me with fear and discomfort.  It is a lot more fun to share the accomplishments, the highlights of life and inspirational stories.  It isn’t as enjoyable to broadcast my weaknesses and uncertainties and I don’t like sharing my insecurities and self-doubt.  I don’t like it but I want you to know that I struggle with the same challenges as anyone and I want you to realize that doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest.

It is a battle always in perpetuity.

I will continue to struggle and fight these battles so that when I come out at the end of all of this, I will have the comfort of knowing that I have fought to do the right thing the entire time.  In the process surely I will make mistakes and maybe even fail.  I will be wrong and do stupid things at times.  I will satisfy my impulses one day and regret the decision the next.

Despite all of this, there is an end to the war and it isn’t over until I have won.  It isn’t over until I have defeated my enemy; debt.  It isn’t over until I am consistently reaching my savings and retirement goals.  This battle cannot be lost until I choose to give up and accept defeat and as much as I may vacillate from time to time, I will persist and I will win.

We must fight the battles in our lives that are worthy of fighting and realize that defeat only happens if we make that choice.

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Check out Pop Economics’ Carnival of Personal Finance #261 which featured this Hundred Goals’ article!!!

Filed under Budgeting, Debt, Goals, Life, Money, Preparation, Prioritizing, Random Thoughts, Savings, Spending, Success

Ask the Readers: Savings or Debt?

May 23, 2010 13 Comments

I have been working towards building my Emergency Fund to my target of $5,000 while also trying to pay off my Student Loans.  This approach is restricting my ability to accomplish either very effectively since my money is being divided between both.

I have given this situation a lot of consideration over the past year or so and had settled on trying to pay down my debt while also building my Emergency Fund, though now I am beginning to think this may no longer be the best choice.

The high interest portion of my Student Loan balance (I have a total of $32,157.96) that I want to pay off within the next year lingers at $14,417.68 with a 6.8% interest rate, which translates into $980.40 a year ($81.70 a month) in interest charges.  I am paying $350 a month towards this debt.  I am eligible for grants and have earned a small scholarship which I hope to be able to use towards paying down some of my Student Loan debt.

My Emergency Fund balance is $1,907.03 and will cover 2.5 months of living expenses.  The interest rate on this account is 1.10% which, at the current balance, is $20.98 a year in earned interest.  I am contributing $100 a month into my Emergency Fund.

If I continue to save $100 a month, I will reach my goal of $5,000 in December 2012 and my Student Loan balance will reach zero by June 2014, a far cry from my ambitious goal of having it paid by May of next year.  On the other hand, if I apply the extra $100 a month that I am saving towards paying off my Student Loan, I will be able to reach my goal a year earlier.

There is another option.  I could throw all of my current savings at my Student Loan debt, which would lower this portion of my Student Loan balance to $8,789.68.  This would drain all of my savings and put me in a precarious financial situation and I am not honestly considering this as a viable option.

Clearly, the choice that makes the most sense mathematically is to focus all of my energy towards eliminating the Student Loan balance.  Mentally, having a cushion of money to fall back on is reassuring and allows flexibility in my lifestyle.

This money in savings (not my Emergency Fund) also allows me to pursue many of my ambitions such as travel.  It could easily be argued that until I have paid my debt that I should not be traveling.  Fair enough, though I believe that finding a balance in life is the key to happiness and I make sacrifices in other areas of my life in order to pursue my passion of travel.  I would not be happy without the freedom to move.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions about my situation.  I know what I want to do but I feel like I would be making a mistake by ignoring my savings goal.

Filed under Debt, Emergency Fund, Money, Prioritizing, Savings, Student Loans

Personal Finance Update

February 14, 2010 3 Comments

At the beginning of the year I wrote an article titled Attention to Detail: Finances where I discussed my financial situation as being weak.  Having focused almost entirely on debt elimination, I have left myself in a position where my goal of becoming debt free is able to be undermined in an instant.

While I was paying off debt, my savings account was ignored and I emptied my Emergency Fund in order to pay off the last of my Auto Loan.  While all of my effort has been for the greater good, I have been living from week to week as a result.  To find balance in my finances, I made the following declaration:

“I will establish a savings plan to compliment my debt repayment plan.  In doing so, I will create a balance in my finances which will help accomplish both goals simultaneously.”

By the time February arrived I still hadn’t been proactive in finding a balanced approach to my finances.  Instead, I was focusing exclusively on rebuilding my savings account.  I managed to put away $650 in that time, however, my debt repayment plan was pushed aside and largely ignored.  I even procrastinated on personal financial obligations in order to boost my Emergency Fund.

While I succeeded in creating a small financial cushion, my other goals slipped through the cracks and I lost an entire month of repayment.  Instead of further perpetuating this imbalance in my finances, I made a promise to create a budget that would balance my savings goals with my debt repayment goals.  I am happy to say that today, that goal is accomplished.

I have a budget that allows both savings and debt repayment.  The only disappointment in this budget is that working at both goals simultaneously slows down progress on each.  I had hopes of being able to pay off about $15,000 of Student Loan debt in the next year and a half.  This was highly ambitious to begin with and now seems even more unrealistic.  Regardless, I will do all that I can to pay down my debt as quickly as my financial situation allows.

In addition to creating a budget, I have created accounts specifically for the expenses outlined in my budget including Household Expenses (Rent, Utilities), Variable Expenses (Cable, Internet, Cell Phone and Food), Auto Insurance and Emergency Fund.

It is a start, and while there are flaws, it is a beginning towards a more stable and balanced approach to my finances.

Filed under Budgeting, Debt, Savings

Attention to Detail: Finances

January 19, 2010 1 Comment

In an effort to refocus my attention on areas of my personal life which have been neglected during the past year, my theme for 2010 is A Year of Attention to Detail.

I haven’t spent much time discussing personal finance recently as I have come to the conclusion that I am not the best outlet for complex financial matters.  That doesn’t mean that personal finance has no relevance in accomplishing our goals.  As a matter of fact, having a strong handle on your finances is one of the single most important things a person can do in order to turn their dreams into reality.

Having a healthy relationship with money is an area of my life that I have been working to perfect for the past couple of years.  I still have a long way to go.  The past year I have focused mainly on digging myself out of debt and have left myself in a volatile situation where I find myself relying on my credit card by the end of the week to make it through.  That is exactly the reason I found myself in the mess I was in before.  I was spending my money as soon as I had it in my hand and oftentimes, before it was in my hand.

The difference between now and then is that I am applying my money directly towards debt each week instead of spending it on toys and other Stuff.  It sounds great that I am paying down my debt as fast as I possibly can but in doing so I have been totally ignoring my savings goals.

Having no cushion of money to rely on leaves me feeling vulnerable.  I could request more Student Loans if I needed but that is not a solution.  Doing that would only delay and compound the problem.  Instead, I will establish a savings plan to compliment my debt repayment plan.  In doing so, I will create a balance in my finances which will help accomplish both goals simultaneously.

Debt repayment is crucial in creating a healthy financial relationship but doing so at the expense of your future security is poor strategy.

Filed under Debt, Savings

Ten Commandments of Goals & Money

November 28, 2009 2 Comments

"Ten" by koDesign @ Flickr

“Accomplish Your Goals While Managing Your Finances.”

At times, the two seem to be at odds with one another.  How can a person manage their finances when goals are oftentimes lofty dreams of indulgence?  A waver in one direction has an immediate impact upon the other.  The secret to is to find balance.

For the past year I have been toeing this line in my own life.  I have managed to pay off the last of my credit card debt and paid my car loan off more than a year early.  At the same time I spent a month traveling North America, spent a night under the stars of a clear California sky and climbed Mount Saint Helens.  This experience has brought me to some conclusions.  I’ve singled out the ten most important things to consider when you begin your journey towards accomplishing your own life goals.

The Ten Commandments of Goals & Money:

1) Know Thyself: Any successful journey in life requires some degree of foresight and planning.  Your future is no different.  Take time to consider what your values are and where your passions lie.  Create a list of goals and search for a common theme.  Use this as a compass to help orient yourself in the direction you want your life to take.

2) Happiness Is NOT “Out There”: Our focus frequently rests upon what we do not have or those things that are not ideal in our lives.  We set goals as a way to better our lives, not realizing that our focus on improvement is the reason we are dissatisfied with our lives today.  We trick ourselves into believing that happiness can be found in a pay raise or that a boob job will make us beautiful.  This isn’t the truth.  Happiness cannot be found “out there”, it comes from within.

3) Follow Your Heart: Too often we ignore what is in our hearts, opting instead to think with our head.  While our brains have great capacity for extraordinary intellectual achievement, sometimes they hinder our spirit.  Listen to your heart.

4) Money IS Important: Money does not equal happiness but money is important.  Without it, our focus would change from accomplishing goals to struggling to survive.  It is important to be fiscally responsible and to find a balance between today and tomorrow.  Seek harmony in your finances.

5) Know Your Priorities & Align Your Actions: There is a difference between saying and doing.  It is easy to say you value something.  It is not so easy to express your values through action.  It is crucial that we align our values with our actions if we hope to live a life which is in harmony with our priorities.  In doing so we are able to live guilt free, knowing that we are doing what we believe is the right thing.  At the end of the day we can rest our head upon our pillow with a clear conscious.

6) Modify Your Internal Dialogue: We are too hard on ourselves.  Instead of building ourselves up, we break ourselves down.  We focus on our flaws, the things that we need to improve upon.  We ignore our talents, our individuality.  Learn to love your imperfections, they are what make you unique.

7) Debt is Slavery: We may not be pulling a plow across the earth like our ancestors but we are no less of a slave to our debts, however, we are our own masters.  Whenever you feel it is time to break free from the binding chains of debt, you are in control to make that decision.  The more debt you accumulate and each dollar you waste is another day of slavery.  It doesn’t need to be that way…break free.

8) Stop Making Excuses: If you think about something long enough or hard enough, you can be certain that you will always find a reason not to do something.  Making excuses is not productive.  Stop.

9) The First Step is Always the Most Difficult: The hardest thing about going for a jog is putting on the shoes.  After that, things tend to fall into place.  The same can be said for most aspects of life.  Overcoming inertia is difficult and may require a leap of faith, a request for assistance or admitting you don’t have all of the answers.  This simple act may be the catalyst to major change in your life.

10) Knowledge is Power: The other day I was reading a blog post and read the following:

Uncertainty is caused by a lack of knowledge.  Hesitation is the product of fear.

This simple thought struck a chord and as I thought more about it, Fear controls so many aspects of our day-to-day lives.  We hesitate out of fear and fear what is unknown.  By educating ourselves we remove the unknown variables.  We eliminate the uncertainty.  The more we know, the more confident we become as an individual.  Knowledge is power.

Filed under Budgeting, Confidence, Debt, Education, Goals, Life, Motivation, Opportunity, Passion, Potential, Preparation, Prioritizing, Savings, Spending, Success

A Sustainable American Lifestyle

November 22, 2009 1 Comment

For my Environmental Sustainability class I am writing about ways that the typical American household can reduce their environmental impact without sacrificing the quality of their life.  My areas of research are in electricity and water use.  Here are some ideas, as well as some statistics for you to consider in your own life.

Electricity

With only 5% of the world’s population, America consumes 26% of the world’s energy supply (EcoEarthWalk.ca). To generate this electricity, we rely heavily on coal, a fossil fuel which contributes to smog, acid rain and global warming. Coal accounts for 50% of the United States energy production (pbs.org). According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a typical coal burning power plant emits 3.7 million tons of CO2, the equivalent to cutting down 161 million trees. In addition to carbon dioxide emissions, coal burning power plants also release sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, mercury, arsenic and lead (ucsusa.org).

Water

The average American uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water each day. Most of this water is used in flushing toilets and bathing (usgs.gov). While 71% of the planet is covered in water, less than 1% is fresh and available for human use (usgs.gov). At least 36 states are facing water shortages in the next four years (alternet.org). Water shortages are not limited to the Western United States. The Great Lakes are shrinking (newyorktimes.com) and states including New York, Georgia and Florida are all facing water shortages or will be in the future (alternet.org).

What Can You Do?

Reducing your impact on the environment doesn’t require any dramatic shifts in your lifestyle or quality of life. Many of the changes are small but can have a major impact on reducing your consumption of electricity and water. Reducing your consumption also means saving yourself some money. Here are some of the ways that you can reduce your environmental impact:

Electricity Consumption

Install Compact Florescent Lighting: CFLs use 75% less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs and will save over $30 in energy costs over their lifetime. They also last 10 times longer than a standard bulb which means less maintenance around the home (energystar.gov).

Flip the Switch: In addition to switching to CFLs, turning off the lights when you are not using them will save electricity and money.

Use a Power Strip for Electrical Appliances: Estimates indicate that as much as 10% of your total home energy use is a result of phantom power, the energy consumed by electronic devices in Standby mode (therenewableplanet.org)

Replace Old Appliances with Energy Star Appliances: When the time comes to replace an old appliance, chose an Energy Star Rated Appliance. According to Energy Star: “Energy Star qualified appliances incorporate advanced technologies that use 10–50% less energy and water than standard models.” (energystar.gov)

Unplug Chargers When Not In Use: Even when your cell phone chargers are not charging your phone, they are still drawing electricity. Unplug them from the wall after your phone is charged.

Water Consumption

Lower the Temperature of Your Water Heater: “For each 10°F reduction in water temperature, you can save between 3%–5% in energy costs.” Water temperatures can be lowered to 120° F without any noticeable change (EnergySavers.gov).

Pee in the Shower: Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica says that by peeing in the shower, the average Brazilian household can save 1,157 gallons of water if it avoids flushing the toilet once a day for a year (huffingtonpost.com). If they can do it, so can we!  Watch their video, it is cute!

Turn Off the Water While Brushing Your Teeth: The EPA states that turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth can save 8 gallons of water a day; 240 gallons a month (epa.gov)

Use a Dishwasher: Consumer Reports claims that using an efficient dishwasher can actually use less water than washing dishes by hand! (consumerreports.org) Save even more water by only running the dishwasher when it is full.

Take Shorter Showers: Peeing isn’t the only way to save water in the shower. By taking shorter showers, you can save up to 60 gallons of water compared to taking a bath. A typical bath requires 70 gallons of water while a 5 minute shower only uses between 10 to 25 gallons (epa.gov).

Conclusion

Doing your part to save the environment doesn’t require large sacrifices that will lead to book or movie deals like No Impact Man and we don’t need to live in a cave without money like Daniel Suelo.  Creating a sustainable lifestyle is about making small changes that will result in a large difference in your consumption levels.  Being Green and environmentally friendly isn’t just for Hippies anymore.  The financial impacts of reducing your costs add up to money in your pocket.  Who doesn’t like that!?

Filed under Environment, Savings

Fiscal Tendencies of the Poor

July 30, 2009 1 Comment

It would seem that the body gradually becomes accustomed to living on the fat of the land in good times and going hungry in bad times. Indeed, hunger destroys any resolution for reasonable budgeting in better times to come by holding up to the eyes of its tormented victim an eternal mirage of good living and raising this dream to such a pitch of longing that a pathological desire puts an end to all restraint as soon as wages and earnings make it at all possible. The consequence is that once the man obtains work he irresponsibly forgets all ideas of order and discipline, and begins to live luxuriously for the pleasures of the moment. This upsets even the small weekly budget, as even here any intelligent apportionment is lacking; in the beginning it suffices for five days instead of seven, later only for three, finally scarcely for one day, and in the end it is drunk up in the very first night.

Often he has a wife and children at home. Sometimes they, too, are infected by this life, especially when the man is good to them on the whole and actually loves them in his own way. Then the weekly wage is used up by the whole family in two or three days; they eat and drink as long as the money holds out and the last days they go hungry. Then the wife drags herself out into the neighborhood, borrows a little, runs up little debts at the food store, and in this way strives to get through the hard last days of the week. At noon they all sit together before their meager and sometimes empty bowls, waiting for the next payday, speaking of it, making plans, and, in their hunger, dreaming of the happiness to come.

I grew up in a poor household.  We never had much money for anything beyond the basic necessities.  If there were ever a time when there would be extra money around, instead of saving it for the future, it was squandered on pleasures of the moment; an extra large meal or a toy for myself or my brother.  Instead of working to rise above living paycheck to paycheck, our constant struggle was ensured by this way of living.

As I grew older I continued the lessons I had learned as a small boy.  Any money left over at the end of the week was meant to be enjoyed.  I worked so hard to earn it, I should have some for my own pleasure.  What I wasn’t able to realize was that I was perpetuating my financial struggle, just as had been the case during my childhood.  Instead of saving my extra few dollars to help with next months rent I was spending it on all of the things I didn’t have during my childhood; Garbage Pail Kid cards, He-Man action figures, nice clothes.

I never gave any consideration to why I spent my money in this self-defeating way until I was talking to a friend of mine who also grew up poor & did exactly the same thing as I did.  Once he had earned a paycheck, instead of saving what remained, it was off to the store to buy squirt guns, electronics & CDs, clothes; everything he never had as a child.

This effect of poverty isn’t contained only to myself or my friend.  The quote above comes from 1925 from none other than Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf.  His words eloquently describe exactly the pattern & cycle of spending which I was raised in and continued into my early 20′s. 

When people speak or think of Adolf Hitler, many don’t remember him beyond the evil of his deeds.  They don’t remember the young, ambitious youth who struggled to become an artist.  Many have heard of his book, Mein Kampf, but have never taken the time to peruse its pages.  While not having read the book in its entirety, I spent some time reading it as a teenager while I struggled to understand what could cause a man to be so filled with hatred.

Even as a teenager, this quote struck me as being incredibly insightful.  I highlighted this entire passage.  At the time I knew these words meant something, they resonated within me.  I showed the highlighted words to my mom & received little comment.  Whether the silence came from the thought of her child reading Hitler or the reality I had just bestowed upon her, I am uncertain.

Having turned a financial corner in my own life, this quotation reminds me of the reality which I grew up in & am now working so hard to prevent in the future.  Wisdom comes from many places, including from some of the most evil of men.

Filed under Budgeting, Money, Savings, Spending

Paying for Television is History

July 10, 2009 2 Comments

"Kicking Television" by dhammza @ FlickrBefore leaving for our trip we decided to cancel our cable television.  It wouldn’t make sense for us to pay for a utility that we would not be using while on the road.  In addition to travelling for a month, our summer plans include relocation as well as a variety of other outdoor activities.  There won’t be much opportunity to sit in front of a television set.  By the end of summer we will be settled into a new home, preparing for another year of college.  In all likelihood we will look into the possibility of hooking up our cable again.  Is it really something we need?  Are there alternatives to cable?

With the relocation I hope to be able to tune into local television stations with an antenna instead of having to pay for service from a cable provider.  Our relocation will place us close to Minneapolis so we should be able to pick up many stations.  Even with the possibility of having a couple of local stations I wondered what other options are available as a substitute to paying for cable?

So far I haven’t found any great alternatives, though I have found a couple of possibilities.  The first thing I’ve found is a website called Hulu.  It is free to sign up for an account and you can watch episodes of many of your favorite shows with only minor advertising interuptions.  They offer a significant selection of both television episodes as well as movies.  The quality of the videos is great and I haven’t experienced much trouble with downloading time.  The only problem with this site is that they only offer older episodes.

Similar to Hulu is a website called Joost.  Here you are able to watch a variety of full-length television episodes as well as movies.  Most of the movies I browsed through were older titles and B films.  There are some great television shows available at this site though I was disappointed by having to sort through the short clips in order to find full-length episodes.

Another possibility I wondered about was YouTube.  A quick search of one of my favorite shows (Whale Wars) offers at least a little hope of watching some full-length episodes, though it looks as if it could be somewhat inconvenient to do so.  Despite the inconvenience of trying to watch TV shows, YouTube is great for watching music videos.  I am able to find even the most obscure songs.  It isn’t exactly a solution to our cable television situation, but still worth noting.

While it doesn’t solve the cable issue, another possibility is to utilize your local library for movie titles.  Many libraries carry a great variety of DVDs which you can check out for free.  While they may not have the most current releases they do have recent titles & you may be able to request specific movies.

Even if you are unable to tune into a local station for free, with the variety of websites available to watch practically any television series you want it doesn’t make sense to pay for a cable service.  The only exception is if you absolutely cannot live without watching the most current episodes.  Instead of paying for cable save yourself some money and use the Internet to watch your favorite television shows and take advantage of your library for your movie needs.

Update!!! July 17, 2009- I found a new site which I am just testing out but so far have LOVED!  It is called LetMeWatchThis.com.  It has many television series & new movies.  It is easy to navigate.  The only thing which brings any concern is that the site doesn’t host its own videos.  It links you to third-party websites, for example I am currently watching Six Feet Under on MegaVideo.com which I linked to from LetMeWatchThis.com.

Filed under Money, Savings, Spending

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