Penny Pinching

On first impression, I might not strike you as someone you'd call "frugal" - I have a fondness for scotch and cigars, drive a luxury car, enjoy travelling, etc. - but I'm something of a penny-pincher in other areas of my life, which helps to cover the defray the costs of Cuban robustos and single malt.

I'm always on the look-out for new ways to save money without making sacrifices. So, I'd like to share some of my cost-cutting strategies and would invite you to post yours, as well.

1.) Skype: Although I've only started using Skype recently, I'm absolutely hooked. The best feature by far is the $3/month dial-out service, which covers unlimited calls to anywhere in North America. Based on this, I've been able to trim back my Rogers cell phone plan by another $17, plus tax.

Savings: $15 per month x 12 months = $180, or the cost of a very fine dinner for two at AquaTerra.

2.) Insurance: When it comes to car insurance, I like my coverage low and my deductible high. Having a $2,000 deductible vice a $500 deductible saves between $200 and $500 per year - though I am careful to ensure that I do have liability coverage of at last $1M, which actually isn't that expensive.

I'm also careful to read through the cardholder agreement for credit cards, so I know whether they cover additional warranties, car rental insurance, travel insurance, and so on. I've saved at least $700 in hotel and restaurant costs as the result of travel insurance, alone.

Savings: $1,200 per year, or a week-long trip to Costa Rica during the low season.

3.) Rewards Points: I'm careful to compare the different Visa cards and the rewards they offer. When I switched to a RBC Avion card from the CIBC Aerogold*, they waived the annual fee and gave me 15,000 travel miles, or a free $350 plane ticket (tax incl). If I put on another $15,000 on my card over the year, that's $700 in free travel.

Savings: $700, or three boxes of Cuaba Exclusivos and a bottle of 16 y/o Lagavulin.

4.) Low-Cost Banking: All of my banking is either done at PC Financial (which has no fees) or with institutions where I have the minimum balance to avoid monthly fees. StatsCan says that the average Canadian spends $15 per month on bank fees, or $180 per year.

I also don't allow my credit cards to carry a balance. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - credit card debt is the financial equivalent of a sucking chest wound. It's nature's way of telling you to slow down. I don't even want to think about what average credit card debt is, but I've seen estimates of around $2200 per person, which sounds about right to me. That's around $400 per year, just in interest.

Savings: $580, or enough to purchase sufficient premium gasoline for 5,400 km in an SUV.

5.) Brown-bag Lunch: Before I worked from home, I was one of the few people in my office to bring a lunch with me. Even those who did bring a lunch usually brought some sort of frozen dinner. I'd estimate that the price difference between a cafeteria and a brown-bag lunch is around $6 per meal. It doesn't take long before that starts to ad up in a big way.

Savings: For an employee who eats at the cafeteria every day for 49 weeks a year, you're looking at an annual cost of $1470, or 80 pounds of gourmet, fair trade, shade-grown coffee.

Okay, your turn...

*For a while, I quite liked CIBC Aerogold - then Aeroplan waited four months to inform me that my reward flight had been cancelled, thereby causing me to lose my hotel deposit. When I confronted them about this, they told me to pound salt. When I explained my situation to RBC, they very kindly offered to waive my first annual fee and give me the points for joining.

My favorite part was when I cancelled the CIBC card and they - quite naturally - asked why. At the end of my tirade, all they could say was, "Oh, I see."

Half Way

It's been six months since I began my leave of absence from my previous job. Today, I'm taking stock of how close I am to reaching the goals that I set out for myself during this time off.

1.) Further develop my charitable project.

As expected, this is what's taken up most of my time and borne the most results. I'm very happy with where the project is at right now - we have a great group of volunteers, our funding situation has improved, and our local partner is helping more people than ever before. Even though this now my full-time gig, I still really enjoy the work I'm doing.

Verdict: Success.

2.) Become a published author.

This was perhaps not the most realistic of goals to try to accomplish in a year, particularly while going after #1 at the same time. I might as well have added: 2.) Become an international rock superstar or 2.) Learn how to turn lead into gold. That's not to say that I haven't spent more time writing - I've been taking more time to write in my journal and (intend to) spend more time blogging. But a full-length novel or work of non-fiction? Not this year.

Verdict: Deadline extended.

3.) Turn the charitable project into a paying job.

Once I gave up on the idea of becoming a published author by May 2009, I started to consider other ways in which I might pay the bills. Sure, there were plenty of options out there - I could join the circus or participate in medical testing, just for starters. However, I decided to take the lazy route and consider what would need to happen if I wanted to draw a salary from my current full-time engagement. And the verdict? HaAhhhHaHaHaaa! That's a good one.

Seriously, it could happen, but not the way things are set up right now. Regardless of whether I'm getting paid, this project needs to become self-sustaining at some point, and the same changes that would make this possible could also provide a salary. So, it's possible - just not by May 2009, that's all.

Verdict: Deadline also extended.

4.) Improve my work-life balance.

Back before I took the time off, I read a news story about a guy in Japan who actually worked himself to death (the Japanese even have a word for this: karoshi). The guy was working something like 90 to 100 hours a week. I remember thinking to myself, "Hmm... that's not that much time at work." I knew instantly that I needed to improve my work-life balance.

This was actually harder than I thought it would be. In my rush to prove to myself that everything was just fine and I could still earn a living while on my leave, I took on a whole whack of work with the Army. For a while, I was pretty much back where I started - except with less money. After a few weeks of this, I managed to convince myself that I could actually not earn a salary for a while, and that money could come out of bank accounts as well as go into them.

Since then, everything's been tickety-boo. I was the kind of guy who would renew his license plate three months too late. I would've been late for my own birthday, assuming that I'd actually remembered to write it on my To Do list. Even six months later, I'm still getting caught up. But at least the pile is shrinking instead of growing.

So, the work week's back around 40 to 50 hours per week, and I actually have time for fun again. Oh, and my health has improved to the point where I no longer consider aerosol cheese to be one of the five basic food groups.

Verdict: Success.

5.) Beat Fantasy General.

Not yet. Those damned Ogre Centaurs keep routing my Samurais, and I can never seem to bring up my siege engines in time. But I'll get it one day, I promise you that.

Verdict: To be continued...

I suppose it's time to deal with the obvious question: What will I do six months from now, when the leave of absence comes to an end? The answer is: I don't know. Or rather, I do know, but I don't know whether I'll make the same decision six months from now, when it's for real.

Although I quite enjoyed my previous job, I find that I like this one more when all things are considered. What's more, I haven't really taken the leap of faith yet. It's one thing to take a leave of absence, but it's quite another to quit your job in the pursuit of your dream.

Sometimes, the gods demand a sacrifice. I have a feeling that, before they'll let me have what I'm looking for, I'll need to haul my nice, fat, secure job onto the altar.

And you know what? I'm okay with that. I may not be able to spend money like I used to or be able to answer succinctly when asked, "What do you do?", but I don't care. Of all the stuff I could be doing, this is what I want to do the most.

Dilemma

My writer's block has been essentially immobile for the past few months. It's not that I couldn't break it if I tried, it's just that I really haven't tried. The volunteer project is so much easier to work on that the temptation is to work on that instead. Unfortunately, the volunteer project doesn't pay any money. So, to ease the drain on my bank account, I go back to Army for additional hours. The additional hours that I spend with Army further reduce the number of hours that I spend on writing. Cue vicious cycle.

I should have known that this was coming. When working full-time, I was putting in a minimum of 60 hours per week, and in some cases 80 hours per week. Subtract a full time job that takes 40 hours per week, and you're left with... 40 hours of work, without increasing the hours I'm putting on the volunteer project or Army. Seems like starting with a full work week as my base state and piling more work on top is a good way to get myself back where I started.


I love my job with the volunteer project. I mean, capital L, full-on LOVE. I would be happy doing this work - or some variation thereof - for the rest of my life. I love the freedom, the challenges, the need for creativity, the sense of accomplishment... pretty much everything about it. This job makes me happy. Except...

Except that not only are people not exactly lining up to pay me for this job, but I question whether taking a paycheque wouldn't actually change the nature of what I'm doing. I mean, part of my credibility comes from saying, "I am not taking a salary to do this work." One of the reasons that we're an efficient organization is because no one in Canada is taking a salary. Considering we're still struggling to cover costs, I don't think I'll be taking one any time soon.

This all seems ridiculous now. It's like I said to myself, "I know, it's just too easy to become a published author. Why don't I try to manage an international charity at the same time?" Brilliant.

Don't get me wrong. I don't feel as though I've made a mistake by doing this. I do feel as though I'm on the right path. But, I'm also seriously concerned that I'll get to the end of this year without having a way to earn a living, and have to choose between giving up the charity and going back to work, or leaving my job permanently and being unable to pay the bills.

Well, at least I'll have The Fear to keep me motivated.

Pros and Cons of Life in the Slow Lane

Pro

Sleeping and Dreaming: Now that I don't have to go to bed at a set bed time, I can actually get the amount of sleep that my body needs, rather than the amount prescribed by an alarm clock. Also, I've started to have extremely vivid dreams that I actually remember when I awake. That's something that hasn't happened since - well, since I don't know when.

Con

Nagging Feeling of Laziness: I can't help but feel that I'm nowhere near as productive as I was before, and that this is somehow a Very Bad Thing. I think this feeling will go away with time. At least, I hope it will. Moving from Overburdened and Stressed to Guilty and Lazy isn't exactly a step in the right direction.

Pro

Work is What I Make It: One of my major goals for this down time is to be able to start writing again. Technically speaking, that means that writing this blog post is a productive activity. Sweet.

Con

Money? What Money? : The second Wednesday of the month just came and went, and there was no direct deposit to my bank account. For someone who's still accustomed to throwing money at his problems, that hurts.

Pro

Pennies Saved... : With more time to think carefully about my purchases, I'm finding new ways to save money without feeling as though I'm making sacrifices. Case in point: I'm planning to sell Mercules (a 1999 Mercedes-Benz ML430) and purchase either a Volvo Amazon or Volvo P1800E. If I can find a suitable Volvo Amazon, I'd save the equivalent of $4000 a year in depreciation, gas and insurance - or more than a month's take-home pay at my previous job.

Con

Video Games: I rented Guitar Hero III for the Wii earlier this week, and played it so much that I actually managed to strain my left eye. It's now back at the rental shop, where it can't hurt me any more.

Pro

Cats: We have two. They are hilarious. Whiskey is trying hunt insects on the other side of our windows, while Socks is curled up - and snoring - on the top of a tower that he hasn't actually fit on since he was about 6 months old.

Con

... I think that's about it for cons.

Pro

The whole reason I'm here: Being able to choose, day to day, what it is I want to work on; having complete freedom to pursue my interests, accountable only to those whom support my charitable work. This is my chance to find the golden mean - to be productive at something I love and still have time for family, friends and fun. It's a gamble, but worth giving up a paycheque for a while.

A Fairly Typical Rant About Work and Money

Today is the first day since October 9th that I haven't been working or, in the case of three of the days, working a day and a half. I'm helping put together a course for the Army, which means that there are more demands on my time than usual.

I still love the work, but there are definitely times when I wish I had a 36 hour day. Or, failing that, that I could start sleeping whenever I have an extra 5 minutes to spare. I mastered that particular art when I was away on leadership training, but it seems that one of the prerequisites is having only slept 4 hours during the previous week. I'm tired, but not that tired.

The condo is really coming along well. We're still missing a fair bit of our furniture, but I suspect it won't be long before we'll be able to book a house warming party. The kittens seem to have adjusted, though they were none too pleased when we took them for their annual check-up. In a surprise move, the vet made no mention of brain trauma - I guess they're just like this normally.

I intend to make today a proper, lazy day. That means that the only way I will be changing out of my fleece pajama pants is if we decide to play tennis. The only thing that I will be getting caught up on will be my XBox games, or possibly some Robert Heinlein dystopian fiction. I will be drinking coffee on the balcony up until 12:01 pm, at which point I will switch to Boddingtons. I will finally have a listen to the Cake CD that I've been unable to play in Mercules. And I will be in bed by 9:30 pm, so that I can get up bright and early and walk to work the next day.

Speaking of time off, I wonder when it'll be that we'll actually realize that, in our modern day and age, working 40 hours a week is just a little bit silly. I mean, think about it - were you to have an extra day off each week, and were all the shops and office to be open at that time, think of all the money you'd be able to save by being able to comparison shop, haggle, repair, or simple do yourself.

I'd be willing to bet that, in many cases, you'd end up ahead of where you were before, even with 20% less cash in your pocket. I certainly tend to throw money at problems to make them go away, even if it is done in a carefully researched, semi-frugal kind of way. And think of all the benefits - the part of your income that you're giving up is the part that's most heavily taxed, and the extra hours you're giving up are your least productive. There'll be 20% more work to be done, which means that there'll be more jobs to go around.

Of course, it'd never do. Everyone needs the latest laser-powered super iPod (now with sparkles!), and lives from paycheque to paycheque in order to pay for it all. But that's not the worst of it. The real problem is that we know that, by only working 80% of the time, we'd be committing career suicide.

Who knows where we'd end up if we showed anything less than cutthroat ambition this early in life? We'd probably be cleaning out the ashtrays in airport limos. Or living in France. I'm not sure which is worse.