My Enemy is Circumstance... Its knives are sharp.

As Naginata stated below, misfortune struck on Friday. I want to elaborate a bit, because I want to use the incident as a way to remind myself why I started my manifesto last week to begin with.

On my way home Friday, I walk into the parking deck where my truck has been resting for the day. It is the truck my father handed down to me, the truck that bought by his father and owned until my grandfather passed. It has been getting me back and forth the small commute to work. It is not terribly fuel efficient (other than it has a small engine) nor environmentally friendly (it is close to 35 years old). But I don't drive it much, and we can't afford better right now, so we have counted ourselves fortunate to have it.

So, yeah, my tire was flat. I cursed my luck, but figured I could get a spare on it and get it home. If it had to sit for a while, at least it would be sitting at home. Fortunately for me, Friday was a "casual day" at the office, so I had on jeans and a fairly comfortable linen shirt. Over the course of the next hour, I did what I could to prevent them from becoming as filthy as I was quickly becoming. It seemed that thirty odd years of dirt and rust had come back for revenge on me. After consulting the owners manual and my father by phone, I finally figured out the mechanism that kept the tire chained to the underbelly. It was like that old game, Mousetrap. I swear all that was missing was a washbasin and a net to fall down on me.

With the old tire removed and the spare tire in place, I let the jack down to discover that my spare is also flat (I confirm with my father later that he had never used it either). I curse my luck again, more frustrated and filthy. I call Naginata to come and pick me up. The truck will have to wait for now.

Later that night we consider our options. This paycheck we are stretched to the limit, but I am determined to call and get a quote on a single tire to replace the flat. If we can get one cheaply, we might have enough pride to eat to ask for a favor from a friend. We table the issue for then and decide to relax by catching up on some TV.

No sooner than we've finished watching one program and are starting another, the TV catches fire from the inside. I can see the illumination of the flames on the wall behind the set and I scramble to get it unplugged, hoping that will be enough. It is, but it feels appropriate, as aggravating as it is. It's all circumstance and I acknowledge that this is what we've been fighting all along. When we come down to it, a small string of events is enough to kick our teeth in. We have good income, but we make poor decisions with it, limiting our financial resilience.

On Saturday, I get a quote for a tire. It's going to cost us $42. It's $42 dollars we don't have. I mean, we could probably hock some stuff at a pawn shop to raise the money, but there is no reason that amount of money should grind us to a halt.

I'll skip the boring stuff. Everything does work out in the end. One of Naginata's parents brought over a spare TV they'd been meaning to give us and they were going to help us tow the truck back, but decided it would be better for all involved if they just bought us a new tire. The truck is back at home and we managed to survive.

The experience was disheartening, but it bolstered my resolve in this endeavor. We could look at this as some sort of cosmic joke played on us by the powers that be, but I choose to take it as an affirmation that we have started this journey so that a year from now, we will be in a place to not feel like the world has collapsed, just because one tire has.

If this is our battle, then we should heed the words of Sun Tzu:

"Now the general who wins a battle makes many
calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.
The general who loses a battle makes but few
calculations beforehand."

Translated (by G.I. Joe):

"Knowing is half the battle."

Now that we know our enemy, we can begin to plan our strategies. I confess I'm no general, but I did have lots of G.I. Joe action figures as a kid, so I think that makes me partially qualified.

Excessive....

So a lot of the comments that people give me when I tell them about my part in this project are in the vein of "you are trying to do too much at once" and to an extent I say, "well sort of". I'm one of those people who goes all in or not at all. I mean as long as I'm in a sort of privation mode, how about seeing how much I can eliminate at once? It's not like it's permanent. I can change the rules. Except the big one, no personal spending.

But if I want a diet coke or to stop exercising or to buy a damn pair of pants (second-hand!) that fits my no-ass instead of falling off, literally people...I had an incident in the kitchen Thursday night...it was not my finest hour...then I can do those things. But why not try it? Let's see what happens ... when people stop being polite, and start getting real. Whoops! Sorry the early 90s came back in a flash. But seriously, it can't be any harder than doing things in dribs and drabs, for me at least.

On a weird and oddly related note, the universe seems to have heard our cry of "less stuff" and has interpreted it by flattening one of the Ronin's tires, and the spare (Thanks Universe!) AND having our TV blow a tube and catch on fire. And that's just this evening! ba da bump! How's THAT for turn off your TV week?? Luckily we have plenty of leeway in our transportation and another TV that we have been slacking on picking up (for free!) from a parent. But it did make for a bit of a disheartening day. Let's hope tomorrow is a little more kind to the traveling warriors.

Allowances...

Gift Cards are fair game when it comes to buying things. Last night, during our "the Budget Ronin presents: the Budget Ronin's Financial Discussion Roundtable, starring the Budget Ronin," the Budget Naginata and I jointly agreed that gifts others may give us (not required!) for birthdays and holidays should be used for fun and frivolity. I have the option to use gift money to pay down some debt, but if I want to get a small something, it should be totally allowed. They are gifts, after all.

As if on cue, Administrative Professionals Week (the week of April 25th) has already contributed to the effort. In my office, it's colloquially coined "Staff Appreciation Week." Administrators, Secretaries, Copy Center Staff and IT Staff (amongst others) are all "appreciated" this week. I haven't been at this particular office long, but I think they have done a good job in thanking all of us. Winning a contest as part of the festivities netted me a $10 gift to a local sandwich shop around the corner. This isn't the first time I've won that particular prize (both were Trivia contests), but instead of spending the gift card the next day, I've decided to pocket it and use it as a reward somewhere down the line. It doesn't expire, so unless the shop closes, I can use it in the next month or so for a nice treat or a fallback in case I forget to pack a lunch one day. I like having the option open.

The Budget Naginata has been talking with others about this experiment and gotten some helpful feedback. First and foremost, I am adding her as a writer to this blog. If it's an inclusive project, then let's include all the results here, we decided. We'll be tagging posts to make things easier to identify.

We've also been heartened by some things we've read online and heard from other people. There may be some modifications to our goals as we progess, but we'll be sharing all of that here. Any ideas we crib, we'll be giving full acknowledgement to, as well.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement they've given us so far. You know who you are... And if you don't, we've kept a list. There may be photos, too. Incriminating photos... So keep that encouragement coming if you ever hope to get your hands on those negatives.

Heel, brain. Good boy.

Tip 1 for Day 2: Write post in Notepad first so you don't have to rewrite it.

So as I battled the very non-Spring-like blustery winds on the walk up to the office building, I couldn't help but be drawn to the thought of slipping across the street to the neighborhood $tarbuck$. It was easy for me to resist today, because the Ronin's coffers are bare, but it made me think of those days when I have the cash and the $5 doesn't seem like a significant amount. Today it seems a princely sum and it made me consider that my biggest problem is not my day to day expendatures, but my binge purchasing during the time when I have an influx of money.

I was talking about this just last night. It seems that Diet and Finance are beasts of the same family, just with different plumage. A lot of people "Diet" for time to lose X pounds with a strenuous routine. At the end they look and feel better, but they haven't effected a lasting change in their eating habits and eventually regain some or all of the weight. I feel like I do the same with cash. I'm normally fairly frugal, but when I get a bonus or a refund, I tend to binge and reward myself for not buying all those other times. In truth, I don't buy because I run myself out of money and can't. But the extra money doesn't last, so I fall back into the same habits and lose any ground I had gained, like a failed fiscal diet.

They say there is no "magic formula" for real weight management, you simply have to burn more calories than you consume. Turn that on it's ear and you have the same non-secret for finance: Save more money than you spend.

Some people seem to be wired this way by default. It seems I will be spending the next 370 days to try and teach my brain to roll-over.

Groceries 4-25-07

In the spirit of starting as we mean to go on, here's what I got at the grocery store just now.

Pasta 4 boxes (2 for 1!)
Jello 3 boxes
Bananas 4
1 dozen eggs
1 head of lettuce
1 box Twinings tea
1 bottle of lemon juice
4 bottles of seltzer (we're trying to go off soda as well...ack!)
2 gallons of milk
2 chickens
1 lb. ground turkey
1 March of Dimes shoe
total $33.40

I have a travelling companion. The ever-sharp Budget Naginata read my manifesto and has decided to wander the path alongside me. I couldn't ask for a more brilliant partner in this exercise. I cannot say that I'm necessarily looking forward to the next 371 days, but I will say I am glad I won't be out there by myself. Now I have even more motivation to stay honest.

Adjust sword. Take one step forward.

There.

Now we've begun.

My Mayday Financial Rebuilding Year

I can't take it. Just when I feel like I'm getting to my feet, something comes along and reminds me I should be firmly planted on my butt. Worse yet, most days I feel like I'm already on my knees, begging for some sense of fiscal normalcy.

So here were are... at day one. It's the first day of my hair-brained plan. No spending for a year. From now, right now, until May 1st 2008 (hence the catchy Mayday title), I will not spend any money for recreational purposes. No gifts, no luxury items, no eating out, no snacks from the vending machine around the corner at work that has those great little mini donuts stacked six high, nothing. I will use my money only for the allocated family expendatures and non-personal essentials. I'm not refraining from buying my daughter a new pair of shoes if she needs them, but I've got a pair of my own that will last me the rest of the length of the challenge.

Anything that is a current expendature is in bounds, but no new goods or services will be considered, unless they are offset by recouping a previously in play item. For example, we have basic Netflix service. I'm not going to cancel that, but I'm also not going to go and get a subscription to some other service.

I want to write on this daily to reinforce my decision and track some basic numbers to see how much of a difference it makes. I may edit this entry later for more clarification on what is in and out of bounds.

Things that are within bounds:

1. Buying food items from the grocery store. I won't buy fast food for lunch, but buying a box of popcorn from the store to take in to nosh on is well within bounds.
   

Things out of bounds:

1. Any new media item (CD or DVD). Hell, I've got a closet full of stuff I don't listen to now. Getting the latest Venture Bros. DVD set right now isn't going to cause the collapse of my life.
   

I'm tired of looking forward to my next paycheck, only to find out that I've bounced another check because I bought a $5 cup of coffee two days ago. I'd much rather have a bit more security, even if it takes 371 days.

So there it is. My five minute manifesto. I'm cutting myself free from all my bad purchasing habits and putting them at arm's length for a year. This is where the wandering begins. Reflections and Updates to follow.