The Radio Girl

Anyone Need an Ironing Board?

Not much progress has been made on the 100 Things List.

Or maybe I should rephrase that to read too much progress has been made.

My goal is to trim my personal possessions down to 100 things by the end of 2009.  I'm not talking about furniture or dishes or linens, towels or anything else my fella and I both use.  My list is only stuff I use in my everyday life.

But it's been easier to find 100 things I want to give away, than 100 Things I want to keep.  For example: 

1- Two boxes of womens clothes, mostly business suits, skirts and dresses.  Since leaving corporate city radio I can wear my limited wardrobe of khaki pants, golf shorts and khaki skirts to work.  So I do.

Hasta la vista, dress clothes.

2- At least 100 chick flicks on VHS.  I used to walk on my treadmill 45 minutes a day, seven days a week and I'd watch the same movies over and over again.  They got me through a lot of sweaty hours.  My beloved treadmill finally conked out from exhaustion and I don't have much time for the movies now, but the director of the local Women's Transition House said she'd like to build up a little library for her ladies.  I'm relieved they're going to a good home.

Also on the list of 100 Things To Give Away is my ironing board.  It's basically brand new.  When we iron, we just use a towel on the kitchen counter.  I can't remember ever using the ironing board. 

And finally, our Christmas lights, both indoor and outdoor.  We haven't put up a tree or lights in a few years, since we've been going to Mexico for Christmas.  I wanted to give them all away but My Fella wants to keep a few strings ... in case we go ahead with Project Gypsy, and buy an RV to live in. 

I agree.  A few strings of brightly coloured lights lining the RV would look cozy during the holidays.  As long as he promised to take them down in January. 

Nothing says trailer trash louder than Christmas lights strung around an RV in the middle of summer.

Living in an RV doesn't mean we have to act like the Griswolds' inlaws from Vegas Vacation :)

Project Gypsy

I've been floating "Project Gypsy" around to several friends.

Project Gypsy is my secret nickname for our idea to sell our place and buy/live in an RV.  Most of the reaction has been positive.  But the feedback has forced me to think about the lack of everyday conveniences.  For example:

1- RV's don't have dishwashers, but we most definitely don't need one.  We have a dishwasher in our home now but I still do all the dishes by hand.  I like washing dishes. 

2- We wouldn't have a bathtub in the RV - most units have a shower, but no tub.  To be honest, I haven't actually had a bath since 2007.  Let me clarify.  I don't bathe, but I do shower :)

3- We wouldn't have a freezer, which isn't a huge deal because we don't own one now.  We've really cut down on meat in our diets, replacing it with a lot of beans, eggs and peanut butter.

4- Closet space would be limited.  This could be a problem, but both of us recently went through all of our clothes and have been getting rid of things left and right.  In fact, I have two more boxes of workwear (suits, skirts, etc) to drop off at a local charity.  When it comes to clothing, I live in shorts and cotton shirts or tank tops.  I have four khaki skirts, two black tennis skirts, several summer dresses, about ten pairs of shorts and a few pairs of pants.  Add in my golf shirts, tennis stuff, underwear, socks... and that's my very limited wardrobe.  Sad but true. 

So here we come to the Official Pros and Cons of Project Gypsy:

Pros

• Smaller living space - cheaper to heat/keep cool than a house or condo.

• Smaller living space - easier and quicker to clean.

• Smaller living space, limited storage - we'll be forced to completely downsize and we won't accumulate more stuff.  I see this as a positive, NOT a negative.

• Portable - I'm one of those people who actually like moving.  Not only is a change of scenery good, but it's easier to get away from irritating neighbours.

• We can have a campfire whenever we want :)

Cons

• Our neighbours can have a campfire whenever they want :(

• No washer/dryer - with limited clothes it would be nice to have a washing machine handy.  Nice, but not necessary.

• RV repairs.  Not sure if this is a pro or a con.  My Fella wasn't very handy when I met him, but he's done his homework over the past few years, doing renovations and making small repairs.  He'll have to learn a lot more if we are traveling/living in an RV, because the repairs will be his gig.  We split our duties around the house:  I take care of all things financial, he's in charge of repairs. 

• Don't know how I feel yet about living at a campsite/RV park.  I like my privacy and unless we get a good spot, privacy might be an issue.

• Smaller living space - we may try kill each other.  Frequently.

I'm sure this list will continue to grow.  Let me know if I've missed something.

Am I a Snob?

I've never thought of myself as snobby.

Nobody wants to label themselves in a negative way, but something happened a couple days ago that made me think about this. 

I was walking home from work - my regular route through the park and up to the railway tracks, which cut across a local golf course behind my house.  It's a bit icy right now, but it's a gorgeous walk in the summer.

There are never many folks on my path, especially this time of year. I'll see the odd person walking their dog and sometimes transient drug types who hitch a ride on the train.  But rarely do I see regular folks walking to work or running errands.

So I was surprised to run into a fellow slipping around on the icy path ahead of me a few days ago.  Bushy haired and in his mid-50's, he wasn't really dressed for winter.  I was even more surprised when he noticed me behind him, waved and stopped to wait for me.

The area I walk through is very isolated so I always keep my cell phone handy and my keys in my hand to poke out the eyes of unexpected attackers.  It sounds silly, but safety first.  And I never wear my IPOD - I like to hear what's going on around me.  I've never felt threatened walking that path alone, but I HAVE had the beans scared out of me by wild ducks.

Imagine the tracks (in the pic above) covered in snow and a little ice.  You can see there's nowhere to go but straight ahead, so I continued walking until I caught up to Bushy Dude.  

He said hello.  I said a guarded 'hi' and kept walking. 

Bushy Dude fell into step beside me and said out loud what I was thinking.  "I'm surprised to see you out here - I never run into anyone on this path when I'm walking home."

I lied, telling him "I was meeting my fella on the path ahead, who is taking our pitbulls for a walk".  It was the best I could do at short notice.  I suck at lying.

Anyway, we started chatting and he told me he lived at an RV campsite.  That caught my interest  since my fella and I are tossing around the idea of selling our place and buying an RV to live in.  I asked him roughly what the costs were and if he liked it. 

Bushy Dude was very open about his monthly bills, telling me he paid $525 a month for the pad rental which includes electricity, water and sewer, cable, internet and garbage pick-up.  I asked him about noise and his neighbors and somehow the topic of drugs came up.  He mentioned that sometimes he saw drug users behind the campsite, smoking or 'sleeping it off'.  He also volunteered that he used to do coke, but quit that along with alcohol.  Though he still smoked pot regularly. 

I was glad to turn off the trail at this point, thanking Bushy Dude for his campsite info as we went our separate ways.

And I started thinking to myself, "is this the kind of person that lives in a campsite year round?  Are most folks unemployed and into drugs?  It might sound snobby but I am NOT living in a campsite full of lost souls and pot smokers."

We have no kids and would be doing this RV thing more as an adventure, not because we have to.  We want a smaller, clutter-free existence.  And if we sell our house, I can invest the money for our future.

I don't actually know anyone who lives in an RV year round, except for some folks in Mexico. 

And Mexican RV parks are more like resorts, full of older Canadian snowbirds.  I doubt these seniors lounge around in their 5th wheels all day, smoking pot.  Or maybe they do.

I'll definitely have to look into this more.  

We don't wanna end up as "that crazy couple who lives in an RV in the Walmart parking lot".

#3 On My 100 Things List

It's an exciting week for Canadian investors.

The major Canuck banks report quarterly earnings this week and after the craziness that has occurred in the past eighteen months, it's anyones guess as to what will happen. 

I have to laugh at the analyst's fearless predictions on BNN.  If they were right even half the time, they'd be rich beyond belief - living on yachts, writing best selling books and giving advice to millionaire buddies. 

Our portfolio is about 25% financials, including common and prefered shares of the big banks and insurance companies (Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, National Bank, Manulife and Sunlife).  I'm okay with whatever happens, even if BMO reduces their quarterly dividend, which is likely.  We have a long investing timeline and there are so many deals out there I just wish we had more cash handy.

Bored yet?

Let's move on.  This post was really to share the latest addition to my '100 Things List'.  My goal is to trim my personal possessions down to 100 things by the end of 2009.  I'm not talking about furniture or dishes or linens, towels or anything else my fella and I both use.  My list is only stuff I use in my everyday life.

Here's #3 on list - my office in a box:

I figure if we do end up buying an RV to live in, I can't bring my entire office.  So I cleaned out one of my sturdy plastic file boxes and packed in only the stuff I use regularly like my stapler, pens, highlighters, paper clips, calendar, post-it notes, hole punch, etc.

The yellow container is a little organizer with different compartments that hold all the small stuff, and it fits perfectly into the file box.

So now I have a grand total of three things on my list:  1- my laptop with carrying case, 2- tennis gear and 3- the office in-a-box.  My 100 Things List is not coming together very quickly.

Deciding what you can't live without is a lot harder than it looks.

100 Things That I Need

My goal is to trim my personal possessions down to 100 things by the end of the year. 

I'm not talking about furniture or dishes or linens, towels or anything else my fella and I both use.  My list is only stuff I use in my everyday life.

This one is a no-brainer for my '100 Things That I Need' list:

My '100 Things' list so far, in no particular order:

1- laptop

2- tennis stuff

Luckily my laptop comes with it's own backpack which also fits my digital camera, calculator, voice compressor and microphone.  Yay, a 2 for 1.  Okay it's actually a 5 for 1, but it's my list - I get to make the rules.

Our Crazy Idea

Lately my fella and I have been talking about our future.

One of the wackier things we've discussed is the idea of selling our place and buying an RV.  To live in. 

Last year I remember reading a blog written by a guy who was whittling down his possessions to only 100 things.  100 personal possessions in total.  He didn't count dishes or linens or furniture because those were things the entire family used.  But clothes, sports equipment, electronic gadgets, books and cds were all fair game. 

My fella and I have been doing something similar, going through all of our possessions and getting rid of things we don't use.  We definitely have to compromise - for example we counted all his baseball equipment as one thing, and same for all of my finance/investing books :) 

We discovered we really don't have or need a lot of "stuff" so getting down to 100 personal possessions each shouldn't be that hard.

However the ability to pare down your possessions to the bare minimum is one thing ... living with someone in the confined space of 150 feet (i.e. an RV) - well that's something else altogether. 

But we'll start with "100 Things" list and go from there.

Not sure if this is the first thing on my list, but it's certainly in the top three: