The Radio Girl

For Sale

Our cupboards are bare.

Actually, so is most of our condo.

 
First, the cupboards. 

I've had sinusitis since last week and My Fella was sick the week before that - he still has a bit of a cough.  So no big grocery purchases lately except for several boxes of chicken noodle soup, throat lozenges and fruit.  Hence the bare cupboards.

And the condo is bare because of my recent Craigslist addiction.  In the past three weeks I've sold:

• two bookcases
• a wine cooler
• our kitchen table
• a leopard bench
• my table lamp
• an IKEA chair
• the sofa bed
• four wooden chairs
• three big mirrors
• two leather stools
• and "a partridge in a peeeear treeeeee..."

Not much left to sell. 

My Fella has started moving some of our things to his parents house.  He says it's to get an early start on moving, but I think he's scared I'm gonna start selling the good stuff  :)

Speaking of the good stuff.  We did sell one really good thing. 

OUR CONDO.  Actually I signed the papers 10 days ago, but we had to wait until today for all of the conditions to be removed by the buyer.  And our realtor just called to confirm the deal is done.  We sold for less than our original list price but still made a 22.4% profit in 3 years, excluding fees. 

After the Olympic Games end in February I think BC real estate will experience another drop, so I'm happy to pull that money out now and invest it elsewhere. 

And now we're free to move forward on Project Gypsy.

(Hope I feel better soon cause I plan to make our final few weeks here complete HELL for our neighbours.  Here's the part where I wish I had eight noisy, rambunctious, screaming kids.  Who all play the drums   :)

Another Week That Wuz

Holy Cow!

 
Tomorrow is already Halloween.  And the end of October.  And the end of the first month of the 4th fiscal quarter.  (Yup, gotta sneak in the Geek sometimes :)  

The past week has been busy: 

• Got my annual general physical from Dr. Tanya. That's what I call her since I can't pronounce (never mind spell) her last name. 
• Had a few condo showings.  One looks very promising.
• Got back into the Project Gypsy mindset and found this gorgeous Airstream trailer for sale online.  
• Also found two new slow-cooker chicken recipes.  Gonna try 'em out on My unsuspecting victim Fella next week.
• Put together a few more boxes of stuff to donate to charity:  movies, books, clothes, etc.
• Listed and sold more items on Craigslist for a total of $210.  ("I am NOT addicted to Craigslist!!" the Radio Girl yelled as she furtively glanced around the room, looking for more things to sell...)

And I did some quick bar napkin math to calculate my monthly investment gains for October.

• LIRA +3%
• RRSP +5.3%
• TFSA +7.8%
• non reg +4.7%

Not as good as my mid-month calculations, but well above my 1% per month goal.  Goals, people, it's all about goals.

Craigslist Really Works

 
Project Gypsy continues.

I know I haven't been posting about it much, but My Fella and I are constantly rooting through our things and reducing our 'baggage' so that as soon as the condo sells we can move into an RV.  That we have yet to buy.  But we'll cross that bridge yada yada yada...

Anyway, today was my first online furniture sale.  I said goodbye to a lovely five year old IKEA BLOK shelf on wheels that I bought for about $110 bucks and sold for $60 on Craigslist.com. 

It was cool to complete a sale but despite what other bloggers imply about how easy it is to sell your 'stuff', it DOES take some work.  It took me roughly 45 minutes to take pics and then post the listing.  And then I wasted time replying to scammers and folks that had questions/weren't sure/had no money/wanted free long distance delivery, etc.

I also had to email back and forth and coordinate a time with the gal that finally bought the shelf, but she was super sweet and very efficient.  She saw it, she loved it and she paid in cash, so I helped load it in her truck and we both lived happily ever after. 

The sale took about 4-ish hours of my life in total, for a profit of $60.  Not a great return but it was nice to get rid of some 'stuff'. 

And now that I know Craiglist really works (and it's not just full of perverts or scammers) I'm gonna list more items in the coming weeks.

Things That I KNOW I Know

There is so much I don't know. 

For example, why does my cell phone company insist on labeling it a System Access Fee, when we all know it's just a cash grab?  Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?  Did Noah have two woodpeckers on the ark, and if so where did he keep them?  Why is Oscar green?  Can you yawn in your sleep?  Why do I crave purple cabbage? 

See? Soooo much I don't know.  But here are three things that I KNOW I Know.

1- My Fella and I can live happily in a much smaller space.  Like an RV. 

I now realize that 200 square feet is enough, as long as My Fella and I have our own private space. 

Over the past couple weeks I've been super aware of where we spend the majority of our time.  The only rooms we use regularly are the kitchen, the bedroom and The Pit.  (The Pit = second bedroom where my office is.  That's where I do all my stock stuff, hence 'The Pit'  :) 

We don't watch a lot of tv so we're hardly ever in the living room.  And we never use the dining room table, except as a place to store our fruit.  I'm actually thinking of listing it on Craigslist.

 
If we go ahead with Project Gypsy, living in a 200 square foot space will be less of a challenge than I thought.  As long as we have a place to get away from each other.

#2 Thing That I KNOW I Know: Cold weather makes me miserable. 

Snow, ice, slush, cold...I hate it all.

 
Living/working/playing in a summery climate is a huge key to my overall happiness since everything I like to do (tennis, walking, gardening, hiking, camping, looking for golf balls) requires warm weather. 

 
If I never had to wear pants again, I'd be ecstatic.  Not sure if that came out right, but I think you know what I mean :)

But speaking of pants...

#3 Thing I KNOW I Know:  I don't want/need a lot of clothing. 

I've been keeping a close eye on my wardrobe, specifically the clothes I wear regularly.  In a previous post I mentioned my lust for the Khaki GAP miniskirt, and the fact that I now own 12 of them.  ($10 each at the GAP Outlet store, what a steal.  You Americans are sooooo lucky!)  

Anyway, in a wacky little experiment this morning I discovered that I can fit all the clothes I wear regularly into one large suitcase.  That includes socks and underwear, but not shoes or coats.

Time to give away more clothes.

RV's and Pizza

We learned some interesting RV info this weekend.

My Fella and I had a long conversation with an RV salesdude at a local dealership on Saturday afternoon.  I'm not naive enough to believe everything he said - I've worked with far too many radio salespeople in my lifetime for that :)   

But he gave us insight into the different brands, specifically Winnebago. 

I was curious why they hold their value better than other motorhome manufacturers.  Every time I browse different RV forums, the stongest and most loyal owners are always the Winnebago owners. 

RV salesdude told us that Winnabego is a top of the line name, based on quality.  For example, he said Winnebago is the only manufacturer that reinforces the unit walls with steel sections.  The other guys install things like seat belt hooks right into the paneling of the walls, but Winnebago attaches them to a steel beam in the walls.  And the units are built with a steel casing at the front to protect both the driver and passenger.

I'm sure all RV manufacturers have to pass safety standards but the salesdude said there are no 'crash tests' for motorhomes, like there are for cars and trucks.

I don't know how much of a difference this makes, safety-wise, but it's certainly something to think about.  I need to do more research. 

Here's something else to think about.  Last night we had pizza and salad for supper.  My Fella and I usually make one pizza for each of us, eat a third of it and save the rest for lunches through the week.  We only buy pizzas when they're on sale and then we add our own extra veggie toppings.    I add tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms to mine. 

He adds hot peppers and his new fave topping, broccoli. 

Yup.  Broccoli.

Gag.

The Return of Project Gypsy

We're going to look at RVs again today.

My Fellas parents bought a motorhome a couple of months ago and they took it out to a Shuswap campground this weekend.  Last night My Fella and I were talking about how easy it would have been to pack up our own RV and head out to meet them.

And next weekend we're driving to Washington State for a few days.  Another potentially fun/cheap RV trip.

Except we don't have an RV ... which makes RV travel somewhat difficult.

So we're gonna pick up the search where we left off in the spring and start pricing out units again. Project Gypsy has been re-ignited.

The 24th

Sunday, May 24th was our five year and one month anniversary.

We're not married- that's our Been Together anniversary.  My Fella and I met on the 24th and now we celebrate that day every month.  We usually buy each other little presents or make a special dinner.  This month my fella surprised me with my two favorite things in the world:  wine and new tennis balls.

And I gave him gas.

No, really.  I gave him a $40 gift card for the free gas at Shell.  He does a lot of driving so he was pretty happy to get a free fill-up.  

If you're having a hard time buying someone a practical gift, why not give them gas?

In biz news today: 

1- Bank of Montreal reported 2nd quarter earnings before the markets opened.  The numbers were a teeny weeny bit better than expected - consensus estimates ranged between $0.88 and $0.94 per share.  Actual was $0.93 per share.  I sold BMO last month, but I knew their numbers would move the other banks today - and both BNS and NA got a nice lift.  Thanks BMO.

2- Canada’s finance minister announced yesterday that the federal government deficit will be greater than predicted. And Canada’s unemployment claims continue to rise sharply - March claims rose 10.6% and are up 36% during the past year. More and more folks are losing their jobs. Not good.

3- Yesterday one of my income funds - SDT.UN - announced they are "seeking approval to convert from a closed-end investment fund to an open-end mutual fund".  After this news came out, the fund bounced up 13%.  My policy is to never own something I don't understand and to be honest, I don't fully understand the new structure, or the implications tax-wise.  I need to do some homework.

4- This isn't really biz news, but I had a local realtor take a look at the condo yesterday.  I was curious about his thoughts on price, market conditions, etc.  Turns out he's big into investing as well.  In fact we discussed the condo for maybe 20 minutes then spent almost an hour talking about investing.  I also told him about Project Gypsy.  He commented that his wife would love to do that (buy/live in an RV) but it probably wouldn't be too good for his real estate business  :)

More Project Gypsy News

Now that the condo is ready for sale, Project Gypsy is becoming very real.

Our plan to buy/live in an RV for a year is getting closer and I've been reading everything I get my hands on about full-time RV living.  We'll likely buy a little piece of rural BC land to park it on, so I can have a garden.  And maybe a chicken.

And we want to spend winters exploring the southern USA and Mexico.  

I recently set up a Google Alert to get all the latest blog posts and online stories about RV living.  The most interesting alert this weekend has been an online newspaper article about folks taking advantage of the cheap RV lifestyle and sunny Venice Beach (California) weather. 

"Amid the depressed economy, uninvited RV dwellers – long part of Venice's bohemian character – are multiplying. Their presence is testing the patience of an eclectic town renowned for tolerance.

Residents, fed up with drinking, garbage and an increase in rusty, beaten-down crash pads on wheels, are seeking to oust the vehicles from in front of homes and businesses."

You can read the entire Peter Hecht article here.  And I love the above photo taken by Jill Connelly for the Sacramento Bee - it totally captures the story, a long row of RV's in the sideview mirror.

FYI:  We have no intention of abusing the lifestyle and just parking our RV in front of someones house.  Unless of course they have a really nice garden ... and a hot tub :) 

#5 on the 99 RV Things List

You've probably noticed our list is coming together verrrrry slowly. 

When we first decided to move ahead with Project Gypsy, I knew there was a limit on what we could carry around in the RV because of the teeny living space.  My Fella and I decided that we would have only 99 'joint' items on the list. 

But I've since learned that it's not just about space limitations.  Weight matters too.

For insurance related reasons, every RV has weight restrictions.  If your fifth wheel is too heavy for the truck that's towing it, you:

• waste gas

• have a problem towing uphill, and braking when traveling downhill

• will be denied insurance coverage if you crash

I've probably over-simplified this, but that's how I understand it.

Anyway, back to the 99 RV Things list.  It's clear we won't have a problem staying below our weight allowance since I have only been able to come up with 5 items so far:

#1 - The Glue That Holds Us Together on road trips.  A.k.a. our GPS system.

#2 Spanish crib board (the game was actually born English, but we count in Spanish) 

#3 - rice cooker.  We eat a lot of brown rice which is tough to cook on the stovetop.  Mi amigo Calypso has tried to convince me that I don't need a rice cooker.  If he ever tastes my rice, he'll realize that not only do I need it, I should never leave home without it  :)

#4 - Our slow cooker.  Heavy but energy efficent.  It will replace several pots.

#5 - My Fellas rolling desk/computer cart.  He got this for Christmas one year (we're very practical in our gift giving) because he needed a rollaway computer area.  This has turned out to be so handy - it looks good, it's lightweight and rolls anywhere.  

Not sure why I'm sitting here, smugly clutching my little list.  It's been 3 months and I'm only up to item #5. 

Another RV Search

We went on another RV search this morning.

And on the way home we passed this RV park right on the lake.  Not very private, but it's a gorgeous setting.  Project Gypsy awaits.