Step 3 - Party all the time

Okay, Step 3 isn't party all the time, but if I wrote "Step 3 - Budget" no one would click the link.

So Step 3 is "Live below your means."

Huh? Ya, it's pretty simple - spend less than you earn. Most people who are having a hard time doing this really only have two options: 1) Pay cash for everything, or 2) Budget.

Sounds easy enough now, but the first time I heard that I had all kinds of excuses like: I have too much debt, I can't afford to pay cash, a budget is too restricting, I should get paid more money.

Well it took me 2 years at about $250 a month to our accountant to get me into the habit of budgeting well and it was worth every penny. At the time, I said I didn't have an extra $50 a month but during that two years, I paid the $250 easily, along with approximately $38,000 in debt.

Budgeting bought me the freedom to quit my full-time job and work several "dream jobs" last year and still take 4 months off. So, for me, budgeting equals freedom. You don't see those words together often. This year, unless I tighten the strings a little more, we will ONLY have about 7 weeks off, not including 3 day weekends.

Step 3: Budget. Start now with guestimates. Don't be too hard on yourself, but conscientiously track where you go over. If you choose, you can change it next month. Don't forget to allocate set-asides for things that don't occur every month like car repairs, car registration, clothing - even if it can only be a few dollars a month.

What I Don't Want to Do, as a Career!

I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.

John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler from the original motion picture "Say Anything..."

On Being Normal

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car, and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.

Ellen Goodman

What's Your Walkability Score?

Mine is a 98 - Walker's Paradise. This is no accident; I am not merely lucky. When we moved to Seattle, we were very careful to find a neighborhood full of things we enjoy - active lifestyle, like-minded people and walking distance amenities. We can actually afford to pay more to live in a beautiful home by getting out in the fresh air and walking more often.

Next time you plan a move, check out this website first to find a highly walkable neighborhood. If you are not sure why you want a walkable neighborhood, click here.

Hooray for human-powered locomotion. Come on, baby, do the (human-powered) locomotion!!!

I'm interested in your neighborhood's Walkability Score. Let me know by posting a comment to this post with your city, neighborhood and score.

I'm off for a slow, relaxing walk with my wife...

Without a car in the world!

The pun in the title obviously pulled me right in to this article, by Jane Holtz Kay. Of course being car-free sounds care-free, but is it truly possible? I had to find out. I need examples before I can trust an idea so exciting. Here's a shocking realization from this article:

"The young man who drove me to the airport says he lives thirty miles from school, a one-hour drive each way," I record Solomon's words in my book. "His 2-l/2-year old truck has 78,000 miles on it and he hasn't been anywhere. Fifty times the Odyssey, eight times the travels of Marco Polo, how many hundreds of times the walks of Leopold Bloom? And with what density of experience, what learned in his 78,000 mile journey?"

Do we really drive that much without going ANYWHERE? Fifty times the distance of the Odyssey, that puts something in perspective!

And how about this quote, after describing some of the difficulties associated with being car-free on a long work trip,

But the worst of it for harassed and auto-dependent Americans was that the curse of my car-less trip was no more burdensome than if I had depended on an automobile for the same trip. In fact, a car would have caused as many bumps and hazards in the driving and wayfinding, not to mention a few more in parking, tolls and other expenses. Such is the state of transportation in the most auto-moted nation in the world.

But my wife and I really need a car! I have used it to drive to work those few times I felt too sick or lazy to ride. I could have taken the bus, but that laziness won't let me get there on time. Well, according to this, commuting doesn't use the most miles.

A true recognition of how people use the motor vehicle eases others into realizing they can get by without using one. The reason they need a car, most drivers say is to get to work and take vacations. Since two-thirds of all Americans live in metropolitan areas, and spend ten 40-hour weeks a year driving to work, that sounds reasonable. Not completely, though, as the Nationwide Personal Transportation Study breakdown... reported: only 22 percent of our vehicle miles are used to go to work; only 8 percent to vacation travel. The rest is errands, recreation, taking unlicensed family members--kids and elderly or disabled--where they cannot get. Whoever coined the term "Soccer Mom" should have called her "Soccer Chauffeur." And, dad, as well."

I am fortunate on that point, because we do most of our shopping by foot with the grocery store only 5 blocks away.

Traveling by car certainly is convenient, and I always thought, relatively inexpensive, until I began to look for the hidden costs.

The infamous two-hour trek to work of, say, the Southern California commuters may be a work necessity; but it may also be a financial choice funded by hidden subsidies from cheap gas, to parking, to petroleum subsidies, to $93 billion spent annually on state, federal and local roads.

Our artificially-priced gas cost of $l.25 or so is a quarter of Japan or Europe's $4 to $5. By paying the true cost of petroleum, other countries spend half our twenty percent of the GDP on the private car and can thus afford decent public transportation.

If you are interested in reading the entire article, you can find it here.