Bowing to the Oil gods

As I become increasingly interested in the idea of self-sufficiency I am taking an ever closer look at where my money goes. I came to a startling realization today when I realized just how much of my money ends up in the hands of the oil companies.

Between what it costs me to heat my house and what I spend on gas throughout the year I am probably spending about 20% of my yearly income on oil! And that is just what I spend directly on it, that's not even beginning to scratch the surface of indirect costs from other goods and services.

Like millions of others I am definitely feeling the need to begin to look elsewhere for energy. Nevermind the fact that the US has more than enough of its own oil but we can't have it because the politicians are afraid of the environmentalists.

There are a few other options out there that I am researching. I'll let you know what I find out.

PRODUCTIVITY UPDATE: Well this week I ended with 19 points out of 33 on my Productivity Points System. That's not in the 20s like I had hoped but 19 is still my best score yet. Perhaps this week I will finally break that 20 mark?

Finding Your Inner-MacGyver

I admit it, I'm a big fan of MacGyver. I grew up watching the reruns on cable and recently purchased the first two seasons on dvd. I always appreciated his resourcefulness in the face of danger. Well when it comes to self-sufficiency hopefully you can find a little bit of MacGyver inside yourself. Sure you may not be outwitting East Germans or "state of the art" computer systems from the mid-eighties but I'm sure there are plenty of things in your daily life that you could be tackling yourself if you tried.

Just this morning my the metal frame around one of the lenses on my glasses broke. I went to the store and ordered new glasses but I won't have them for a week. So I decided to try sodering them back together. I've never sodered anything in my life but for some reason had a cheap soder gun and some electrical soder. I was able to successfully put my glasses together with what is at least a temporary fix. This little MacGyverism didn't save me any money but it did save me some inconvenience.

The Housing "Crisis"

Okay so a whole bunch of homeowners signed mortgages without really looking at the details and now they are finding out that they really can't afford the payments and they are all losing their houses...I feel bad for their kids and maybe a little bit for them too but really it's their own fault for not spending within their means.

Thank goodness big government is here to rescue us. The democratic candidates in this presidential election are making all sorts of financial promises pledging billions to this and billions to that and there are millions of people sitting there saying "yeah, that's great give us lots of money." Well where is that money coming from?? Obama has pledged $30 billion in aid to homeowners, and people are so dumb not to think about the fact that that money is just coming out of their pockets in the form of taxes anyway. And what about those of us aren't in this situation? Why are we paying for their financial mistakes? The democrats have already promised to raise taxes and they are gonna need to if they are going to deliver on all of financial promises. They are essentially buying votes if you think about it.

I don't normally stray into politics on here but it seemed appropriate.

Deflating Your Income

As inflation increases and the value of the dollar continues to tumble the amount of money that the company you are working for is paying you is worth less and less. This reality hit me for the first time last month when after recently starting a new job I realized that the money I agreed to get paid to work for them for was now worth less than when I had started only a month previous.

At times like these when inflation runs rampant, companies raise prices on goods and services to ensure that they aren't losing anything. What they do not do however is raise the wages of their employees accordingly. So these big corporations end up making even more profit than before while people like you and I only grow poorer and have less buying power.

Don't expect it to ever be a reality but a if any nation were ever to have a fair wage system it would include wages that fluctuate with the value of whatever the currency of that nation is.

PRODUCTIVITY UPDATE: Well last week I again ended with 18 points again out of 33 on my Productivity Points chart, with similar scores in the same categories. I'm really gonna shoot for at least the low 20's this week.

Money Management

Something I haven't really touched on so far in this ongoing blog journey of mine is the topic of money management. Every day you hear news reports about America's growing debt and people being tens of thousands of dollars in debt to credit card companies and not being able to pay their mortgage and now expecting the government to help them out. The majority of the people that fall into the categories that I just mentioned obviously have no concept of managing their money and spending within their means. To achieve independence from the rat race and independence from relying on others to do everything for you, you must take care of your money. You must know where its coming from and where its going. Make a balanced budget and stick to it. Utilize the budget to explore areas of excess spending that can be trimmed back or areas to potentially make some extra money.

At my previous job my boss, who made two to three times what I was and his wife brought in a good deal of money too, was always complaining about money issues and not being gable to pay the bills. Between the two of them they were both bringing in more than 100k! There's no excuse for this kind of poor fiscal planning. I've seen so many examples of people who make a great deal more than I do but have nothing to show for it simply because of their spending habits.

If you find yourself in this kind of situation then read these next few lines very carefully. You can change course. You can turn your fortunes around but you have to be willing to do the work that gets you financially fit again. The best advice I can give you is to got buy a copy of The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. The book will impart wisdom to you that you may be lacking and help you find a way to get back on your feet.

Preparing the Garden

Okay we are bad gardeners, I admit it. But we can change really we can. This year we are trying the concept of Lasagna Gardening. Wherein you lay wet cardboard down over the area you are planning to use for your garden and then you cover that in layers of organic material such as compost and other things. This in turn smothers all the grass and weeds underneath and leaves you with a rich medium to plant in on top. That's the idea anyway. We'll see how it works.

This year we are planting a lot more variety than previous years. All part of my pursuit of self-sufficiency.

Productivity Update

Well last week was my most successful yet with the Productivity Points project. I had a total of 18 points out of 33 (I added two more possible points through the course of the week). It may not sound like a very good score but my previous high was only 13 so it was a vast improvement.

There are still areas though that I haven't been scoring any points in that need some more attention to try to change that but overall it was a very good week. I'm gonna shoot for 20 this week.