Unkigiash Visits!

He is here in TX, and hath brunged baggage!

Observe!

This is his friend Kristen or Christin or something. They are here to party for the weekend and they brought their dog too.

A little something for those with debt and Netflix

Disclaimer - this is something I stumbled upon in my files which I obviously copied from somewhere probably here:

Then think about this fact. If you cancel a $20 monthly bill and instead apply that $20 to your credit card bill (that has a balance of $5,000, a 12% interest rate, and a $100 minimum payment), you’d turn 302 payments of $100 a pop into 55 payments of $120 a pop (I used the minimum payment calculator to get this number). Your credit card balance would disappear in about four and a half years instead of twenty five years, just by getting rid of that Netflix account.

WOW! Gives you a new appreciation for keeping those little monthly recurring expenses low doesn't it. This applies to more than just CC debt (think about car loans, home loans, student debt, etc - although these tyopes of loans typically have lower interest rates and thereby would demonstrate a less drastic effect) and Netflix isn't the only culprit in the game of little monthly recurring expenses (think about cell phones, extra bandwidth for your internet service, cable TV, etc.)

Anyway - just some food for thought.

Fiscal Policy

While going through some old paperwork today, I was surprised to be reminded of the full extent of the foolishness of my former ways. I had forgotten both the quantity and the gravity of stupid financial decisions I used to make. As I went through old statements and receipts, I found too many over-the-limit fees, finance charges, late fees, etc. It really was surprising because Jessica and I have basically been running without any of that sort of thing for so long. We do use credit cards, but we pay them off every month. I am a regular follower of the folks over at the "Get Rich Slowly" blog and the author there is always talking about avoiding those types of stupid charges and I don't really ever give it much thought, so it was kind of interesting to look back at the old statements and see that I too used to be a victim of poor financial management.

Looking back, I can't really recall any sort of magical moment that changed me other than getting married to Jessica. She was absolutely mortified at the debt she "inherited" when we were married. I had racked up about 10 or 14 thousand dollars (pathetic that I can't even remember how much it was) in student loans. I can't think of anything else that might have triggered the change. My wife was my financial salvation. Until today, I have taken that for granted with an attitude that "we" have had good luck with maintaining our finances. Turns out, I just have a good leader to follow and she does a great job of keeping on top of all the bills. She is a fantastic money-manager.

Thanks Jessica!

For those of you who don't have a handy Jessica around to whip you into shape, the Get Rich Slowly blog has all the info & techniques you'll need to get started on your own. Not to steal GRS's thunder, but I summarize their formula as follows:

• Retreat from "consumerism"
• Eliminate debt
• Develop and follow a budget
• Save up a rainy-day fund
• Save up for big purchases (rather than going into debt to buy)

We're still working on getting a real solid handle on a some of these so I am not trying to hold us up as the shining example or anything (we still have debt, we still have an addiction to consumerism (although it is a bit easier to fight since we live so far from the centers of it,) our rainy day fund is currently anemic, etc.) but I can see the logic in the techniques and aspire to someday have complete control over our finances.

Betrayal

It has been a rough day. As I sit here nursing the wounds left over from a stabbing to the back by a long-time employee and friend which may well contribute to costing me my job, I am trying to figure out how to put a positive spin on things. I guess the good news is that a new opportunity seems to have put itself in my way right at the right time. I guess that is the good thing about life - it always seems to find a way to mix things up and keep it interesting.

hmmmm...as I re-read the above, I can see that I have failed miserably at keeping this positive. Here's another attempt. My wonderful family loves me, the weather is real nice these days and I still have my freedom.

Onward and upward.

Snakes

I have always told folks that we haven't seen a lot of snakes out here...surprisingly few as a matter of fact. I don't know what it is about the last few weeks, but they seem to have come out. We killed a 4-foot long black snake in the lawn last week and found this little garter snake (who bites and throws a fit like he is some sort of pit viper) tonight when we dumped a mosquito-infested stock tank. The kids seem to be having fun with the snakes though.


In other news, I finished modifying this little trailer. It was a free boat trailer (for a Hobie Cat catamaran) I picked up off craigslist. I don't think I have any pictures of the original trailer, but you can imagine: the original had carpet covered boat runners, about five feet of additional tongue length, a winch mounted on the tongue on a big tall mast, no gate, no side rails, no floor, no lights, etc. I was thinking about keeping the trailer until I realized that it is not wide enough to even get our 4-wheeler or our riding lawnmower in. What use is a trailer like that? Anyway, it is going back on Craigslist - this time for sale for a couple o hunert bucks.

A Real Cowgirl

Charly (unkygiash's jersey steer) was standing around eating so I threw Winter on his back and to my surprise, he could have cared less. Winter was pretty stoked.





Since Charly was so cool about it, we decided to try out the saddle. It was great! It got too dark to take any pictures, but we saddled him up, threw on a halter and walked Winter around the yard a bit. He is still learning to walk on a lead rope, so it was a bit of a tugging match, but he didn't seem to care much at all about the rider on his back and hey, it was his first day under the saddle. Maybe with a bit of work....

"Socks" the Bull

I figure with coloration like this little guy has, you can't help but call him "socks" right? Or am I wrong? If you have a better (more bullish) name suggestion, let it be known ASAP.