Assets, that is. Cash producing assets.
It has struck me that I'm going to be bored come March. Bored and, truthfully, not quite wealthy enough to have passive incomes > expenditures.
I could get another job in addition to the gardening/farming I'm going to be doing. I'm planning on buying a couple or three apple trees. And I really need to do something about those trees along the edge of our property that are taller than the phone cables.
I may/might/probably will get another job. I have too much time on my hands as it is (someone who reads this would disagree, but that's another story!). I quite fancy... bookkeeping. Don't laugh. It's a needed skill - small businesses rely on their friendly neighbourhood bookkeeper. I like numbers and spreadsheets.
But all that aside. It's snowy out. I'm looking... south, for inspiration.
Yes, far south, where it's almost.. desert like. A huge country, currently suffering a real estate crunch, where decent family homes can be picked up for a third of the price of one here, a fifth the price of one "back home".
Not luxury, not a mansion, but a small, decent house.
I March I believe I will be taking the Crown Vic on the road to sunnier climes, looking for The One.
Actually it'll be the One number Three. The question is: Can I find a nice, solid, easily rentable "unit" that is at once both much nicer than the places I already own, and considerably cheaper?!
It'll give a purpose to my trip, anyway. There are lots of considerations (tax, management, currency issues), but probably nothing more significant than moving continent, which I have already done.
I will be able to apply for Canadian citizenship in just over a year, I think (crikey). And Canadians can visit the US for anything up to half the year.
It's only snowy here for (December, January, February, a bit of March, plus the occasional snowstorm in April) four months. That gives me a whole two months of leeway!
And if it goes well, I might buy more than one.
Next year's goal might be: Buy one property on every permanently inhabited continent!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Monday, December 17, 2012
Good Times
I found out how to "resolve" my PayPal issue - simple. Don't log in to PayPal at all, just enter your credit card info. So I'll probably cancel my account with them soon!
Yesterday I bought a car. A 2003 Ford Crown Victoria, with 230,000km on the clock. It'd be better if the mileage was lower but... at the price I paid, I can't complain. These cars are supposed to be "bulletproof" - run into the ground by taxi companies, and half a million + km (there was one for sale recently with about 750,000km on it!).
So next on the shopping list - winter tires. Then a tow hitch. Oh, and a radio!
It was a "fun" drive out to see the car yesterday, actually - it started snowing as we left on our journey to Deep River, and got progressively worse. We followed snowploughs, got overtaken by crazy SUVs driving 20kph faster than the speed limit on snowy roads.
We also got to eat lunch in the Bear's Den - awesome!
Yesterday I bought a car. A 2003 Ford Crown Victoria, with 230,000km on the clock. It'd be better if the mileage was lower but... at the price I paid, I can't complain. These cars are supposed to be "bulletproof" - run into the ground by taxi companies, and half a million + km (there was one for sale recently with about 750,000km on it!).
So next on the shopping list - winter tires. Then a tow hitch. Oh, and a radio!
It was a "fun" drive out to see the car yesterday, actually - it started snowing as we left on our journey to Deep River, and got progressively worse. We followed snowploughs, got overtaken by crazy SUVs driving 20kph faster than the speed limit on snowy roads.
We also got to eat lunch in the Bear's Den - awesome!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Musings
It's been a funny week. Some bad news from back home has left me a little melancholy. The snow, that went away for a week, is now back, though I am now prepared with a snow shovel and a bag of salt.
On the plus side, a quick look on rightmove.co.uk shows two houses roughly the same as my one in the UK have sold recently, and they were listed for 10k more than I paid for mine. What was *paid* I don't know, but the two facts - sold, listed for more than mine - are encouraging. Even if I don't actually want to sell my house right now, it's nice to have options.
I've been pondering investments quite a lot. Realising that I probably shouldn't be "investing" all that much as I simply don't need to take the risk. Buying stocks is a little too much like fun, like gambling. If one can remain entirely rational, mechanical it's ok - if you have a job with a steady wage, and plan to have for several years, it makes sense to set up a monthly purchase.
I don't. I have 2 or 3 months of contract work, and then, perhaps, some more "bits and pieces" but nothing firm. After that... some minimum wage work digging holes in fields, growing tasty and nutritious vegetables. Not enough will be left over from that to fully cover my living expenses, let alone invest!
Sadly, my wife and I have come to the conclusion we can get by with only one vehicle. That means I don't get to buy a beautiful Crown Victoria, but rather will walk to the supermarket except on the really snowy days, when I'll... delay walking to the supermarket until a less snowy day.
In fact we went in the car yesterday and spent about $76, including enough toilet roll and cans of tomatoes to last until the snow goes away. Plus the aforementioned salt so the nice postman doesn't break his neck when bringing me 28c dividend cheques (don't ask).
The last couple of days have been much nicer in that there have been blue skies. I walked to the end of the road and looked at the river, today - something I do surprisingly infrequently. The water was black, and the road icy. It gets properly cleared down to the last intersection, but after us? Not so well.
So I'm pretty much wrapping up til April.
Our gas bill is about $75 and our electricity $60 in these cold months. Not too bad, I think. We do need to draftproof the windows and doors better, though!
I'm on/off/on/off with coffee. Can't seem to settle. On: I feel "human" and useful, but terribly headachey and sometimes sore stomachey; off I'm dopey, sleepy, and perhaps bashful as well. But (after a few days to get rid of withdrawal!) less headachey. Sore stomachey.. in a different way. Coffee seems to soothe as well as irritate.
Anyway, that's quite enough musing for one day.
Happy end of the world!
On the plus side, a quick look on rightmove.co.uk shows two houses roughly the same as my one in the UK have sold recently, and they were listed for 10k more than I paid for mine. What was *paid* I don't know, but the two facts - sold, listed for more than mine - are encouraging. Even if I don't actually want to sell my house right now, it's nice to have options.
I've been pondering investments quite a lot. Realising that I probably shouldn't be "investing" all that much as I simply don't need to take the risk. Buying stocks is a little too much like fun, like gambling. If one can remain entirely rational, mechanical it's ok - if you have a job with a steady wage, and plan to have for several years, it makes sense to set up a monthly purchase.
I don't. I have 2 or 3 months of contract work, and then, perhaps, some more "bits and pieces" but nothing firm. After that... some minimum wage work digging holes in fields, growing tasty and nutritious vegetables. Not enough will be left over from that to fully cover my living expenses, let alone invest!
Sadly, my wife and I have come to the conclusion we can get by with only one vehicle. That means I don't get to buy a beautiful Crown Victoria, but rather will walk to the supermarket except on the really snowy days, when I'll... delay walking to the supermarket until a less snowy day.
In fact we went in the car yesterday and spent about $76, including enough toilet roll and cans of tomatoes to last until the snow goes away. Plus the aforementioned salt so the nice postman doesn't break his neck when bringing me 28c dividend cheques (don't ask).
The last couple of days have been much nicer in that there have been blue skies. I walked to the end of the road and looked at the river, today - something I do surprisingly infrequently. The water was black, and the road icy. It gets properly cleared down to the last intersection, but after us? Not so well.
So I'm pretty much wrapping up til April.
Our gas bill is about $75 and our electricity $60 in these cold months. Not too bad, I think. We do need to draftproof the windows and doors better, though!
I'm on/off/on/off with coffee. Can't seem to settle. On: I feel "human" and useful, but terribly headachey and sometimes sore stomachey; off I'm dopey, sleepy, and perhaps bashful as well. But (after a few days to get rid of withdrawal!) less headachey. Sore stomachey.. in a different way. Coffee seems to soothe as well as irritate.
Anyway, that's quite enough musing for one day.
Happy end of the world!
PayPal: You stink
Currency Conversion. Section 8.8 (Additional Fees) is
being amended to state that when your payment is funded by a debit or
credit card and requires a currency conversion, you consent to and
authorize PayPal to convert the currency in place of your debit or
credit card issuer.
You just *stink*.
You just *stink*.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Snow!
Yup. That time of year again. It snowed on the weekend, and a bit today as well.
Hmm. It's nice - crisp and clear and cold out. The cars whoosh by when there is snow on the road.
But it does make walking tricky. Or I'm wearing the wrong kind of shoes. My super-duper hiking boots I bought for our trip three years ago are just too solid in the sole to give good grip. And my trainers are a bit leaky. I need some new boots, yes, that's it.
What do I wish to commit to internet-land, to Google's "not" evil clutches for all eternity (well, til the end of the world in a few weeks...). That my trainers leak?
What is there to be said? The world over, children are laughing or crying. Men and women are talking, sleeping, washing, thinking. Fucking. Flossing. Going faster and faster, but getting nowhere fast.
Palestine... ah Palestine. The story of Israel and Palestine would make a great book, if (rather like Robert Jordan, RIP) they could just get to the end. Well, no use going in to *that* here. None of my business. But oh I wish I could bang some heads together.
It's all about the little things, isn't it. Shall I drink coffee (gives me a headache, allows me to think about silly little things like programming more clearly), or not (withdrawal... few headaches but a fuzzyness of brain). Shall I buy a car... or a new laptop... or give away half my books...
I am learning to play the guitar, what a joy! Sore fingers. The guitar helps me sing, and the singing helps me play, who'd'a thunk it?
Life's good. I am warm, loved, free.
Hmm. It's nice - crisp and clear and cold out. The cars whoosh by when there is snow on the road.
But it does make walking tricky. Or I'm wearing the wrong kind of shoes. My super-duper hiking boots I bought for our trip three years ago are just too solid in the sole to give good grip. And my trainers are a bit leaky. I need some new boots, yes, that's it.
What do I wish to commit to internet-land, to Google's "not" evil clutches for all eternity (well, til the end of the world in a few weeks...). That my trainers leak?
What is there to be said? The world over, children are laughing or crying. Men and women are talking, sleeping, washing, thinking. Fucking. Flossing. Going faster and faster, but getting nowhere fast.
Palestine... ah Palestine. The story of Israel and Palestine would make a great book, if (rather like Robert Jordan, RIP) they could just get to the end. Well, no use going in to *that* here. None of my business. But oh I wish I could bang some heads together.
It's all about the little things, isn't it. Shall I drink coffee (gives me a headache, allows me to think about silly little things like programming more clearly), or not (withdrawal... few headaches but a fuzzyness of brain). Shall I buy a car... or a new laptop... or give away half my books...
I am learning to play the guitar, what a joy! Sore fingers. The guitar helps me sing, and the singing helps me play, who'd'a thunk it?
Life's good. I am warm, loved, free.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Digging in to Farming
These last two Saturdays I have been on a course in Ottawa called Digging in to Farming, specifically for people who are past the "mm I'd like to think about farming" but before the "I'm running this farm as a business right now" stage.
It was not a perfect fit for me, as I will - at least next year - be an employee rather than a business owner, but some of those tasks may fall to me and my partner in this venture, Lindsay. In some ways we are a venture within the parent organisation - a program, a subsection - and will have quite a bit of autonomy in terms of day to day. We'll have a budget, and unlike a small business won't unilaterally be able to go to the bank to raise money to invest in the business, and so on.
It was a very, very good course, though, and I did get a lot out of it. In fact a lot would help *anyone* starting a small business that is more complex than my current IT consultancy/freelance work - proper business plans were circulated, the talk was about financing, profit & loss, marketing, finding the right enterprise, and so on.
We had an amazing group of about 20-25 people, two seasoned farmers as primary tutors, plus a local farmer who has been running his own business for the last couple of years, after being farm manager before that.
The group was diverse in business ideas - and it really brought home that "farming" really is not a big enough word to encompass all the activities possible.
One "frightening" thing to me, in terms of scaring me off becoming a "proper farmer", is that it really is not just about working the land. Again, like any business, as it grows the proprietor will tend more to a managerial and administrative role.
I don't want that. I used the word "homestead" last week and I'm beginning to think that that is more what I am interested in. Have some land, grow food for myself and sell any excess (or preserve it), raise a couple of pigs for the manure and meat, a few chickens for eggs. Not... business plans, forecasting, analysis to show I can (probably) make money to pay off a bank loan.
So that's the rub. I want to be outside, growing stuff, making use of the land. Not in an office, dealing with HR, interns or employees, form-filling and so on.
What is going through my head right now is that a) if I did run a business I would categorically NOT want it to grow - I would want it to be small enough that I could manage most of it myself, with MAYBE some hired help at peak times, and b) if I go the homesteading route, I could spend my life saving money - "earning" money by only rarely having to go to the supermarket, and perhaps selling the occasional bag of veg to the neighbours.
As they said at the course, realising that you do NOT want to run a farm business is just as much a success for the course and helping people realise they actually do.
I have next year mostly tied up (small CSA work two days a week, soapstone workshops now and again), but there will be lots of spare time. Just trying to work out... what to do with it.
I might just buy a small piece of land, plant an orchard and nut trees, and "potter" - grow veg. And the economics be damned. Good luck to the small farmers making a go of it. I'm just seriously thinking the business management side of it is not for me.
It does rather make me laugh - do all the work of figuring out your business, show you have a high likelihood of turning a profit, work like a demon, and the bank will probably lend you money at a rate of 4, 5, 6%. Where after your costs you might make 2 or 3%. Including the countless hours most farmers don't really count up.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just lazy. But have you seen the profit banks make in Canada?!
Do I "love farming"? Maybe, maybe not. But I know if I was out working 12 hour days to make debt repayments I would be extremely bitter. So perhaps this is not for me.
Just thinking all that through makes the course absolutely worthwhile, and if you are considering running a business of any type I couldn't recommend a proper, industry-related course like this one enough.
Huge thanks to FarmStart for putting it on. I know a lot of people got a lot of different things from the two days!
It was not a perfect fit for me, as I will - at least next year - be an employee rather than a business owner, but some of those tasks may fall to me and my partner in this venture, Lindsay. In some ways we are a venture within the parent organisation - a program, a subsection - and will have quite a bit of autonomy in terms of day to day. We'll have a budget, and unlike a small business won't unilaterally be able to go to the bank to raise money to invest in the business, and so on.
It was a very, very good course, though, and I did get a lot out of it. In fact a lot would help *anyone* starting a small business that is more complex than my current IT consultancy/freelance work - proper business plans were circulated, the talk was about financing, profit & loss, marketing, finding the right enterprise, and so on.
We had an amazing group of about 20-25 people, two seasoned farmers as primary tutors, plus a local farmer who has been running his own business for the last couple of years, after being farm manager before that.
The group was diverse in business ideas - and it really brought home that "farming" really is not a big enough word to encompass all the activities possible.
One "frightening" thing to me, in terms of scaring me off becoming a "proper farmer", is that it really is not just about working the land. Again, like any business, as it grows the proprietor will tend more to a managerial and administrative role.
I don't want that. I used the word "homestead" last week and I'm beginning to think that that is more what I am interested in. Have some land, grow food for myself and sell any excess (or preserve it), raise a couple of pigs for the manure and meat, a few chickens for eggs. Not... business plans, forecasting, analysis to show I can (probably) make money to pay off a bank loan.
So that's the rub. I want to be outside, growing stuff, making use of the land. Not in an office, dealing with HR, interns or employees, form-filling and so on.
What is going through my head right now is that a) if I did run a business I would categorically NOT want it to grow - I would want it to be small enough that I could manage most of it myself, with MAYBE some hired help at peak times, and b) if I go the homesteading route, I could spend my life saving money - "earning" money by only rarely having to go to the supermarket, and perhaps selling the occasional bag of veg to the neighbours.
As they said at the course, realising that you do NOT want to run a farm business is just as much a success for the course and helping people realise they actually do.
I have next year mostly tied up (small CSA work two days a week, soapstone workshops now and again), but there will be lots of spare time. Just trying to work out... what to do with it.
I might just buy a small piece of land, plant an orchard and nut trees, and "potter" - grow veg. And the economics be damned. Good luck to the small farmers making a go of it. I'm just seriously thinking the business management side of it is not for me.
It does rather make me laugh - do all the work of figuring out your business, show you have a high likelihood of turning a profit, work like a demon, and the bank will probably lend you money at a rate of 4, 5, 6%. Where after your costs you might make 2 or 3%. Including the countless hours most farmers don't really count up.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just lazy. But have you seen the profit banks make in Canada?!
Do I "love farming"? Maybe, maybe not. But I know if I was out working 12 hour days to make debt repayments I would be extremely bitter. So perhaps this is not for me.
Just thinking all that through makes the course absolutely worthwhile, and if you are considering running a business of any type I couldn't recommend a proper, industry-related course like this one enough.
Huge thanks to FarmStart for putting it on. I know a lot of people got a lot of different things from the two days!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Bath
What luxury. Steaming hot water, peace, quiet.
But at what cost? We have an old, electric hot water tank. Surely *using it* is non-ecofriendly?
Well, with the wonderful Hydro One Time of Usage meters, I can see exactly how much - down to the hour - how much electricity I'm using.
Last night I ran a bath at about 3 minutes to 7pm. The ToU meter shows 4.06kWh for 7-8pm last night.
7pm is when off-peak clicks in here, so assuming little other power usage happened in that hour (it didn't - just the usual, fridge, fan for the forced air system), a bath costs about 4kWh. With a 20 year old hot water tank.
The cost of that bath is about 25 cents, then. Our average daily usage is about 10kWh, maybe a touch higher. I can certainly see that our forced-air system is using a few kWh per day - our lowest usage in the last month has been 6-7kWh compared to 3-4 earlier in the year.
What can I do to save energy (save taking fewer baths - something I only do rarely anyway!)? Well, I put some insulating strip round the front door where there was a definite draft. I still need to block the old letterbox and cover the single-pane window on the front door. And put some stripping round the back door.
The old water tank could be replaced by a much more efficient version, but I believe it would be uneconomical to do so - I will do it when this one blows up. Our average daily hot water usage is probably in the region of 2kWh. Cutting this in half... just not worth it.
We need better curtains; we could use a fancy new furnace with a better thermostat (the current one is entirely manual, so I have to turn it down when I go to bed, meaning it's chilly til someone gets up and turns it up in the morning!). Again, we'll replace the furnace when the current one dies as the savings are unlikely to ever be paid back.
Our gas bill for the last month was about $70 but they estimated high, I think. It'll be interesting to see if this goes above $100 in the midst of winter - probably. The system is only heating the house by 10-15 degrees C at the moment, and will have to work twice as hard when it gets really cold. I guess the snow will add insulation though. We'll see.
Yes. That is all.
But at what cost? We have an old, electric hot water tank. Surely *using it* is non-ecofriendly?
Well, with the wonderful Hydro One Time of Usage meters, I can see exactly how much - down to the hour - how much electricity I'm using.
Last night I ran a bath at about 3 minutes to 7pm. The ToU meter shows 4.06kWh for 7-8pm last night.
7pm is when off-peak clicks in here, so assuming little other power usage happened in that hour (it didn't - just the usual, fridge, fan for the forced air system), a bath costs about 4kWh. With a 20 year old hot water tank.
The cost of that bath is about 25 cents, then. Our average daily usage is about 10kWh, maybe a touch higher. I can certainly see that our forced-air system is using a few kWh per day - our lowest usage in the last month has been 6-7kWh compared to 3-4 earlier in the year.
What can I do to save energy (save taking fewer baths - something I only do rarely anyway!)? Well, I put some insulating strip round the front door where there was a definite draft. I still need to block the old letterbox and cover the single-pane window on the front door. And put some stripping round the back door.
The old water tank could be replaced by a much more efficient version, but I believe it would be uneconomical to do so - I will do it when this one blows up. Our average daily hot water usage is probably in the region of 2kWh. Cutting this in half... just not worth it.
We need better curtains; we could use a fancy new furnace with a better thermostat (the current one is entirely manual, so I have to turn it down when I go to bed, meaning it's chilly til someone gets up and turns it up in the morning!). Again, we'll replace the furnace when the current one dies as the savings are unlikely to ever be paid back.
Our gas bill for the last month was about $70 but they estimated high, I think. It'll be interesting to see if this goes above $100 in the midst of winter - probably. The system is only heating the house by 10-15 degrees C at the moment, and will have to work twice as hard when it gets really cold. I guess the snow will add insulation though. We'll see.
Yes. That is all.
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