Upendilife

Reevaluating My 2013 Goals

2013-05-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

Remember these???

I did a lot of thinking over the last couple months on my life. I thought about what I had achieved, what I want to achieve, what I truly care about, how I feel about my present self and my current situation, what I want, and what goals do I have in place to get what I want and where I want to be.

This thinking of course brought me to my "13 goals for 2013". The last time I actively looked at these and reviewed my progress was probably in February. Why is that? I asked myself. It turns out to be quite simple, and I won't try to sugar coat it in any way... The simple, ugly truth is...

I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THOSE GOALS I MADE.

Not one bit... Those goals I wrote don't match what I truly want or care about right now, and they don't even fully align with what I want in the future (short or long term). Yes they are helpful positive goals; but that's all they have going for them. To be honest, they are just a list of things that I would like to do or wouldn't mind doing that I came up with during the high of the new year. We are almost halfway through now and I can openly admit I don't care or basically never cared about them.

So that now means I am in a position where I need to create new goals; goals I truly care about and that matter to me. It is no longer 13 goals. it has been simplified and brought down to 3.

Grow my net worth yearly(I guess I did care about one of the goals)
Travel once every year starting from now (first trip 2014)
Move out of my mom's house and live on my own.

Those are the 3 goals. With those, I can break them down into mini-goals and milestones and I am more likely to achieve them as those three goals reflect actively what I want, they also align more closely with the seven year plan I talked about back in March (I should have realized then that I didn't care about my 2013 goals, took me 2 months). I'm going to take them and create some mini-goals to aim for during the reminder of 2013. Stay tuned... I'll keep you posted.

Tech, Tech, and more Tech

2013-05-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

A couple months ago, I was in a battle with myself about either buying a tablet or a HDTV. If you read that post, you would know at that point that I decided against them both. Fast forward to the present and things changed quite a lot.

I kinda own them both now and I don't feel even a tad bit of regret... at least not yet, but I'm pretty sure I won't in the future either. I also broke one of my easiest 2013 goals which was not to buy a new phone or a new computer unless my current ones broke (which they haven't).

Let's start with the tablet. I decided to forgo the tablet for now and instead decided to upgrade my smartphone. I'm a tech junkie at heart and my current phone is outdated by current standards(it's a 2011 mid-range android model that I bought in 2012). Enter my mom now. She needed a new phone since her current phone(which was also mine at one point) is not reliable; it shuts down sometimes when you try to make or answer a call. Since she needed a phone and I wanted a phone, I told her she can buy mine(I know it seems cold) but she wouldn't have taken it for free. I gave her it at a steep discount, I could have sold it for $450 - $500 but I gave it to her for $150(she chose that amount). It means I took a huge loss buying a new phone because I could have sold my current one to subsidize the cost, but it's my mom so no worries. Back to the tablet. The main purpose I wanted a tablet was to open and browse documents at school if necessary. I figured why not just get a phone with a bigger screen; it should do what I want. I also wanted a camera so I picked a new phone with a pretty great camera by phone standards(12 megapixels - Sony). The new phone cost me around $520 out of pocket and I will get it at the end of the month. So now, instead of a tablet, I have a new phone with a bigger screen. Hopefully this should put me off buying a tablet for a little while longer.

Now for the TV. After more than two years of wanting an HDTV, I finally went out and bought one..... On CREDIT(dun dun dun). I didn't feel like forking out cash for the TV which cost $900; especially after buying a new phone. I bought it on store credit and so long as I pay it off in 3 months, I will get it interest free. Of course I plan to pay it off ASAP and I have currently decided to put savings on a hold and throw at least $100 week at the TV until it is paid off. I also bought a couple accessories; HDMI cables to hook my laptop, Xbox and phone to the new TV and a cheap case for the phone I found on eBay.

I don't have the full cost yet for all of my spending as I still have a few shipping charges to pay but overall, I think the final cost will be roughly $1500. Now don't go thinking that I've been completely reckless and went balling like a geek. $900 of this is spread out over 3 months and none of this came from my current savings which sits around the 2k mark. I also did work a bit of over time these past couple weeks and I intend to work some more in the coming weeks, especially since I don't want these purchases affecting my day to day living or have to great an impact on my future savings.

I think that just about covers everything when it comes to my crazy spending for May, and we haven't even completed 2 full weeks yet. It's going to be interesting to see how my net worth looks at the end of the month. Either ways, I'm happy with the stuff I bought.

Next post will be highlighting how all of this affects my 2013 goals.

Net Worth - May 1st 2013 & April Spending Review(Budget)

2013-05-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

Assets

Liquid Cash - $3212.11

Retirement - $5117.30

Stock - $732.00

Liabilities

Credit Card - $463.05

Net Worth - $8604.36

April was a really awesome month overall. Much better than the previous. My net worth went up by roughly $1000 and I came in under budget. There isn't much else I can report about April's finances specifically so all I can do now is give myself a pat on the back for doing so awesome and a big smile.

I can however issue a warning. Today would be the 10th day of May and I've already spent a mob-o-tonne of money on "stuff". Updates to come and also my reevaluation of my 2013 goals.

Net Worth - April 1st 2013 & March Spending Review(Budget)

2013-05-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Assets

Liquid Cash - $2043.56

Retirement - $4805.10

Stocks - $732.00

Liabilities

Credit Card - $106.27

Net Worth = $7474.39

March was a terrible month when it came to my budget and spending. I went over in way to many categories and most that were within my control. The only excuses I have was that I bought two tickets to a birthday celebrity cruise to see one of my favourite musical artiste that was held here in Barbados and, I had a dentist appointment set from last year that I obviously don't budget for in any normal month. That excuses the overage in health and entertainment. The rest are at me.

Because Spending was so high though, my net worth actually dropped slightly from March. It dropped by $33 and even though that is minuscule, it is going in the wrong direction and I can't appreciate that. Even though spending was high, I did manage to move roughly $700 to my "longer term" savings, so that was good.

Overall, March was a heavy spending month and I am glad it past. April's update was much better so I will have that up soon.

Almost 4 Months of Freedom

2013-05-08T09:18:00.001-04:00

So it's been almost two months since my last blog post. I apologize for that but the truth is, I didn't have much to talk about. Couple that with the fact that school got tough and I still didn't put in enough effort because of rampant procrastination and the blog just fell by the wayside.

Even without the blog as a distraction though, I still didn't put much focus on school. I found other things to distract me and at one point I had even stopped caring about school and was reevaluating my choice. Exams are over now and I have a good amount of free time that I don't have to feel guilty about. When I had free time before, I used it unwisely and always felt like I should have been studying. Anyways, school is out of the way now and I think I still passed my subjects this semester, just not with A's.

Since my last post, a good amount of stuff went down, especially since the beginning of May and a lot of it has been financial (lots of spending). I've also reevaluated my 2013 goals and some other aspects of my life that I will share with you in the coming posts. It is sort of a shocker. I'll update the blog with everything though as I'm not that into hiding stuff and I need to man up to my decisions.

I'll start with my net worth for April and come forward from there. Most of it is interesting. At least to me. Stay tuned.

My Income Breakdown and Net Worth Average

2013-03-14T15:00:00.000-04:00

If you saw yesterday's post, you would know that I have been doing a lot of thinking about where I am at, where I want to go, and how I will get there. Money is a big part of the key and how I manage it will be a big determinant on how much I will achieve.

In yesterday's post, I stated that I was currently living in the now. By that, what I meant was that, I ~~have~~ had no short to medium term goals. Actually I had no real goals between now and retirement. All I knew is that I wanted to retire comfortably, hence I have a retirement savings account that I send money to every paycheck and that's it.

Why I got annoyed with this is because things that I consider small purchases, like a tablet or tickets to a show, I have to think really hard about. For someone living in the now, I don't have any real savings that I could use to splurge on these things, what little savings I have already have to go towards helping future yearly expenses like car insurance or semester fees for school. Which means every time I think about purchasing something, I have to remember that I don't have a lot to spend. Bigger than these small purchases are the larger dreams I have; like owning a home. I called it dream because if I change nothing now, it will remain just that, a dream. I have now moved that dream into my seven year plan so I have 7 years to achieve it; no more.

In order to get a better grasp of where I am at and what needs to change, I decided to compare myself to some averages and recommendations. Let's first look at my net worth. I got the following picture from Fabulously Broke a long time ago who got it from CNN I believe(I don't have the direct links to the original post, sorry).

I'm in the first category in both sections, I am under the age of 25 and my annual income is just under 25k. Judging from this, I'm doing pretty good. My net worth at the beginning of the month stood at $7507. This means I am well above average in both. Judging from this I should be happy but I don't feel that way. The bulk of my net worth is tied up in retirement... 60% to be exact. Which means 60% of my net worth is inaccessible and not easy to liquidate without serious penalties. This is annoying because retirement savings can't help with my current goals and money saved in retirement accounts can't be spent on "stuff". My future self better be much happier than I am now with the sacrifices I am making because it is getting hard.

Take a look at this next chart. I got this one from Money after Graduation who got it from Gail Vaz Oxlade. It is a suggestion for a balanced spending plan.

Take a look at where I stand. I used my 2012 spending for this.

I don't even know how to start with this one. When I first did it up, I was completely annoyed. I know that the suggestion from Gail is only a guideline and obviously my situation would not allow me to match that, but 40% of my NET income going to transport is ridiculous; and I have what would be considered a low maintenance car. The thing is too, my car is more of a need than a want at this time, given the hours I work, public transportation, safety and the fact that I work full time and attend university, my car is necessary. I think this part will need a post of it's own so stay tuned for that. I'll end here for now since I am getting annoyed again.

The Seven Year Plan & Living In The Now.

2013-03-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about my life and where it is going recently. I've been thinking about where I want it to go and what am I doing to get it there. What I realized is that I am basically living in the now.

Since I started working and I got on the personal finance train, the only thing I've really done considering the future is start saving for retirement, which I do through auto deductions. Besides that, I have an emergency fund of roughly $1000 and that's it. Everything outside of that for my future has just been a vague goal with no real plan of action. Things like owning a home, travelling, getting married and starting a family are things I want to do but in no way am I moving towards any of these things, and only recently when I started to look at things did it start to bug me.

I'm going to write a few more post related to this topic but for today, I want to introduce you to my Seven Year Plan. It is a short to medium term plan which highlights the main things I want to achieve by my 30th birthday. Here goes.

Own my own home(mortgage)
Be in a financial and emotional position to start a family if I choose to.
Do some travelling (5 trips in the next 7 years and many more after)

Those are the main objectives to achieve in the next 7 years. The challenge now comes with the fact that I still want to do some of the "normal" stuff 20 somethings do. I still want to go to events, buy new gadgets, and go out to eat and hang ever so often. I'm willing to sacrifice but only so much, so this is going to be really tough figuring out how to achieve all of this and be happy with it.

The next few post will be highlighting challenges, thoughts, feelings and ideas all related to this seven year plan.

P.S

This is totally unrelated but a few people asked in some comments so I'll just put it here for everyone to see. The cost of gas in Barbados right now is $3.15 per liter. That was the cost last time I filled up this week. Now before it gets confusing, the exchange rate for the BBS dollar to the US dollar is 2 US = 1 BBS. To make things easy, I'll do some conversions.

Gas cost $11.92 per gallon in Barbados prices.

That works out in US dollars to $5.88 per gallon which is ridiculous when compared to what I see on GasBuddy. I know I can't fully compare it by just numbers as they are other factors but still. Anyways, let me not dwell on this before I once again consider giving up my car.

Budget Review February

2013-03-06T11:20:00.000-04:00

This is the first time in a very long time that I came in under budget. Never mind a number of categories are in the red, my overall goal at the end of the month is to not go over the total budget. This is the reason why February was a great if not awesome month.

I am not stringent when it comes to particular categories and really all I use them for is a guide. Like I said, once I can come in under the total, I am a happy dude.

I'm so happy and also feeling quite lazy that I won't even go into great detail about why the categories were over. Just a quick reason.

Education - Needed to get a calculator and geometry set.
Car repairs - Little things added up but not to bad.
Eating out - This is roughly the same as last month. Like I said. $130 isn't totally realistic
Gifts - Same as always, I can't say no to some things.
Misc - I helped out a little with some house stuff
Gas - This deserves special mention because I came in under budget. UNBELIEVABLE.

And that's it.

I Can Buy Music Now

2013-03-05T11:20:00.000-04:00

I've been waiting a long time(years) to be able to purchase music digitally. From the time I learnt of iTunes, I kept wishing, hoping, and praying something like that would come to my little island Barbados. It is much cheaper than purchasing a physical album, especially here in Barbados where a new physical album starts at $60 average. Compare that to the $20 I would have to pay on iTunes and I just couldn't wait for that service or something similar to come along.

There was a short glimmer of hope when Amazon started selling digital albums, but alas, they wouldn't sell to my country. A few years went by and none of the two started selling music to Barbados.

I kept on waiting, a lot of this time I was on the dark side of music collection. It was great, but there was always a feeling I had about it that I didn't like until one day, I just decided to leave the dark side for good. I deleted all of my collection and did without. It was hard at first but youtube and the internet helped me through most of the time. I bought a couple albums on sale but not that many and I did slip for one or two songs but since crossing over from the dark side, it has been less than 20 and this is over a few years.

Getting back to the present, whenever the iPhone 4 launched a couple years back, it also launched here in Barbados officially and with it came the app store. My hope was back and I thought that meant I would be able to buy music. I downloaded and installed iTunes to find out harshly that only the app store was available to Barbados and music, movies and all the other goodies were not. I was torn but since the app store was here, I kept my hope up knowing that they would sooner or later start selling music.

I kept checking the website periodically watching to see if music was available. Sometime last month, something happened that made me check and I got the shock of my life. Music was available for purchase in Barbados. I felt an explosion of joy that night, it was already past midnight and I should have been sleeping but I was so excited. Even though my entertainment budget was spent for that month, I still went ahead and purchased my first, official album. That was $20 well spent and something I waited a very long time to do.

What I then realized was that iTunes opened a very dangerous bucket for me; but it turned out waiting so long had it's benefits. I decided to set up a budget of $20 per month to use on iTunes. That means every month, I could purchase one album or a few songs. This came with a lot of benefits.

It would keep me from over spending
I would have at least an entire month to listen to what I bought before getting new stuff
It gives me something to look forward to that brings me joy. Just thinking about what I will buy next month and adding singles to my wish list excites the crap out of me. I can't tell you how long it took for those 9 days to pass so that March could start so I could get more music.

Now I thought about how easy it was for me to spend $20 every month on iTunes. That's $240 a year I could be saving but.... I don't care. That amount is paltry compared to the joy I would get with spending it on music. It really has been a long wait and I am happy with the budget I set up and everything.

I was never too fond of Apple before but because of this gift they have given to me, I've warmed up a bit to them. The wait was really too long. This is also why I was swayed into purchasing an iPad mini over a nexus 7 as well but I still went back with the nexus 7 after thorough evaluation. Anyways. Thank you Apple. I've waited a really long time.

P.S

I did check Amazon the same night that I found out Apple had made music available and sadly amazon hasn't stepped up to the plate as yet.

TV? Tablet? Tablet? Future Goals?

2013-03-04T11:20:00.000-04:00

Last week I wrote a post about how I was tempted to go out and buy a new TV(which has been on my wants list for 2 years now) because of a sale I saw. Now another sale popped up in the same week and it had even better prices for the TV. I was sold at first and was going to go buy my new TV on Friday. I didn't though after a lot of thought on the decision.

First up was the cost. The one I chose cost $700. Just thinking about spending that much money in one go was eating at me. Now I had to option to split the cost over three months so the TV was extremely tempting now knowing I wouldn't have to fork out the full price right away. I really was sold on the TV but then I began to think about the $700 and began asking myself how many other things I could get for $700.

The first things that came to mind where my future goals; raising my net worth, travelling, etc. After thinking about those, I moved on to other wants. My other immediate want is a tablet. I've really been moved to get one since starting school last year but it just hasn't been a necessary expense as I can still get by without owning one. This semester, the need came back for one again and even stronger, as travelling with my laptop isn't as convenient. The tablet I had first settled on was the Google nexus 7. It will cost me about $450 give or take a few and it will do what I want. Recently though I've been swaying towards the iPad mini. I'm really no apple fan but something happened recently that I haven't mentioned yet on this blog that has swayed me slightly towards apple. Anyways. the iPad mini will cost me about $700. That's $250 more the nexus 7 and the same price as the TV, so you should see where this is going now.

The TV and the tablet will cost me the same $700 given I go for the iPad mini. When I looked at the uses practically, it became obvious that the tablet would be the more worthwhile purchase. It would make school more "convenient"(notice the choice of word), and I would use it more than I would the TV.

So I decided to get myself a tablet; but it had the same problem as the TV. I would have to fork out $700 and unlike the TV, I have to fork it out up front and I just couldn't stomach such a drop in my money now that I have finally been able to start growing it a bit. I decided to save for it, but that $700 price was still bugging me vs. the nexus 7's $450. Also playing against apple was the low quality screen which was really turning me off. Anyways, I sat down and read some comparison reviews on the iPad mini vs. the nexus 7 and tried to focus on what was really important to me, which was portability and the ability to read documents. In the end the nexus 7 won, not only on price but also in what was the main features I wanted. As much as I already have a phone running android and I wanted to "diversify" my technology, the apple wasn't the best for what I needed and the premium price didn't help it's battle either.

I have now decided on the nexus 7 and I was ready to order it. $450 dollars isn't as bad as $700 and I would be using it for school right? Right?

Sadly I didn't order it, at the end of the day, the cost was too much for me to handle at this point. My account is really close to having $1000 in it for the first time with nothing necessary to spend it on and I also didn't want my net worth to take that hit so easily. I decided to hold out for now and save separately for it, just like I was going to do for the TV before being tempted by another sale. I'm going to save the money and order it at the end of April. Given nothing drastic happens or changes, this isn't a bad date to get it; the semester will be over by then but I'll have it for the next one and I would have saved for it so I won't feel bad about spending the money either. The plan is to set aside $50 every week and not record that money in my net worth. It should help me avoid feeling bad about paying for it when April comes.

Anyways, this is the end of a long rant. Just wanted to share with you how my thought process is recently when it comes to buying things. Hope you enjoyed.

Net Worth - Mar 1st 2013

2013-03-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

Assets

Liquid Cash - $2221.03

Retirement - $4555.34

Stocks - $730.80

Liabilities

Credit Card - $0.00

Net worth = $7507.17

I'm going to make this update short and sweet. February was a great month. Awesome even. Nothing special or unplanned happened in February. Everything just went smooth and spending was under control for once. I ~~was~~ am tempted by a couple items I want but that's a story for another post. So far I have been resilient to the temptation. That's basically it for now. My net worth is up roughly $700 compared to last month and that is a great increase given my salary. That's 37% of my gross monthly salary.

Have a great weekend everyone. I love when a month starts on a Friday.

Not Much Posting Eh??

2013-02-28T19:23:00.002-04:00

Couldn't think of a title for this post but this is only just to let you know that I haven't gone anywhere. My posting is just sporadic and that's mainly for two reasons.

I've been busy juggling school and work
I haven't really had much interesting to post about or the time to really sit and write what I believe a good post

Anyways, for the last couple weeks I've been behind in classes and had a few mid semester exams scheduled. One is already finished and one more to go. Along with those I had some projects. Anyways, I was behind and I was playing catch up and then trying to refocus. I think I've done that now but now the challenge is to stay on top. To be completely honest I don't give enough time to school work and I've always had that problem. I'm a lot more disciplined now than 4 years ago when I was last at school; but not nearly close to the level that university requires. I'm getting there though and I want to do awesome again this semester. Last semester was cake compared to this one. I liked the subjects more.

Anyways, because of my lack of posting, I've definitely failed my goal of posting twice a week for the month of February. Maybe I can make up for it in March and by the end of the year crank out 104 post so I can convince myself that I still passed the goal overall ;)

Financially speaking, February was great but I'm not going to spoil the small surprise in this post. I'll leave it for the updates. Net worth update will definitely be up tomorrow. See you then and thanks for still reading.

I Still Want A TV

2013-02-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

There was a sale this weekend just passed on televisions, and once again I was tempted to go buy one. Now a television is purely a want and I've wanted a television for my room for a long time now. I've literally wanted one for years. I think it has been more than 5 years now that I've wanted a television. For a short time during those 5 years I had one(a few months tops) but then I gave it to my aunt because her television broke.

In 2011 I wrote a post highlighting things that I wanted. A television was on that list and I give it a want rating of 3 out of 5. It is almost 2 years since that list and I still don't have a television. On and off I wanted one but I never specifically saved for one. Every time I see a sale though, I always think of getting one and since I never saved for it, the options left are to take it out on higher purchase or buy a really small one for cash.

Now that I am writing this post though it is clear to me that I need to create a savings fund specifically for a television. Normally I just try and save some of my money but I've never given my savings a definitive purpose so it either gets spent as necessary or I find it very hard to spend the entire thing on a silly want like a television.

For the first time in the few years since I jumped on the PF train, I am now recognizing the true meaning and point of creating a savings plan for a specific item. Like I said before, I save generally but that is just for savings sake and I just lump it all into one account. Then when I want something, if it will decrease said savings by a large chunk, I don't like to spend the money. I am beginning to recognize that if I separate that money and ear mark it for a specific purpose, I won't feel guilty when the time comes.

So that is what I am going to do. I am going to have to create a savings plan specifically for a TV if that is what I want. I am not sure how much I will put towards it or how often as yet but if I want to buy a TV guilt free, I think that is the best way to go about it. Create a savings plan specifically for a TV.

Budget Review January

2013-02-06T11:20:00.000-04:00

How does one justify a $710 overage for the first month of the year? Luckily I can and with good reason. The $221 overage on car repairs was unplanned and should have come out the emergency fund but I didn't bother. The $477 overage on school was semester fees that also should have come out of my savings account. The total on both equals to $692 in overage which basically explains the overages but more than two categories are in red so lets go through them.

Car Repairs - This one was explained above. Had to repair the radiator on the car.

Education - Also explained above. Semester fees.

Eating Out -This one is actually my fault. Realistically, this should be around $200. I set it lower for two reasons. The first being the budget is maxed out. The second is to try and reduce my spending on fast food and snacks, that way, even if I go over, having it at $130 still helps me keep it down lower than it would have been. The overage isn't bad though considering that some meals I paid for were for two people.

Gas & Transport - Just like Eating out, this is set a little lower than it should due to budget constraints and the fact that I could if I try, cut out some unnecessary driving. It is also over because instead of driving the car down to E until the month changed, I filled it back up close to the end of the month.

Gifts - This next item in red is where a lot of wastage goes. I always end up giving away a few dollars here or buying something for someone there. This is something I really have to get a hold on and realize I am not Santa Claus. I do help out or give because I am able to but the people I do give to or spend on don't need it that much. This is the category I need to practice discipline on.

Grooming - Had to buy some shampoo. Can't complain for $4 over budget.

Miscellaneous - $2 over on misc isn't a biggie in my books. Just like gas and eating out, this is also set lower than it should be due to budget constraints.

Overall... Despite going $700 over, my savings/ef didn't even get touched. That is due to making a lot more money in January than the average month due to some overtime and also that January also had one extra pay day in it. February's review should be much more mild and all the categories should be in line and hopefully there will be a lot less red. I'm looking to move some money to savings this month of February as well so the investment line should be red(but that is a good thing).

Hope everyone was able to stick to their budgets or at the very least, have a good control on their spending. The only direction to go from here is up.

Net Worth - Feb 1st 2013

2013-02-05T11:20:00.000-04:00

Assets

Liquid Cash - $1763.13

Retirement - $4305.58

Stocks - $730.80

Liabilities

Credit Card - $162.44

Net worth = $6787.07

Let's see what went down or up in January? Despite being an expensive month due to some unplanned expenses, my net worth still increased overall by roughly $800. That really isn't bad, honestly, it is awesome, it just makes me wish the that murphy had left my car alone this month. Let's jump into the details.

Liquid Cash - This is up a little(less than $350) but the increase isn't due to any additional savings or anything. It's just cash sitting in my everyday account. The entire total is my everyday account + EF/savings.

Retirement - I add to this every month so the increase is based on my auto savings. I can't believe the total is almost $5000. I mean since it is for retirement, $5000 is nothing but I am a good ways from that day so it has time to grow. Honestly though, I've never had $5000 saved anywhere so this is amazing.

Stocks - This is the biggest surprise for me. These actually increased in value unexpectedly. The value is up almost $100 more than last month. Even better is that they are valued even more than what I first bought them for. This is amazing and I can't wait till I can do more investing.

Credit Card - This was the balance on it when doing the net worth but I always clear it, sometimes twice a month since the maximum balance is so small so it never accumulates any interest since I clear it in full.

Overall January was awesome. For February I will settle for no less than a match of January's growth. Although January had two large expenses that February will not have, I also worked some overtime in January along with January having 5 pay days instead of the regular 4 February will have. Overall February should be equal to January if not better.

Indiscipline

2013-02-02T19:19:00.001-04:00

It is two days into the month and I've already wasted $36 spread across three instances. By waste, I mean it was unnecessary spending that I came to "regret"; for lack of a better word.

I'm not going to go into detail on what they were but I just want to point out that all three could have been avoided with just a small amount of discipline. Just last month as I was looking over my spending, I was saying that I waste a lot of money, and in my head, I was telling myself that I will try and cut out all the "wastage" spending come February. Less than 2 full days into February and I am almost at $40 that could have been spent better or moved to savings.

Sometimes you start out with a sum of money and before you blink twice, most of it is gone. Then we(or at least I) wonder where the heck did all that money go. What we fail to realize is that small leaks can create a big lake. I spent, $4, then $7 then $25. That brought the total to $36. I could have took that entire sum and do something much more worthwhile, even a bit of fast food I would have enjoyed would have cost less.

Another thing that makes me even more annoyed is that P and I are really considering going on a cruise next year for vacation. It is quite expensive so I should be doing my best to save for it yet I am wasting money that I am regretting afterwards.

Anyways, outside of a little rant, the point of this post is to remind me that I need to patch the little holes in my spending and a lot of my goals will be much more attainable. All it takes is a little discipline once you know where the weakness is. Always remember, small purchases add up over time and it doesn't even have to be a long time.

If you find that money disappears easily with you, the first thing you need to do, if you are not already doing it, is tracking your spending, even the 5 cents you spend on a mint. Once you have done that, you can look over your spending, see the items that don't make you feel good when thinking back on them, and then, teach yourself a little discipline. Don't be like me, and because you smelled some candy in class that you automatically want some, and when you are in the supermarket an hour later, pick up some, and on top of that, one that you don't like that much. A little discipline could have gotten me into the supermarket and back out without ever buying that candy as it was unnecessary at that time.

Pre-End of Month Reflection

2013-01-29T20:48:00.003-04:00

Been M.I.A for a week but have no fear; I haven't ran away. School started last week and there hasn't been much to report. We basically have two more days left in January and I'm yet to sort out how I feel about the month overall. Come tomorrow I'll be tallying up the totals and reviewing the month overall and preparing all those fun financial post like the net worth update for the beginning of February.

I think I'm a bit annoyed when I think about how the month could have been and how it actually turned out but the numbers and goal assessment will do the talking in 2 days time. Overall the month has been pretty awesome though.... I think.

Nothing much to report otherwise. Hope everyone had an amazing first month and at the worst, an OK one. However the first month turned out. Make it the bottom step and only aim up form there. Don't let it get you down.

Why I Want to Own A Piece of the Rock and My Decision

2013-01-22T11:20:00.000-04:00

This is a follow up to my previous post when I was talking about my interest in buying some land. I've done some more research since posting about it last week and I made some new decisions on what I will be doing about owing a piece of the rock.

Why did I become so attached to wanting to buy land?

Tanner asked this question in a different phrasing so I'm going to tackle it, as it is something I too had to ask myself to make sure I am making the right decision. Anyways, moving out of my mom's house and living on my own has always been on my future agenda. I always told my mom that if I hit 25 years old and I am still living at home that she should kick me out(I'm currently 22.5). I think everyone should go and try living on their own for some amount of time. I know everyone's situation is different, like some people build family homes and others generally can't afford it, but I think everyone should live away from their parent's nest for a little bit, even if they fail and end up moving back home. Here in Barbados, if you go to the local university, you more or less still live home as campus dorms are reserved for foreign students and as the island is so small, it is quite easy to get to university. Moving on, my relationship with P is going like 4 years now and we both live separate from each other in our respective parents homes. We both would like to move out an in together and even though renting is an option, when you live on an island, the pros and cons for renting vs owning change a lot; for example, you don't have to worry about selling your home and moving if you get a different job given you are still going to be working on the island. It is way to small, the only thing you might have to consider is owning a car vs public transport.

So why buy land and not a house?

This one is simple, I can't afford a house on my income. I make roughly $25000 gross annually. I went to the bank last week and they would approve me for $100000 give or take a couple $1000 depending on the terms. (Jumping aside to freak out a bit.... I was shocked.... I couldn't believe they were willing to lend me 4 times my salary so easy. I mean yes, I have 30 years to pay it back but still.... I thought I would have had to beg to get $50000.) So back on track, $100000 isn't enough to get a house on the island but it is enough for a decent set of land, and if you aren't picky on location, you can get even more. Where you can buy land by the sq foot, in the locations I would like, it can cost you between $15 to $25. At $25 that is $50000 for 2000 square feet. By now you should understand where I am going with this. I am able to borrow enough to buy land so I became fixated on owning a piece of the rock.

I was also looking at it as an investment for the future. On an island, at least on our island which isn't much; land prices only keep going up. Since I could only get a mortgage to cover land, I looked at it as a double investment. If I could pay it off in 10 years, then I could get a mortgage to build a home after that, if not, I could sell it for profit in the future. Either ways I gain. On top of that, the later I buy, the more it will cost as the price keeps increasing so my want to buy now erupted even more.

The Decision

I've decided to hold back on owning a piece of the rock and stick to my goals for 2013, they should put me in the best position for now. I've also decided to make a four year plan that should be completed by 2017. By then I should have graduated(which is tentatively 2016) and hopefully stock piled a nice fat pillow. I might also be renting a small place by then with P so there is a lot of work that has to go into this plan. Of course you will here about it more on the blog soon but basically, I've taken the advice from most of the comments and decided to save some money for a proper down payment and plan it out properly. I think four years is a good time frame and as much as I want to live in Barbados for the rest of my life, I could end up moving, who knows? Time will tell; all I can do for now is make sure I am in the best position for anything the future holds.

I Want To Own A Piece of The Rock

2013-01-16T11:20:00.000-04:00

To be clear... I am NOT talking about the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.

We are halfway through the first month of the year and something strange has happened to me since first setting my 2013 goals back in December last year. I want to buy some real estate.

Now this was not on my mind when preparing my goals in December, I've been looking at land and houses on an off but I knew I am in no position right now to jump in. Yet, over the past couple weeks, I drove past one house and just from the outside, I wanted to own it, it could actually be the dream house I never dreamed about. Actually, that is the picture of it just above there. I love how the front yard is laid out and the house has a charm to it's design that I like a lot. I have tried contacting the real estate agents to get an idea of what the price is and maybe even arrange a tour of the house but I haven't been successful in getting through. I already know I won't be able to afford it though because with my income alone, I won't be able to secure a mortgage.

Now after this house, I saw a piece of the rock that I would like to own(Piece of the rock = land. In Barbados, we usually say you own a piece of the rock since it is a small island or a big rock. Real estate agents have even started using the term in their marketing). I don't have a picture of the land but it really is a beautiful piece of land in a really nice neighborhood(it's actually the same neighborhood P lives in with her family). I completely fell in love with the piece of land and I even got through to the owner who is selling it directly. Only problem is, he is selling the entire lot and I can't afford it. He himself is not sure how much square feet it is but it is a ~~lot~~ huge set and I only wanted like 2000 square feet or less, whatever I could afford.

Anyways, for some reason I really want to own/invest in some land. I say land because I know on my income I won't qualify for a house & land together but I figured I could at least make a start and buy some land now instead of waiting a few years and then it becomes more expensive. I actually want to go into the bank this week and see how much I could qualify for. I don't have any down payment and here in Barbados we do have some 100% financing options but really all I want is an idea so I could narrow down my looking.

Actually, I would like to avoid the 100% financing options and see if I could save some form of down payment over time but I will be looking from now. I don't plan to let PMI or anything of the sorts make me miss out on what could be a dream option. After I get through with the bank, I'll see if I can talk the guy who owns the land into selling me a small lot of it.

I probably will post more about my real estate adventures but not a big set since as of now I know am not financially ready for a mortgage. I will let you know how it goes in the bank and after that you will only hear about my real estate adventures if a surprise pops up.

Eat Less, Do Less, Have Less

2013-01-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

I mentioned this briefly in an earlier post. I would much rather eat less and when I say eat less I mean less variety and less fine dining, do less and have less than work more so I can eat more, do more and have more.

As it stands now, I'd much rather be patient and take longer to achieve some things than work more to get them quickly. It could be a sign of contentment, it could be a sign of laziness, depends on who is looking at it I guess.

That's just the choice I have made and I have the freedom to do so. Things like restaurant dining don't sit on high on my passion list so those are things I can toss aside easy. Actually, food on the whole doesn't excite me like it does for most people, I'm quite happy with bread and cheese mixed with some home cooked rice and chicken for variety, nothing special on my meals list. I'm what you would call an eat to live person.

Doing less isn't that hard either. They are things I want to do, like travel. Travelling is expensive especially when your home port is the Caribbean. Even a thirty minute flight to another Caribbean island can run you about $400. With everything else I hope to achieve, and my current income level, obviously it is easy to toss aside travel for now. Of course I can plan and save for the one off trip but I know I can't be travelling once a year like I dream of doing. When it comes to doing other things, I mostly like chilling out with my friends. That is usually free but it sometimes does run an expense like food or a show but nothing that I would call detrimental to my future plans so that is something I also don't worry about.

Having less is my real challenge. I can't tell you how hard I fought most of last year to resist buying a nexus 7 tablet or an iPad mini. I don't need a tablet but I have a love for technology and I want one. A tablet can't replace my laptop or my phone nor will it really add to any of them because between the two of them, the tablet brings nothing new. Google also launched the nexus 4 which is the flagship android phone and of course I've been longing for it, I haven't even had my current phone for a year but I'm already ready to change it for that one. It's things like that that make having less the real challenge for me. My temptation was so strong that it led me to make one of my 2013 goals not to buy a new smartphone or computer as windows 8 has been a little tempting as well and it sucks without a touchscreen(just saying). If by the end of 2013 and I pass that goal, I just might reward myself with the nexus 4 or maybe the next best thing as the nexus 4 would already be a year old.

In the end I want to work less and because I'm rich in no financial way, don't have a big inheritance or no big investments that pay me by the month, I have to keep working at least a 40 hour week. In order to achieve my other goals, like travel, I have to sacrifice, I have to sacrifice the amount I travel and I also have to eat less, do less and have less in order to get most of everything that I want. I also just have to be patient and keep my focus.

Various Updates. 1000. Ten. 3.85

2013-01-13T15:05:00.000-04:00

They are a few things I wanted to share and I was intending to give each it's own post but then I would just end up blabblering too much so I decided to share them all in one go and make them shorter.

Let me start with revealing what two of the numbers in the title represent. In the first 10 days of the month, I've spent over $1000. This is a big deal because I only make roughly $1800 gross salary monthly. Next reason is that my 2013 monthly budget allocates $1133 for an entire month.

The first reason for this is my car. A problem with it sprang up at the beginning of the year and even though I saved some cash fixing it, the total I spent on it for the month is $272. I only budgeted $50 for repairs/maintenance so that is over budget by $200+.

The next reason is school. I designed my budget for the year in such a way that payments for school are automatically saved for before I even allocated money for any category in the budget. What I didn't calculate in the plan is that I still had $470 outstanding in fees from last year for the current semester starting next week. I did know I had to pay for this but the car trouble is what threw me out completely.

Now both of these things ~~were~~ are suppose to come out of my savings/EF but I'm a bit too lazy to go to the bank where I keep those saved separately; and I see no reason to resort to the savings/EF account if I have enough money in my "checking" account to cover the expenses. So I just paid for them through my current budget and left it as it is. It does mean that two categories will be way over but I don't mind since my savings/EF will remain untouched, and I can still make it through the month. I even put in some dreaded overtime to help bring in some money to balance the cash flow.

While on the budget, when I paid for school, I realized there is no line in my budget for school expenses. I was wondering how I missed that but I only really pay for school twice a year and I don't spend much else other than the school fees so it didn't occur to me to include it as a line item. The payment for school is also really suppose to come out of savings and not go through the monthly cash flow but since it did, I created a line item for school with a value of $0 monthly, so it is already over by $470 for the month. You will see the updated version of it at the end of the month.

Lastly, the one thing I found out today, the last number in the title, and the thing I am most amazed and excited about is that the marks for my first semester have finally been revealed, which means my GPA is also out for my first semester at university. I can't tell you how excited I am and how long I was waiting, I was checking the university's website everyday since January started. Enough holding back although you have already figured it out because of the title but my GPA for my first semester is 3.85.

I did three courses last semester which is the maximum amount a part time student can do, while working full time on three shifts one of which is the dreaded graveyard(11 pm - 7 am). They are only first year courses so I can't brag that they were that hard but I am still really proud of myself. I knew I did well but this still took me by shock. I did two years of community college full time with that being my only responsibility and the highest my GPA ever got was 2.29. I've grown up a lot since then and it really shows. Having a 3.85 also makes me want to work harder to keep it up there so this is an awesome start; it also helps me with one of my goals which is to maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA. I can't tell you how great this feels but I really am proud of myself. I knew I did good but this was unexpected. I got an A, A- and a pass(this course doesn't have letter grades just pass or fail). What makes this even better is that P is taking me out for a treat next week to celebrate and it is someplace I've always wanted to go to since I was a kid. More on that later maybe.

For now I think that is all I wanted to share. I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the year. Mine's has been expensive but still wonderful overall.

Contentment, Short sighted, or Laziness

2013-01-10T11:20:00.000-04:00

I'm 22 years old and for the most part I feel content with where my life is at. I feel like it is on track with where I want it to be, even though I have no clear 5, 10, 20 or 50 year plan.

I'm not saying that my life is everything I dreamed it would be at 22, nor am I saying that I have everything I want or achieved everything I can at this age. They are things I would love to do like travel and I expect to start a family sometime in the 10 year horizon; but, somehow I just don't feel the pressure to work more to achieve some of these things sooner or prepare for these things better.

I feel like I am going at a pretty good pace now and the gears of the clock are turning just fine for the time being. I know for some of the things I am planning, like a family and even travel, I will need much more production from my factory(I'm talking about myself) than it is churning out now.

Take for example, my intention to get married. I can't afford the engagement ring I would like to buy for P. I want something of at least one karat. I know size isn't important but it is just my preference. One single karat alone is expensive, I've even considered different stones, like sapphire or tanzanite just to save on the price, but the upfront cost is still a lot more than I have or can achieve in a timely manner. Then when you take the cost of a single ring, there is still so much we have to plan for together like say a mortgage or the fact that we would like to take a trip together(our first trip) in 2014, that dropping all that money on just a ring is kinda tough. The cost of the ring alone could pay for our trip.

Now one thing I could do to help with this is work extra. I'm not in a rush to do any of the things I mentioned and I know with time I can achieve most of them if not all; but I listen to the older generation and a lot of them always say work hard when you are young so you can live easy as you get older. You have the strength and energy now so use it wisely. I understand their logic and I even agree with them but it just doesn't fit with my current plan.

Right now, I automatically save for retirement and I have an emergency fund, I have basic things like a laptop, a smartphone and a car. I have a pretty secure job even if I don't like everything about it and I am even working towards my bachelor's degree part time. Given all of that, I just don't have the drive to work harder(which in my case is work overtime). I'd much rather work just 40 hours and spend the rest of the time home sleeping or doing things that I personally enjoy than work some extra hours for some extra dollars.

Now yes I could work the extra hours and get that ring I want much faster or afford both the ring and the trip around the same time but I'd rather eat less(variety), do less and have less than put in some extra dollars for some extra dollars. I have the freedom to make that choice even if it isn't the most beneficial choice for me.

This entire thing has brought me to ask myself... Am I content? Am I lazy? or am I short sighted in regards to my ambitions?

I believe it is content and faith in my plans that everything will work out; but it could be one of the others or even a mixture of all three. I can't be certain but I know I just don't have that drive to work overtime nor do I have anything pressuring me to work it, like debt. This is something I think about a lot and I'll keep thinking about it for a while to come as time has the ability to change one's perspective.

For now I'll just do what makes me happy and move to what my spirit tells me. Right now that is to do what I am currently doing and not to worry about it. I honestly think I have a pretty good plan and a good ratio when it comes to balancing the present and the future.

When thinking about your future you should ask your present those questions... Are you content with the way things are going now? Are you being lazy? Or are you being short sighted in regards with what you hope to achieve?

Twelve in 2012 Year in Review

2013-01-09T11:20:00.000-04:00

I know where I stand. I have my destination. I have a plan to get there. So now it is time to review the past year to acknowledge and learn from my mistakes. They were actually 13 goals in all since I added an extra one early up in the year although I ended up failing that one as well.

Now I could stay here and write individual excuses for the goals I failed; and I could probably make them sound good enough(at least to me) to almost justify failing; but I won't. The bottom line is that I failed. I failed because I didn't put in the effort needed. Yes it is true that plans changed which altered the money and time that I had available, but I am most positive that with just some extra effort, I could have achieved more.... Much more. Below is the list, it still has it's own page on the navigation bar.

~~Pay off Car Loan U.~~

~~Buy a really nice camera or a new smart phone.~~

Go on a trip to another Caribbean island.

Set up the blog better.

Achieve a 12K net worth.

Pay more attention to the local stock market.

Create my first official side hustle.

~~Be able to run the 5km for Little Lamb's Debt Free Dash.~~(Done, 43m 39s)

~~Take on no debt that would send my net worth into the negatives.(School exception)~~

~~Apply for at least 12 jobs.~~ (15 up and counting)

Be a better partner to my girlfriend and soul mate P.

Run a 5K in 30 minutes

I'm going to run through the ones I failed, not for excuses but for review. I'll try to keep it short and simple. It is quite long though so feel free to just skim through.

I failed this one plain and simply by not trying, I really made no effort. I knew the charity I wanted to join since 2011 but I never made the effort to go and find out how I could be of assistance. The year got busier for me when I started school and what's not and I just let this one fall to the way side. I did move this one over to the 2013 list but I modified it a bit. If you check the 2013 list, it says 'donate time to charity or the less fortunate', this makes it a little easier and a lot more accessible, it also means I don't have to make a full commitment to any one thing as my schedule isn't always open at the same time since I work three different shifts and go to university part time.

Go on a trip to another Caribbean island

This one had quite a few hiccups but it comes down to bad planning. I still almost did it but then a hurricane hit Jamaica and that canceled it all together. Everything happens for a reason though because the entire thing was planned badly(not entirely my fault but the group I was travelling with), I wasn't prepared properly financially either, but the trip was important enough to use my EF as it was for P's(my girlfriend) graduation.

Set up blog better

I did get started on this one as I did contact Andrea of Nuts and Bolts Media fame. I got a quotation but also around this time, my blog activity was slowly fading and I was unsure about making the investment. I didn't as you can see and then I gave my official goodbye in September and took off for the rest of the year. I'm back now but I haven't moved this to a 2013 goal. I'll just see how I hold onto this blogging thing first then see what happens from there.

Achieve a 12K net worth

I started 2012 at roughly $300. Finished at roughly $6000. Which means that I failed this one by half. I already knew this goal was a stretch as it would have required saving half my yearly income. I saved half of half so I don't feel to bad and I have no debt. I'm actually quite happy with this one even if I failed. I started university in 2012 and I also had some major and minor hiccups throughout the year. As I look over my spending for last year. My most expensive category was gas which meant I did a lot of driving some of which I could have reduced but didn't. I spent on average $400 a month(that's $200 USD). I want to bring it down this year but I've still budgeted for $370 a month. My next biggest category was food(eating out) which is surprising but the bulk of that came in the last half of the year. Following food was my car payment which is no more.

Pay more attention to the local stock market

I just didn't, I looked at it every once in a while but I didn't really pay attention, just mostly browsed it over and looked to see how my stocks were doing(which dropped since I first purchased them). I just didn't have the extra income to invest so my interest wasn't there. I didn't even put this on the 2013 goals list as I intend to focus on saving some cash first. Maybe 2014 or late 2013 if possible.

Create my first official side hustle

Didn't even tried. Didn't focus or even really put much thought into this once. By the time school started this was completely forgotten about. It also isn't on the 2013 list as my focus isn't on this at the moment.

Be a better partner to my girlfriend and soul mate P

I don't think P would say I failed this but this has no real measure and the goal was just to keep on being better and better to her, I believe I did this but there were so many instances which could have been better. We had a few fights last year but we've gotten past them and we are into another year. It might be a tough year for us with new schedules and so forth but we can make it. I didn't transfer this over to 2013 either but it is integrated into many of 2013's goals. Like the one date night a month or the learn to cook 2 meals and even watch all of the star wars films. All of these will make stronger our relationship.

Run a 5k in 30 mins

After the first run that made me add this goal, I didn't try again not even once. I did move this goal over to 2013 and I do intend to pass it this time. P also joined a gym as she is working on her fitness. So I'll join in on the fitness train by working on my 5K run.

The 2013 Monthly Budget

2013-01-08T11:20:00.000-04:00

When you know where you are, you know where you are going, all that's left is the plan to get there. The 2013 Monthly Budget is that plan. Instead of creating a new budget for every month like I did last year, I've changed the style up and created one budget that will apply for every month of the year. Of course this means that some months, some categories will definitely go over. For example gifts, where I have a small amount budgeted but birthdays pop up randomly so I might have to blow that category now and again.

I created this one budget for the entire year by calculating my minimum yearly income after taxes given I work the entire year on my salary as it stands now; followed by calculating all my once a year expenses like car insurance and school fees. I then subtracted the yearly fees from the yearly income and then divided the amount by 12. Basically I built the savings for those once a year expenses into the budget; so as long as I stick to the budget every month and don't go over, without making even a bit of extra income, my yearly expenses will still be covered.

Now for the budget.

The categories are pretty self explanatory but any little oddities will be explained in the reviews at the end of every month. This is the 2013 budget. This month will be it's first test.

Backyard Mechanics

2013-01-04T11:20:00.000-04:00

So my new year basically started with car problems; the top tank on my radiator started to leak. It wasn't super bad by any means but it was still leaking, and for me that spells trouble in the long run. Add to that my mechanic up and disappeared without a trace. His phone isn't connecting and his workshop is closed up. I assume he has left the island for a bit but he left no notice or anything so I can't be to sure, if he did leave he should be back soon hopefully.

Without my usual mechanic I was kind of scrambling, asking questions about what caused the problem and how to fix it to various other people I know, a few who are mechanics and a couple who know more than me about cars. After a while I was referred to a "radiator guy". He told me that the top tank would need replacing. He said he would install a new one and service my radiator for $180. Before I committed to letting him do the job, I asked around a bit more and got referred to some "radiator specialists". I went to them and they told me that I would also need to change the top tank and that the cost would be $281 roughly.

Now this is where my conflict arose. The "radiator guy" works from outside his home; basically off the road with a few cars actually parking on the side of the road when work is backed up. The "radiator specialist" has a workshop set up close to the city and they did give off a more professional business like feeling when I went to get them inspect the problem. Then it came down to price, $180 for "guy", $280 for the "specialist"; a difference of $100. This is a big difference for two people who are about to attempt the same job.

Given my nature, I was ready to spring for the "specialist". I like my work to be done professionally and on top of that, I want it done correctly the first time if possible. I don't mind paying more to get something done if it will be done better. I also want to feel like I can return if a problem springs up related to the job I had done and have it fixed free of charge.

I sat for a bit in my car and started thinking about the conflict I had. Pay $180 for a "guy" or pay roughly $100 more for a "specialist" to do the job. As I thought about it, the "guy" didn't really have anything bad going against him, actually, he had more going for him by having a much cheaper price. There was nothing saying that the "guy" would do a worst job. As I thought more about it, all the "specialist" had going for them was the fact that they refer to themselves as "specialist" which I realized is a pretty good marketing catch. Anyone can refer to themselves as specialist for stuff that doesn't require certification. The other thing they probably had going for them was a more professional looking workshop, which probably came at a cost, which they more than likely passed off to me with higher prices than the "guy" is charging to work outside his home.

My next deciding factor with choosing between the "guy" and the "specialist" was how much money I had. Given I just cleared the last of my loans at the end of last year, my liquid cash ~~was~~ is quite low if you minus the $1000 I have set aside for emergencies; and this to me didn't qualify as an emergency.

In the end I went with the "guy" to save on the $100 and so far so good. The radiator isn't leaking anymore and everything seems to be in good working order. I even enjoyed my experience there as he worked on the car. Whenever my mechanic returns from where ever he is, I'll have him look over everything to be safe but for now I'm glad I made the decision that saved me $100.

Now, I am not advising that if you ever come up on a similar situation that you jump on the cheaper option. You should always do research and make an informed decision. What I am trying to say is not to just toss off the backyard guy(the guy who doesn't have a workshop or refers to himself as a specialist). Basically, don't judge a book by it's cover only. You can save a lot by buying a paper back edition over the hardcover and enjoy the story just as much.