Journey to Future Freedom

Tag: money

  • Alcohol….reasons I’m giving it up!For Good!

    I have been toying with this idea for at least the last ten years. I have known since our children were young that my relationship with alcohol would be described as dysfunctional.

    I don’t drink everyday and there have been periods of time over the years where I’m have not drunk for months or weeks but I’m always go back to it and once I pop out can’t stop.

    I grew up with an alcoholic father. It didn’t really affect my life hugely as he was not nasty or violent. He was just a drunk that had nothing. The kindest drunk I knew. When I was 21 he went into liver failure and ended up giving up alcohol. He received a new liver and managed 10 more years of life before dying of cancer. I’ve seen first hand the toll alcohol can take on the mind and the body.

    But back to me. My reasons. There are so many.

    My daughter hates me drinking and as she gets older it is starting to have an impact on our relationship.

    It is definitely affecting my health. In the past five years I have put on 15kg mostly in the form of calories from wine.

    It steals my motivation. Five years ago I was running half marathons and playing with the idea of running a full. Now I’d be lucky if I could run to the end of the road.

    It steals my time. I do things while drinking but not well. The time I spend drinking in the evenings could definitely be used doing other things. Running maybe.

    I’m literally flushing money down the toilet. It is so expensive. I hate to think how much money I have wasted over the years. Thousands!

    So it’s time for change. I know it won’t be easy but I set out this year to find freedom and this is definitely going to be freeing. I’m excited to see what it will look like

    “I officially NO LONGER DRINK ALCOHOL!”

  • Budgeting…

    I had a recent conversation with a colleague and was blown away when he said he had no idea how much money he spent in a week. Back info he is a single male. I declared, “But you must know!” He said no he would have no idea. He just takes his pay check pays bills and spends the rest.

    This alone nearly gave me heart palpitations. I have a budget. To be honest it is one of the things I really enjoy doing each week(call me geeky). Some weeks it’s frustrating but most weeks I love seeing just how far we can stretch the money. We don’t live week to week, nor month to month. I budget based on annual expenses + 5% and I review this every monthish based on what we have coming up. We have sinking funds an emergency account and additional savings accounts. We are not wealthy but we are comfortable.

    I have trouble sleeping if I feel as though we are not prepared for the unknown. So it totally blew me away that he was so blase about how he spent his money. I think the frustration came from the fact that he often complains he will never be wealthy or have anything. I felt like shaking him and saying, “Do you realise how much you are wasting each week?” His opinion, life’s short it’s not worth worrying about.

    Luckily his finances are none of my business nor worth me stressing over but it did leave me thinking. What is the difference between him and I? Is it education? I often think about the legacy that we will leave for our children and Grandchildren but he has a child and Grandchild so it isn’t that.

    I know that I have always been interested in budgeting and how I can make my money grow with little effort on my part and because of this interest I have educated myself and spent lots of time reading up on these things.

    I feel as though a budget is a necessity and should be it’s own subject at school for at least one Semester. We wouldn’t have savings without a budget as it would all just disappear into the oblivion that is life.

    Do you budget or do you wing it ?

  • Is kids sport worth it?

    This is our 14 year old son. He begged from the age of 6 to be allowed to ride Moto. We managed to say no for another 4 years. Looking back on this decision I have no idea why we said no. I think it was some preconceived ideas about the cost and danger involved.

    Yes it’s dangerous ! Yes it’s damn expensive! Yes it is really cold in Winter! Yes it’s really hot in Summer! Yes he is making friends for life! Yes he loves it!

    Yesterday we were up at crazy O’clock to head out of town to a Motocross event. This is our weekend most weekends. I found myself wondering why we do it? Chances are he will never be number one. I have no idea what skills this is teaching him that he might use in the future as he has no idea what he wants to do. Are there other things I could be doing with tens of thousands of dollars a year?

    There are days like yesterday when he comes off the track buzzing. Has great races and finishes with a podium and his body intact. Laughs with his mates and we all celebrate victories.

    Then there are days when he crashes, things don’t go right, things get damaged and a body worn down. It’s not just sore muscles the next day but bruises too… I don’t know if I would get back on the bike after these days but he does…every time.

    He is developing the virtues of resilience, courage, commitment, determination, perseverance, responsibility and self- discipline. Is that what sport is about- creating an avenue to develop strengths and weaknesses. If that is the case then yes it is worth it.