Bits and pieces…

Posted by Freelyx on Jul 5th, 2009 | 4 comments home title

Breaking it up:

We’ve been talking about the plan and how we broke it into smaller bits to make it more manageable. What we really haven’t done is talk about how we did it or why we are trying to do it that way. Let me attempt to explain it based in part on a post I read on the Zen Habits web blog.

Why’d they do that?:

We’ve all had things we needed to do for work, or for ourselves that seemed like insurmountable projects. Something so big you think to yourself, sometimes completely unconsciously, “I’ll never get this done.” Well as soon as you think that, you won’t. You destroy half your ability to complete a task simply by convincing yourself that its not something that can be accomplished.

Thus we decided to break our huge life project into smaller parts, something that we can see as, “easy to accomplish.” Then when we get that first success under our belt, we tackle the next project. We are trying to pick things that will not only help us get the overall picture of the big plan in control, but also give us that satisfaction of crossing a finish line. Little wins set off mental motivations, they give us the impression that we can do things. When you win a hard fought battle to get something done, you always feel like you can do something bigger. It’s true too. With that win, you can start the next challenge, motivated and better equipped to win it.

The break down:

You know we broke it into these three parts;

Sell everything
Pay off our current debt
Relocate to a place we love

But those are each still pretty big projects in and of themselves. So what could we do to get that first win under our belts? We found smaller projects that helped to lead us towards multiple parts of these three plans and further broke those down. Confused? I was too, here’s how it worked.

Obviously if we can sell off everything we have that we are not using, or can be replaced easily where ever we decide to move to, we will be making money off those sells. That money can be used to pay off those debts in the second part of the plan. Those are easily connected. And it stands to reason that if your debts are paid off, you’ll have more money to relocate. So that common thread is what we are looking at to find smaller parts to succeed at.

It seems the common thread in most things in life can be boiled down into these four things in no particular order;

Resources
Motivation
Time
Energy

Resources = Something that can be used for support or help.

Money is the obvious first thought. Money can buy you many of the other things you need to get your task’s completed. But it’s not the only thing you have. Local city free resources are libraries, courts, schools, or any other public works you might think of. There are places here in Houston Texas such as the Texas Worksource Commission, that offer you free access to Internet, printers, and counselors for job placement and training and such. There are support groups, recreation centers, parks, beaches, mountains, nature… these are all resources we take for granted. And of course there are friends, family and the kindness of others that can help too.

Motivation = The internal drive, inspiration, or incentive to do something.

I couldn’t find a definition I liked for this one, so I wrote it myself. Motivation is derived from the word motive. Motive in crimes are what reasons the police believe a suspect had to commit the crime. Well, the same holds true for everything we do in life. There has to be an underlying reason for us to desire to accomplish a task or goal, otherwise why would we do it? Something that we love, or desire to get. The proverbial carrot on the string hanging in front of the stubborn donkey to urge it forward. Yes in that analogy, we are the jackass.

Time = A period or interval, as between two successive events. The duration it takes for an event or task to be accomplished.

Proper goal setting requires you give yourself a deadline. When will you have the goal done by? This is because a project that has no set time it must be accomplished by, is much easier to procrastinate. Also, setting a time to accomplish the task gives you the ability to plan a timeline. We have a timeline, its unspoken, its not really prominent in our current task, but its there. I mean hell we did call it “a five year plan”.

Energy = Available power or capacity for activity.

You must have energy to move yourself. If you dangle the carrot in the earlier analogy, but forget to feed the donkey enough to get him up the first place, he’s more than just stubborn, he’s unable to move to get the carrot. For proper energy one needs rest, food, and muscle.

So if we have the motivation to do it, the energy to move the resources, and the time to accomplish the task, we will get to eat our carrot.

Getting to the point:

Selling everything we own requires us to do several things.

1.) Search for things we aren’t using in our everyday life right now. Things like the sheets for the twin bed we no longer have because my kid broke it. The books that have sat in our “craft room” (Which is really more of a junk accumulation room right now) since we moved in and have not been touched or looked at in years. All the movies I’ve bought over the years. All the exercise equipment that collects dust in the corner. And any other doodads, odds or ends that we happen to come across and think “We don’t really need this.”

2.) Clean and fix these items up, figure out their worth, price them, and get them advertised as available for purchase. This will include taking pictures, scanning, and giving detailed descriptions for the item. We use various web based methods and of course word of mouth. Our biggest success has come from Amazon.com where we have created our own little store. But there is also Craigslist, and Ebay. We don’t use Ebay at all right now as we have had bad experiences with them and Paypal in the past that have lead us not to trust them any longer. “Once bitten twice shy”‘ as they say. But we are realistic enough to know that they are obviously a large and successful syndicate, and you may have better luck and customer service than we did. If you choose to go that route, good luck.

3.) Collect the money and ship the items in a timely and professional manner. Also, keeping our buyers happy. Customer service isn’t just lip service.

Paying off our debt is boosted by the sales, but there are other things to do as well,

1.) Taking some of the monies from our sales and using it to boost the amounts we are already paying towards debts.

2.) Cutting down on the luxuries we buy. Eat out less, fewer trips to the movies, less comic books, stop replacing things that are still working just because something newer and reportedly better comes along, and buy the generic brand groceries and or less expensive brands when we can. Val is already a very frugal shopper, I just have to get her to teach me better. Also I have to curb my impulse buying habits. Just yesterday I bought a couple of downloads from iTunes that I really like, but didn’t really need. Now just because we are tightening the belt, doesn’t mean we are cutting off all our fun though. A few small purchases are allowed.

3.) Selling the Harley-Davidson bike and getting that big chunk out of our monthly expenses will help a huge amount. The problem is the value of the bike is not equal to the amount owed. And because the lien against the bike is held by Harley finance, they will not allow transfer of title until I pay the entire amount. Thus if I sell the bike for $18 to $19k as suggested by NADA.com but owe $23k after the extras and finance through Harley, I have to pay the other $4.5K out of pocket. Not sure that’s going to be an easy task yet… but not giving up.

4.) With each debt we pay off there will be an amount of money that we are no longer having to send off to that creditor. We will then take that money and pay it towards the next debt owed and pay it off. Not suddenly splurge and celebrate by running out and buying something just because the money is there.

5.) Paying off the debt is only part of the finance issues we have. We will also use the money to help correct some of our past indiscretions that have hurt our credit. Building up the credit score with better debt to income ratio, and having paid debts not just on time but also early, will increase our ability to buy a decent home when we get to step three.

Relocating is helped both by having the money from sales, and the other debts out of the way.

1.) The fun part for me is the brainstorming about where in the country we could move to. But that has to be tempered by our needs. One of the main reasons we are moving is that Valerie and I both are sick to death of the heat and humidity of Houston. We’ve just seen almost two weeks with very little rain and temperatures that with the heat index hit over 100 degrees almost every day. But I hate cold. I’d rather sweat than shiver any day of the week. So our list of needs;

Comfortable climate, not too cold, not too hot.
Not a big step up in cost of living.
Good employment opportunities

Also it’d be nice to have some nature around us for me, and Val wants quick easy access to a largish city.

2.) Shopping for the house can partly be done online. But we will have to travel there to see the place at some time, of course. Pictures are usually not entirely representative of the actual scale of the place. Doors may seem larger simply because that’s what you are used to. The shower heads may not be high enough for my 6′ 1″ tall self. The elbow room in the hallways, the size of the rooms themselves. Its all of importance when you are trying to live there.

3.) So lets say we find the perfect house at the perfect location and offer the perfect price…Did the word free suddenly leap into your mind as well as mine? Well we make the offer and wait, we get back word that we can buy the house. Now we have a problem. Our jobs are here in Sugar Land and I understand the commute from Colorado (or where ever) is a beast. So we have to get jobs there. Well if we did our planning right, we have saved up enough money in the emergency fund to live on for a few months without jobs, so, one of us quits our job and heads up there to search for the replacement. Then the other follows suit when the first is settled and there is at least one income to lean on. (That’s how I think we should do it anyway.)

4.) Prep for the move will be really simple with everything sold off. All we will have to bring with us are the pets and our vital documents and such. Clothes, computers, and our cell phones. We pack up and route the trip, and we’re off on the next adventure in our lives. Starting all over.

Yeah it sounds like we have a plan, and it sounds like it should be doable, but we all know there will be bumps in the road. I can’t remember where I heard it, but the best thought here is, ‘Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and roll with the punches’.

Bits and pieces…

Breaking it up:

Why’d they do that?:

The break down:

Getting to the point:

Related Reading: