The 5 Essentials

July 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This reference article outlines the obvious, but it’s important to understand how often people over look these 5 things when concerns of their credit score is thrown into the mix.

We have 5 essential expenses every month that we must take care of first and foremost, and they can be mixed up into any order of priority as long as they are all handled.

  1. Eat.  You have to eat.  You’re a biological creature and you need food to live.
  2. Clothe yourself.  Don’t want to be caught out in the cold or exposed to the sun, and the rest of society without some basic coverage.
  3. Sleep.  You need to keep a roof over your head.
  4. Lights.  Make sure the household has the proper utilities, at minimum, electricity so you can iron your clothes, and see.
  5. Transportation.  Whether it’s a car or bicycle or walking shoes to get to the subway, make sure you can get to and from work.

These 5 things are at the very top of your budget.  If your income doesn’t even allow you to fulfill these basic requirements, then you either have an income crisis, or most likely, your housing expenses are too high.  I could also be some other form of unnecessary extravagance, like shopping for your food at a high end grocery store or driving too much of a car.  You’ll have to reduce your lifestyle or improve your income.  There’s no other way to do it.

Filed Under: Baby Step 2, Financial Basics Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Responsibility for your tools…

April 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Somewhere, somehow, we as a society have forgotten how to think for ourselves.

Instruction manuals were created to inform the consumer how the inventor intended the item to be utilized and how to accomplish that task. Over time, a product that becomes widely used no longer depends on a manual to explain its purpose. It’s just known. A good example of this would be the more popular form of transportation, the automobile.

Nobody reads automobile manuals. Everyone knows how to operate one. Now, that isn’t to say everyone can operate one safely or effectively, but if you place someone in a car and give them the keys, they’re sure to be able to figure out how to make the car work. The radio is in the right spot, the steering wheel is always in the same location. Turn signals are on the side of the steering column. Standard, standard, standard features. Nobody reaches for the manual.

Computers HAVE NOT YET REACHED THAT LEVEL OF WIDE KNOWLEDGE. And the problem is that there ISN”T a manual. Why, after all, would a computer company ship a manual that would have to be as thick as a phone book to convey how the invented item is to be used? That would be cost prohibitive, especially when the very computer that is being purchased is an information portal to the world which contains all and every manual one could ever think of.

So why is it then that people who own or use computers don’t rely on their computer to help them solve problems with their computer?

Nobody calls Ford to ask them how to operate a cigarette lighter, only to repair it. Nobody calls Mercedes to ask them how to make the car go forward, they only call to have the transmission fixed.

Since the PC was introduced, there has always been a manual. Every operating system has a manual. Every piece of software has a manual. EVERYTHING IS EXPLAINED IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. Whether it’s through a help file or through the discoveries of the computer power user, the problems you are experiencing if you are experiencing them are a product of someone’s design, which means you are not the only person who has encountered a given issue.

When something isn’t operating as it should, or as you expect it, you have to first determine if the way you’re accustomed to is in fact the way it was designed to work, then you have to come to terms with the way it was designed and modify your habits. If you are already using it the way it was designed and you have a problem, you’re probably not the first. Get off your ass and look it up. The computer is only as smart as the person sitting in front of it.

There are a few codes we have in the computer industry:

ID10T: an id10t error, if you haven’t figured it out by now, is an IDIOT error.
PEBKAC: Person exists between keyboard and computer
RTFM: Read the F*&$ing manual.

If you are in a business where your job depends on your knowledge of the computer you use to do your job and you strive for excellence, then you have a responsibility first to yourself to improve your knowledge so you can do a better job for your employer and perhaps break away from the mundane, repetitive existence that you have found yourself stuck in.

You can’t become what you need to be by remaining what you are.

Filed Under: Tips and Tricks Tagged With: , , , ,

Gas…like…ass

September 6, 2005 By Leave a Comment

Gas rhymes with ass and that is how I felt as I poured $3.19 down that little tube in my truck as every gallon seeped from the tank beneath my feet.

$50.00 and change. A 16 gallon tank. Too much. I spent about $225 on gas in August. This is ridiculous. So much so, that I may have to forfeit driving as much as I do. I may have to sacrifice fellowship with people that live 10 or more miles away. I may have to never see a movie further than the Pavillions. I may have to quit seeing movies altogether for a while.

My truck gets 17 miles/gal at a cost of 18.7 cents per mile. It costs me $1.00 to drive 5.8 miles. My friends are further away than this. With a factor of 2 (there and back) just to drive to church, I spend $7.50. If I want to visit the Koziczkowski’s, 35 miles from me, it’s $14.00 round trip. Go to dinner with them too? Now I’ve spent $30.00. If that happens 4 times/month i’m spending $120.00/month on just that. On average, I drive about 100 miles/month based on the number of tanks I’ve paid for in the past months.

So, I’ve been thinking about moving from my truck, to a scooter. A scooter gets 70 – 100 miles to the gallon. That’s roughly $3.00-5.00/month in gas. If I’m spending $200.00/month as it is, I could save (I’ll estimate) probably $150.00/month if I switch from my truck to a scooter only. Of course, that’s not 100% practical since I still need to haul my gear to church. If a scooter costs $2499.00 new, it would pay for itself in 16 months. If I go with one that has less power, it would cost about $1700.00 new and would pay for itself in 11 months. Either way, I will be spending this money over the next 16 months, whether it be on gas for my truck, or another form of transportation. The ultimate goal is to reduce my monthly expense and to reduce it as quickly as possible.

I could just ride my bike I suppose?!

Filed Under: Tips and Tricks Tagged With: , , ,