Two Days Before Christmas....

and all through my house, not a creature is stirring.

This morning I sat on my balcony, iced tea at hand, book in my lap, listening to palm fronds rustle in the breeze and watching ocean surf play on the reef.  I realized at that moment there was no other place I wanted to be.   Didn't need (or want) to be at the mall in a last minute shopping frenzy, didn't need (or want) to be in line at the grocery watching my frozen food defrost (my larder is stocked through Three Kings Day), didn't need (or want) to be doing an airport dash to a plane headed for someplace nippy, didn't need (or want) to be anywhere other than where I was.

I also realized that my gift to myself this year is simply this: contentment.

Wishing the same to you and yours this holiday season.

Penny Pincher

Cheap and Cheerful Christmas 2016

As I write this, I'm listening via the internet to the Holiday Channel on WQXR (NYC classical radio station),  highly recommended for holiday listening; for lighter fare I also like Easy Listening Christmas 2016 on Shoutcast.

My halls are decked in minimalist fashion, this year I aimed for tasteful vs overkill.   Nothing new to me this year, all decorations are from seasons past.  First out, my woodland Santa cookie jar, a gift many years ago from a friend I now keep in touch with via email.   On the step cabinet, chubby candle holders with battery operated tea lights flank my small star shaped Santa (folk art that reminds me of the balloons in the Macy's parade);  my faux bamboo is topped with a glitter santa hat that was part of a now defunct Norfolk pine in a pot.  The dining table is covered with my favorite vintage Vera Christmas Goose table linens, and in the center a green depression glass bowl filled with red bells.  Two bottle trees - one in the kitchen, the other on the step cabinet - are aglow with multi-colored twinkle lights; on the wall near my desk hangs a tree made of twinkle lights mounted on a plastic frame.  In a small place it doesn't take much to create a festive atmosphere.

I gave Black Friday shopping a pass this year.  After looking at the ads, there was nothing I needed or wanted.  Staying home seemed the smart thing to do.  This year I'm more into saving than spending.  It's a gift to myself.

However you celebrate the holidays, may they bring you joy; and to all, a New Year of peace and prosperity.

Penny Pincher

Giving Thanks... 2016

Turkey day is right around the corner (and after it Thanksgiving Second Day a/k/a Black Friday, my national holiday... I adore Black Friday shopping and the time leading up to it, checking out the ad supplements, compiling a wish list...I may do more anticipating than actual buying, but I have fun).

This year I have many things for which I am thankful:

-- Good physical and mental health.  This tops my list every year.  I go for a walk every morning to keep fit, and then spend time playing brain games on my tablet to stay mentally active.  I enjoy my retirement because I am able to do so.  I am thankful I can afford health insurance, and doubly thankful for not having to use it, and even more thankful for not being on any daily medication other than vitamins.

-- I am thankful for the 485 square feet I call home.  There's a lot less clutter this year because I donated many items to the local animal shelter flea market and also sold some things on Ebay.  I revel in the newly open spaces in my apartment.  And the extra money in my piggy bank for future fun.

-- I am thankful for another debt free year, watching my savings grow.  I sleep well at night because of it.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all... see you at the mall on Black Friday!

Penny Pincher

Breaking Bad Habits

Nine years ago I quit a decades long pack-a-day smoking habit cold turkey.  No gum, no patch, no pills, nada.  It helped that I hadn't smoked in five days because of a bad bout of bronchitus.  When I clung to a wall gasping for breath after climbing a flight of stairs, I knew my time as a smoker was behind me.  Okay, I turned into a screaming bitch for awhile and put on a few pounds, but I never looked back.

Knowing that I quit smokiing has made it easier to break other bad habits.  I tell myself "if I can quit smoking, I can do anything."  That resolve keeps me out of debt, keeps me from going overboard on shopping.   Why purge only to fill the space with more stuff??  That strikes me as self-defeating.  

My latest cutback was ebay.  I had fun, bought a lot (mostly books), sold a few things, but it's time to give it a rest.  The longer I stay away, the easier it becomes.  I treasure things I bought, but enough is enough.

What's your bad habit?  Got a plan to break it?

Penny Pincher

Too Much Stuff

I've been in purge mode recently. 

The biggest decision was to get rid of 90% of a 25 year collection of cd's.  I remember when I got my first cd and cd player.  Oh, the sound!  It was incredible.  What an improvement over vinyl or tape. I was hooked.  Gradually I got rid of all my recorded music exept cd's.   When I moved into my condo seven years ago I bought that collection with me.  How many times have I listened to them?  Not enough to justify keeping them.  A few I've ripped to memory sticks and play on computer, but the majority languish in a cabinet.  Time to let go.  I need the space for other things.   I was brutal in my choosing.  When I finished I had eight bags to take to the flea market.  Four trips down a flight of stairs to my car.  Gone.  The ones I kept I'll look at again in a few months.  It may be time let those go, too.  I've already purged my dvd collection once, I'm thinking of doing it again.  One sure thing:  I won't be buying any more cd's or dvd's. 

While I was at the flea market, a cute little red brocade purse caught my eye.  It would be perfect with my red shoes.  I almost grabbed it on the spot - the price was less than a taco - but held off when I remembered I had a trove of cute little purses stashed in my closet, many I'd had for so long they were practically vintage.  Home to the closet.  No little red purse in the ones I already owned, but there were many I could donate and never miss.  Back to the flea market with a bag full of donations, I left with the cute little red brocade purse in hand. 

I still think about Sonia Gonzalez, the woman in NYC with her wagon train of stuff that she spends her days moving along the city sidewalks.  I think of my morning walk, encumbered only by my house keys in a fanny pack, and wonder what that walk would be like if I had to drag/push/pull everything I owned.   The very thought is exhausting.  I have never aspired to be Sisyphus. 

Letting go is liberating.  Less really is more.

Penny Pincher

Phil, Phil, Phil...

What were you thinking???

It's not that I've cheered for you through many seasons of victories and missed putts and not making the cut that I feel justified in asking.  It's that this is the biggest case of stupid spending I've ever seen and I want to know...what were you thinking??? 

Here's a man who makes MILLIONS each year and going back to almost his pre-history as a pro golfer has pissed a lot of it away gambling.  Not only pissed it away, but now has to pay the SEC over a million because he -- oh, how do I say this without falling off my chair in disbelief? -- acted on an insider stock tip from a known gambler to whom he owed a BIG chunk of money.  A known gambler who got the insider tip from someone else who also owed him big bucks.  Phil's SEC payment is to cover the profit he made on the insider tip, profit which was initially used to pay the gambling debt to the man who gave him the insider tip.  Follow that?  I wish I were making this up...I'd make a fortune on the book sale.  Truth IS stranger than fiction.

Phil made a deal with the devil.   He may come out unscathed legally after paying the SEC, but his golf game has taken a big hit into the rough.  That's Phil's own doing -- the PGA and Phil's sponsors have been mum to date -- losing his touch with the game that brought him fame and fortune is the price he's paying for stupid spending, consorting with evil companions, and in general being a fool.

A classic case of more money than good sense.  Take heed.

Penny Pincher

The Tyranny of Stuff

I sing a song of excess.  Wretched excess. 

http://nypost.com/2016/05/07/homeless-hoarders-junk-train-returns-with-a-vengeance/

I don't how long the above link will be accessible, but it's a follow up story about a homeless woman in NYC and her train of stuff.  It's heart rending.  It has become this woman's daily task to move her train of stuff from point A to point B and points beyond.  At night she circles her wagons to form a protective barrier while she catches forty winks.

Here are the original stories:

http://nypost.com/2016/03/09/meet-new-york-citys-homeless-hoarder/

http://nypost.com/2016/03/09/you-son-of-a-b-tch-homeless-hoarder-pissed-her-trash-is-getting-tossed/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3486628/Homeless-NYC-hoarder-Choo-Choo-tells-left-Puerto-Rico-16-lost-4-year-old-twin-boys-auto-accident-living-fear-cops-seized-train-grocery-laundry-carts-kept-safe-night.html

Before you write off Sonia Gonzalez as just another NYC nut job, ask youself how much stuff YOU have here and there in closets, bins, drawers.  This morning I went through a bin in my kitchen filled with extra wooden spoons, kitchen gadgets... stuff I don't use on a daily basis, but may need every so often... like the turkey baster that gets hauled out every Thanksgiving.   In that bin were things I'll NEVER use again... they went into the flea market donation bag.  A week ago I cleaned out my kitchen pantry/storage shelves - and ended up with three bags of flea market donations.  I don't miss any of it.

Getting rid of storage three years ago took an albatross off my neck.  That's why I won't consider having a second home.  I tell myself that's what hotels are for.  A place to stay away from home.  I don't need a second home to fill then purge.  One is more than enough.  

Penny Pincher

When Life is Good, Don't Muck it Up

You know what I mean.  Life is going good,  the sun is shining, birds are singing. Tra la, tra la.  Bills are paid, taxes filed (minimal refund coming), auto insurance paid for another year, money in the bank.  Wouldn't this be a great time to _________??? 

Take a trip?  Maybe a cruise?  I check out itinararies, air fares, prices.  Then I ask myself: WHY?  All the places I think about going are similar to where I live.  All the things I think about doing I can do at home.  I don't need to get on a plane to go somewhere else to walk a beach.   The reason I moved to the Caribbean forty years ago was to be where I wanted to be, in the climate I wanted to live in, and not wait until retirement to make it happen.   I don't need to go anywhere else to be happy.  All I have to do is look through my window. 

Buy a tiny house?  I am nuts about tiny houses!  I love them, I covet them.  I want one!!!  I drool over floor plans.  Wait a minute!  What am I thinking?  I live in a 400 square foot apartment (485 square feet with covered balcony) that I adore.  That's a tiny house!  I already have what I want.  I don't need a second home.  Anywhere.

Okay, then.  SHOP.  I love shopping.  BUT....having just finished a re-read of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (paperback purchased for $0.10 at a flea market) perhaps shopping is not such a good idea.  I don't need anything.  I shop every two weeks for groceries, with stops at the big box stores where I usually walk out empty-handed.   I don't have ROOM for anything else.  I live in a tiny house! 

You get my point....when life is good, don't shoot yourself in the foot just because you can.  If less is more, then more is definitely a drain on your bank account.  Love what you already have.

Penny Pincher

$2 and a Dream

This morning I traded two dollar bills for a piece of paper that could make me a multi-multi-multi-millionaire in slightly more than 30 hours.  Yes, I bought a PowerBall ticket.  Yes, the odds are that I've dropped my money down a rat hole.  But for two dollars I can dream, can't I?  Better a $2 dream than remorse over a crashing stock market.  It's been a week that I'm glad that I'm out of the market.

It's only the third time in 3-1/2 years that I've bought a $2.00 PowerBall ticket.  I let the machine pick the numbers for me.  Interesting that each time 39 appears in my row of numbers.  Will the third time be a charm for number 39?

IF I won, how would my life change?

I can't say I'd quit my job - I'm retired.

I can't say I'd pay off my mortgage - I paid cash for my condo, no mortgage, no debts.

I can't say I'd go around the world - I've been to all the places I wanted to see when travel was less of a hassle and the world was a kinder place.

This morning I sat on my balcony looking at the newly risen crescent moon, topped by bright Venus and slightly below Venus to the left was Saturn, on a direct line from Saturn to the right Antares, part of my favorite constellation Scorpio.  Out of my line of vision the Southern Cross was glowing near the horizon.  The air was balmy, not much breeze.  In the distance I watched the red and green navigation lights blinking in a calm sea.  Would a winning PowerBall ticket have made the morning any better or the stars any brighter?

I don't think so.   But I'll check those winning numbers, just in case.

Penny Pincher

PS close but no cigar.... I had 2 of the five winning numbers, but NOT the powerball.  39 was NOT one of the winning numbers.  Third time = NO charm.  Next time I'll spend my $2 on a taco.