What I learned in 2017

The year went swimmingly until September when hurricanes struck in a one two punch.  First Irma, then Maria.  Life as I knew it was knocked silly by wind and rain.

What did I learn?

BE FLEXIBLE

Making the best of the new normal.  Morning ice run, living without power for two months.  The hurricane diet and exercise plan.  I've lost weight, gained stamina and strength.  Cut time off my morning walk.  I feel great.

EMBRACE CHANGE

A volunteer position opened up at my favorite flea market.  I am now the book lady, working four mornings a week, unpacking/sorting/shelving book donations, helping customers find books.  I'm in my element.

LET GO

Haven't had cable tv in three months.  Who knows when it will be restored?  There were other things I thought were essential to my life that I learned to live without when I had no power or internet.  Now that both have been restored, I find I can continue to live without the time wasters. 


BE GRATEFUL

I thank the lovely men at the hardware store who gifted me with pine twigs from the trailer of Christmas trees they were unloading.  I put them in water and they have filled my kitchen with the lovely scent of pine during the holiday season.

CASH IS KING

I believe in cash, not credit or debit cards, for my daily life.  With no power, no access to an ATM, stores without internet selling for cash ONLY, cash was essential in hurricane post recovery.  A cash stash is number one on my list for emergency planning.

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Hoping for a hurricane free 2018.


Penny Pincher

Christmas 2017

Christmas in a hurricane recovery zone is subdued.  No boat parade this year, minimal lights (many areas still do not have power), minimal Christmas goods in the stores, no scratchy band Christmas music filling the air in the pre-dawn hours.  I miss all of it.

I'm grateful for what I do have, that my home is intact, that I have power.  I'll celebrate the positive.

However you celebrate the holidays, may they bring you joy.  To all, as in previous years, wishes for a new year of peace and prosperity.

Penny Pincher

Giving Thanks - 2017

Thanksgiving 2017 is less than a week away, and this year I have many reasons to give thanks.

This year I survived 2 cat 5 hurricanes... first Irma in early September, followed two weeks later by her much meaner sister Maria.  Lessons learned during Irma carried forth to Maria.  Storm shutters stayed up (finally taken down 10 days ago).... power went down 9/19 and was finally restored at home on 11/15.  Before that we had running water - one can survive nicely with running water, flashlights and a daily ice run for the 10 pound bag of ice that kept minimal food supplies and drinks chilled in portable coolers.

I was blessed that my condo (concrete roof) had minimal water damage, and my car -- sitting unprotected in the open parking lot -- came through without a scratch.

It was the people who made recovery possible and bearable... the strangers with smiles who said "good morning, how did you make out?" as we waited in endless lines for ice, laundry use, gas, banking, entry into storm damaged stores to purchase what few goods remained.  (Cash only, no credit cards, no checks... hurricane survivor tip:  have CASH on hand, hit the ATM before the storm, afterward there will be no power, no internet.)

This is definitely a year for giving thanks... and I do.

Penny Pincher

What I learned from Hurricane Irma

Bottom line??

Be prepared!

That motto is not just for Boy Scouts, but for anyone living in hurricane country.  I've lived in the Caribbean for eons... been through tropical storms, storm warnings, storm watches, Hurricane Hugo in 1989 (3 mos afterward without power), yada, yada, yada.

It gets old.  But it beats freezing my tush in winter.  At heart I'm a tropical flower, even though I grew up in cold country.

While Irma was still a nameless "invest" on the National Hurricane Center map, I was thinking ahead.  "What if?"  As it got closer, became a named storm and the proposed track put it right over my head, it was time to get serious.  This would be the first major storm since I moved into my condo eight years ago.

First step... clear my balcony of plants and furniture, put up my storm shutters over the floor to ceiling east-facing windows.  I did that on Sunday morning while the air was calm and the storm was three days away.  I learned from experience not to wait until the winds begin to blow.

Inside I filled gallon jugs with water, placed them in my bathtub for flushing use if necessary.  In the kitchen, a cooler went into the sink to fill with ice and beverages so I wouldn't have to open my fridge/freezer if/when the power went out.

Got out my battery operated fan and portable radio.  Made sure my solar powered lanterns were fully charged.  Checked my flashlights.

Tuesday morning Irma was a day away.  Went to the market, bought a cold rotisserie chicken for $4.99.   I already had tuna, peanut butter and crackers on hand, in addition to yogurt/wheat germ and salad makings in the fridge.

6:30 AM Wednesday the power went out and we all hunkered down to wait for the worst.  We got lucky.  Irma jogged north and spared my island from extensive damage, but devastated the islands forty miles away.

I survived unscathed.  Partial power was restored at 5 PM Friday.   I have power in my kitchen only, but it's enough to run my fridge and keep my food from spoiling.  We have running water.  Life is good.

Storm shutters are still up (there's a lot more hurricane season ahead); furniture/plants back on the balcony.

That $4.99 roasted chicken fed me through dinner Sunday night.  What a bargain.

Penny Pincher

If not now, when?

It may be because I'm at the point where my remaining life is measured in years, not multiple decades.  Or it may be a simple case of "I want it, got to have it, going to get it."  But I fell under the spell of a KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  Oh, drool.  Sigh.

It wasn't the first time I'd heard the KitchenAid siren song.  I read cooking blogs, I watch cooking shows on telly (hello, Great British Baking Show) and I scrutinize kitchen equipment and gadgets.  

Time to face facts: 

Can I afford it?

Yes.  My secret santa fund is healthy, thanks to selling things I no longer needed/wanted.

Do I have a place to put it?

Ah, that's the real problem.  Where to put it?  I went into my 8 x 10 kitchen for a good hard look.  The obvious location was on the 2 x 6 butcher block topped workbench I use for extra counter space.  (First thing I bought for my condo before I'd even closed.  A perfect fit in the area that was originally designed to be a closet.  I removed the sliding doors, kept the shelves as an open pantry, use the hanger rod as a pot rack.)  Easy access power plug in for the mixer.  BUT... too much stuff on the counter.  Too many bowls and cookbooks.  Time to declutter, donate the excess to the flea market.  I won't miss any of it.  That left a nice empty space, but was it big enough?

KitchenAid to the rescue.  The latest addition to the Artisan mixer line is the 3.5 quart mini.  Smaller, lighter than the regular mixer, but with the same power.   I measured, made a template, back to the kitchen.  Yes, it would fit.  With room to maneuver.  Problem solved. 

Time to shop.  Found the mini on sale, with free shipping... and a mail-in rebate for a free grinder attachment.  How could I resist?  If not now, when?  Pressed the buy button on Saturday and Tuesday morning that mini mixer was sitting on my counter like it was made to be there.  Color I chose was Hot Sauce, a ho-ho-ho cheerful Santa Claus red.  Which surprised me because my favorite color is blue.  But Hot Sauce grabbed me... a few days later I bought a matching KitchenAid 3.5 cup mini food processor that will sit next to the mixer.  Both are the perfect size for a one-person household with a small kitchen.

Used the mixer the first time for my weekly cheese biscuit bake.  It purrs quietly like a contented cat while it does what it's made to do: mix.  Couldn't be easier to use.  It's perfect. 

Why did I wait so long to buy one? 

Penny Pincher

What I learned from Henry David Thoreau

The famed naturalist, born July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts (there was no MA abbreviation - or 01742 zip code - back then), was in the news this week to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Henry and I go way back.  My freshman year in college I had the good fortune to study English with a professor who had done his doctorate on Thoreau.  We spent the entire second semester reading and discussing Walden.  Of all the college courses I have taken, that is the one that has stayed with me, sustained me through the years.  The rest of my studies helped me earn a living, but Henry nourished my soul and shaped the way I live.

I can quote Henry by the yard and by the hour, but I will restrain myself to these: 

"I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."
  
I have three chairs on my balcony; a reading chair tucked in a corner, and two more on either side of a small round table for guests.

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."

I used this quote to begin a speech when I was the toastmaster at a conference.   Wearing not new, but perfectly presentable, clothes and my trademark sandals. 

 “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” 

Eons ago I had a dream of living on a tropical island.

 “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” 

I made the dream of tropical living a reality and have never looked back.

 “I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” 

Jean Paul Sartre said  "Hell is other people."  I like Henry's version better.  Both ring true.

Lastly....

 “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.”

Less IS more, but Henry said it first.

Penny Pincher

What I learned from Lee Child

In a September, 2015 online interview in Marketwatch, author Lee Child said he (and his fictional character Jack Reacher) kept his money in cash, "I bank at the first national bank of Sealy Posturepedic."

Having spent the past week reading, back to back, three books about Bernie Madoff, I'm inclined to agree with Lee Child.   Cash is king.

I'm a wimp when it comes to financial risk.  I wouldn't know a split strike conversion if it bit me on the butt (as it did Bernie's victims who saw their money vanish into Bernie's split strike conversion sinkhole).  Over the years I parked my stash of acorns in a succession of brokerages, but stayed with low risk investments and finally ended up in 2008 with all of my accounts in a $1 per share money market fund.  I don't know how I got so smart, but while other people were moaning about losses in 2008 (after crowing about profits in earlier years), I wasn't losing.  I wasn't making big returns, but I wasn't losing principal.

What became even more important to me was security.  I now want three things for my money:  security, stability, access.  I moved my money to an FDIC insured bank, parked it in a savings account.  I can access my account online (which I do daily), or in five a minute walk I can be in the lobby of nearest bank branch.

I sleep well at night because I know my $$ is secure.  But I may need to get a bigger mattress.

Penny Pincher

(link to Marketwatch/Lee Child article:)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/like-jack-reacher-lee-child-is-wary-of-technology-and-shuns-the-stock-market-2015-09-22

What I learned from Bernie Madoff

As a lead-in to the new HBO original movie "The Wizard of Lies" detailing the fall of Bernie Madoff, CNBC is showing Madoff, a four hour miniseries that originally aired in 2016.  Madoff is compelling viewing, like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  You know the outcome (150 years prison sentence), but you can't believe the sheer chutzpah that propels Bernie to that point.

I was NOT one of Madoff's victims - my assets would have been less than chump change to Bernie - so I was able to be dispassionate in my viewing.  Would I have fallen for Bernie's calculated approach?  Bernie dangled a golden carrot, but insisted his victims beg him for it.  He was a master of playing hard to get.  Once he reeled in his victims, he kept them ensnared by building pseudo trust.  Their trust in him.  That he would keep their money safe and growing.  Wrong.  Bernie was only looking out for Bernie.

What did I learn from Bernie?  Trust no one but myself when it comes to my money.   I don't believe in fairy tales or pie in the sky promises.  I believe in banks and FDIC insured accounts.

It's YOUR money, it's up to you to keep it safe. 

Moral of the story?  Those who play hard to get may not be worth getting. 

Penny Pincher

What I learned from Suze Orman

Not from her personally, you understand, but from watching her program "The Suze Orman Show" on CNBC on Saturday nights.  Like many viewers, my favorite part was the "Can I afford it?" segment where participants told Suze what they wanted to buy (many requests fell into the category of what I call Stupid Spending) and she told them whether they were approved.  Or denied.

What I remember most was the question Suze always asked:

"How are you going to pay for it?"

 That simple question has become the mantra of my personal spending.  How am I going to pay for it? 

I believe in budgets and savings.  I do not believe in debt or paying interest.  I have one credit card, and I pay the bill in full every month on the day the statement is issued.  In my budget I have a monthly allocation for treats and that's what I use to pay credit card charges for fun stuff. 

Recently I ran across an item I had been coveting for a long time (no, I'm not going to tell you what it was - one person's fun stuff is another's stupid spending).   The cost exceeded the balance in my treat account.  But this was a buy it now situation.  How was I going to pay for it?  The treat account went into the red, and the negative balance was reduced by cutting back on groceries for the next month. Treat account is now back in the black.  Once I had answered the "how are you going to pay for it?" question to my frugal satisfaction, I was able to push the buy button.   It's an item I use and enjoy every day and over the course of a year will cost less than $1 per day.  I'm happy with that.  Thank you, Suze, for your pragmatic approach to spending.

What do YOU want to buy?  How are YOU going to pay for it?

Penny Pincher

What I learned from Warren Buffett

Not from him personally, you understand, but from watching the HBO documentary "On Becoming Warren Buffett."

Making his daily breakfast stop at McD's drive thru on the way to his office, Mr. Buffett spends either $2.61 (2 sausage patties), $2.95 (sausage, egg and cheese biscuit) or $3.17 (bacon, egg and cheese biscuit).

Here's the important part:  his choice depends on the market conditions.  Market down?  Go with the $2.61 option.  Stagnant?  It's the $2.95 meal.  Going up?  The full $3.17 splurge.

If Ben Franklin were alive today, he might phrase it this way in Poor Richard's Almanack:

Live today based on what you earned yesterday, not on what you hope to earn tomorrow. 

I call that a wise saying.

Penny Pincher

Grasshopper or ant? Which are you?

Remember this Aesop fable?

The Ant and the Grasshopper

   IN a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
   
  “Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”    

  “I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”
 
  “Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got plenty of food at present.”

    But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.

    When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:

“IT IS BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DAYS OF NECESSITY.”

 Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.)  Fables.
The Harvard Classics.  1909–14.
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Words for the wise:  if you save for a rainy day, you may never need an umbrella.

Penny Pincher