Spot purchases

The last 6 weeks have been about traveling and certainly it has been hectic.  One disadvantage is that my gym time has suffered and certainly impacted my lifestyle and fitness which is a shame.
I really need to get back into this, and my recent trip to the gym yielded less than stellar results as I was definitely not fitter than I was just a few months ago, so feel like the hard work has been literally worked off!

The last little while - work has also been tough and likely set up for some tough discussions, so that's definitely not so great.  In reflecting, I felt that I did do a lot and made some sacrifices, but in the end, results were not where I would have liked, which is disappointing.

But over the last few months, I have made some small purchases.  Largely because I hadn't bought so much for myself and also because they were related to the trip I took.
Firstly, I bought my first drone.  Yes, I bought the DJI Mavic Pro.  This was for my trip to Scandinavia, and was done as I thought there would be some good awesome footage off the back of it.  Unfortunately, it was mostly raining when we went and so there was not such great opportunity for footage and literally we didn't have time to just go flying!  I bought it because I thought it would be a great opportunity to see if there would be different angles of photography I could do - but seriously need some flying lesson!  I definitely like the idea of flying and always had a bit of interest in that area, so here is the opportunity to do more in that regard!

The second item was a bit of a whim.  I recently bought a Seiko watch - the SBDC053.  I always liked Seiko watches and I distinctly recalled that my father had one. He had it in his drawer and it was a watch he asked a friend to carry over for him back in the day.  As a child I thought it would be fun to wear around the house, and one day I was wearing it and scrapped it against the wall leaving some heavy scratch marks.  I recall having to tell my dad I was sorry about it, but he didn't scold me about it.  He left it in his drawer, but didn't really wear it until recently when he got the glass polished again, though I am glad he did and continues to wear it.  I bought a watch that was released this year.  When I went to the shop, they had three left - including the same one I just tried on.  As I was contemplating, there was only two left as someone just bought the other one.  Good sales tactic as I snapped it up!  The issue was that I had checked a few websites and they were either more expensive or not in stock, so decided to grab this one!  Also, changed the strap to a NATO strap, so definitely has a different feel!

Receipt of memories

A few days ago, I had the day off.  Of course one normally associates a day off with sleeping in or lazing about to watch TV/play games.  Relaxing.

But to be honest - that is not really me.  Most weekends in fact, I still get up early but am on the 'net surfing.

But these days I feel I need to be productive.  So waking up at 6am, I felt the need to clean up.  Mainly the paperwork on my desk and sort out my cupboards.  It was such a mess that every time I looked at it I would think, "I'll deal with that another time."

Or, "I'm too tired."

Terrible.

So I decided to be proactive to clear as much as possible: filing, sorting and cleaning.  It was a task I had started a few days ago - as I was filing away my paperwork which had piled up.  I keep most receipts - from buying my morning coffee, grocery shopping to all the receipts from holidays.  Every week I extract a wallet full of receipts and plonk them on the table or squirrel them into envelopes.

So you can imagine how many receipts I have accumulated over a short period of time.  I had every intention to track expenses but found it such a hassle I don't.  I keep them in case there is a dispute or an incorrect charge.  Ok, ok - I need a better system and  am still searching for that!

Going through a table full of receipts is downright distressing,  however, the upside was I needed to read and determine if I wanted to still keep the receipt (for warranties etc).

Strangely, most recipes were readable, and still had a lot of information.  Times and dates of my purchases.  Restaurant receipts still had the addresses of the places, what I ate and the tip I gave.  Interestingly, the memories came flooding back to the exact places I was at.  I don't recall everything - like what I was wearing - but the situation, vibe and how I was feeling did come back. All these receipts made me think of all the places I tried on clothes, the shop assistants, the stores - pretty much putting me at all these places - some of which I had forgotten all about!

One of my friends had told me about a shoebox full of movie ticket stubs - something he had collected ever since he started going to the movies.  I was just thinking whether a scrapbook full of receipts would ever be a thing, but it certainly made my day as I never thought something as simple as a kept receipt would ever be a memory of a good thing (especially if it meant I was paying!)

Are we there yet?

Perhaps it is me getting a bit further on on age and realisation that I have been working for quite some time.  But it did get me thinking about financial freedom - or at least a relative financial freedom.

While I was chatting to a colleague, we were commenting on how regulations and technology have really started to change the industry.  Furthermore, with family and worklife balance, how it would be good to be able to just take the time off when required.  Which brought me to an interesting question posed to me: "Do you have a number?"

I was taken a little aback, as I usually don't talk personal finance with colleagues.  But I was somewhat intrigued as to this - because it was phrased such that a number you would be happy with so you didn't need to work for money any more.  I had done some quick calcs, and had come up with a number which I thought would be acceptable in this scenario - i.e. a number where I would be confidently not eating salami sandwiches for the rest of my life.  (to be sure I love eating salami sandwiches - something which was cheap and tasty but I did eat a lot of it as I was trying to save money). Unless of course it is eating salami sandwiches in my holiday home in Italy. With water views... 

So I hesitantly stated a number and backed it up with some of my quick calcs.
"Excluding your own home, of course," they said.
"Yeah...., " I responded, unsure now of my quick calcs.  What else did I feel was missing as my mind started recalibrating.

Of course, context is required, as my colleague, who has a family,  are well paid professionals and I found my number to be quite a bit lower than theirs.

So what I realised was that this could very well be a lose-lose situation depending on who you are speaking with.  State a number very high, then people start to either judge you:
- Are you being realistic?
- Think you are already there, so believe you are rich or a snob;
- Admire you or just am jealous (as believe you are close to your goal).
Conversely, coming in low, like me:
- Are you being realistic?  How could you live off that.
- Think you are already there, but that you have no ambition.
- Admire you or jealous (that you are close to your goal).

Unfortunately, perhaps it was the fact that I don't like talking financial matters with friends which made me less aware of my personal finances, so perhaps this was a good lesson to spur me into action.

What I did find out is that while my number is not unrealistic, I need to consider the type of lifestyle I want from here on in.  I mean I can be more frugal and therefore get by on my lower number.  Knowing that I may not have as much as I wanted in retirement is a sad, but better to know earlier so I can do something about it. 

Anyone, less time on games and more on financial news I reckon!