It’s time to say yes to most things.

Why wobble on decisions?  Why wait to do something later, in the future?  Why over-calculate the cost, time, value, and importance-wasting time??  Why not say Yes, NOW?

Yeses

I’ve had the opportunity to go on multiple trips with my FIRE $lackers friends/family.  Kathy and I joined almost 50 Rock Retirement Club members (and most of my $lackers gang) on a wonderful Alaskan cruise. I also had the opportunity to go to Bali and hang out with 50 FI friends.

I’ve purchased a few things from cars to guitars to a storage shed to make our lives better and more enjoyable.  I’ve watched Kathy sit in first class enjoying the comfort (while I enjoyed sitting in the back and keeping some funds to pay for better expenses on the trip). 

We’ve enabled the freedom to do almost anything we want for this MoJo decade.  It turns out that we aren’t quite able to complete spending the target/allowable amount most months.  Yet, the knowing that we can is amazing.  Deferring spending was pretty great.

I’ve given more and more of my Playcheck to people/causes that I believe are worthy.  These are things that are worthy enough for the allocation of my money to something other than me and my personal playcheck spending requirements (Health, Fitness, FIRE lifestyle, Tech).  As you can see from my deliberate planning goals, I plan, organize, and think through almost EVERYTHING.  Hence, the need to just go for it once in a while—say Yes.

Intent

I’ve frequently heard the wise ones around me say “It’s either hell yes or no.”  I get it.  That forces you to prioritize the amazing stuff that you really want to do.  But it’s also possible that being greedy or overly cautious with allocating our time causes us to miss something that may be delightful (that’s definitely not a Kevin word). 

So, do we attempt to live by the powerful Hell Yes or No, or do we embrace the ability (in FIRE) to just say “Yes” more often and jump into the adventures/activities that life will allow us?

Outcomes

True, some of the activities may turn out to be duds or worse, but many may turn out to be wonderful and possibly set up future activities or even better; friendships.  I see over and over how relationships are one of the five core values for a better life.  Maybe saying “yes” will enhance the relationship variable.  It may even enhance the active lifestyle variable.

Bali was a “yes” that I said without any consideration for expense, time, or life phase.  I had friends heading over in Sept so the January before I jumped right in, 9 months early, no regrets.  It’s true there was some concern over the 24 hours of travel each way, but it is what it is.  I was way too cheap to spend the extra $6000 for business class lie-flat seats (even though I should have) and instead purchased what seemed to be a good alternative in Premium Economy, the same as we used for France in 2014.  This year’s FI Freedom Retreat in Bali event sold out in 2 ½ hours! 

Reflection

Is this trip a good way to use my QTR?  I can’t think of negatives, nor can I count all the positives.

Are there other intentional decisions I should be making to better my life, absolutely.  It’s an ongoing process of improvement, or attempted bettering.

So, is “hell yes” the goal, or is being intentional with your time and energy?  Hell Yes.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

This is one of those “should I mow my own lawn for an hour every two weeks or is my time worth more than that” post.  That mowing question is similar to my original thought but probably fewer overall hours per month than what I’m thinking about—at least for most people.

Incremental Saving

I feel as though I’ve moved away from the general FI journey community’s position based on multiple fairly recent podcasts discussing strategies like turning off netflix or Disney for a month, and turning your heat down and wearing sweaters.  I’m not saying that saving money is wrong.  I’m not saying that taking the 5 minutes to suspend service is wrong.  I just feel like this is a very personal journey and such an extremely minor target of saving $10-15 per month may not move the overall balance.  Though, yes, multiple saving categories over time do add up.

Time Thieves

Yet there is a concept I wonder about often—time-thieving ads on streaming services. 

When you want to watch something on your TV (old people) or your device (young people) how do you feel about in-show ads?

If I want to watch a show that has 45 minutes of content (netflix, curiosity stream, MasterClass, Wondrium, Amazon Prime video), I don’t want 10-15 minutes of ads wasting my time every single relaxing hour. 

I have owned a DVR for our satellite service since Microsoft Ultimate TV in 2001.  To me, the ability to reclaim an hour of time from a lazy 4-hour TV viewing session (or hockey game) was worth far more than the $10/mo service fee. 

I think about streaming services that have “premium” no-ads pricing for an additional $3-10/mo (think Amazon Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, etc).  Even if I only watch 5 nights of video from any of those per month, I’m saving 3-4-5 hours per month of my time.  To me, that is well worth $10/mo.

Monthly Plan

I should be clear, yes, I do subscribe to Peacock+ premium just for July then turn it off at the end of the month.  I often subscribe to Paramount+ in Nov/Dec when Amazon has their $2/mo special.  I just turned off my AppleOne family plan which went from $30 to $42/mo removing AppleTV+, AppleNews, etc.  I will turn on AppleTV for one month, maybe twice per year, but not to save money exactly, but rather to lessen my frustration when there’s “nothing to watch” on the service.  I swear, I spend 30+ minutes per night looking at the little rectangles of shows, not finding anything, even though I have “my playlists” set up everywhere.  What?!

My main thought is, that I pay for no ads when I have a streaming service so I can avoid wasted (commercial) time and frustration. 

I also pay for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, Walmart+ delivery, extra legroom on some flights, and some other time-saving/life-enhancing programs.  We NEVER get more time once it has passed.

Learn

Each night when we watch TV we often try to make sure we “learn something.”  (The worst ads are when watching YouTube while on the spinning bike and their stupid commercial interruptions (bam $25/mo spent on sanity—and often better videos/shows than other services).  Learning while exercising seems like habit-stacking.

Included for Free

I am aware that some services and subscriptions have bundles that include “free” services.  Our Walmart+ delivery service comes with paramount+ ad version, which is almost useless, or at least commercially frustrating to me so I don’t use it.  I could upgrade for $60 to the no-ads plan, but that requires a year of commitment.  I’d rather pay $15-20 for one month (or a $2 Amazon Prime deal) and be in/out—done.

Wasting Away?

This seems like a dumb post, but are you wasting your life/time with ads, just interruptions, and not allocating your money to what you enjoy the most (definitely not commercials—not even super bowl commercials for me)?

I love the concept of using your money to add what you love, and using your money to remove what you dislike.  That is one power of “wealth.”  The power to better your life.  That’s just my random thought from my LifeInFIRE.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

What is a misfit?  Oxford dictionary: “something that does not fit or that fits badly.”

That seems to describe me in so many ways, but that’s not exactly what I’m thinking as I type this.  Instead, I’m thinking about how something changes and now there’s an issue, a problem, or some would say “a possibility?”

Apple MacBook

My wife’s (older) Macbook Air’s power adapter (magsafe connector) was getting a little wonky and not charging every time it was connected.  We did have another magsafe (ver2) adapter that we could use for both of those older macbooks.  Sharing is not my favorite thing, so I pulled out some older macbook magsafe power adapters and not surprisingly they did not fit the new macbooks.  The older macbooks used magsafe 1 connectors.

At this point, any cautionary person would check Amazon/eBay for a magsafe 2 replacement charger for $65.  I did 30 seconds of searching and found a $9 magsafe 1 to 2 adapter.  Move some connection pins around and let the energy flow, I thought.  The next day my little power magic device arrived and worked great with two old chargers.  Apple did not (fully) screw us over with their proprietary connectors this time.

Apple, yes again

I think back on our new ipads which are USB-C and how I didn’t want to buy all new cords, but purchase just a few.  I looked up lightning to USB-C adapters and found a 4-pack for $6.  The following day I received them and tested them successfully.  Now in some strategic locations (desk, car, nightstand, etc) I have these little adapters or the 6” dongle version.

There are so many things in my life that misfit due to company/tech/historical changes.  I usually strategize a way to fit the pieces together to simplify or prevent a future issue. 

Mach1

Here’s a strange example.  The 69 Mach1 came with an Autolite battery.  These are long since out of production, but a company makes a $300 replica.  We bought one so the Mach1 stayed pretty original.  The battery sucked and lasted a little over a year.  Turns out many people have this replica problem.

I ended up buying a battery cover that looks like the Autolite but covers a standard (3-year type) battery.  From a glance, it looks like it is supposed to.  If you look close on the side you can tell it’s a cover, which shows the owner cares about originality at some level.  Note: I will not let Kathy nerd out and swap the good battery for the “show” Autolite battery at a car show…just to swap them at the end of the day to come home.  …Some people.

Me again

I am usually the strange—out of the ordinary—person in the group.  I never seem to have the same interests, thoughts, or desires as those around me.  Sometimes, I think it’s because I was an only child who did my own thing most of the time.  I grew up in a smallish town and it was usually cold so I just did my own thing.  We didn’t really go outside and hang out in the neighborhood much of the year. 

Then again, I could just be an oddball in general.  That’s probably the root cause and no need to analyze me in any more detail.  I didn’t fit in “badly,” just not an easy pop-in component.

Because I have always thought differently, maybe that’s why I see a glitch in the system/process and wonder if I can resolve that to make my life easier.

Perfectionless

My favorite saying is “everything has a ding.”  That removed the stress of perfect-looking items.  That is a go-with-the-flow perspective.  It makes problems a little easier to deal with.  It makes it so not every issue must be repaired/resolved to perfect.

I don’t think I have any DNA that requires me to have perfect—show the Joneses—my great stuff/life.  I just do what I want and try not to impact other people negatively.

Even with the—now named—Jones generation growing up ahead of me, I just never matched the desires of others.   

My brain—and actions—work differently.  Once I cracked the process of getting A’s in college, I didn’t strive for perfection, 100%, but rather 91%.  I knew that my 91% grade would give me the same GPA as the student who worked their ass off to get 100% for the semester.  In my mind, I retained approximately 9% of my effort to use for myself, rather than the professor—with the same paper grade outcome. 

Insightful Effort

I will say, I did not use that strategy for my working career.  For my working career, I concentrated on serving my customers and making sure my boss didn’t have to worry about my work, actions, or deliverables.  I kept my boss informed of the good and any issues so that they wouldn’t be blindsided by their boss or anyone else.  Take care of your boss(es).  That’s who I was working for.

Proactive

Note: I do love having the right cables for whatever comes up.  I also like having different adapters from lightning, micro, USB-C, etc so I can put together the connection I need at any given time.  Another part of the personality quirk is that I am the person who keeps a proactive inventory of items “just in case.”  I have a few bins of “spare stuff” that I won’t get rid of for quite a while.  I’m not a hoarder, but sometimes it feels like a few too many bins in the garage.

Find your BEST fit, whatever it may be.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

Do you ever think about responsibility?  I was thinking about mental health issues everywhere and all the social media blaming.  I was wondering if our society has shifted the responsibility of one’s thoughts and actions to another party.  (why is it is a “party?”)

In another time, long ago, when I was growing up, I learned to be responsible for myself.  I came home from school and took care of myself for a few hours.  I knew if I went outside in winter that it was my responsibility not to freeze or die from being stupid.  I knew my role in school was to complete the assigned tasks to move along in the system—there was no “please help me, I need extra credit to catch up.”

As I moved into older ages, I learned to manage my income.  I understood that included the govt taking a chunk to fund themselves—I mean our society.  It took me longer to understand my health responsibility to myself to lose weight and gain fitness.

I was reading an article complaining about whatever and promoted the desire to banish scarcity.  I’m not linking to this nonsense article.

Responsibility

This article made me think about who is responsible for actions.

It made me think about the news and the battles over politics.  It made me think about candidates and parties.  I thought about govt funding and how it differs from my process of not spending the income that comes in.  In adolescence, I learned the simple equation of cash flow on/out.

I really started to think about “policy” and “programs.”  Who is responsible for bettering one’s self?  Who is responsible for gaining knowledge, skills, and abilities?  Is that something a govt department manages to hand out my earnings to people?  I understand helping with base/core requirements and crises is important.  But, where is the bottom line?  When does the outflow get its amount allocation?  It seems to be based on public desire/perception.  Then pork barrel funding is hidden in the details…TLDR for sure.

Protection vs Comparison.

I think back to the article and how humans are programmed since cave people to acquire and hoard for sustainability…and somehow we now compare ourselves to neighbors and their shiny new car or what others have on TV shows???  It goes on to explain how social media scrolling ruins our psyche.  Is social media a comparison checklist of Instagram amazingness?  Is none of this self-inflicted?

Reward

What is a reward vs a life need?  Of course, we should have rewards.  Maybe the reward goal should be internal more than social media externally driven.  Maybe the rewards should include some delayed gratification to validate the true desire and optimize the exactness of the purchase/spend.

Control

Yes, I know there are a lot of problems, concerns, and inequality in the country and world.  I’m just thinking that the self-ownership of a lifetime of small decisions toward improvement can make a massive difference as time goes on.  I don’t understand how all of these “we need a policy” statements or worse a “program” is going to resolve this.  So many look to others to solve the problems, and I’m pretty sure the others- (in this case the govt—who seem to look out for themselves first and reelection seconds, and their constituents third) aren’t really out to solve your specific problem, even is it is this newly created “safe-space” country we’re moving into.

Leaders?

I think about the term “policy-makers” and what I recently realized *BAM* “law-makers.”  Our elected govt official seems like their main task as “law-makers” is to make laws.  Create new laws, more and more and more new laws every session, every year. 

What if we had new terminology: “elections for lawmakers?”  Not elections.”  Not “elections of political parties.”  Shouldn’t it be elections for “representatives,” which I believe was the initial goal of this country’s government?  People served their communities and went back to their lives.  They weren’t career politicians.  I don’t know about being power-hungry.

Policy, Policy, Policy

I just think the phrase “we need a policy” gets under my skin.  I’d personally rather hear “we need responsibility” which should include fair opportunities to better ourselves.  Oh, but that takes effort, often a LOT of effort.

I should end by stating that I’ve made plenty of mistakes.  But, I truly believe in 99% of my actions, I give intentional thought to the task, its predecessors, and its probable outcomes.  But, I know I think too much, too often.  I may be, and I have been—wrong.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.