Money on the street?

Do you know you can find money on the street?

 

What would you do if you find a $100 dollar note on the street? I guess most of us would look around first (just in case anyone is looking at us) and quickly pick up the note, and smile. Am I right?

 

How about an old fridge standing on the street that is signed “Free and Working”?

 

When we were heading home from the beach after a regular Sunday walk, my husband saw an old fridge standing on a foot path with a note “Free and working”. As a frugal couple (as you might know already), we decided not to leave the money standing there. We stopped our hatch back car next to the foot path and squeezed the fridge into our car. This was not the first time we have found a treasure on the street so both of us knew what to do and took the action straightaway as followed.

 

·        Working? : We switched on and put some water bottles in the fridge/freezer to find out whether it was actually working or not. Yes, it was working!

·        Saleable? : We cleaned the fridge inside for a prospective customer and took some photos including the label that contains additional information. Ready to sell.

·        Marketing? : My husband uploaded the photos with simple advertisement comments on the local ‘FREE’ online classifieds site.

·        Waiting? : Waiting for a right customer. Many people inquired about the Ad but most of them didn’t take any further actions (ring, ask, and never turn up… very silly but exceptionally normal.).

·        Right price? : We put the price higher at the beginning and gradually reduced as per the responses.

 

Finally, a guy turned up with a sports car and looked at the fridge, and wanted to pay the agreed price. My smart husband offered a delivery (as it was quite close to our place and as obviously his car cannot carry even a single chair) with extra $40. We put the fridge into our hatch back one more time and delivered it to him, and made $170 including delivery. It sounds not bad, doesn’t it?

 

I have spoken like that I had involved a lot in the process but most of them were done by my husband who is very good in selling things. He sells whatever he finds even broken things. Amazing thing I have found from his selling is there will be always a buyer whatever he tries to sell. One of the memorable selling experiences is a TV stand that we found on the street (Council Clean-up) and used for more than 5 years, and sold for $100. My husband sells not only thing found from the street. He regularly cleans up our storage and tries to sell old things that we don’t use any longer. Selling the unwanted things can help us to keep less stuff in the house and also cover our future expenses by the useful cash.

 

I know many people would like the second part of this event (Earning money) and being reluctant to do the first part (Carrying, cleaning, advertising, negotiating and delivering), and decide ‘better not to bother’. However, I hope you remember that there is unchangeable fact that nothing is for free. We are happy to put little bit of efforts to get extra money which could be ignored. Honestly, we are financially very sound. I know some people would (did) ask us why we do this kind of extra (non-necessary) work (efforts) for the little money when we don’t have any problem with money. The answer is simple.

 

Why not? What can be the problem with making money on the stuff which is not useful to someone but can be useful to others? When we voluntarily exchange our precious life to work in order to make money (Money = Life), every single dollar is valuable to me and I think it would be ridiculous to ignore the chance to make money.

 

Our attitude toward money and frugal lifestyle keep us financially independent. I have noticed that many people don’t want to talk about money as if it would make them look down (and down, and down…). Many people think that buying good value stuff on sale, talking about savings, picking up things from outside and reuse, and living on a simple budget do not make them look better. However, what is ‘Better’? Do you really think buying stuff by credit cards (debts) and live pay cheque to pay cheque but having more stuff is better than living frugally and having financial independence? It is all up to you.

 

Don’t I feel embarrassed? I used to be. When I was an international student, I had to get many stuff from the council clean-ups. Buying expensive stuff was simply unaffordable as I had to pay school fees (over $2,000 per subject) on the top of my living cost (living in Sydney is tough). I felt quite uncomfortable to be shown to others that I cannot afford to buy them then. However, funny enough now when I really can afford to buy anything I want, I don’t feel embarrassed to low my living standard. I am proud of our attitude on money and spending habits. Also, being free from others’ perspectives is truly wonderful.

 

I am not saying that you need to look around to find stuff to sell. What I want to say is we need to rethink about value of money and treat the money more thoughtfully. Don’t forget how big part of your life is being spent at work for getting the money. Waste money is same as wasting our lifetime.

 

I am glad to know that the fridge is serving someone and we made a pocket money from the simple extra effort. If there is something ‘Free & Working’, definitely, we will do it again.

 

 

                                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jin's 7th Picture in 2014

This is my seventh picture in 2014.

 

As it was very detailed and needed countless colour mixes, it took me a bit of time to finish but I really enjoyed the process. What I learnt from this picture is focusing on only one part rather than whole picture so I could avoid overwhelmed feeling and kept going like our daily life. It was incredible feeling when I could see each part became a whole picture and each colour unified into the parts. My husband gave me a big appreciation re the picture so I was even happier.

 

 

Change Fitness Change Life

I am 42. Actually, I am 42 and 7 months. Geeees, quite old, aren’t I? Frankly, very often I experience a light shock whenever I remind myself how old I am. However, I try to bounce back fast because I know all I can I do is accept and deal with it. Am I right?

 

However, guess what? Can you believe that I am fitter than ever in my life? I was leaner and prettier when I was younger (very long time ago, ha-ha) but I have never been fitter and stronger in my life (EVER!!!!) and I am very proud of my achievement. I don’t look like a super model as I was born to be a normal Asian looking girl (‘short & thick’ as per my husband’s description) but I have finally got bit of muscle on my body and my fitness level has gone up higher than ever. I often work out with 20 years juniors and I found myself keeping up with them without any problem. I feel younger, healthier, fitter and stronger than my aged people and I cannot stop appreciating my constant efforts in keeping healthy lifestyle. Besides keeping healthy body and mind, a very special prize that keeps me going is my husband’s gratitude. Simply, his like my body and fitness changes and I love the attention.

 

 

As a story teller, I feel urged to talk about how I got fitter and stronger when I get older so more and more people can enjoy this fulfilment together. I feel totally awesome so I want you to feel the same. Here are my strategies to share with you.     

 

Exercise is my meal. One of my colleges who go with me to the gym at lunch time Change fitness change life often grumbles that he doesn’t feel like to workout. My answer is simple. “Are you going to have lunch?” I stop considering exercise as a special event of the day. It became a thing I don’t like to miss (I love eating so I can’t miss a meal). Of course, sometimes I feel slack as anyone but I know that I would feel even worse if I don’t work out. Exercise became my daily habit and not many excuses can stop me doing exercise. 

 

Appropriate exercise regime is the key. I have been always active and exercising regularly whole my life. However, I didn’t think about ‘How to’ exercise and didn’t realise the importance of intelligent workout. Since I started different types of group training sessions designed by professional fitness instructors, my fitness level has been changed significantly.  These workouts can help you to build strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility. I normally combine several different types of sessions for getting balanced workout. Body Attack, Body Pump, Pilates, Yoga, Cycle, Body pump, Free style workouts, CX work, etc… There are plenty of options are available so you can mix them systematically. Cardio workouts (Body Attack and Cycle) with Strength workout (Body Pump) or with Flexibility workouts (Yoga and Pilates) could be a great mix. Try them. I am sure that you will find very efficient and effective results in a very shorter time.

 

Be conscious of eating habit. Honestly, this is the hardest part for as I am a great eater. Since I started the University, my battle on diet has never been stopped but one thing has changed is that I am more conscious on ‘what to eat’. I was always focused on ‘how much to eat’ and focused on being skinny rather than being healthy. I still think controlling food intake is very important but also ‘what to eat’ needs to be well-thought-out. Unfortunately, our modern life style (sitting most of the day) doesn’t help us to keep the right weight so we need to put extra efforts to keep it under control. Exercise alone is not good enough. You also monitor and control your eating habit. Choose healthier options and check calories whenever you eat. There is plenty of information on the web to get healthy eating habits.

 

The more you know the better you can manage. Once I became more conscious of health matters, I realised that there are plenty of useful information everywhere. All the fitness magazines, news, blogs, and apps provide valuable strategies to keep a healthy lifestyle. I agree that sometimes you would feel overwhelmed by too much information so avoid listening and applying too many options without proper investigation or common-sense. What I am trying to say is that we need know more about our health and ways to keep it as long as possible. When you are more interested in having a healthy lifestyle, I trust you will do more to achieve it as it has happened to me.     

 

Exercise definitely helped my stress level down. One of the most obvious reasons I feel fitter and healthier is the fact that I don’t get stressed easily nowadays. Certain part of my life, I felt everything around me was stressful. Ironically, nothing has been changed around me but I don’t feel the same any more. My perception blinded me to see the real picture at that time. Now I am learning how to manage my mind and trying to take situations rationally. Many times I realise that the problems were not that bad as I thought and all were solvable anyhow. Anything beyond our control doesn’t need to be worried. Simple change in my mind helped me to see the same situation differently. When I feel bit stressed out, I go for a run or do workout to sweat out all the issues in mind. When you have to think about only how to breathe in and out, how can you think about stress? It really helps so try.

 

I sleep very well and it helps my mood. 8-9 hours of sound sleep is essential for my days. I know some people have a quite serious problem with lack of sleep and that impacts their life a lot. Based on my experience, what I can recommend you to have a sound sleep is regular exercise. When your body gets tired, you will have fewer problems with sleeping. Also try to arrange your sleep at the same time every day so your body knows when to relax. Avoid caffeine intake (Coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc…) in the afternoon. One of Chinese proverb I used to hear from mum is ‘Sleep is the best medicine’ and I cannot agree more.

 

Having a great relationship with my husband keeps me healthy and happy.  Stress-free relationship relaxes me and comforts my life. As I enjoy doing my hobbies and exercises, I respect his hobbies and what he wants to do. It works perfectly and I can see both of us are getting healthier and fitter. We talk about healthy life and take action together to keep fit and healthy. It works perfectly and I am very happy with our relationship. Don’t forget that happy life starts from happy home.

 

What do you think? Not too hard to be fit and healthy even though we all are getting older, is it? Or, still too hard? It is up to you. When you don’t look after your fitness, you never can achieve healthy and happy life. Trust me when you change your fitness you can change your life, too. Don’t start later as the later could never come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are we really getting stupider?

Currently, I am enjoying reading a book called, Early Retirement Extreme written by Jacob Lund Fisker. I have read only 30% of his book so far but I already love his strong (maybe too extreme to someone) views on our consumerism society and importance of financial independence. What Jacob wants to tell us through the book (I think) is how to make ourselves to stop working for money and stop worrying about the next paycheck in just a short number of years by changing our attitudes on lifestyle and managing our spending habits. Honestly, I couldn’t agree more about his views on our current work dominated society and awareness of importance in examining our defaulted life path (as Jacob outlined such as graduating high school, getting a college degree, buying a car, getting married, buying a house, filling it with furniture, clothes, TVs, washing machines, lawn mowers, and electric egg boilers, and then spending the next 40 years working 9-5 to pay it all off), and I cannot wait to finish the book to know more about ‘the strategy’ to get out of this rat race as soon as possible.

 

One of the most interesting his opinions that caught my attention was ‘we are getting stupider’ and I cannot stop thinking more about it. How dare he could say that we are getting more incompetent and imprudent? As a highly educated person, I should question about his tough statement, shouldn’t I?

 

Firstly, according to data from the ACEPT (the Australian Council for Private Education and Training), 40 per cent of 25-34 years olds will have a bachelor degree or above by 2025. That means more and more people are getting higher education, doesn’t it?

 

Secondly, many of my colleagues and friends are continuously taking professional degrees either voluntarily (or forced by work atmosphere) in order to improve their career progression (or not to get fired) and to survive in an increasingly competitive global employment market after their bachelor degree(s) or even master degree(s). That means even smart people try to get smarter, doesn’t it?  Life lasting study cannot help us to get smarter, then what else?

 

As internet access is claimed as a human right (by my fourteen year old niece), people are surrounded by unlimited information. Whatever we want to know, google it and there will be whatever we were looking for. We now can know/see/learn more and faster than ever before. Whenever we move our fingers, there are more than enough of information available and accessible that frequently makes us feel overwhelmed. Doesn’t it mean we are getting smarter?

 

Ironically, I have found that many of human behaviours are less likely to be reasonable or rational nowadays especially, when people are supposed to be smarter than ever. These are the things that don’t make sense to me.

 

How come when people earn more than before but save less? I assume most of us know how to add (+) and subtract (-). Rationally, when people have more pluses, people are supposed to have more money in their savings, aren’t they? However, our saving rate has become close to 0% even though we make money more than ever. It doesn’t really make sense to me. Where all the money has gone? I believe we all learnt that we need to save up money for our future from the very early age but this basic advice doesn’t seem to work nowadays.

 

How many hours do you spend a day? Most of us, ordinary people spend about 10 hours a day (including commuting time and preparation time for work), 5 days a week (50 hours), 48 weeks a year (2,400 hours) and 40 years of your life (96,000 hours) at work, and those hours seem to be getting longer and longer by many reasons such as higher living cost, increased pension age, competitive employment market, etc… We spend more than 60 per cent and the most important stage of our life time at work and, look forward to be finally free when we are ‘OLD’ (ready to look for a nursing home). How does it sound to you? It sounds too awful that I cannot let myself to follow this ordinary life path. When people are smart enough, why they let their life to be like this. It doesn’t make sense to me. 

 

I think some people may like working and spend their life for achieving their passion and career but I know most of people hate to spend most of their life at work as only the reason to work is for funding their living. What I cannot understand is why people would waste their money for buying more and unnecessary things that force them to stay at work longer and longer. When people spend more and more money for obtaining things and have to spend more of their precious life at work to support their spending habits, the things cannot be valuable any longer as people become a slave to the objects. Is it reasonable to exchange your life to buy things? I seriously doubt that.    

 

“I bought a J…!” Every single minute (bit of exaggeration but seems like), TV commercial tells people that they should buy this and that because of they are special, they deserve and the stuff will make people’s life ‘Better’. Astonishingly, J’s sale has significantly increased recently and I can see the advertised car everywhere at the moment. People became great listeners. Whatever they are told, they believe and they buy it without second thoughts. That’s why advertisement has become so powerful. If we are smart enough, wouldn’t we question more about ‘WHY?’ 

 

I have met many, many people who are having financial problems in their life due to their spending habits, lack of money management skills, ignorance on their future, etc… and, I have tried many times to help them to find out the causes of their financial situation. Most of them did agree what the problems are and what they have to change to get better. However, very unfortunately hardly anyone do any action. It is too hard to limit their spending and to change their current lifestyle to them. What about the future when they are too old or sick that they have to stop working and no savings? Isn't it going to be far harder? When people know what the problems are, but refuse to get better, I can’t find any logic in their attitudes. 

 

 

 

This quote has been hanging under my computer screen for a month already since I found one of the early retirement blogs. It encourages me to think about my life path whenever I read out. Do you examine your life? Are you driving your life as you wanted?

 

I thought we all are getting smarter but regrettably I have to admit that I cannot dismiss Jacob’s argument after examining people’s behaviour. I hope my review about people’s current life style and spending habits can give you a chance to think about yourself as Jacob’s book awoke up my thoughts. 

Are we really getting smarter?