What if money didn't matter? What would you do?I DID THIS. YOU CAN TOO. ...
Money
Roatan Month 1 Roundup
Forgive me for stealing an excellent idea from my travel blogging idol Alex in Wanderland.... may I present to you, month 1 roundup!Now, the idea of a roundup is to summarize all my posts from the month into a neat little package of links so I (and you!) can quickly see what's gone on this month. However, I have failed miserably at keeping this blog updated since I've been here, I don't have much to recap in that sense....but I will let you know what's been happening in point form to ...
Everything falling together instead of falling apart.
I knew this would happen.I knew right from the beginning that so many things would be stressful, that I would feel like I couldn't do it, like nothing was going my way. But I knew in the end that it would all work out. And while I'm scared of jinxing myself, I feel okay saying now that it's all worked out.I hit my budget. I'm on track to have $2000-$3000 above my budget, which is absolutely fucking incredible given the fact that I decided just over 5 months ago that I'd follow this crazy ...
One month left.
Well, here we are. In exactly a month from this very minute I'm writing this, I'll be touching down in Roatan and leaving Vancouver behind for...who knows how long. Shits getting REAL around here right now!I am knocking stuff off my to-do list and I feel better about that, but the enormity of thinking about leaving my life here and moving to a tiny island with a few bags of stuff is starting to sink in. People keep asking me if I'm nervous or scared. Not really, because I am the kind of ...
Roatan Budget v.2
As I mentioned, I have had to completely revamp my budget for Roatan now that I'm leaving seven weeks earlier than planned. I was happy that I was going to be in good shape financially, as this extra 7 weeks would amount to at least another $2500-3000 in the bank before leaving. I am leaving in two short months now, and I can make this work but it's going to be a lot tighter than I would like it to be. I also was missing a new list of things in my budget: cell phone in West End, ...
Bigger and bigger and bigger.
Today my bank account is about to grow in a big way - I am getting the money from selling my car! My lovely dad (who paid for 90% of the car in the first place when I was in high school) is buying my car back from me to give to my little brother. Everybody wins, except my dad who has now paid twice for this car, but he has a secret soft spot for El Diablo (yes, she has a name) and I know he's glad that it's staying "in the family" so I don't feel too bad about it. Plus, he knows the money ...
Money, where have you been all my life?
Money! (Does anyone else instantly start singing the Pink Floyd song in their head?) Such a huge theme in my life right now. A constant source of frustration one minute and then happiness the next. It is driving me crazy but also driving me to Honduras.Source (a site with cheap traveling tips!)This is the first time in my life I have ever had a big bank account balance (big = more than $300 in my world!) and it's making me insane that I can't touch any of it. I ...
Up and down.
Sometimes I think this blog reads like a roller coaster - up ("going to Roatan wooooooooooo") and down ("forgot about a billion things I have to pay for boooooooooo") over and over again. Although, when I stop to think about it, it's really what life has been like lately so I guess at least it's accurate...?We are back on an UP after my lame downer about my tax miscalculations with having two jobs this year. I hadn't taken into consideration that I wasn't getting enough income ...
Over and over again.
Once again I have managed to overlook an important detail - I hope when people read this blog they can avoid some of the mistakes I am making! Oh well, all in the name of knowledge, right?In my post a couple days ago, I talked about how I'm going to be rolling in cash by the time I leave on my cubicle throwdown thanks to working what basically amounts to two full-time jobs. I completely forgot that with all this money comes a new tax rate since my jobs are not taking into ...
If you just impulsively bought a plane ticket, read this.
When I found out I was going to have to stay in Vancouver an extra 6-8 weeks longer than I thought, I somewhat impulsively bought a plane ticket to Roatan for next month to go for a quick 8-day trip to tide me over until I can get there long-term at the end of September. I also want to go again before quitting my jobs, leaving my apartment, selling everything I own and traipsing to Central America with a dream fuelled by a 3 week holiday that has a lot of hazy memories due to extreme ...