My Inexpensive, Abundant, Beautiful Life Tips for Frugal Living

Art from the Heart

There is a very special person in my life. Her name is Starryn Elora, and she is the most beautiful child I have ever laid my eyes on or held in my arms. A wee precious little angel… and imp this niece of mine is. For her first birthday, I needed a means to express my feeling for her in artistic medium. I have been an on-again off-again painter for years, and I suspect the switch is flipping on-again. I couldn’t think of anything more representational of the love I have for Starryn than to spend days covered with paint, creating something beautiful. In this rat race of a society that many of us are chained to, I believe one of the most precious gifts is that of time. I will always give mine.

Financial Contentment Test

FINANCIAL CONTENTMENT TEST (taken from http://www.freebiblestudy.org/WS/Lesson3.htm

1. Do you lack confidence or fear that you are not
   going to be able to get along or that you do not
   have the know-how to get by when you are
   poor? (Phil 4:12, 13)
2. Are you satisfied with your wages? (Lk 3:14)
3. Are you satisfied with the limited amount of
   financial resources you now have? (He 13:5)
4. Are you longing for more money? (1 Tim 6:10)
5. Do you want to get rich? (1 Tim 6:9)
6. If or when you have food and covering, and
   nothing else, are you completely satisfied with
   them alone? (1 Tim 6:8)
7. Does your wealth management plan include
   generous and regular deposits or stockpilings of
   financial treasures in heaven? (Mt 6:19-21)
8. Do you feel like God is not with you when you
   are poor? (He 13:5)
9. Do you feel like God is only with the rich? (He
   13:5)
10. Are you afraid of what man can do to you
    when you are poor? (He 13:6)
11. Do you think that being rich is a high position
    in the kingdom of God? (Ja 1:10)
12. Do you think that being poor is a low position
    in the kingdom of God? (Ja 1:9)

Answer Key to the Questions

If you answered ‘No’ to any of these questions, 2, 3, and 6, then your character is not completely free from the love of money.

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, then your character is not completely free from the love of money.

The Big Move

As of next week, I will be comfortably ensconced in my new place. It’s not fancy (well, except for the presence of a 56″ television), but it’s clean, roomy, and relatively inexpensive – the perfect place to work, save, and plan my next great adventure(s) over the next x number of months.

Inexpensive Passions

I love performing. Being a member of Toastmasters and the Guelph Guild of Storytellers provides me with ample educational *and* social opportunity with a microscopic cost. Time is the investment with little in the way of greenbacks. Developing inexpensive passions is incredibly liberating!

Welcome to My Cheap Life

As of 07/10/2009, I received word of my impending layoff, come end of the month. To most people – especially in these times of troubled economy (and for a myriad of other reasons) – a layoff is not favourable news. For me, only one word came to mind: opportunity. It wasn’t personal; there was a shortage of work in the near future and I have a multitude of projects and interests on the horizon that I’m looking forward to bringing to the forefront.

While being employed as a project manager has certainly had its share of (+), it has also had more (-) than I would have preferred. After 1.5 years in this position, one definite conclusion I have come to is that I miss development – hence keeping myself busy in contract work (mostly php) in my spare time. I’m not certain if I will ever go back to coding in a full-time capacity, but any management position I consider in the future will need to be more technical in nature.

I can certainly appreciate that many people would have a different view of this situation than I do, but it just seems easier to embrace it than to grieve it. Read: embrace, not accept!

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

I’m not interested in accepting; I would rather embrace my freedom for the time-being [*]!

In embracing my freedom, however, I will also need to embrace a less extravagant lifestyle. I’ve gone through (both) periods of excessive opulence in my life and periods of extreme thriftiness. Although I recognize the need (once again) to shift to a more economically conservative way of living, my goal this time is to THRIVE, rather than merely live.

The Organized Crime Winery

For the recently unemployed, a tour of the wineries in Grimsby/Beamsville proved to be an excellent celebratory measure. Not only do the samples range from free-$2.00 (for dessert/ice wines) but many purveyors of the smaller establishments waived the sampling charge for me when they found out I was recently laid off.

Peninsula Estates Winery

[*] – Interesting that, to me, “freedom” means finishing up about 10 client web sites and studying for my ZCE (Zend Certified Engineer) designation.