BC WildFIRE

I am 28 and I have written up my first solid budget. Wait, what? Really? Yes. Really. Over the years, people (particularly my dad) would ask me if I had a budget. My answer would be, "yeah, I'm budgeting." This actually meant that I have a loose idea in my head how much money I need to make ends meet, and I make enough money to cover that, so I'm good. I'm not spend much over my general ballpark figures in my head. I'm alright with money. And yet, like many people in the working world, I was never able to have money set aside for long. A vehicle would need repair, I'd buy a huge amount of vegetable seeds for next spring (they grow food, I'm saving money in the long run!), I'd eat out a little more than I meant to because I'm too tired when I get home to make dinner, and so on and so forth. You know this tune right? It might sound a bit like yours. Thousands of small poor decisions nibbling away at the bit of money that wasn't in you

No one really teaches you how down life can get you. They might mention it, tell you about times they had where they struggled and felt depressed; but you never really think it will happen to you. It does indeed happen, and often. Sometimes it's just a little bit of a letdown; that job that you wanted went to someone else. Or it's the dying of a potential dream; that house you wanted is unobtainable. Or, if you're really lucky, all of that happens at the same time as your SO is quitting smoking. Ouch. I had a pretty disheartening week a little while ago. A temporary posting that would have allowed me to walk to work and save a lot of money went to someone else suddenly. I also love working at that location, so the effect was doubled. And my research into possibly getting a tiny home in my area to counteract the high rent prices revealed that my whole region is not friendly toward this small movement. Crushing. The tiny home discovery came because someone was selling

In the early stages of FIRE, I wonder how many people cheat like I did. I just went on a lovely stay-cation with my significant other (SO) and my two good friends. We drove to the Okanagan and stayed in beautiful Summerland, in an AirBNB on a farm. For five nights, a two-bedroom suite with a kitchen, barbeque, and breakfast included, it amounted to just over $800 total. Pretty good price for the centre of wine country in British Columbia. What we didn't know was the farm came with about half-a-dozen beautiful farm cats and two gorgeous Border Collies for us to love. Needless to say, there was plenty time spent sitting outside with the critters. We made dinner a few nights of the week, but yes, we mostly ate out. There was wine tasting, ice cream, more wine with dinner, and a lot of downtime. Several magnificent fired pizzas and an enormous boat of nachos. Heaven. Now, you ask, how is this helping you pursue FI? Indeed it is not. Not really. Certainly not financially. Though

Everyone knows communication is important, in life, in work, in love. But when do we actually learn what good communication looks like? Maybe our parents demonstrate it; however, we are not our parents, so what works for them might not suit us. Communication when pursuing FIRE with a partner is paramount. Scott Rieckens wrote about his concerns about approaching his wife; that she might think he's blaming her for their financial situation or become defensive when he mentions spending less. My partner is a bit of the opposite. He was already trying to come up with ways for us to save money; he didn't push them on me as I was still clearing my debt. Now that it's taken care of, he's very excited for our future. He's been talking about maybe moving into an old RV to live extra cheap, like other FIRE people have done, since rent is our largest expense. His aunt and uncle have a huge fifth-wheeler and they live comfortably in that most of the year. The problem was

We all have the normal side of our family, and the wacky/weird/cooky side. If you can't think of which part of your family is the odd one, you might be in for a bit of a surprise upon further self-reflection. My uncles on my mum's side are my cooky family, hands down. My dad's family is incredibly fun, supportive, tight-knit, and much larger. They're also two provinces away. That's not to say I love them less, know them less, or our relationship is somehow less. It's just a lot easier to get one whole side of the family together when they're only two cities away (give or take a ferry). When my ex and I broke up and I began to really look at my debt, I asked them for general financial advice, telling them I planned to have my debt dealt with right away. They reaffirmed what I was already thinking: 1. Decimate debt 2. Make sure you're contributing to your pension plan through work 3. Live frugally 4. Don't incur debt on depreciating assets 5.

Let's be honest. My story isn't original.  In fact it's probably pretty common in many ways. Most people these days look at "common" or "usual" as some sort of illness. In this age of perpetually inspired uniqueness, admitting one's commonality with your neighbour, whatever form that takes, feels like a bit of a failure somehow. My story is that I wasn't that good with money. I lived with a man for 7 years, my first real commitment, and he and I did not manage our money well. We both made good money for people in their early 20s, and I managed to get my two-year diploma for library and information technology without going into debt thanks to my parents putting aside an RESP. But at the end of the summer in 2018 when we split up, we had practically nothing saved and in fact both had some credit card debt. Thankfully, we had never integrated any of our finances together, so when I moved out, I took my bank account and my Visa with me and he kep