simpler-living report: CY18Q4

Happy New Year!  There is a trade-off these days: the sunny days are colder but the less cold days mean an overcast sky or snow.  In the tiny house, a sunny day in January can equal free heat (not using the woodstove) from around 10AM to 8PM.  Yesterday, I had to open a window—it got up to 27C (80F) in the tiny house!  This afternoon, I celebrate that we’re already halfway through what is generally the coldest (and feels like the longest) month in Nova Scotia. 

Finish Strong?  Not so much.  By the third week of November, I had stopped tracking my expenses in the budget spreadsheet.  I took Sunday afternoon to go through all my receipts and credit card and bank info and to get caught up with November and December as well as start a new spreadsheet for 2019.  No, I can’t blame the busyness of the holidays, it was simply procrastination.

For the fourth quarter, I estimate I was $220 over budget.  And, no, this was not due to Christmas expenses—I have a separate budget over the year to pay for Christmas and Birthday gifts.

Now that I have finished my first year living on the SLSR budget, I need to review the entire year, see how far off I was with categories like auto maintenance, make adjustments, and determine whether I can still stick with the same yearly amount for 2019.

October to December notes:

• Starting in November, I am no longer paying a monthly fee for the storage unit. Hurrah!  However, my budget will continue to include the monthly amount for another year to pay for the road trip I took to empty the unit.
• I missed budgeting for my share of paying to have the grass cut here (there’s a large lawn) May through September.
• I got my cell phone pay-as-you-go plan down to $30 (plus tax) per month.
• I have been using the same facial products for my sensitive skin since 2014 (ever since the rash). When I had difficulty ordering the products in October, I took it as a kick to find a wholesome but much less expensive brand.
• I increased the budget for heating the tiny house as well as the farmhouse where I use the kitchen and bathroom.

Heating notes:

• A major increase in electricity compared to last winter is that I am using the hot water heater in the farmhouse. I am also using a space heater more this winter in the tiny house (powered off the farmhouse, not by solar-charged batteries) on very cold mornings so I don’t need to get up through the night to manage the woodstove.
• I upped the budget for my woodstove fuel—convenient compressed sawdust bricks—based on six months (last winter I only budgeted for five months). Woodstove usage in a tiny house is atypical—on a sunny day even when it’s cold, I may just need a small fire in the morning and another in the evening.  The sun takes care of the late morning and afternoon heating.

I’m inside the cozy tiny house a lot these days working on my laptop for my writing project, but I have also been making time for something deviceless.  After many years, I recently rediscovered my love of the weekend New York Times crossword puzzle.  And Santa brought me a crossword puzzle book to warm up my brain on weekday mornings.  Filling in squares with pencil on paper feels like a joyful old ritual and a welcome addition to my winter.

References and related links:

• CY18Q4: Calendar Year 2018, Fourth Quarter. Calendar Year distinguishes from a company’s Financial Year (FY) which has a different start date than January 1^st.
• SLSR: simpler living semi-retirement.
• simpler-living report: CY18Q3 (post #102).
• the unit (post #103).
• just a four-province drive (post #104).
• wake up call: the rash (post #17).