I haven't posted a sunset in a while

9:08 PM, Redmond, Oregon

I suck at budgeting and you probably do, too

There were only a few times in my working life that I had too much month left at the end of a paycheck. I had the luxury of a well paying (not fabulously paying) job combined with fairly modest spending desires. I'd pay my regular bills, then monitor my balance whenever I used an ATM. As funds dwindled, I'd cut back on discretionary spending. It became harder when I was an independent contractor and my income was irregular. Still, I managed okay, even with the occasional emergency expense, thanks to a rainy day account.

Now I'm retired and drawing Social Security. I'm back to a regular check. It's much smaller, but so are my expenses. Nonetheless, I need to be mindful.

There have been times at night (it's always at night, right?) when I think about my money and vow to keep better track of spending, to create a budget.

Well, I ran across an article today that says budgets are overrated. Because, duh, life is unpredictable.

No one less than Bill Harris, co-founder and CEO of online money advisory service Personal Capital, and former CEO of Intuit, claimed in an interview last year, “budgeting doesn’t work.” 

This, of course, is heresy. Just about every personal finance sort out there will tell you living without determining in advance what you will spend on housing, health care, food, transportation, and fun is a future financial disaster waiting to happen.

Right, we can't just spend willy-nilly. We need to keep within our means, especially when our means are very thin. But if budgeting isn't the answer, what is?

So what should you do? Well, it helps to think of managing your finances as surfing a wave. When I got in touch with Harris at Personal Capital to ask him about his remark from last year, he suggested people simply monitor their expenses with great frequency, because the more you track spending, the easier it is to recalibrate when needed. In fact, it’s likely you’ll cut back altogether if you watch your outflows regularly.

Ah, frequent monitoring of spending. Sort of what I'd done most of my adult life. I guess I accidentally stumbled into a good idea even though I'm financially semi-ignorant.

I think one of my take-aways from this article is to not beat yourself up if your carefully plotted budget isn't working for you. The problem might be the concept of budgeting, not you. Watch your balance (whether in the bank or the wad of cash in the coffee can), keep track of what you're spending, adjust as necessary. And, with good luck (because bad luck can really mess with us) "as necessary" won't mean "when I'm stone cold penniless."

Doing simple arithmetic, I know I can spend X dollars a day. It doesn't matter what I spend it on, only that I spend no more than that—unless I have money left over from previous days (which can happen a lot, since I don't spend every day). The discipline is in not counting ahead, not depending on future lack of spending to cover today's overspending. And, of course, the less surplus I touch, the larger my emergency fund can grow. (In my book "emergency" also includes the sudden, unexpected, overwhelming need to have some pricey fun, like flying to Tahiti.)

As for actual budgets? They offer the illusion, not the reality, of financial control.

So, give frequent spending monitoring a try and maybe you'll be able to disabuse yourself of the illusion you're awful with money.

Repurposing

Back in February I wrote that a certain type of camping toaster is a worthless piece of crap. I didn't know—until today—why I hadn't throw it out when I found a great replacement.

It makes a good anti-splatter lid when cooking bacon. The holes let out steam and the wire bread support thingies make an excellent handle far from the heat. Now, if it were just self-cleaning.

Did you get the message?

At Little Lava Lake campground

Went a-wanderin'

I was feeling antsy after two weeks in the relatively small world of our worksite and occasional errands into town.  So I took a day off and drove most of the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway.

Sparks Lake, South Sister Mountain, and a campfire that's dead out

Sparks Lake is a fine place for kayaking

Devil's Lake

Elk Lake and Mount Bachelor

The Deschutes River just after it flows out of its source, Little Lava Lake

I had wanted to check out Tumalo Falls, but the road to it was closed for construction. I could have hiked from a trailhead before the turnoff, but I didn't want to do it alone. And it was drizzling at the time. And I'm a wimp. Maybe I can recruit Lou and Jo into hiking it another day.

Someone else's photo

One of the neighbors dropped by

This deer (or one like it) comes around most evenings

Break time

Photo by Jo Thompson

Portal

What does it take to build a door frame? A biscuit joiner, glue, a drill, screws, a lot of clamps, a square and an old door to use as a nice flat table.

But why build a frame when you can buy pre-hung doors? Because this door is only five feet tall. And because Lou wants to build it.

Please rain

I rarely wish it would rain, and coming out of the rainy period early this month, I should be glad for sunshine. And I was.

But at about noon today it started clouding over in preparation for a thunderstorm. That made the humidity soar. And the wind from the approaching front hasn't started up yet. The air is stagnant. And thick. And muggy. It's like being back in the South. One reason I hit the road was to escape weather like this.

So get this storm over with already. Blow through, cool it down, then let it dry out again. Now. Pretty please.

A little something for myself

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I bought a really nice aluminum step.

Then I ran over it at Slab City.

Then I bought a replacement.

Then I left it behind at a campground at Roosevelt Lake.

Then I went back and got it before I'd gone too far.

Then, what I haven't shared yet, I left it behind again a week ago, at Morro Strand.

By the time I realized I'd been stupid again, I was 150 miles away. Mmmmmm, no, I wasn't going to burn up $80 worth of gas (and five hours) to retrieve a $55 step. I'd get another one. Someday. In the meantime, I'd do without.

Well, since we pretty much have a woodshop set up here, and there's a stack of scrap and salvaged lumber, I figured I'd build a step this time. It wouldn't be as high tech, but it would be cheap. And no tragedy if (when) I drove off without it.

So, ta-dah! Sort of a micro deck.

It's mostly cedar, so it's lightweight. Fifteen by twenty by eight. I'll stain it and maybe add some no-slip tread tape, like my aluminum steps had. I could mount a shoe scraper/brush on the side. No, then I'd feel worse about losing it.

Simple but strong

UPDATE: trim added and everything stained

Hand work

Power tools are cool, but sometimes you just need to use tools from the days before electricity. Lou got out one of his Japanese pull saws to cut a fancy joint for the roof framing.

A compound something-or-other for where a horizontal member meets an arched truss 

Now it's on to framing the new end of the trailer. The original door will be reused. New, this time around, will be a sliding pocket screen door. No more bothersome flapping, magnetic, roll-up screen. The bugs will be so disappointed.

Something within my skill set

While Lou was dealing with the geometry of the roof trusses, I cut and fitted the foil-faced styrofoam insulation. Too bad I didn't have an antistatic suit to wear. I look like I was attacked by a beanbag chair.

It's a frame-up

After much measuring, remeasuring, cutting, gluing and screwing (not that kind of screwing, you perv) squaring and truing, the framing for the side walls of Lou's trailer extension is in place. It finally looks like progress is being made, even though there's a lot more to be done.

Right now, Lou is fine tuning the arched roof trusses that I cut from plywood yesterday. By "fine tuning" I mean "fixing my erratic jigsaw cuts." And by "erratic" I mean "bad." Hey, I had warned him the job was out on the fringes of my skill set. I'm much better at holding the other end of something unwieldy, or fetching tools. But as they say, if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing over.

Chet sharpens the miter saw

Contemplating the marvels of electricity

Don't cut the yellow wire or everything blows up