Tag Archives: lifestyle

Starting A New Lifestyle By Taking a Month To Prepare

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In the past I use to make resolutions, then after the first week when I didn’t hop into those new resolutions instantly, I would give up on them thinking that I already violated those goals so why even try.  Obviously, this wasn’t the best way to accomplish such goals.

white egg

This year, I’ve learned my lesson!  From this point on, January of each new year will be my transition month into the new year.  So instead of jumping into a new lifestyle head first, I’m going to the shallow end of the pool and easing myself into my new mindset and lifestyle.  No more “cold turkey” dumping the old and jumping to the new for me.

Some of you can jump right in with the new year.  You planned your strategy in December and jump in head first on day 1 of January.  If that works for you, then great!  I just find that December is too busy for me to adequately plan my strategy.

So you might be wondering how I’m going to start my preparation for my lifestyle change…  Well tonight I’m going to hard boil eggs!  Not very exciting huh…  Then the next day I’m going to eat two eggs for breakfast as part of my weight loss program.  After eating my eggs in the morning, I’m going to start developing the dietary path for my weight loss portion of my New Year resolutions, and let the strategies for those resolutions develop from that point.

Oftentimes, the hardest part of change is the first step, so for me the first step is boiling eggs.  Not sexy, but a start!

So I start my lifestyle change be using a simple task to ignite the process.  I would like to say that this is the first time I’ve used such techniques, but it’s not.  I use similar tasks and tricks to help me write the assembler and operating system software back during my college days.  So in a way, instead of waiting for perfect inspiration or betting everything on day 1 of the New Year, instead I’m going to trick myself and do whatever it takes to change my lifestyle.

And now I’m off to boil eggs…

MR

 

Life Of The People

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The Life of the People where I live is focused on academics and sports!  The great educational system is one of the reasons we decided to built our house in our small city.  The sport teams in my city that almost always go undefeated.  We are a middle class to upper middle class community.

So today, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the makeup of the people where I live and introduce you to some free tools, so you check out your community too.

First, to learn about the life of the people where you live, we need a more objective tool than just what I think, so I’m going to use Prizm from Claritas.  It’s a fun tool to see what the major groups are that represent your community based on your zip code.

So after I click the “Prizm from Claritas” link, next I entered my zip code at the prompt, and then enter the security code…   I get the following:

  • Country Casuals
  • Country Squires
  • Middleburg Managers
  • Sunset City Blues
  • Upward Bound

If you click on each designation at their site, it display some basic information about each group.  So, for the example, the “Upward Bound” group has a median HH (Household income) of about $86,692.  This particular group represent the traditional soccer moms and dads in cities like mine.  Below is more information that describes this particular segment of the Upward Bound classification:

Upward Bound

2009 Statistics:
US Households: 1,998,401 (1.73%)
Median HH Income: $86,692 
Upscale, Middle Age w/ Kids
More than any other segment, Upward Bound appears to be the home of those legendary Soccer Moms and Dads. In these small satellite cities, upscale families boast dual incomes, college degrees, and new split-levels and colonials. Residents of Upward Bound tend to be kid-obsessed, with heavy purchases of computers, action figures, dolls, board games, bicycles, and camping equipment.
Lifestyle Traits
  • Order from target.com
  • Buy toys by Internet
  • Read PC Gamer
  • Watch Nickelodeon
  • Honda Odyssey
    		•
    Demographics Traits:
    Urbanicity: Second City
    Income: Upscale
    Income Producing Assets: Above Avg.
    Age Ranges: 35-54
    Presence of Kids: HH w/ Kids
    Homeownership: Mostly Owners
    Employment Levels: Management
    Education Levels: College Grad
    Ethnic Diversity: White, Asian, Hispanic, Mix

    This group represents my wife and I fairly well.  The biggest exception is that she doesn’t work (at least not full time).

    While the PRIZM databases is mainly a marketing tool, I always found the information fascinating, and a good marker to compare both my income and our lifestyle against.  Of course, I just checkout the snapshot (which is free).   The snapshot provides enough to get a decent picture of the area though.

    We’re pretty luck that even though we are in the “Upward Bound” group based on most of the descriptions of the lifestyle, we have friends in higher groups with more (like the power boat, and jet skis, etc), so we get the best of the upper tiers too.

    Want even more information about your city?  Try https://www.city-data.com/!  This site has more details about the city statistics!  Include what your firemen and police officers earn (at least my city does).

    Hopefully your city ranks well too!  Try it out, I’m betting you’ll think it’s pretty cool too!

    Tell me what you think or if you have additional links that you use for great demographics about your city!

    -MR

    How To Live A Balanced Life

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    This guest post is by The Digerati Life, a financial site where you’ll find top credit card deals, investing resources and saving advice.

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    How do you put a value on something?  How do you measure one’s worth or success?  Some measure their success by the investments they own, some do so through career achievements, while some do so through the accumulation of material things.  Funny enough, I even know someone who measures their success by the number of points they collect in their rewards credit card accounts.

    The problem with this manner of judging one’s success and worth is that it’s very shallow and superficial.  Who a person is cannot easily be measured by the money he has in his bank account.  Perhaps, it is this very disillusionment of materialism and consumerism that has led the Crafton family to liquidate all their assets and set sail for the seas… for seven whole years.

    The Crafton Family isn’t your average family.  Husband and wife, Tom and Kathy Crafton were both successful in the medical field before they set sail.  Kathy was an ICU nurse, while Tom was a family psychologist.  They had all the trappings that came with their jobs: a big house, and all the material stuff that they could want… or buy.  But what was it that drove this high-income family to just abandon the mainland in favor of the high seas?  For seven whole years?  According to this Washington Post story, they embarked on their voyage because they had gotten disillusioned by their wealth: while they had the big house and the mountains of stuff, they saw that they did not need all this and they wanted to see their kids grow.  They didn’t want the alienation that came with acquiring more stuff but not being able to build a relationship with their kids; they knew that family was far more valuable than what they could acquire with their high-income careers.  And so, they liquidated all their assets in six months and set sail.

    How about you? Are you feeling the ennui that comes with the same old routine, day in and day out: working, coming home, watching TV, sleeping, waking up and rushing to work once more, looking forward to the yearly vacations…  By now, you must be wondering if there’s something more to life than living it in a cycle, or a rat race, so to speak.

    Now you don’t have to do something as drastic as the Craftons have done — and radically uproot your regular routine and your life in favor of 7 years at sea with your loved ones.  All you really need to do is to find balance.

    Here are some tips to promote balance in your work and life:

    • Find some time to devote wholly to your family. Avoid the trap of letting work run your life.  When you’re able to consciously find time for family and relationships at home, there shouldn’t be any reason to want to cocoon yourselves at sea for 7 whole years.
    • Let your money work harder for you.  Try to establish sources of passive income.  Have a good amount of your financial assets invested in high interest accounts. Also, have a good percentage invested in high yielding investments in online stock brokerage accounts.  By letting your money work for you, this will allow you to work at a pace, and in a field that lets you live a more balanced life.
    • Understand that money is not everything.  If you get a job offer that will only kill your relationships with your spouse and kids, then rethink the offer.  Is it worth it?  Your income may not be worth it if, 5 years down the line, you suffer a divorce because you neglected to spend time with your family.
    • There are certain careers and jobs that are not as stressful but can pull in significant income.  Figure out what kind of job can work for you, do some research on it, and see if you can shift your career from stressful to sane.

    Balance is key to living this life.  While most people go through life harassed, harried and enslaved by their jobs, you don’t have to live this way.  Take the time to figure out what will work for you, and always hold relationships and family as a higher priority over money.  Work on being content with what you have, and make the decision to live a balanced life.

    MR, here.  As readers of my blog know, I’m a big proponent of a balanced lifestyle in practically every regard.

    I’d like to thank the writer for Digerati Life for contributing such a great piece that fits so perfectly here at moneyreasons.com!!!

    -MR

    My Middle Class Lifestyle

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    This is a glimpse of a typical day in my middle class life.

    Phase 1) Waking up.  I wake up to my alarm clock that I’ve had since I was in high school.

    The alarm clock is about the size of a small child’s shoebox, and the plastic is factory painted to look like it’s wood.  The edge of the alarm clock got to close to my goose neck desk lamp and the plastic has warped, but just to a small degree.  I know that I can buy a cheap $10 dollar one, but this ones still works, and I’m comfortable with it…

    Next, I go into my master bathroom and get a quick shower, because I hate to waste water (and also to make up for the amount that other family members use).  .  I do the typical routine to get ready for work…  No magic here, not much to describe.

    My house is a little over 2100 square feet, and was built in 1998,  the shower isn’t too fancy, but the room looks nice enough.  The style of the house is a colonial.

    Phase 2) I walk down the stairs quietly (the dog is asleep), and pack my lunch.  Since I’m currently doing a lunch/allowance experiment, I pack the following items in my small insulated lunch bag: eggs and sometimes peanuts.  The ramen noodles that I eat are already at work in my desk drawer…  Before starting my experiment, I would typically go out for lunch at a number of different restaurants.

    What types of foods do I eat?…

    • Cajun Chicken spinach salads with hot bacon dressing (yum),
    • Sushi (mostly the spicy types: spicy crab, spicy tuna, eel…),
    • Chinese food (Chicken with Cashews, Hunan Shrimp, etc),
    • Mexican food: Chicken quesadillas, etc.
    • Italian foods (sort of), in particular from Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill (both have different but great bread)
    • and Fast foods: Subway (spicy italian heated sandwich), McDonalds (Quarter pounder with cheese), Taco Bell (varies), etc…

    Phase 3) After getting dress in jeans and a polo shirt (I use to have to dress more professionally at work, but now we just dress casually).  I drive my 20 minute to work listening to an audio book playing in my card CD player, the radio, or nothing – preferring to think on those nothing days.  I’m a Gen Xer, so I have an eclectic manner with respect as to what I listen to… ex.) alternative, rock, classical, rap, country and others.

    What car do I drive in?  A 2003 malibu (my friends say that I drive a grandma’s car), that I bought new for $11,000 back in 2003.  This was a great price considering the sticker price was listed at $21,000.  I’ll post about how I got it so cheaply at a later time 🙂

    I’m a computer technician, and my wife is a stay at home mom.

    I have a BA in computer science.  Every year I think about going for a MBA (the company I work at would even provide money for it), but life for me now is busy enough…

    Opps, I digress, back to my middle class lifestyle.  At work my cube is the standard type… nice comfortable chair, 2 (soon to be 3 or 4) monitors attached to a newer PC, a ibm laptop to do work at home, a blackberry, etc…

    I arrive at work an hour earlier and leave an hour earlier to avoid rush hour, so I work 7 to 4 with an hour lunch in between.  Although these last few years, it seems that more and more people are changing to the same work schedule…  the roads are definitely busier this year than they use to be at those times.

    Phase 4) Once at home, it’s time to rush the kids to the sports that they are playing in at the moment.  Typically Soccer, Basketball, Cheerleading, Baseball, Tee-Ball, Flag football, swimming lessons, gymnastics, etc…

    Phase 5) Once I get a free moment, I use to randomly surf the net more, but lately, I’ve been reading blogs and writing in this blog.

    We do have a designated movie night on Fridays, where I’ll pop in a DVD that I got at the library.  We still have an old 36 inch CRT tube TV.   We can afford a new flat screen LCD (or Plasma, or LED-LCD…) TV and in fact have the best buy gift cards in a drawer waiting for our current model to break (it’s close to doing so).  The gift cards are from the rewards point from our rewards credit cards.

    Phase 6) Then at bed time, I do watch a little bit of TV in our queen size bed (King of Queens and Frazier reruns).  Our bedroom set is wooden, with an armoire, and set drawers with a fancy mirror on top…   Both cars were bought new and are both 2003 models (crazy, I won’t do that again!  Used cars is the way to go).

    Next day I do the same routine again, just like the NIN song, “Every day is exactly the same”

    My life = Repeat Phase 1 thru 6 😉

    After I’m debt free, I’m going to alter the above routine a bit, maybe throw in a health phase, or a 2nd job phase, or a community service or coaching my kids sports coaching phase…

    So what do you think? …  Tell me about your lifestyle or ask me additional questions about mine…