Hi all. I thought I would once again post some things I have done over the past week to assist with the path to financial independence and improve my personal finance situation. Hopefully this gives you some ideas of your own! Posting these helps me reflect on my week (did I do anything to improve the situation?) and also helps me to be more accountable to TAKE ACTION (T’s theme for Fall of 2022).
- Called my Internet Service Provider. My ISP is frequently messing with my rate. Definitely on an annual basis but sometimes more often. Each “promotion” they put me on only lasts a certain amount of time before I have to call and harrass them to put me on another promotion. The words “I’m shopping around”, “I’m thinking about going to another provider”, I’m thinking of cancelling xyz service” come up often in my conversations with them, until the agent ships me over to the “loyalty” department to give me the next “promotion”. Why not just keep me on the promotion? Wouldn’t it be WAY easier for them and me? What a racket. Anyway, got my rate from $222 / month for a bundle down to $145 / month for the next year.
- Worked on small biz initiatives with my brother. We still don’t have anything “live” yet but we are slowly moving in a good direction.
- Participated in the annual community yard sale to declutter stuff and make some cash! I still have way too much stuff, although I did make some progress with the declutter challenge that I started back in January. Pocketed $170.50. Not GREAT but better than zero. Hehe. Also sold something for $20 on Facebook Marketplace, so that’s a net of $190.50!
- Ate less food. I started a new lifestyle eating plan which is helping me keep my eating in check. I joined a free 8-week challenge run by an aquaintance of mine named Jen. She is a “Healthy Habits Coach” who I highly recommend! You can visit her BodyFit 40+ group on Facebook here. Also, there will be less eating out and much more healthy food prep!
- Put some of my accumulated FU money (formerly known as T’s allowance) into my TFSA. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been spending some too. But I’ve amassed enough to drop a chunk into my TFSA and invest it in some low cost ETFs.
That’s about it for this week. What personal finance / financial independence activities have you done over the past week? Let me know in the comments.