Posts from — January 2008

(surfing is frugal)

Over the the month of January, I’ve had time to think about and refine my original idea. The premise is still the same – I can not continue along my present path.

Something needs to change.

I am currently finishing the task of paying off credit card debt, and working paycheck to paycheck with very little savings. My job takes most of my time and energy. I am renting too much house for just myself and my dog.

I am only one unfortunate event away from poverty.

Actually, most of us are only one unfortunate event away from complete poverty. We are not as safe as we try to make ourselves feel. This statement is not meant to make us live in fear. Quite the opposite – we should not let fear keep us from living the lives we want to lead.

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“Why am I doing this?”

That seems to be a popular question for me… why I would do something like the “Year of Living Frugally”.

I have a job. A job with a pension and health insurance. I can currently afford my bills – outstanding debt included. There are people in this rural community who would kill for the job security I currently have.

So… why?

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New year’s Day. New Year’s Resolutions. Too much darkness, not enough sunlight. Too much fatty, sugary food. All these things can bump one into a more introspective mood. Especially those of us with mild Seasonal Affect Disorder – whose holiday plans fell through (which was driving south for more than a week of sunny SoCal and Baja 70-degree-and-Santa-Ana weather). Instead, I spent the last week in the gloomy, chilly rain of far northern California.

During the summer and fall, I can’t think of a place I’d rather be. I love it here. However, sometimes I really hate the damp dark rainy Pacific Northwest winter climate. Once the darkness sets in, and the rain starts, and the average local buoy reading is 20-foot plus and sideways rain blowing onshore – there’s no clean surf for months. There are the rare days, when the winds die and the ocean calms – like this New Year’s Day (although the surf was too flat) – but that was the exception rather than the rule. The average surf go-out during these times means looking for waves wrapping around the protective headlands and hoping it filters the chop from 12 feet to a more manageable 5.

To survive, many of the long-time locals take this time to vacation in warmer climes. A co-worker told me I should plan next year’s winter vacation now to make sure it happens.

So on a warm sunny day, feeling the happiness, I let myself think of the ideal winter vacation (instead of the usual driving south to couch-surf with friends-and-family for a week over the last week of December).

Why not go around the world?

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