Have you every been in a situation where you had very little at the moment but you knew that in the near future you would have plenty so for the time being you just had to get-by? That is the premise of the Tin Can story.
When I first moved to Vancity I brought very little with me. I didn’t need much. I was living with my brother is his great little one bedroom apartment on Main St and he had everything we needed, and could fit into his place. Plus we lived near everything I needed. Then after I moved out in the Summer I knew that I would just have to get-by until Christmas, my next trip home, where all my stuff was presently being stored. Why spend the travel expenses twice!?
So I settled into my three bedroom basement. All tenants just moved out so I had the place to myself, which was great because I got first choice of rooms and future roommates, but it also meant that I had a LOT of open spaces. My place was bare. At about week three I noticed that my diet had gone sour when I could hardly work out in the gym more 20 minutes for lack of energy. I wasn’t eating out so much as I was just eating a lot of artificial and processes foods. I needed to cook!
Some of my favorite dishes required a pot or at least a pan, both of which were up in my storage in Quesnel, so I was in a bit of a pickle. However, one night I was chopping up a number of veggies to put into plastic bags to eat throughout the week and when I was putting the scraps into the garbage can under the sink I noticed a large tin can; yes, ‘The’ tin can. I remembered setting it aside to recycle later that week. And I had an idea. I picked out that can from the rubble of recyclables and decided to instead ‘re-use’ this item. It was bigger than most Cambell soup cans, three times the size I’d say, and after I peeled the paper label off it I wondered to myself if I would be able to boil water in it?
And indeed I could. Instead of bread everyday I would enjoy Pasta for carbs. Replacing a some of the tuna I ate for protein I substituted boiled eggs. This tin can saved my diet. I never appreciated the joy having a cup of herbal tea to settle my nerves at the end of the day quite so much. This tin can motivated me. I started to look around the kitchen for other items that I could cook with! Ha! And I found something! In the stove tray beneath the over I found an old, very small (about a third the size), cooking sheet. I used the tin can to boil up some water and let it soak for about an hour in soapy water before I tackled it with a scrub brush. I used it to make Eggs, fry Beef and Chicken, and with a little butter even make Toast (ok the latter was a little gross)!
This tin can serves as a constant reminder to me what great things can come from such a small, seemingly irrelevant, thing. I use it now to store my scrub brush in at my sink. I use it everyday. I drop some soap it in and fill it up with hot tap water to use to scrub my dishes with. Not only did is serve many purposes for me in the past and has a practical function today, it also led me to that cooking sheet which drastically increased my diet options. The Tin Can Story. A solution, a catalyst, a reminder.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Expecations
By now I have now created an entry for nearly every page, and when I do complete this little goal, I will publish my blog to the first of my friends and family however at this juncture I am a little reflective on this whole project. I figure I best set your expectations...
I had the epiphany that my personal and humble perspective on thriftyness will only appeal to a very small niche of people. Now, whether this notion occurred to me through re-reading my own entries with a scathing critique of my poor articulation skills or by Googling and Youtubing the Internet for the term ‘thrifty’ and finding loads of media out there, I came to the conclusion that this blog with do absolutely nothing...for most people. So, have your warning, now skit, skat; spent your valuable time on something else! Or, categorize this as mere entertainment and just generally enjoy the banter; perhaps even compare and share your ideas on thrift. Or if you’re family, just read it because you know I’ll be referencing it when talk to you on Sunday afternoons!
Do you want house buying or mortgage advice, great, but you won’t find that here! I rent. How about some tips on buying a car, well I do have a tip there - pay for the damn bus, not because I’m a raging environmentalist but because fines are heavy in Vancity at $173 a pop. Learn’t that the hard way. Oh, and another common area where people look for advice, travel/vacation. Well, my idea of a getaway is going deep into Lynn Valley or camping, and aside from the odd trip out of town for the odd Race or to visit friends, you won’t find the know-how here on where to save your pennies on airfare.
What will you find? Where am I at in the swing of things, the game of life. Somewhere after graduating from University, in between working some professional jobs, still finding the right career path, and settling all my student debts. I’ve travelled across Canada and been to Mexico and Hawaii which were all wonderful vacations. But there were adventures, like doing a Study Abroad or going to India for Canada World Youth that I could not attend due to my debt restrictions. Plus, I’m eager to invest. My parents were very thrifty growing up, I wonder where I lost that? What it because I was a little spoiled, and am I alone here, or was this a generational thing? The west and the world as a whole is needing to be more conservative which makes me think that we are all going to be looking for personalized solutions to living thrifty. So this year, like many in these similar circumstances, I aim to clean up my loose ends and clear my head for creativity.
I’ll be finding novel ideas for daily economic decision making like buying groceries, getting haircuts, and enjoying city life. You’ll hear about silly ways of saving your pennies from classic measures such as coupons to more contemporary things like vehicle-sharing! So, don’t look for prescriptions to resolving housing bubbles nor should you seek to find some new Malcolm Gladwell type of philosophy on life. However, do very much find pleasure in the small ways I find to improve my budget by challenging the notion you can’t find a start in Vancouver BC - one of the most expensive places to live in North America.
I had the epiphany that my personal and humble perspective on thriftyness will only appeal to a very small niche of people. Now, whether this notion occurred to me through re-reading my own entries with a scathing critique of my poor articulation skills or by Googling and Youtubing the Internet for the term ‘thrifty’ and finding loads of media out there, I came to the conclusion that this blog with do absolutely nothing...for most people. So, have your warning, now skit, skat; spent your valuable time on something else! Or, categorize this as mere entertainment and just generally enjoy the banter; perhaps even compare and share your ideas on thrift. Or if you’re family, just read it because you know I’ll be referencing it when talk to you on Sunday afternoons!
Do you want house buying or mortgage advice, great, but you won’t find that here! I rent. How about some tips on buying a car, well I do have a tip there - pay for the damn bus, not because I’m a raging environmentalist but because fines are heavy in Vancity at $173 a pop. Learn’t that the hard way. Oh, and another common area where people look for advice, travel/vacation. Well, my idea of a getaway is going deep into Lynn Valley or camping, and aside from the odd trip out of town for the odd Race or to visit friends, you won’t find the know-how here on where to save your pennies on airfare.
What will you find? Where am I at in the swing of things, the game of life. Somewhere after graduating from University, in between working some professional jobs, still finding the right career path, and settling all my student debts. I’ve travelled across Canada and been to Mexico and Hawaii which were all wonderful vacations. But there were adventures, like doing a Study Abroad or going to India for Canada World Youth that I could not attend due to my debt restrictions. Plus, I’m eager to invest. My parents were very thrifty growing up, I wonder where I lost that? What it because I was a little spoiled, and am I alone here, or was this a generational thing? The west and the world as a whole is needing to be more conservative which makes me think that we are all going to be looking for personalized solutions to living thrifty. So this year, like many in these similar circumstances, I aim to clean up my loose ends and clear my head for creativity.
I’ll be finding novel ideas for daily economic decision making like buying groceries, getting haircuts, and enjoying city life. You’ll hear about silly ways of saving your pennies from classic measures such as coupons to more contemporary things like vehicle-sharing! So, don’t look for prescriptions to resolving housing bubbles nor should you seek to find some new Malcolm Gladwell type of philosophy on life. However, do very much find pleasure in the small ways I find to improve my budget by challenging the notion you can’t find a start in Vancouver BC - one of the most expensive places to live in North America.
Cheap vrs. Thrifty
This is my first blog and opening myself up to this subject I have to admit, I have some unsettling feelings about it all. ‘Will a family/friends think I am a cheap bum?’ Maybe, a potential date might think, ‘Wow, with all this thrifting, how is this guy ever going to be fun to be around?’ I must first define what I understand to be the difference between being cheap and being thrifty to best answer these questions.
Well, I believe that there is a serious difference between being cheap and being thrifty. Part of me, my more ambitious side, wants to go off on a “this is what cheap is, and I am like this” rant, but that would only affirm what little hostility I actually harbor towards the subject. Being thrifty is a skill set not just a lifestyle choice and when I think of some of my mentors in business and sports, for example, thriftiness is a core principle in all of their strategies.
Struggling to made ends meet during the start up phase? Rent a house and have all the employees live in it so that they are constantly collaborating and are never distracted - Facebook. Not enough money to buy a top-notch gear to race in down-hill skiing? Use duck-tape everywhere possible to decrease wind drag and increase speed - TH, BC Provincial Downhill Team. In Business, depending on the business cycle, it goes by bootstrapping, efficiency, automation, or networking. All these processes find ways to minimize waste and maximize output. And in sports there are other examples - I will elaborate in my fitness section the lessons that I am specifically learning to make this a little more personalized.
Also, check out your dictionary on the subject, this is what I found on a basic website:
www.dictionary.reference.com
Cheap: costing little labor or trouble; of little account; of small value; mean; shoddy; embarrassed; sheepish; stingy; miserly
Thrifty: economical management; frugal; thriving, prosperous, or successful; growing vigorously.
If those dictionary definitions do not do enough to convince you of the absolute polarity of these terms then you need to seat yourself back in grade school my friend - really I’m just coming to terms with the differences too:). And they are not so much different on a strictly financial axiom so much as a conscious, human, choice oriented one. Where on the one hand, the cheap individual decides to finds success by reducing his expenditure, while on the other hand the thrifty person chooses to find their highest return on income in managing the fine balance between resource allocation and forward momentum. Or put another way, the later seeks to further his dollar not by hoarding cash but by nursing his investments. One a reducer, the other a capacitor. One a negative, the other a positive.
Well, I think I have at least convinced myself of the point I have been trying to articulate on the difference between being cheap and being thrifty. So, to my family and friends, rest in peace that though you may not receive large Christmas gifts, your kin is in good health. And to the pleasant woman whom I am fortunate to accompany, I have a great travel idea...ever thought about volunteering?
Well, I believe that there is a serious difference between being cheap and being thrifty. Part of me, my more ambitious side, wants to go off on a “this is what cheap is, and I am like this” rant, but that would only affirm what little hostility I actually harbor towards the subject. Being thrifty is a skill set not just a lifestyle choice and when I think of some of my mentors in business and sports, for example, thriftiness is a core principle in all of their strategies.
Struggling to made ends meet during the start up phase? Rent a house and have all the employees live in it so that they are constantly collaborating and are never distracted - Facebook. Not enough money to buy a top-notch gear to race in down-hill skiing? Use duck-tape everywhere possible to decrease wind drag and increase speed - TH, BC Provincial Downhill Team. In Business, depending on the business cycle, it goes by bootstrapping, efficiency, automation, or networking. All these processes find ways to minimize waste and maximize output. And in sports there are other examples - I will elaborate in my fitness section the lessons that I am specifically learning to make this a little more personalized.
Also, check out your dictionary on the subject, this is what I found on a basic website:
www.dictionary.reference.com
Cheap: costing little labor or trouble; of little account; of small value; mean; shoddy; embarrassed; sheepish; stingy; miserly
Thrifty: economical management; frugal; thriving, prosperous, or successful; growing vigorously.
If those dictionary definitions do not do enough to convince you of the absolute polarity of these terms then you need to seat yourself back in grade school my friend - really I’m just coming to terms with the differences too:). And they are not so much different on a strictly financial axiom so much as a conscious, human, choice oriented one. Where on the one hand, the cheap individual decides to finds success by reducing his expenditure, while on the other hand the thrifty person chooses to find their highest return on income in managing the fine balance between resource allocation and forward momentum. Or put another way, the later seeks to further his dollar not by hoarding cash but by nursing his investments. One a reducer, the other a capacitor. One a negative, the other a positive.
Well, I think I have at least convinced myself of the point I have been trying to articulate on the difference between being cheap and being thrifty. So, to my family and friends, rest in peace that though you may not receive large Christmas gifts, your kin is in good health. And to the pleasant woman whom I am fortunate to accompany, I have a great travel idea...ever thought about volunteering?
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