VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

This is an idea for local and average kiters!

If you relate to this, I'm going to try this savings plan. Based on my answers to my own questions.

When you decide to go for a session, take $5 and put it in a jar, or after your session pay the jar. If you forget, pay the jar. Keep the jar where nobody will find it.

example;

Annually and include vacations, log your sessions.

If you average 10 days a month after the year, you will have healthy savings.

I find that if you respect your equipment it will last you two years before you get bored and want new gear. At this time your gear is still respected and still holds life for a new sailer. Sell it! and add that sum to you savings jar.

$1800ish new kite fund

Before paying that $5 for parking downtown, pay yourself first.

( warning... don't let anybody find the jar )

I'd like to see other general input or ideas

Calculate the cost of NOT kiting / windsurfing If you miss a session how do you get it back

how about every time you check the forecast or webcam page, put a $1 in a jar. This should build up funds quite quickly for travel to somewhere with wind in winter doldrums.

I can only hope my gear lasts more than two years! even with 50 days / year on it you'd expect a kite to only need a patch or two as long as you're not trashing it! Gear funds are great but if it ain't broke don't fix it right? Visa has this buy now pay later thing going too!

I find what works quick is pay for things with cash, at the end of the day all change goes in your spot. When getting gas put in a couple bucks less and put the remainder away.
Also kick in a 20 every now and then. I find this is a quick way to stack away funds. However having just had our fourth child, that money seams to find more important things.

JL wrote:Calculate the cost of NOT kiting / windsurfing If you miss a session how do you get it back

yeah, I am with JL.....apart from that.....

Don't do cash, #1
if you just can't seem to control your spending of $$, get your bank to automatically deduct $100 per pay and put it in a short term GIC....I pay everything with plastic to earn another flight to maui so I never have any/much cash....what you don't see you don't spend....what cash I have my kids wrestle away from me and plastic provides a record for tracking expenditures.....so few people do this....I know where all my money goes, (insurance for me is the worst!!, max out on the deductibles, no collision on cars etc.)
If you have a mortgage, pay weekly and make extra payments whenever you happen to have a spare hun, try to leave yourself broke!!, it adds up to thousands in saved interest....lots of coin to buy new gear
tons of ways to save money but seems nobody clues in

-NEVER buy a new vehicle or from a dealer, repair used ones with the best parts! and drive them for many years....so you better like them, choose wisely
-turn your gear over after at most a couple of years or lose all value
-avoid bars, the beach/park/forest is a much happier place to drink or eat
-forget the "I deserve it"'s or "I need to treat myself"s, people usually have a high opinion of what they deserve and it costs tons of money for those little treats that last brief moments and are usually not even good for you....like DQ, movie theatres, spa & beauty treatments, deserts, .....expensive clothes....do they keep you warmer?
-avoid cell phones....you actually don't NEED one...really, it may seem weird but try it....or use your employer's ...for the Latest Reports...
-use gaspricesvictoria.com
-ride your bike....it's not just gas you are paying for
-use the library for books and magazines, you are paying for it anyway through your taxes! and can renew online in a blink and have the stuff for over a month
-haggle with the manager/owner over a price of a larger store item, not the sales person...nothing is above price negotiation unless you are speaking to a minion
-eat less meat, fill up on veggies
-avoid fast food....it's usually not even fast, generally shitty food and it costs way more than popping into safeway to buy a bun and two slices of cold cuts....
-never carry a credit card balance, borrow using a credit line if you have to....slippery slope, get counseling!
-if you go to gamble or are a smoker, you are obviously already lost nobody can help you
-cancel your multiple bank accounts, that $4/mo adds up too, those bloodsuckers get all your money to work with, then charge you interest on the visa if you don't pay, then have the gall to charge service charges
-cancel cable, internet and share wifi with your neighbor, save $50-150/mo right there!!! I guess you gotta like your neighbor, another reason to be nice and keep the peace
-regularly check, call on and mow the lawn of rich and single auntie Martha.....and make sure all her pets die before her
-invest in a good wetsuit and just avoid Maui , six sets of gear right there for this trip!

whatever, people either can handle money or they cannot, people are frugal or they are not....if you have been very poor at one time like me, you tend to be frugal....if you can't, be smart enough to hand the $$ to your sig other/mom? and go back to ask for an allowance

Go back to school and get a real job It's NEVER too late

Take advantage of local gear available through sponsored riders, local shops & those that turn over gear annually. Try gear BEFORE you buy it. Many of those reviews on line are written by sponsored riders who have an obligation to manufacturers. Be honest about your requirements.

KUS wrote: -NEVER buy a new vehicle or from a dealer, repair used ones with the best parts! and drive them for many years....so you better like them, choose wisely

-turn your gear over after at most a couple of years or lose all value

These are all good tips but i find it interesting you give the exact opposite advice with regard to gear vs vehicle. given that both are commodities that depreciate massively in the first couple years, how you rationalize one approach over another.

Simple; Vehicles don't degrade in the sun due to UV rays the same was as kites and sails. You also don't subject them to loops, bails, and dragging across barnacle beaches. Most all of the damage which cannot be repaired. Repair a vehicle and it could be better than new except for aesthetics, almost like hitting your 40's.

One thing to add to Kus suggestion; Drink cheap beer, it's all the same and when you're pissing it out 30 minutes later, and a 6 of Cariboo is only $7.75!!!

nanmoo wrote:Simple; Vehicles don't degrade in the sun due to UV rays the same was as kites and sails. You also don't subject them to loops, bails, and dragging across barnacle beaches. Most all of the damage which cannot be repaired. Repair a vehicle and it could be better than new except for aesthetics, almost like hitting your 40's.

One thing to add to Kus suggestion; Drink cheap beer, it's all the same and when you're pissing it out 30 minutes later, and a 6 of Cariboo is only $7.75!!!

Bowen Island and Shaftsbury have been price reduced to among the cheapest beer in the liquor store for quite a while now. Always seems crazy to me when I see someone buying the really low-end dreck for a higher price than these. But we digress!

I agree with most of what Kus has suggested. Avoiding the "buying makes me feel alive" attitude of our consumer waste society is a great way to go, question everything you buy, "do I really need this or can I make do with what I have?". Couches, patio furniture, beds, housewares, all that stuff that looks nice but does so little IMHO. Though if you asked my wife, I'm pretty sure she'd question my online shopping problem and my growing kite toybox....now 4 kites, 3 boards, etc etc. So I guess these decisions of what consumer goods are important are a personal preference thing ... but for me, it's all about function over fashion. And the way I see it, if these toys help keep us healthy and joyful and alive, then they are a fountain of youth, and no price is too high!

Cars vs kites....both depreciating assets, but the curve is WAY steeper for kites. I suspect the smart kite model is to buy well-maintained taken-care of gear that is 1-2 years old, keep for 2 years, then trade up to the 1-2 year old gear again. It isn't just aesthetics, with kites it is also safety....you don't want to be 1km offshore and have your canopy tear, bladder pop, or lines break. Could happen with any gear, but less likely the newer it is. For cars, I figure the smart money is to keep them 10 years, use them until they start costing you money, then go close to new again.

And I agree....cancel your cable, you shouldn't watch so much TV anyway. Download the shows you want. And get netflix if you want to be able to watch on demand.

... or use projectfreetv.

Way better than netflix and no $$$.

downwind dave wrote:

KUS wrote: -NEVER buy a new vehicle or from a dealer, repair used ones with the best parts! and drive them for many years....so you better like them, choose wisely
-turn your gear over after at most a couple of years or lose all value

These are all good tips but i find it interesting you give the exact opposite advice with regard to gear vs vehicle. given that both are commodities that depreciate massively in the first couple years, how you rationalize one approach over another.

first of all, there is a factor of about 10+ in cost difference....driving a $40k vehicle off the lot and watching twenty of that fly away in a breeze of exhaust is sickening....and well maintained used vehicles can run well for decades as long as you can get past the status symbol issues......And you can't easily fix used gear, tuck tape generally isn't all that acceptable...Wind gear lasts 3-5 years if it's actually being used! secondly there is tons of good gear out there but mostly not great gear....afterall, unless you find a guy like me who turns over his gear to get new stuff just cause he likes new stuff, there is generally a bad reason why someone is selling their toys....and often you cannot find the board or sail or kite you are looking for or that you need for your body type....people needing a good shape 100-125L wave board for example: good luck. So you compromise.....spend half of the cost of new stuff....and still have crap that doesn't work for you.....Bad decision
I have been looking for a good used 10 or 11m Razor for a while....also a Nat board cuz I will spend some time there...just picked up Bobbleson's 111 rocket.....Life is short so I buy what I want and need....not everyone is lucky enough to do this....but then I don't owe anyone any money or save fivers in a piggy bank, not that that's a bad idea for some people....
As for any insinuation that perhaps me being a windsurfing/ SUP gear supplier having anything to do with that, I can assure you there is no money in doing this business unlike everyone seems to presume (AND I also sell used gear, big profit is a beer or two, usually a loss). There is a reason no windsurf shops exist anymore....I do this more as an ambassador than anything else, trust me but getting pretty tired of the loonie turning haggling BS so I get a bit crusty at times when I have to spend a lot of time supplying goods to people. Just ask poor Eric who was kind enough to pick up a new lid the other day despite my grumpiness ..... btw just picked up another used Goya sail, looks to be in ok shape, try and find a used one in our local market

all good points. no insinuation was intended or implied, i just liked the topic is all.

-avoid bars, the beach/park/forest is a much happier place to drink or eat
KUS
Do not listen to this dogma. Go to bars, drink the best draught beers and listen to the great conversations. Bottled beer no,bad.

Kuster you trying to kill me.