Tricking out my Chromebook

If you remember, a few months ago, I posted about my Acer C7 Chromebook.   I am still in love with it.  Although, I have modified it a bit to meet my desktop software needs.  Now this may seem a little geeky to many of you, but bear with me.  None of what I have done was at all difficult and there are YouTube videos to walk you through the process.

One of the things that I like about this particular Chromebook is that it has a 330 GB hard drive.  The Samsung version has a 16 GB solid state drive, which would be fine for a pure Chromebook usage, but I wanted to be able to do a little more.

Like I mentioned before, the Chrome OS is nice for web related activities and the Google Drive does give you plenty of storage and allows you to read/edit and even create Microsoft documents.  But the one limitation that I found, at is was big to me, you can only create/edit the spreadsheet application when connected to the internet.  I use spreadsheets all of the time, so it was a bit frustrating when I ride the bus to work and want to work on my budget or organize my ideas.

So, if I wanted to run full versions of a spreadsheet when offline or some other nice-to-have applications, I would need some sort of operating system that could handle that.  But remember, this was all about SAVING MONEY.  I was not about to pay money for Windows or any operating system.

I did find an answer.  I had, on the sidelines, considered Linux and particularly the Ubuntu distribution as it was most like the desktop operating systems that I and most people are used to.

 Now, I know what you are thinking.  "There is NO WAY am I about to take on installing an operating system on my laptop.  I mean, what if SOMETHING GOES WRONG?"  I don't blame you a bit.  But remember, this whole laptop is less than $200 and with a couple of clicks, you can restore your Chrome OS and since you are linked to the cloud with Google Drive, all of your data is backed up and the risk is nearly inconsequential.

My recommendation would be to watch some You Tube videos of what Ubuntu 12.04 or 12.10 can do.  It is pretty awesome.  Then go to this video to watch the installation instructions.  A big shout out to "Johnny the Geek" for this.  Now, there are a couple of commands that you have to type, but not much and you are guided keystroke by keystroke as you go along.  After you are done, you have a machine that boots up as a Ubuntu (actually Crubuntu as it is especially designed for the Chrome book).

So what do you get with Ubuntu?  For one, you get a very simple interface (kind of a blend between Windows and Apple)  But it unique.  In fact The Apple OS is just another type of Linux itself.  Ubuntu comes pre-loaded with Libre Office which is very compatible with  MS Office.  So, you have Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation and Database software (did I mention that it is all FREE?)

Another incredible feature of the Chromebook Ubuntu combination, it is true 64 bit, with means that it can handle up to 16 GB of ram.  (Just a note, the Windows 8 home edition will only work with 4 GB of ram).  So, I ordered 8 GB of ram on line (about $60) and installed it in about 2 seconds.  This (along with the original 2 GB installed pushed my Chromebook up to 10 GB of ram making it a screaming machine that is WAY faster and more powerful than any Windows 8 laptop.

One important thing that Ubuntu comes with is a free cloud service called Ubuntu One for backing up your files.  I highly recommend doing this.  I was tinkering with setups on my operating system and did lose it.  But since I had everything backed up, I had the OS and all of the data restored within one hour.

So, if you are looking for an awesome free alternative operating system, I highly recommend this.  I am hoping that more people will try this and put pressure on the big guys (Microsoft and Apple) to stop charging for operating systems.

One last thing, because of the tight and secure structure of Linux, you DO NOT need anti-virus software.  That saves about $50/year per PC (for Norton)

I have not tried the other flavors Linux (such as Mint, Red Hat or Debian).  Mint is much like Ubuntu and has a very simple interface.  There are too many to really go into here, but they all have their own raving fans.  I just picked the one that was easiest for me to access, install and use.

Enough of the geekdom.  I promise to talk more about traveling next time, because we have reached another milestone in our journey and am excited to talk about it.

Happy Trails,

Kit

Tightening the Belt (Minimalism 201)

OK, We are set to pickup up our travel trailer on Saturday.  We are so very excited and I am sure that we will want to start organizing it as soon as it is in our driveway.  But, first we are dealing with some financial stress.  We decided, up front, that we would pay cash for this particular item.  We saved up for 9+ months and came up with $8,000.

We went shopping with that much available. Of course, we started actually shopping in the spring - the beginning of the camping season.  So, most of the great deals that we had spotted in the winter had slipped away.  So, we shopped all over Atlanta last weekend and finally decided on a very nice 2001 Dutchmen, 29 foot, single-slide trailer.  We bought it from a dealer, so taxes and title fees were added on top.  (In Georgia, new laws even make it more painful when buying from private owners though).  As a result, our $8,000 was $800 short.

So we are, once again scraping, cashing in loose change, looking under couch cushions and eating canned soup in order to have enough money to pick up the trailer on Saturday.  Well, it looks like we have managed to come up with enough enough to pay off the balance, and I still have one working kidney.  (Just kidding, it doesn't work that well).  OK, I have both of my kidneys, but we will need to continue scraping for the next couple of weeks.

All-in-all, I am glad that we decided to purchase the unit from a dealer.  They have a very nice facility and really know their product.  I feel much more comfortable about their maintenance crew over the promises of a private person that does not need repeat business and may be unloading a bunch of problems on us.  One nice feature of the dealer is that they do an RV orientation class (very important for us newbies) and will demonstrate that all of the systems work within parameters.  Also included in the price is an installed brake controller and anti-sway system.

Now our goal is to be on the road (in an RV park) by June 15.  This gives us about 4 weeks to:

• Sell, donate or throw away any items deemed as non-essential
• Thoroughly clean the house and yard of our current residence
• Get caught up financially

Fortunately I am still working full time and will continue to do so for the remainder of 2013 (At least).

So, how did we save money over the last 9 months?  Here was our strategy:

1. Cut utility costs
• Cable - gone (we now use Roku)  $120 per month saved
• Reduced wireless plan to minimum (we never came close to using our minutes) $120 per month saved
• Turned off the home phone (we have cell phones) $30/ month saved
• When Shauna Lee's cell phone contract expires, we will share a smartphone.  I picked up a free no contract phone that gets better coverage (works better as a phone)  That plan is $30/month  (Still implementing, no savings yet)
2. Cut food cost
• Reduced eating out to once per week 
• We share an entree when we eat out
• Drink water almost exclusively (drinks are a high percentage of eating out cost)
• Cut down on meat consumption (Over time, we completely gave up meat).  Meat cost was at least $50 per week.  We were also able to sell a chest freezer since we no longer needed meat storage.
• This item will be an entire upcoming topic
3. Ride the bus to work
• This alone saved about $3,000 over the 9 months.  It also gave me a higher trade-in value on my  car when I traded it in.
• This also gave me 2 hours a day to read, write and research the RV lifestyle and, oh yeah, got some good naps in
4. Discontinued Gym and other little used memberships
• The world is now my gym.  Weather has improved, so I can resume walking and jogging outdoors ($100/month savings)
• The dogs love the walks and runs, too.
5. Multiple garage sales (We sold stuff that I would have never dreamed of.  People got great deals, because we were motivated).  Over $1,000 brought in and we still have a few more big ticket items that we will sell when we are ready to move in the trailer (our bed being one of them).

We also faced a lot of unusual obstacles along the way that drained some of our money, but, overall, I am happy with how much we saved.  So, just a little longer, then we can begin to realize our dreams.  The journey has already begun.  Remember, there is no actual destination.  We are finally on the Threshold of Galt's Gulch and we have much yet to learn.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings.  Until next time ...

Happy Trails.

Kit

Implementing the Tug

As promised, I am posting a couple of pictures of the pickup we purchased  a couple of weeks ago to tug our new home around.  It should have plenty of power, without being too costly.  It is a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500, equipped with a 5.7 Liter V8 Hemi Magnum engine.  It is the only item that we will finance.  We did not have the cash to invest in both a RV and a Truck.  So, we used our cash for the RV, as it will not be so costly to repair or replace.  The truck on the other hand needs to be reliable transportation.   Thus, it made sense to me to finance it.  We will work on paying it off early to reduce our total output, however.

Until next time, Happy Trails!!!

Kit

Taking the Plunge

Yesterday, we moved much closer to the beginning of our journey.  We put down a deposit on a Dutchmen Travel Trailer.  After the systems check and any repairs needed, we will pick it up in 2 weeks.  We are really doing this thing!!!  We have so much to do.  We have downsized considerably, but ... we have a lot more to get rid of (via garage sale, giving to family or to charity).

So, that puts us 6 weeks away from moving out of our house.  That is both exciting and scary.  To be honest, we are not quite going without a safety net.  I will be keeping my 40 hour/week IT job on site, for now.  The goal is to save several thousand dollars to act as a cushion for times between regular work.  This will mean a regular commute to work (from wherever we are staying).  But we will ease into this full time RV dream.  As soon as we are stable enough to cut the cord, we will.  In a best case scenario, I will be able to find remote IT work that I can do 20 hours per week on a fairly flexible schedule.  My current customer has not been known for allowing such arrangements, but I have been there for quite a while and have built up a very good reputation.

If that does not pan out with my current customer, my contractor has mentioned several part-time, remote opportunities.  Will play it by ear.  The current timeline would have me working full time right up until Christmas 2013 (when the kids and grand kids visit from Seattle).  When they depart for home, we will cut the cord and head to Florida for the Winter/Spring season.  Then in April/May 2014, start heading west, hopefully landing in Washington state around August 2014.

I have posted the pics below of the Travel Trailer.  We are very pleased.  I will post pics of our truck next time.  Until then, Happy Trails.

Minimalist Replacements

Sometimes, it can't be helped. Items that you need wear out or break at inopportune times. This week, my desktop PC died. It had managed to survive a lightning strike about a year ago. But, finally, the power supply stopped working. Now, I do have my work laptop, but it really isn't mine. So, if I still want to continue writing and researching, I would need some sort of replacement device. But, I will be damned if I am going to put out $700 to $1,000 for a new laptop. So what is the solution? Well, I decided to go with the Acer Chromebook C7. I bought one brand new for $200. So far, it has worked out fairly well. I can use Google Docs/Drive to create/edit documents. (I wish the Sheet application worked offline, but that functionality isn't far off). I have been able to find plenty of apps available to keep me busy.



No, it cannot run programs like Photoshop or Microsoft Office, but those are really money holes anyway. Shauna still has a traditional Windows 8 (don't get me started on Windows 8) laptop. She has her photo editing software and the capability to download traditional software, if needed. I suspect that I may need a different laptop to perform Business Intelligence tasks one day, but usually my vendor would provide that anyway.

So $200 compared to $700 does seem to fit in with my minimalist mindset. So, we will see how this experiment goes. I really like the fact that the OS will self update as needed, so I won't need to worry about getting the latest overpriced OS when Microsoft is looking for more revenue.

One thing that I thought was funny. I showed a co-worker my Chromebook and she said that she could not wait until her current laptop died.

Another co-worker thought it would be a perfect first computer for his 7 year old son. I would agree. It does have a Linux OS under the hood, so it really can do more than it is configuration is setup for.


On another front, we spent more money to reduce cost. We acquired a ROKU HD for $53 dollars and cancelled our cable and telephone service. So, all we have now (from AT&T) is high speed internet. Obviously, the cable companies are really feeling the pinch. They offered 3 free months of cable. But, we declined. We just are not watching standard broadcast TV anymore. In fact, as I write this, I am listening to Pandora on my Roku/TV. Shauna and I have found plenty of free entertainment and some subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime that are very portable. So, overall, we have saved about $100/month by making this cut. This is but another step in reducing our monthly expenses to the absolute minimum, without sacrificing quality of life.



In a future post, I will talk about reducing food costs dramatically.

Until next time ...

Mimimalism 101

Without a doubt, there is a silent trend toward minimalism. There are various reasons for this ranging from needing to cut back expenses in a jobless economic "recovery" to feeling a need to conserve and be green. However, I think the best reason is to achieve freedom and independence. I have found that my collection of possessions (most tucked away in a closet or in a spare bedroom) are not bringing me satisfaction. In fact, they mostly just take up space. When I think about how much square footage I am wasting to store all the stuff that I "might need one day", it drives me crazy. So ... it has to go. We have to go through the grueling task of separating the "must haves" from the "don't needs". Then we have to devise a way to jettison the "don't needs".

Step 1: Perform separation

Step 2: Classify separated items as worthless junk or items we can sell

Step 3: Have some yard sales and get people to buy our junk, I mean items that they "might need later".

Wow, this is a painful process, but what liberation we will feels when this phase is complete. But it is going to take a while. We are waiting on the weather to settle down so we can start selling.

More on this later.

Taking The Gulch on the Road

Taking The Gulch on the Road

So, we have made the decision to severely downsize and move our remaining possessions and dogs into an RV. Oh yes, this will present some real challenges. I also realize that not everyone could or would want to pursue this path. Here is a list of considerations:

1. Is your measure of success based on owning a big house?
2. Is watching TV really important to you? How much would you miss your favorite TV Shows?
3. Do you require lots of space and alone time?
4. Are you comfortable not having a traditional house?
5. Are you able to get out of your normal comfort level?
6. How important is comfort to you? Do you feel confined in your current environment?
7. Have you ever spent days and hours with your spouse continuously?
8. Are you willing to conserve money, electricity and water (severely)?
9. Are you willing to take risks on how you will make ends meet?
10. Is your spouse/partner 100% on board with the idea?

What are the potential benefits? Here is a list that I have begun:

1. Living costs will be drastically reduced.
2. I will wake up every morning in a place of exploration.
3. Reducing Living expenses allows me to work less hours.
4. I get to be with my wife all day long.
5. I can walk/run with the dogs anytime I want.
6. I do not have a big house to maintain.
7. If I get tired of the beach, I can go to the mountains. If I get tired of the mountains, I can go to a swamp. ...
8. No more daily commute to work.
9. I will live life anew each day.
10. And so much more ...

Ambitious Goal

We have set a goal to be "on the road" by Summer 2013. As it is now the last couple of weeks of winter, we have much to do. We are saving money as quickly as possible to purchase the RV (with cash) and we have A LOT to get rid of. We look forward,with great excitement, to this next chapter.