by

Number Crunching Day

The ‘new year’ is just an arbitrary change of number that could really happen at any time. So I don’t really treat it as a special event. Last year was the first December 31st that I can remember since that of ’99 going into ’00 that I did anything. I’m sure it’s not the only one, but the night is such a non-event that I’ve have to go back over old journals to see if there are others.

I’m more of a follower when it comes to social engagements, attending parties and other events if I get an actual invitation, especially on a super busy night where going out on my own wouldn’t be much fun anyway. No invitations for last night came, so I stayed in. I’m not sure I would have accepted one anyway. I’d been up since about 4:30 a.m. and was not sad that I was able to conk out at 9:00, despite a loud party going on next door!

January 1st tends to be a bookkeeping day for me. It’s always quiet and I can start to close the previous year’s books, open the new year’s, and take stock of my goals for the year. For 2016, the goals are to find another steady client who pays well and to end the year in Mexico with a residency visa. I’d like to spend the summer in Europe, but I wouldn’t consider having to put that off as a failure. It’ll all depend on whether the current income levels continue or not.

2015 was an extraordinary year. It started and ended in Mazatlán and ended up being the year where I spent the bulk of my time outside of Canada! I was only home for about five months, spent just about a full six months in Mexico, and just about a full month in the U.S. It was the year that I started to figure out how I’m going to manage to see the world, by renting apartments in the locations I want to experience. It was also the year that I was able to look back on all the grief I’ve experienced and think, “It was so worth it!”

Happy 2016 to all my readers!

18 thoughts on “Number Crunching Day”

  3. I spent a few hours in my Quicken program as well, finishing off all out income and expenses for last year. In spite of all out travel in the US and the plight of the Canadian dollar we still ended up in the black. It is always fun comparing years.

  6. Wow! A very good year indeed! I wonder if, once you visit those other countries, Mexico will still be the place you decide to move to. Have you been there in the summer yet?

    • The secret of living comfortably in Mexico is to live near the ocean in the winter and then move to the mountains for the summer. So Mazatlan for the winter and then Zacatecas (8000 ft) for the summer would be the perfect solution. There are many other combinations to explore. Patzcuaro, San Cristobal de Las Casas and Oaxaca are other great summer possibilities.

    • Linda, I have no intention of settling permanently anywhere. I am in “collecting passports mode” right now. Once that goal is reached, I’ll be off to explore another country. Heck, I’ll probably be exploring other countries while waiting for my Mexican citizenship!

  7. One city, Cuernavaca (south of Mexico City) is known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’ where the temperature is +/- 80F year round. A very pleasant climate and is where many of the rulers of Mexico, including Cortez, lived.

  8. Curious Rae, when you do have all these passports, does it mean you are a citizen of each country passport is from? And won’t you owe income taxes to all these countries? Just have read horror stories of USA citizens being taxed to death in other countries, would Canada and Mexico not do that as well?

    • Yes, a passport would mean citizenship. No on the taxes. There are only two countries in the entire world that tax based on citizenship, not residency: Eritrea and the U.S.

Comments are closed.