Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Early Retirement Extreme Forums » Introduce Yourself

1. 

   beav80
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Jul '11
   Posts: 61

   Hello, I'm from Ottawa. I took a few years between my undergrad and M.A., decided to move on to the PhD because I enjoy the subject area and want to work with my professor- looking at physical activity and life skills programs for adolescents.

   I am late in the game of finance though I have a few things going for me already:

   $300 personal rent (co-op with partner)
   No car
   No cable (TV for movies and friends)
   Small(er) debt (under 30k)
   Experience paying off debt fast (16k from undergrad in about 6 months)
   Physically fit (I train people in bootcamps as a part-time job, I have a certification in the Olympic Lifts and Kettlebells)
   Backyard garden
   A father who hunts deer (I like meat, see below)

   Things going against me:
   A baby due in a month
   A partner that loves to travel
   Lower income generation (my PhD is an area of interest for me, not so much for science and research funders as we're awkwardly situated between physical activity and psychology/sociology)
   Big appetite (lift weights a lot, eat a lot of meat and buy a few supplements)
   Interest in physical activity drives me to get certifications($) and read more/buy books.

   I want to try to work through the 21 day challenge, and eventually move towards a 50% savings rate so that I can spend a bit more on leagues for the kids, food for the family, some travel when absolutely necessary to stay in my relationship (ha ha).

   Anybody else in the same boat? In Canada? In Ottawa?

   All the best everybody.

   Posted 1 year ago #
2. 

   palmera
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Aug '11
   Posts: 270

   Hello there, thanks for your kind words in my intro threat!

   I love meat too, but limit myself to eating it only 3x a week.

   That's good that have experience crushing debt, it's a great advantage, as is your current work/study situation. You seem to really love what you do and are studying, so at least clearing debt and saving to invest for ERE won't be the painful mountain climb it is for some of us here :)

   Any time you're down in Toronto pm me!

   Posted 1 year ago #
3. 

   Dther068
   

   Novice
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 3

   Hi,

   I just joined the forum. I'm in Ottawa too. I'm interested in early retirement but not so much the extreme part. I'm a woman in my mid-30s and work for the federal government.

   Dee

   Posted 1 year ago #
4. 

   pooablo
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Aug '11
   Posts: 189

   Hey Beav80,

   Welcome to the forum! I am out west in Edmonton. It looks like you have a strong foundation already to reach ERE.

   When I was in undergrad, I managed to live off of $600 bucks a month by taking advantage of the free campus recreational facilities and going to the library.

   Good luck!

   Posted 1 year ago #
5. 

   Phayen
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Jul '11
   Posts: 93

   Hi Beav and welcome,

   I think the things going for you are more important than the things not. My wife and I just had our first child last December. It's only added about $100/month in formula/diapers to the cost of our living. Probably closer to $1000/year as we get gifts and other things from relatives/friends. You sound like you have a lot of things under control, what % savings are you at now?

   Posted 1 year ago #
6. 

   beav80
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Jul '11
   Posts: 61

   Update- My daughter arrived, healthy and pretty easygoing (lucky). Things are crazy busy but we're doing relatively well with saving and keeping the lifestyle in check (Mexico vacation idea out the window and I'm happy about it). Things are rolling along as far as the PhD work goes and I'm looking forward to see what kind of opportunities are around in government and potentially teaching in community college or the universities.

   Dther- That's great. I think the Extreme is the hard part in all of this, but every percentage point more you can save seems to make a difference! Find a way to save $10/day and you just saved an extra $3650 a year. Little changes go a long way. This is a good town to put your head down and save in though. The night life is pretty tame, and there are a lot of families working for the federal government and saving so the mentality is there. I think a big city with a lot of night life would be harder to resist (for me).

   Phayen- Pretty low in savings compared to some here on ERE. I've been paying down some debt in a line of credit ($8000 in the last six months, but as a student there are periods of feast/famine when it comes to money) and accumulating around $650 per month in a few higher interest savings accounts. I'll begin a college fund of $50/month for my daughter as soon as I can get to my branch as well as I would like to at least help/relieve debt after the fact. Telling your kids that they have to go it alone and then helping them repay debt before the interest turns on seems like a good strategy that encourages your kids to weigh their lifestyle in university.

   Thanks for the encouragement, I'll try to go through the 21 day steps and post them here as well. I was pretty worried about the costs associated with a child but I tend to prepare for the worst.

   Posted 1 year ago #
7. 

   DutchGirl
   

   Master
   Joined: Sep '11
   Posts: 481

   Congratulations on your daughter, beav80. I hadn't re-read the first post, so at first I thought she was a teenager but pretty easy-going for one. Now I see you have a looooot more time to go before you get to that point; but I am very glad you have a healthy and "easy" baby-girl. Congrats.

   Good luck with the 21 steps and so on...

   Posted 1 year ago #
8. 

   Lilac
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 148

   Congrats on your daughter! I just had my son six months ago.

   Have you looked at kijiji? There are massive amounts of hardly used baby stuff for cheap! I outfitted my son for winter for $10, saving me at least $100 on the cost of outerwear. And I'll sell both snow suits for at least what I paid for them next year, which means I dressed him for free!

   Kijiji is way better than craigs list in my city. Good luck!

   Posted 1 year ago #
9. 

   beav80
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Jul '11
   Posts: 61

   DutchGirl- Thanks, looking forward to working through the process.

   iliacorchid- We have definitely been using Kijiji, and plan to keep it up until this kid cares about her fashion. We have been really lucky that a lot of friends and family have stepped up and given us a lot of what we need.

   Posted 1 year ago #
10. 

    Lilac
    

    Journeyman
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 148

    beav - I found that there are lots of people out there that are just dying to get rid of baby things. I think I'm buying everything second hand unless there is a good reason to buy new. (Gross factor and safety are my two main reasons!)

    Posted 1 year ago #

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