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1. 

   riparian
   

   Master
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 341

   Hi! I guess I should have done this all together, but I didn't. So if you're super interested in me, I made an intro/question thread here: http://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/topic.php?id=1712&replies=4#post-23030

   Summary:

   My income varies depending how much I do what.
   My expenses are $525/month, but I have more expenses (travel) when I work.
   Some money I get paid in bank/check form and some money is cash, which I file. Yes, I pay taxes.

   Goals:

   Live a life that I can love 100% of.
   Save $30k+ to build a rental next summer.

   August:
   $800 from gig 1
   $977 from the internet (holy shit, how did that happen?)

   + 977 went in the bank
   - 300 went to start a secured credit card
   - 350 went to bills

   + 800 in cash was divided five ways, so
   160 was saved forever
   160 was what I spent on gas and food
   160 went in all the other files

   September:
   $1400 from gig 1
   $304 from the internet (residual from what I did the month before, I think I underestimated my internet income)
   $1251 from gig 3

   $1555 went in the bank and I bought a ticket to Texas so I could be with my mom during a medical issue (which meant not working for 4 weeks)
   $1400 cash =
   280 forever saved
   280 on food and stuff (that was hard while travelling)
   280 in all the other files

   October (I'll just do it cause it's almost over)
   $1800 from gig 1
   $60 from the internet
   $1600-ish anticipated from gig 3

   $1660 will go in the bank
   TOTAL bank balance will be 4100 - 10 months expenses or one emergency

   $1800 cash = +360/file

   360 is a lot of spending money and I still have 300 left, including accumulation from the last few months

   Forever savings total is $1160

   -500 from vehicle envelope for good snow tires
   -670 from outfit envelope for a new self defense weapon (my old one, which was free to me, was made out of plastic and would jam half the time, this one should last me forever and hold resale value. also it's shiny and stainless steel!)

   November goals:

   I have lots of gig3 scheduled during the first week and hopefully after that the river will be frozen so I can go home! I'm scheduled to come back to town for gig3 thanksgiving weekend.

   Hopefully I'm just gonna stay home, make new shelves, cut a bunch of wood, start tanning two moose hides, and perfect the art of killing snowshoe hare with a sling.

   On my down time in town I want to finish a new site that'll hopefully make passive income without needing to be updated/maintained all the time.

   Also maybe I should make a video while I'm at home, but being winter I might not have enough electricity.

   Posted 1 year ago #
2. 

   ExpatERE
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Jul '11
   Posts: 219

   Welcome!!

   "Live a life that I can love 100% of."

   Now that is a goal!!

   Posted 1 year ago #
3. 

   riparian
   

   Master
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 341

   It makes me happy, even if I fall a little short sometimes. Tho actually, it's surprisingly easy to attain when I'm intentional about it.

   Posted 1 year ago #
4. 

   Chris
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 195

   A friend of mine taught me slinging some years ago. It's pretty awesome, but I've tried to imagine hunting that way, and it seems daunting. What is your plan for the snowshoe hares? And the tanned hides as well, will they be for personal use or for sale?

   Posted 1 year ago #
5. 

   riparian
   

   Master
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 341

   I got no fish or moose this summer (because I was busy making money and doing the family crisis thing) so I get to eat rabbit and burbot this winter. Luckily I've got five gallons of fat in the shed (given to me by yuppies who bought it for the health benefits and then decided it was yucky, heh). The rabbit hides are too thin to do much with, I've been braiding them into a blanket but thinking about tanning them and seeing if they'll hold up to being underwear. Moose hides are for personal use, I never sell parts of other animals.

   (See, this is an example of why sometimes making money can be bad - cause sure I made a couple grand in town during moose hunting season, but it'd cost more than that to replace the moose I didn't get with a grass fed hormone free cow.)

   The problem with slings in winter is the lack of rocks, and in deep snow I lose them when I'm practicing. But last winter I was getting to about 1/10 success rate with the bunny killing. This winter I'm going to wean myself off snares by just not using any to begin with.

   Posted 1 year ago #
6. 

   riparian
   

   Master
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 341

   Updated for real October numbers.

   Income -

   1 - 1900
   2 - 181
   3 - 1814

   Spent:

   bills - 360
   cash - 380 (but still 200 of that left)

   Saved:

   forever - 2194
   for other goals - 1520

   percent saved - 85%

   Total saved forever:

   1 - 3364
   2 - 1260
   = - 4624

   So I'm 15% to my goal and I have 9 months worth of expenses saved.

   Posted 1 year ago #
7. 

   riparian
   

   Master
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 341

   I just sent off my IBR paperwork and while I don't know for sure yet, it looks like my student loan payments are going to adjust to $0!! That would bring my monthly expenses down to $225 (more for adventures) and mean that I have almost two years of expenses saves rather than 9 months.

   Thanks LiquidSapphire!

   I think that makes me as retired as I want to be... I have 3 income streams that I enjoy, and I also want to spend more time at home.

   I'm having November goal fail cause it's really warm and the river won't freeze so I can go home. Oh well, at least while I'm stuck in town I'm making money.

   Posted 1 year ago #
8. 

   riparian
   

   Master
   Joined: Oct '11
   Posts: 341

   Ugh, bad ERE month.

   Income-

   1 - 2000 net
   2 - 109
   3 - 2190
   total 4299

   Outgo

   300 student loan
   40 internet
   480 two years worth of cell phone, ugh
   12,000 new truck
   a bunch on food and stuff while stuck in town

   Truck: One of my goals is to have a good enough "outfit" that I never have to buy anything and need very little money. My van I had for a total of 9 years, lived in it for four of those years, and lived in it whenever I was in town working. It was dying (head gasket) and I realized that if I'm going to keep making money I need a vehicle to get to town (the places I make money are 100 and 400 miles away) and to keep warm in (I was just stuck in town van camping at forty below and it woulda really sucked camping in a bicycle). I was keeping my eye on craigslist and waiting for the perfect deal to come along or until I had more money... and then the perfect deal came along. I got a 2005 Toyota Tacoma v6 4x4 6speed for $12k, like 60% of blue book. It was a good buy but a bad financial decision cause now I have negative 4k to my name. But it'll last me 20 years plus hold it's resale value and I'll be out of debt in a month or two, goddess willing and the creek don't rise. :)

   In other news I spent 160 hours making that $2190 and 6 hours making that $2k. I always knew jobs were a bad idea. And somehow my credit score went up 350 points while I wasn't paying attention!

   Posted 1 year ago #
9. 

   George the original one
   

   Expert
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 1,942

   The frugal in me wants to know why you didn't get a rebuilt motor? Time/weather constraints?

   I've camped a few times in the mountains when the night became frosty, dipping a few degrees below zero. Really hate that cold feeling, so I can't even imagine camping during really cold weather like that!

   Posted 1 year ago #
10. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    For the van? It had close to 200k miles on it and wouldn't have lasted long even if I put a new head and gasket on it, the transmission would go next, the heater core already went, etc. it just didn't seem worth fixing anymore. Also too cold for that kind of thing.

    Posted 1 year ago #
11. 

    putski
    

    Novice
    Joined: Apr '11
    Posts: 25

    Good luck with the Tacoma! I just sold the same one but an '06 for 18k. It's a great truck but I wanted
    to pay off my mortgage (which I did).

    Posted 1 year ago #
12. 

    putski
    

    Novice
    Joined: Apr '11
    Posts: 25

    Good luck with the Tacoma! I just sold the same one but an '06 for 18k. It's a great truck but I wanted
    to pay off my mortgage (which I did).

    Posted 1 year ago #
13. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    Thanks Lorraine, and congrats on paying off your mortgage.

    So besides watching the trucks on Craigslist I've also been watching the real estate. I found that my original assessment was wrong - while there are 5-10 acre lots going for $10k they aren't in the area I want. In the area I want those lots are more like $4-60k. Then I started thinking if my student loan is (probably) going away I might not need rental income. Anyways, today the perfect property went up! It's in an even better area than I'd wanted, 7 acres and a cabin that might rent for $3-500 after a little work and plenty of room to build more cabins for 30k. And now I have no money!!! Crap. It'll come around again, right?

    Posted 1 year ago #
14. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    December:

    In come:
    1130 +
    293.74 +
    958.13 +
    =
    2,381.87

    Out go:

    I dunno where it went. I spent most of the month with a friend in the ICU and I spent a ton of money on eating out, gas, groceries for the friends I stayed with, paying my sick friend's phone bill, etc.

    I came out of it with about $1000 surplus that I put towards paying back the $3k I borrowed for the truck, but they want it all at once so I'm holding onto it for now.

    ERE Progress:
    I got a calender that I'm going to write what I spend on and be able to categorize pre/post ERE expenses. Today I'm in town working and I spent $10 on deli food and coffee.

    January:
    NO trips to the far away big city for money.
    Make some money on the internet and take care of my health.
    Another $1k towards the truck loan.
    Hopefully IBR will disappear my student loan payment.

    Posted 1 year ago #
15. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    I think from here on out I'm just going to post my semi-ERE income and my post ERE expenses (ie, my expenses minus the traveling for work).

    January

    Income:

    Internet - 656.55

    Outgoes:

    Groceries - $34
    Gas - $30.32
    Outfit - $30.75 (this is like, batteries, candles, bullets, tools)
    Entertainment - $6
    Gifts - $137
    Other - $63.69 (I wasted $40 trying to fix my sisters printer, then printed my late xmas cards at the copy store instead for $25. Lesson learned.)
    Health -$129 (supplements)

    Total – 430.76

    Difference + 225.79

    Income: That was about half passive sales and half from three phone calls. I made a new informational site and it made like $15 in affiliate money it's first month. In February I'm planning on making a couple ebooks for it and doing a little networking/promotion.

    Outgoes: Normally I would pay my $40 internet bill, but I've apparently overpaid and now don't have to pay for a bit. Usually I don't spend so much on gifts, but I paid my friends phone bill because she was in the hospital for weeks and didn't have any money. Also I mailed 7 belated holiday gifts at $4.95 each (flat rate), and I have a bunch still to mail. The printing fiasco was stupid. I probably do spend a hundred bucks most months on self improvement or health.

    February:

    Car insurance ($500) is due. I'll be traveling to do non-ERE work and build up my stash – hopefully I'll still put in a few hours to maintain my internet money.

    Posted 1 year ago #
16. 

    chenda
    

    Master
    Joined: Jun '11
    Posts: 371

    I love how you virtually have no housing or utility expenses. Self sufficient living can really reduce basic expenses close to zero.

    Have you a savings target for FI ?

    Posted 1 year ago #
17. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    @chenda I don't know. On the one hand my goal is to diversify and passify my Internet income and therefore not need a big chunk of cash for investing. I'd also like to have a rental property to diversify my passive income even more and make sure that my income is about 2x expenses.

    Posted 1 year ago #
18. 

    Eliza
    

    Novice
    Joined: Oct '10
    Posts: 15

    Your expenses are impressive. I have what I consider to be very cheap rent, but you spend less total than my rent! Thanks for keeping a journal, it's quite inspiring.

    Posted 1 year ago #
19. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    Thanks!

    Posted 1 year ago #
20. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    February -

    totally passive internet income - $199.75

    outgoes is hard to say because I was travelling for work for 3 weeks of the month. But -

    truck insurance - $486
    internet - $73 (usually $50)
    truck topper - $300
    setting truck topper up for town living - $14
    new laptop $501

    So, lots of expenses, mostly not recurring except the internet and insurance.

    I have a lot of unexpected expenses lately tho!

    Dec - travel for friends medical emergency
    Jan - laptop died, truck insurance, etc.
    Feb - paid back $3k truck loan from friend
    March - owe the IRS $2400
    April - need new thermostat for truck, want chainsaw and 30.06
    May - might get $1k plane ticket which is like speculation to hopefully make $4k+ but you never know
    July - will travel to conference and stuff

    These things hardly seem to happen in you folks budgets tho? How come?

    Posted 1 year ago #
21. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    So, I broke my hand bone and I couldn't go make my $2400 for the IRS in a weekend like I'd planned. But I pulled it together and made:

    $685 from my regular internet stuff
    $429 from a CSA type hobby biz I started and
    $1504 from a lady I do homecare for sometimes
    and a moose

    Most of the time I stayed home and couldn't even do most of my chores. Enforced vacation is kinda awesome.

    Also I came out of it with zero medical bills and learned a whole bunch (I basically did what the doctor did here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g75mGxbkp9g&feature=related - except I didn't have to irradiate myself to do it!). And finished butchering the moose before casting my hand.

    Expenses:

    $12 groceries (onions, carrots, garlic)
    $60 phone/internet
    $114 paper stuff for new biz
    $80 containers for new biz
    $2422 IRS

    And my thermostat seems fine! I think my waterpump is going, but it should last till I have my hand back from the cast.

    Posted 1 year ago #
22. 

    jacob
    

    Expert
    Joined: Jul '10
    Posts: 3,301

    "And finished butchering the moose before casting my hand."

    Now that's badass!! (Especially if you broke the hand from punching out the moose :)

    You make Dick Proenneke look like an amateur.

    Posted 1 year ago #
23. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    Haha no, it was a road kill moose for my mom (elders get on a list for roadkill here) but she was out of the state. I butchered it in the comfort of her heated garage and then got my hand in the way of a door I was unsticking with my shoulder. Good woods hermits pay attention to what they're doing so they don't break themselves.

    Posted 1 year ago #
24. 

    jennypenny
    

    Expert
    Joined: Jul '11
    Posts: 1,344

    Can I be impressed anyway?

    Don't forget to do some PT when your hand comes out of the cast. You don't need a PT. Just look it up online. (basically exercising your hand in a bucket of dry rice for resistance)

    Posted 1 year ago #
25. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    Thanks Jenny, I'll definitely look into that.

    Posted 1 year ago #
26. 

    jennypenny
    

    Expert
    Joined: Jul '11
    Posts: 1,344

    Yeah, you'll see when you take the cast off. The tendons can tighten up really fast for some people. You'll feel like your hand is asleep. Fanning and fisting your hand in a bucket of rice every time you think of it for a couple of weeks will take care of it. The easiest thing to do is leave the bucket next to the toilet and use it every time you use the bathroom.

    Posted 1 year ago #
27. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    I'll for sure do that, thanks! Finally a use for that crappy white rice. I assume the tendons are why they recommend the weird hand position for the cast? (wrist 45 degrees, fingers 90). Do you know if it's adviseable to go right back to doing pull ups? Or should I avoid stressing the bone for a few more weeks?

    Posted 1 year ago #
28. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    In more ERE-ish news I spent $47 on beets, onions, garlic, eggplants, etc, (ahh, I remember getting a whole bag of fruit and veggies in Cali for like $5..) and turned my thawing box of cabbage and broccoli shoots and turnip greens into 52 jars of vegetable soup. The last batch is in the canner now and then the bones go in. I just had a most excellent breakfast of salty bacon my friends made and I've got a whole cooler of beaver and moose and snow I'm trying to keep cold. I guess it's eat faster or fire up the smoke house soon. I was intending to do extreme IFing (24 hr fast mwf, 16hr other days) for the six weeks of the cast but now the more strategic thing seems to be stuffing my face with meat. Ah, life.

    Posted 1 year ago #
29. 

    Bytta
    

    Apprentice
    Joined: Jul '10
    Posts: 55

    Hi Riparian,
    When I first read your journal, I thought you were a guy with a badass lifestyle. And then I clicked your other welcome thread, read about getting knocked up (??) and I thought... WOW! Even more badass!! :) Kept reading about your gig and figured out the nature of your videos before you revealed it, even more awesome!!

    I checked out your website and find it professional and safe. I imagine the work involved is more complex than run-of-the-mill kim k's video ;). If voice is one of the indicators of success in your field, then you must sound super sexy. I remember some girls from my old high school (over a decade ago, sigh hahahaha) who purposefully smoked cigarettes to create sexy, husky voice to the detriment of their lungs' health.

    As for investment, for me it's better to invest the majority of your money in the field you are good and familiar with; which in your case is property. While diversification is important, I wouldn't risk too much fund in a foreign asset class just because people tell me to.

    Anyway, just wanna drop by and say hi :) and I think it's also great that in your solitary lifestyle, you still go out of your way to take care of the people you love. More power to you, girl! Cheers.

    Posted 1 year ago #
30. 

    bigato
    

    Master
    Joined: Mar '11
    Posts: 923

    I also thought it was a very badass guy when I started reading.

    Hey riparian, do you grow some vegetables there on the woods? Do you need to use some kind of manure or compost there? Or is the land so fertile that you don't even need to bother about it? I hope I can get some good land too.

    Posted 1 year ago #
31. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    I grow some vegetables. Many don't grow well. I'm not gonna haul manure out here, so I bury compost and fish heads under the garden. This year I'm finally going to make cold frames. It seems what grows the best here is greens, but the native greens are more nutrient rich. Mostly I eat a lot of fish, snowshoe hare, and moose.

    Posted 1 year ago #
32. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    This broken hand has me doing lots of thinking, not so much doing. Sorry I'm posting in my journal like a million times this month, but I've been thinking! :)

    I just calculated that my average earning per customer on my mailing list is $6.25. I have 40 of them now, so my goal is to have 100 by tax time next year, bringing my easy $250/month to an easy $625/month. Then it will grow exponentially and I'll be rich! (Assuming 1 video per month at $20.) (Currently I only add them to the mailing list if they buy something, I think I'll keep that up.) That's retirement plan A.

    My other goal is to save $10k this year (which is what I've saved the last two years, but then used it to pay off the land and get a truck that'll last forever) both as an emergency fund and towards investing in a rental property.

    Another goal is to take food with me when I go work in town instead of buying it there - I don't include that in my accounting because working in town isn't a post ERE thing, but I spend $10/day on food when I'm in town.

    And a conundrum - should I get high speed Internet? It would cost about $3k to set up. They tell me this is because Alaska's further from outer space. Seriously. Then $100/m. Currently I pay $50-60/m for the slowest Internet in the world, and I also sort of intermittently pay $35/m for unlimited talk text and data on a cell phone. The phone is super convenient. I don't have to waste electricity or run the generator to check email cause the phone does it and it hardly uses any electricity. It lets me sign in and out of phone work easily - like I can literally be out checking my rabbit snares and my phone rings and I sit down on the side of the trail and make $100. So I think the phone is worth keeping.

    But I'm not sure if the Internet is worth switching to high speed. It would make it a lot easier to upload videos and advertise them and such. Currently I have to go to someone's house, hope their teenage boy isn't home, etc. And sometimes, like now, I can't cross the river so can't upload videos at all. For a while I was paying someone to do all the uploading for me and that was like $45/per (they have to be uploaded to 3 different places and then associated blog post, mailing list on 2 different platforms, tweet, and ads on 2 sites so it's not fast). But is that worth $3k? And what if I decided to travel and wasn't even using it?

    Posted 1 year ago #
33. 

    bigato
    

    Master
    Joined: Mar '11
    Posts: 923

    It's a luxury now. Don't do it yet. Wait to have more money. Also, if you weren't hurt, you would be busy and wouldn't even think about it.

    Also, consider building it yourself. You may find out that the equipment costs like $100 or $200 and the rest is the cost of labour.

    Posted 1 year ago #
34. 

    ktn
    

    Journeyman
    Joined: Jul '10
    Posts: 116

    Rather than pay that kind of money for a physical cable, I'd just wait for 4G LTE to come around. It might take a couple of years but if you've already got phone with data working out there now, it is just a matter of time.

    4G LTE should mean broadband speeds but wireless via your cellphone network. Once it reaches where you live (deployments have begun in major US cities), you should be able to get yourself a small 4G modem that connects to your laptop's USB port or even just hookup your laptop directly to a 4G cellphone and use the data plan you have on the phone.

    Posted 1 year ago #
35. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    ktn, that's what I thought about 3G three or four years ago but it's never showed up. They put up a new tower last summer but it seems to be EDGE technology too. I'm within range of a major highway but no cities.

    bigato I actually think of it every time someone posts a video that I can't watch or a link to a big site that I can't load and every time I want to make money. The equipment cost is like $2500 and they require that it be installed by a certified tech.

    Posted 1 year ago #
36. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    In April I mostly stayed home with my broken hand and made

    967 in Internet/ERE income (about 400 passive) (avg 518)
    198 progressive refund

    Expenses:

    Food $47
    ins $39.42
    Health $169
    AT&T $91.26
    Friends kick starter $40

    Total 386.68 (avg 379)

    I'm still working other hustles but I think I can call it semi ere and just stay home in the woods whenever I want now. Or after saving lots of money.

    Posted 1 year ago #
37. 

    chenda
    

    Master
    Joined: Jun '11
    Posts: 371

    Congratulations on semi-ERE, looks like your in a great position

    Posted 1 year ago #
38. 

    Dragline
    

    Master
    Joined: Aug '11
    Posts: 964

    Hope your hand feels better.

    Posted 1 year ago #
39. 

    riparian
    

    Master
    Joined: Oct '11
    Posts: 341

    Thanks Dragline. It doesn't hurt, just tingles a little sometimes. Two more weeks of cast!

    Posted 1 year ago #
40. 

    palmera
    

    Journeyman
    Joined: Aug '11
    Posts: 270

    Please tell me more about your 52 jars of soup:

    -recipe?
    -storage?
    -expiry dates?

    etc.

    Posted 1 year ago #

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