spoonman's Journal

[spoonman]

#074 09/15/2014 -- An Update on the Moving Situation

This last week we did a lot of thinking about how to get ourselves to the PNW. A few months ago, I got quotes from several cheap moving companies and thought that getting our stuff moved would be affordable, or at least cost as much as the sum total of all the major pieces of furniture. Well, after doing more research, I found that those companies are cheap for a reason and have horrible reviews on Yelp. I called a couple of other local companies and realized a trustworthy mover with good reviews would cost far more than our stuff is worth brand new, and take up to two weeks to be delivered.

We also looked into a number of U-Haul and rental car schemes, but those options were also too costly and/or not worth all the hassle.

We have therefore decided to sell or donate all of our furniture and most of our clothes. The plan is to only keep enough stuff that can fit in our (4-door) car. We will also ship out about 5 boxes of other non-critical items such as cookware and linens. I realize this may be a lofty goal and may need to adjust the plan as we move forward.

Thus far, our post-quitting plans have worked out almost perfectly, so this is the first wrinkle in our plans. I originally envisioned our living situation in the PNW to be identical to our current situation, but in a much cheaper apartment of similar size (1BD/1BA). The idea was to give ourselves the same exact comforts so that we could steadily acclimate to the new budget and lifestyle. Fate has therefore forced our hand, but that’s OK. I mean, we aren’t shedding any tears because we already did major downsizing when we sold our condo to move to our current apartment. For this next location we will just buy cheap furniture from goodwill stores or Ikea with the money we had allocated to pay for movers.

I look forward to the challenge of selling our stuff and the drastic-but-exhilarating experience of temporarily trimming down our comforts. If all goes according to plan, we will depart to the PNW with only a handful of items in our car...something neither of us has experienced since college =).

[George the original one]

The problem that I had with my running shoes is that they let in way too much dust, so I ended up with super filthy socks and feet.

LOL, you ought to come "summer" fishing with me. Socks used with wading shoes have to be the dirtiest things you'll ever wear. "Summer" begins about mid-June and ends around the first week of October... basically will I turn blue if I'm wearing shorts or do I really need the insulated waders?

[spoonman]

Since I'm a creature of warmth, I would always go for the waders =P. Never worn a pair though =).

[5to9]

One thing to also consider with the move is doing a one-way minivan rental from LAX to PDX. We did this when moving a similar distance a few years back, and it came to around $200 if you could get it the move done in <24 hours. We still had to sell most of our furniture on craigslist, but it was a nice compromise between only taking what we could fit in a corolla and renting a $2000 one way Uhaul.

Making sure you get one with the Stow-and-go seating is critical to this plan, since you need to return it with seats

[spoonman]

We looked into getting a one-way minivan/SUV rental, but they were asking for an outrageous $450 "drop-off" fee. That fee may be waived if we get there in less than 24 hours, but sadly that's beyond our abilities.

Anything that we can't fit in the car we'll just ship via Amtrak. They have a great express shipment deal.

[Tyler9000]

In my experience with rental cars, the big 1-way fee hits when you drop it off across a state line. If you drive it back and leave it on the California side of the border, it's possible that may save some money. Then again, that's a lot of extra driving and you'll still have to make your way back to the new home. But depending on your circumstances you may want to look into it.

[spoonman]

@Tyler9000: That sounds like too much trouble for our tastes. Maybe I just need to grow some ERE hair on my chest =).

After learning of the awesome shipping deal through Amtrak, I am sold on just shipping things we can't fit in the car. Their deal is as follows: $52 for the first 100 pounds, then $0.59 for each pound above that, up to 500 pounds. It's far cheaper than USPS or even Greyhound. All we have to do is drop off our stuff at the Amtrak station and then pick it up at the other end.

We've given up on trying to move our furniture.

[spoonman]

#075 09/18/2014 -- Financial Chores

We've been busy this week finalizing the rollover of several accounts. Our 401ks have been rolled over to IRAs and we have deployed that money into dividend paying companies. The IRAs are now ripe to generate dividend income, which we will tap via SEPPs starting January of next year.

Rolling over our Health Savings Account (HSA) has been a bit of a pain because a technicality has forced us to do everything over the mail. The technicality is associated with the fact that our current health plan is not HSA compatible.

This week we've had to take care of some business by actually visiting physical bank locations. I always get a kick when we walk in wearing summer clothes and we get quizzical looks. At one particular fancy location, one of the bankers actually asked me, "um, do you have an account here?"

Little do they know that they are my minions, not only because I'm a customer, but because I own a piece of the company =).

[spoonman]

#076 09/21/2014 -- Drinking Water

During a 24 hour period I drink 4-5 liters of water, a huge chunk of that I used to drink for free at work. I was an extensive user of the water cooler, one of the few benefits that my company still had (things like bring your child to work day, free sugar packets, and employee morale events are long, long gone). Since leaving work, I’ve had to pay for all of that water consumption.

We got into the habit of buying large Arrowhead water jugs from the grocery store because the condo we used to own had horrible tap water. And since we drank most of our water during the day at work, we continued this habit after moving to our current apartment, even though the tap water here seems much improved. I have tried a water filtering device in the past but didn’t find the right way to use it, and so I abandoned it.

I did a quick analysis and determined that we’ve spent well over $50 in drinking water since quitting our jobs. That could easily blow the food budget of $400/month that we will adhere to once we move to the PNW. I have therefore decided to buy a cheap, 5-cup Brita water filter pitcher, which cost us $18 after including shipping and handling. It will easily pay for itself after two weeks of usage. I’ll just have to make sure I refill the thing often.

Speaking of food budgets, I took a quick look at our food spending in Mint. To my surprise, over the last 12 months our food spending has been consistently between $550 and $600 each month. From that total, restaurants and fast food comprise approximately $200 each month. A modicum of discipline and home cooking should easily bring down the monthly total to less than $400/month. We’ll see.

[rube]

I am not an expert but 4-5 liters, along with possible other drinks / fluids (also in food) seem a lot to me unless you do work-outs / work outside in the sun etc.
Are you able to downscale a bit, without compromising safety at all of course?

[spoonman]

@rube: I reached the upper limit of 5 liters a few days ago when we had very high temperatures. I think my normal range is between 3-4 liters.

@cimorene12: Thanks for the link, I'll look into it, but I think I'm normally in the safe zone. It's easy to go beyond 4 liters in the dog days of summer.

[George the original one]

If you're in Portland, try the tap water first without filtering. It's some of the best in the country.

If you're in the suburbs, then it's a different story and you'll find the water is hard.

[spoonman]

@GTOO: It's good to hear that the area has some of the best water in the country. They better, with all that darn rain . We'll have to play it slowly and see what we end up getting.

[spoonman]

#077 09/23/2014 -- Fasting

After reading MMM’s latest post, I got inspired to do a little fasting. I followed one of his links to an old post in 2012 that talked about fasting and did some research on the subject. My plan is to fast for at least 24 hours. Depending on how I feel tonight, I might continue fasting until tomorrow morning.

I’ve been wanting to fast for the longest time, but never garnered the willpower to do it. As a working man, I had plenty of excuses not to. My desire to fast are for these reasons: to push the reset button on my digestive system, allow a natural cleansing to take effect, and for the stoic value of the activity.

Although I made some positive changes to my diet two years ago, my eating patterns are yet another thing that I’ve mindlessly inherited from society. As a man free from the chains of the 9-5 I am now able to reassess my eating philosophy.

As we make our transition to the PNW, I will give this subject special thought. What I want to come up with is a comprehensive solution that incorporates (budget conscious) healthy eating and exercise. More on this in future posts.

[frihet]

Fasting is great! Go for it. I've done two 7 day water fasts and fast 16 h every day. With a feeding window between kl. 12-20. Even though I eat far from super healthy, love sweets! My weight seem to be kept in check by this eating pattern.

The 7 day water fasts was just as much for emotional/spiritual reasons. To face emotions hidden by the drug called food. I don't feel good during a fast like that mostly laying down and become pretty weak and dizzy. But afterwards it feels like a reset of life. A fresh start of the physical and psychological system.

It's perfect to experiment with this when you don't need to perform at work anymore. I've heard it prolongs life as well and can naturally heal a lot of diseases. What does a animal do when it is sick? It lays and rest and doesn't eat until it's well again. Ever wondered why you're no hungry when ill?

[jacob]

I didn't know that I too was fasting on a daily basis ;-P Eating once a day is pretty nonremarkable once you're adapted to the new timing pattern. The body shoots out insulin in expectance of upcoming food. If that food is suddenly missing, blood sugar drops and you'll feel hungry. If the body does not expect anything, there's no reaction. The stoic part enters when changing the timing. I'd need a lot of stoicism to eat six small meals a day or even three at this point.

Mainly it's just highly convenient not having to prepare and eat food all the time. It will also become glaringly obvious how often normal people feel the need to spend an hour in pursuit of food, it's like every 4-6 hours

[spoonman]

@frihet: You're absolutely right. There's multiple benefits to fasting, and healing one of them.

I've heard that autophagy, one of the things that happen during an extended fasting period, is supposed to be great for overall health. I'm not sure if my fasting period will be long enough to trigger autophagy, I think that starts after three days, but it's probably something that varies from person to person.

@jacob: I have to admit that one of the attractive things about the prospect of eating once a day is the sheer convenience of it. I am not a foodie at all, so eating to me is a chore most of the time. Btw, your eating pattern is one of the first things I remember reading about when I visited this website years ago. I was like, holy shit this guy is tough! =).

[spoonman]

Fasting Update

I broke my fast this morning, successfully completing my first serious fast ever. Last night I felt fine so I decided to keep going into the morning. I broke my fast by eating an apple and some home made grape juice (with pulp and everything).

Overall, I'm very happy with the results. My body handled everything just fine. This was just a test run for a longer (at least 3 days) fast in the future when I revamp my diet and eating patterns.

[slimicy]

The science I've read found that 36 hours is optimal for HGH release without any loss of muscle mass. After ~36 hours you start into diminishing returns, with more autophagy but more loss of muscle.

[spoonman]

The science I've read found that 36 hours is optimal for HGH release without any loss of muscle mass. After ~36 hours you start into diminishing returns, with more autophagy but more loss of muscle.

Cool, that's good to know. I'd hate to cut into the modest amount of muscle mass I have =).