vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!

[cmonkey]

Great tip, what kind of edging do you recommend? How deep? This is really just a short term experiment as I'm not going to be living here for long.

This would probably be more work than you'd want since you won't be there long, but my personal edging of choice is brick of some sort, preferable concrete blocks if you can find them cheap. Some people give them away and they go down about 8-10 inches. Its more difficult to install but it effectively blocks anything from spreading in. If you put the edge down far enough you can mow over it as well keeping it nice and clean.

Also, if you put the concrete block holes facing to the top it provides a great place for toads and beneficial insects to live. We discovered this after the fact! Could also plant in those holes as well.



Similar to that but sunk down in the soil.

[George the original one]

I'm using rolls of plastic edging available from garden center. In my locale, grass will find the cracks between cement blocks, so not going there. Also, slugs in my area will climb any vertical surface, so formal raised beds are no defense (seriously, I see them on the exterior wall of our metal barn, 10' off the ground).

[vexed87]

Haha, spider slugs!

[vexed87]

Finally, I have escaped the dreaded 24 month mobile phone plan. Technically it wasn't up until July, but I spoke with my provider and they advised it was possible to upgrade early. I realised this was a lovely little loop hole as they didn't specify a plan so I 'upgraded' my plan from a £35/month plan to £14 rolling 1 month contract (no new phone).

I have saved £21 next month, and then I'm dropping from the new plan to prepaid the following month. Going forward I think I can squeeze 2-3 months out of £5 credit. Yes it's a small saving, but comparing 35*300=£10,500 needed in investments to pay for my plan vs 1.6666*300=£165, I'm quids in!

I was using 30-40GB data a month previously, but never connected to WiFi and did a lot of downloading movies etc, habits are changing though and I've only used 4mb over the last 6 days! Once I'm on a PAYG plan, I'll cut the data cord altogether and only use data when in range of WiFi. Happy days.

[cmonkey]

Welcome to the world of prepaid/wifi! It is a wonderful, cheap world.

Now that I am riding the metro I am considering going cold turkey completely on a cellphone. The only reason I had it in the first place was in case the car broke down. Cars have so many hidden costs beyond purchasing/buying gas

What is this 35*300 calculation you speak of? It looks familiar I think I saw it on the blog at one point, got interested and then forgot about it.

[vexed87]

I think a basic handset would still be worth keeping for calling emergency services , here in the UK at least you don't need credit to make calls to 999 (911 in US) or receive messages/calls.

I'd be nervous about not being able to call an ambulance/police in an emergency.

[cmonkey]

I think a basic handset would still be worth keeping for calling emergency services , here in the UK at least you don't need credit to make calls to 999 (911 in US) or receive messages/calls.

I'd be nervous about not being able to call an ambulance/police in an emergency.

The DW has a prepaid as well so I would just use that. I have become an extreme homebody, the only time I am out by myself now is on the metro. Plenty of cell phones on that, that's all people do.

[vexed87]

That wouldn't work for me sadly. I still commute by cycle to work so need a phone in case I get stranded with a mechanical failure. Maybe one day I can work towards being totally phone free, but for now, I'm stuck with it.

Whilst we are on the topic, I've tried reverting to dumb phone but missed note taking and other productivity apps, calculators etc. Then I realised an old skool mini moleskin note book and fountain pen is way cooler than a smartphone! I have a calculator at work and home and most dumb phones do have a calc function... but for the time being I've got to get my money's worth of data from my smartphone

[cmonkey]

How far do you bike to work?

I also went back to a smartphone about 2 months ago. Tracphone has a $30 phone and the reviews were excellent. Plus I used a $5 off promo card to really get a deal.

Mainly for listening to music on the metro, however, I am finally getting over the motion sickness of reading while riding. I have it hooked up to email and my etsy shop as well which can get fairly irritating.

[vexed87]

The shortest route is 8 miles each way, extended by 5-10 miles when the sun shines.

What kind of OS does your $30 phone use? Funny you mention irritating notifications. It is not until you go without that you realise how imposing your phone really is. Even alerts about posts on this very forum gets a bit much sometimes, so I've stopped my phone from notifying me anything other than texts and phone calls and now manually sink my e-mail at a time that's convenient.

[Ydobon]

What is this 35*300 calculation you speak of? It looks familiar I think I saw it on the blog at one point, got interested and then forgot about it.

Assuming a SWR of 4%, it's the amount of money required to pay for the mobile phone expense (monthly) forever, without depleting the capital.

Vexed is probably saving a little less than he assumes, as he will need a 'new' phone at some point. Then again, mobile phones are now essentially throwaway commodities (unless you have happened to buy the fanciest one on the market). I looked into selling an older smartphone yesterday and was offered £4

At these prices, most friends or family will give away old phones as required...

[vexed87]

At these prices, most friends or family will give away old phones as required...

Exactly! The SWR was to cover the cost as PAYG plan, and not the phone. I have several dumb phones I retired in the early 00's, they periodically come out of hibernation to cycle the batteries so they don't die. They are still going strong and will be my backup plan if I cannot source reasonable second hand smartphones, but that isn't likely!

[cmonkey]

The shortest route is 8 miles each way, extended by 5-10 miles when the sun shines.

What kind of OS does your $30 phone use?

My shortest route is about 11-12 miles I think but its a bit complicated by large rivers/bridges and fast roads. I am pondering giving the bike a chance, but I should probably get in shape first . Walking to and from the bus is about 1/2 a mile a day so that has helped.

It runs Android and does so pretty well for being only $30. A little lag sometimes but overall its great. I can't understand why people spend hundreds on something that gives you same experience.

What is this 35*300 calculation you speak of? It looks familiar I think I saw it on the blog at one point, got interested and then forgot about it.

Assuming a SWR of 4%, it's the amount of money required to pay for the mobile phone expense (monthly) forever, without depleting the capital.

How would you change that for a different SWR, say 6%? Lending club gives a higher return than stocks.

[Ydobon]

I believe it's as simple as dividing 100 by 6%, so 16.67 years required (200x monthly amount).

[vexed87]

I started out with evening/weeekend ambles around the neighborhood. Starting with a 3 mile ride, working up to 10 miles over the course of 3 weeks. I took a break at least every other day. Then took the plunge and rode to work 3 days a week, building up to 5 days. 11 miles is only 10-15 minutes longer than 8 miles so its perfectly achievable!

Cycling never gets easier, just faster

I can't understand why people spend hundreds on something that gives you same experience.

It's a status thing. I used to think it was important too, I used to mock friends who retained their handsets for years, now realise I must have seemed like an idiot. It wasn't consious but I assume my thoughts were "I can afford to spend £500 to replace my perfectly functional phone with a phone that has 10% more pixel density and 3% faster load times." After all, money is for spending, right? .

Older and wiser me knows the difference is a 3% improvement on 3 seconds load time... which isn't worth my money The penny dropped for me when I realised my 2013 mid range phone can do everything a 2015 high spec phone can so bye bye upgrade cycle. Smartphones haven't advanced for a few years. When they first came out, they improved markedly every year, so there used to be tangible reasons to upgrade - i.e. colour screens, cameras, video recording, faster data connections, mp3 playback and high capacity flash storage. Now there's little room for significant innovations and change is incremental at best (or non-existant at worst). Oddly people seem happy with the habit of "upgrading" (bi)annually. Now handsets are make shareholders money based on the success of their marketing campaigns and associated status rather than technological advantages. Now's a good time to buy a secondhand phone and run it in to the ground.

ERE's are not obsessed with status so we don't buy into specific brands or specs and are happy picking up a real bargain.

[cmonkey]

Now there's little room for significant innovations and change is incremental at best (or non-existant at worst). Oddly people seem happy with the habit of "upgrading" (bi)annually.

Electronics are designed to break down after a period of time, it's called planned obsolescent. Initially a new phone would offer many improvements, but as with most other forms of "progress" mobile technology has reached a point of diminishing returns, as you state. So effectively consumers are paying year after year for new phones that simply maintain what they were able to do last year,.

[vexed87]

I returned from my holiday in Crete this weekend and now that I am back in the office, the beach is a fading memory . However I have returned with renewed vigour and motivation to achieve my 75% savings rate so I can start to look towards my 'permanent holiday' and the day I can hand in my notice.

I had a great time abroad with my fiancée, aside from the great Greek food and copious amounts of red wine, we had some real and meaningful conversations about what we both want for the future. I feel like we are on the same page again for the first time since I started reading ERE and started to re-design my life and long term goals. For a while, I feared we had started to drift down different paths, I wanted to talk about this stuff sooner, but honestly I had not dared to go into too much detail for fear of scaring her off and losing her.

If anyone bothered to read into my earlier posts it’s possible that you may have had a sense that there has been conflict between our approaches to life. She, the ESFJ and busy workaholic/career type is my polar opposite. Being an INTJ with endless obsessions and desires to master everything that interest me, yet abandon things perceived as ‘important’ to her has caused concern. Yet we remain the best of friends. I'm know I’m so lucky to have met someone as patient and kind as her because she teaches me to relax and not beat myself up over things as INTJs tend to do. For lack of better words she simply rounds me off as a person and makes me feel whole.

I finished reading 'The Crash Course' by Chris Martenson while I was away. Initially it freaked me out and I've truly gone down the rabbits hole, there’s no turning back and feigning ignorance. I've got to change things, before I’m forced to change by the world around me. For the first time I have had enough time to sit down and talk to her about my plans to live frugally, but more importantly now, to become more resilient in face of what is to come. She was surprisingly receptive, albeit skeptical about the time scales. I think she still believes that ‘they’ will come to the rescue, nethertheless she will support me in my endeavours to live more locally, and become more self-reliant, and I’ll make sure we have the skills and knowledge to make it in years to come.

Being the caregiver type, she still wants me to focus more my career, which naturally doesn't interest me as much, however she does have a point. I could be earning more so we can reach our goals sooner. This is something that has been on my mind for a few months now since there is no way I can reduce my expenses without significant pain.

Analysis of June’s expenses will be in by the end of the weekend, so far it’s looking pretty good with a savings rate of about 65%. It’s slightly lower than my target of 75%, but some bulk purchases of goods, as well as the holiday tipped me over slightly. I need to stop focusing on the day by day, month by month figures and do some proper analysis.

It’s been a great month for learning and developing, I've read many books while I was away, and in July I hope to get my first weights bench so I can start doing some weight training. Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to finish what I started in the garden and extended and dig another plot and start planting my first ever seeds. I’m thinking onions, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuces, cucumbers, courgettes and whatever else I can squeeze into my two 8"x4" plots. I’m not expecting great results because the clay soil isn't great, but it’s a start. Maybe I'll buy some compost, I kind of wanted to minimise my expenses on the project, but if I can get a few weeks food out of it, I'm sure it will pay for itself. Savings on bags of lettuce alone will make it worthwhile!

[jacob]

I think she still believes that ‘they’ will come to the rescue,...

For her, "they" just did, in the form of you. No pressure.

[vexed87]

@jacob, no pressure indeed!

Veg Plot "Experiment" Update

I've had a really busy weekend. I somehow still found time to extend the plot which has just been collecting weeds since I went to Greece. At least I know the soil is semi fertile! It wasn't great though so I grabbed 5 bags of compost from the local garden centre. It could be cheaper bought in bulk, but I think I'll stick to two 4x8 plots. Today I spread some compost and sew a variety of root and leaf vegetables. There's something to be said about overcoming inertia. I feel like I'm ready to try anything in the garden now. Really pleased I got this far, lets hope I don't kill everything...



Assorted salad leaves, iceberg lettuce, spinach, spring onions, carrots, cucumber, courgettes. No idea how much of it will actually come up, if any. I'll definitely be sure to prepare more plots in the autumn. It's pretty late in the season to be starting plots. Lets hope this compost is enough.

[cmonkey]

Great looking plot! If you bought new seeds, I'd be surprised if nothing came up. Given the UK's climate of being cool and a bit longer than what I have, most of your veggies should be fine planted right now. Many of them are considered fall crops (exception being the cucumber which might not do well) and can be planted up until the middle of August where I am and probably later for you.

Speaking of Greece, it looks like you went at the right time. Gonna be an ugly week! Did you notice any effects of the financial fallout they are having while you were there?