Part time work full time happiness

Where are you and where are you going?
thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Ok I am going to type out my groceries list for the week:

- Delmaine chick peas 390g can $1.80
- 2 packets of 120gm Real Foods sour cream n chives corn thins rice cakes $5
- 1 packet 120gm Real Foods tasty cheese rice cakes $2.50
- Celery $3.50
- Homebrand gherkins 500gms $1.79
- broccoli $2.49
- 169gms button mushrooms $1.86
- Homebrand baked beans 420gms in can 79c
- 982gms granny smith apples $2.95
- 250gms Fresh Harvest Mung Beans $1.29
- Premium eye fillet steak $6.95
- 2.5kgs potatoes $4
- 125gms fruit n nut mix $2.50
- 1.5kgs onions $2.70
- 2.32kgs oranges $4.66
- Salad leaves 500gms $4
- 100gms sugar snap snow peas $2.79
- 602gms packham pears $1.81
- 2 x100gms Aussie Bodies HLC Protein bar $10
- 150g slimmers choice natural yoghurt $1.39
- Farmer Brown 6 pack eggs $2.50
- Sealord tomato and basil tuna 185gm in can x 4 = $9.16
- Watties chunky frozen vegetable mix 750gms broccoli cauliflower and carrots $4
- Healtheries St johns wart tea 20 pack $2.99
- bouton d'or feta cheese 200gms $3.50
- Body moisturising cream 400mls $6
- meadowfresh cottage cheese 250gms $2.60
- watties 400gms can four bean mix $1.59
- goldensun canned baby corn 425gms $1.69
- Freshlife 400gms sultanas $2.50
TOTAL is $105.50.

So that is basically my whole groceries for a week for all of my food. But also add another $10 as that is what my flatmate and I put into the kitty for cleaning products, coffee, cooking oil, toilet paper, and milk. Bear in mind I also have another frozen chicken breast from last week. Typically you would also add another $5 to the above for that too. Its unusual I have any left over.

The expensive steak above is an outlier. I hardly ever eat steak. Maybe once every 3 months for health reasons to keep my iron up and get the protein. But I am disgusted by any steak which has gristle or fat or white bits in it. So I can only eat the most expensive cuts of it.

I am really hoping to get my total food and groceries under $500 per month but am struggling so any suggestions would be awesome! :)


thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

thanks Jacob. I will explore those links.

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

I'm in love with tofu.
Due to the very real struggles I am experiencing with keeping my food and groceries bills within $500 this month I have started to explore new ways to trim costs. Tofu is the blessing to my budget. There is a Chinese supermarket near where I live and I can buy 1kg of tofu for $2.50! Sufficient substance for three meatless meals. Much to my delight I noticed that tofu is 70% protein. I had no idea that tofu puts meat to such shame. Last night I dined on brown rice, corn, onions, and tofu. It was all in a garlicy, chilliesque, cuminy, vinegary, soya saucy tastiness. Vegetarianism is not c calling my name but tofu will definitely be a meat replacement a couple of times a week from now on.

Part of my cost reduction plans include stocking up on quinoa and dried beans. The prices at the Chinese supermarket did not look overly enticing so I will check out the supermarket prices today before making any commitment.

The timing with the days of this month means I need to buy groceries 5 times, so It will be especially challenging this month to stay within $500.

Lately I have been feeling a little bit bored with life. Being all about work, saving and investing money it has become a little bit like uncooked unspiced tofu. I have decided to get involved with an acting/theatre group/class. This has been something I have been wanting to do for a while. My comedic and creative side really needs something like this. I have been looking around for a free group to join and there is only one group which looks like shit. I was going to test it out but they even cancelled the first meeting. So I am going to stop being a tight ass and shell out $160 for an acting class which looks really fun. It will be tight on my budget this month but I can fit it in.

I have been holding off on a few things I would like to spend money on. The class was one. The other is hiring a personal trainer at the gym. In the last few years I have suffered injuries through gym and other sports which I think have been contributed to by poor form and insufficient care to body health when working out. I would like to hire someone for a while to help me with technique perfection, injury risk minimisation, stretching and exercise ideas for a while. This will be expensive. But I guess I put a high price tag on my health so I think I will do this next month.
Last edited by thrifty++ on Sat Apr 06, 2019 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

spoonman
Posts: 695
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:15 am

Re: Bon voyage

Post by spoonman »

Sometimes the journey to FI can feel very much like a bland "rinse and repeat" experience. That's what Spoongirl and I used to call it, especially after coming home tired from work knowing that we would have to repeat the same thing the next day. I think you are doing the right thing in taking proactive steps to reduce the monotony of it all.

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Thanks Spoonman. Yes my hope is to focus on reducing spending primarily on the mundane aspects of life, but to be less stringent with the spice of life. I will try to spice up my life as much as possible doing free and cheap things but on occasion will spice it up with things which cost money when there is no alternative.

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Its that time of the month again. I have set out my months expenses below.

Rent 1000
Power 81.5
Internet 29.5
Food and groceries 520.5
gym 111
Insurance 71
Sunbed 16
Transport 12.5
Lotto 12
Medical 55
Netflix 13
Mobile phone 20
Fixed shoes 60
Haircut 30
Entertainment 40
drycleaning 28
Party and event tickets 52
Work spending on parking 2
Dining and drinks 271

Total 2425

I have made it exactly on the spot for a 55% savings rate which was my target. Man it has been a really tough month for savings. I have felt it. It has been made harder by the fact that I have had 5 rent payments this month and had to buy groceries 5 times. This is just how things work with weekly arrangements. Next month will be easier as I have 4 rent payments and need to buy groceries 4 times. Even though I have a bit more slack next month I am not going to lift my savings target any higher than 55% as I need to relax a bit.

Despite another phenomenal savings month my net worth has not changed as much as I had hoped:

- Assets $80,800
- Less student loan of $19100 and tiny credit card balance
Net worth of $61,600

The depressingly low increase to my net worth is a result of all my investments taking a battering with all the looming bad economic news. All of my investments are loosing capital. I hope that I have not begun investing at the peak of an economic cycle. But who knows maybe it will all be up again in a months time. I hope. Doesn't seem that way though. My saving grace is that I only invested a portion of my assets and the rest is in cash. I will certainly be clinging to and hoarding cash until it feels like we are hitting the bottom and starting to climb again.

I am pleased that I met my savings target of 55% but I am disappointed that I could not remain within my food budget of $500 which seems quite a challenge. I hasten to add that there is not a single purchase of takeaways in that sum. I had even started eating only vegetarian dinners for the last two weeks since I noticed funds were getting tight. I notice other people on here with grocery bills of like $200 per month. I cant understand that. I wonder if food is just more expensive here. I am going to look at making my own protein bars as that I something I usually spend $12 a week on. I am not sure if it will work out much cheaper though as I would still need to buy protein. Also I am thinking of making my own face moisturising cream. But I am not sure how to do that with spf? Typically this can cost $12 each time I buy from the supermarket.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Bon voyage

Post by cmonkey »

I like this time of the month as the journal section gets pretty busy. 55% is still pretty impressive savings rate.

With regards to the groceries, it does look as though your prices are a bit higher, but I'm not good at comparing metric and imperial measures. They don't look a LOT higher, just slightly. For example you are paying $5/dozen for eggs, which is quite a bit higher than what I was paying ($3.39), but someone in a large US metro area they would pay $5+ for a dozen eggs.

For things that I can see that are comparable in size (oranges, tea, yogurt) that tend to come in pretty standard sizes (across metric/imperial), the prices are nearly identical to what we pay. Other things (like the potatoes) seem a lot higher or you eating a lot of them. $4 worth of potatoes would translate to about 10-20 lbs of potatoes/week where I live!

Also, I don't count body products with groceries so this would help to bring the food category down. (I generally don't buy anything but soap/shampoo :) ) The aggregate wouldn't change.


We purchase around $100/month/person right now but we also eat a LOT out of our gardens. More than I realized. I always wondered why we never had a drastic reduction in the summer (or a corresponding hike in the winter) and its because we preserve so much and just eat that as opposed to purchasing. I think we'd be closer to $200/person/month if not for the gardens.

It really looks as if you are purchasing a lot of fresh food (fruit and veg) and leaving out a lot of carbs & meat which have a much better $ to calorie ratio. Staples like dry beans, rice and flour add a lot of calories and can really round out a meal and bring down that ratio a lot. Have you done a calorie analysis?

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Thanks for your feedback CMonkey. So 20 pounds of potatoes is So much more than 2.5kgs. Closer to 10kgs! So potatoes are much more expensive here.
Your right I do not eat a lot of carbohydrates. I try to avoid calories so I eat a lot of low carb nutrient dense food. I also eat a lot though so that might be my problem. If I ate more carbs I would probably get fat with the amount I eat. I have recently started buying big bags of dried beans though. I am happy with their nutrient density and they are cheap. I have been mixing with brown rice and tofu and egg for a bit of a protein bomb.. I think generally I just need to eat less.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Bon voyage

Post by cmonkey »

Raw food typically requires more calories /intake to achieve the same fullness you would get from carbs and meat in my experience. That would explain why you eat more. We try to balance at 1 part carb to 3 parts raw (generally, we don't track it religiously).

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Time for an update:

Assets of $83,500 less tiny credit card balance and student loan of $18,500 leaves $65k net worth.

My savings rate for last month was 60% of after tax income. This wasn't a highly paid month so I think this was probably an all time low in spending for me. It was the equivalent of minimum wage after tax.

Despite my high savings rate my net worth has not increased that substantially as my assets keep taking a battering due to global economic insecurity. This is quite depressing and it seems NZ and Australia are likely to be highly impacted by the economic situation. At least I did get two lots of dividends for the first time amounting to $50. Not a lot but somewhat encouraging to receive my first dividends.

I have been looking at getting secondary contract work and it looks like I might be getting some soon. Its not fun hobby work but it should be well paid and I do want to build multiple income streams and it is easiest to do that using my existing skill sets. I like that I can also do the work remotely so if I ever decide to pack it in and leave my job and the city I could go to a little house on a beautiful remote beach and all I need for a bit of income is my laptop. Life might just be a little bit more stressful for a while with two lots of work going on. But I think I have capacity for it and is worthwhile to save more.

I checked out my years to FI using an online calculator. I was quite depressed to see that it calculated 12 years. At least it is likely that over time my income will reduce and potentially substantially like double or more. But it will still need to be work I enjoy.

I am lacking motivation at the moment. It feels like a mountainous task ahead to make any progress with the income v expense situation and assets which keep plummeting. I am also not doing anything particularly extreme. I am just being frugal. I might need to think about doing something more extreme to cut my big two: rent and food. Maybe living in a caravan or something and using solar panels for electricity. It takes quite a bit of planning though.
Last edited by thrifty++ on Sat Apr 06, 2019 2:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Bon voyage

Post by cmonkey »

Sorry to hear about the more difficult outlook. The past few weeks have been pretty unmotivating/long for me as well, due to a quiet amount of work going on at work. Motivation can be hard to come by at times especially when you are looking at a timeline like 12 years. Have you tried making any timelines of your own based on finely tuned calculations? The prime tool I use is the FV function in Excel using a negative payment amount to calculate future investment values.

One other thing worth considering is your post-FIRE level of expenses. If you anticipate having a lower expense level (living in Canada I think?) maybe you don't need to cover your current expenses and would thus have a shorter timeline.

You are ahead of me on the dividend front! I haven't received anything yet. I think my first month is December.

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Thanks Cmonkey. Yes it is a good idea to think of where you came from. I think three years ago I was basically at around zero net worth so its nice to have come up from there.
I was planning on doing my own FI calculation but had not gotten around to it. I will do so at some point. I am basing my FI calculations on where I love. I don't think I would early retire where I live because its so expensive. Unless I owned my own house. I would like to move somewhere else I think to try and grow wealth. I am hoping at some point I can transfer with work. But yes am planning to spend lots of time overseas in places far cheaper than where I am.
Last edited by thrifty++ on Sat Apr 06, 2019 2:57 pm, edited 4 times in total.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Bon voyage

Post by cmonkey »

thrifty++ wrote:I actually like work being quiet and low stress so I can focus on non work stuff lol
Same here but I have pretty much run out of ERE type things to work on, as I am satisfied with my timeline and money tracking. I am left with researching investments and listening to podcasts. :)

spoonman
Posts: 695
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:15 am

Re: Bon voyage

Post by spoonman »

Trust me, your horizon to FI is far less than 12 years. Time and again I've seen cases where people reach their goals a lot quicker than they originally anticipated. A market meltdown at this stage in your journey is only a good thing because you can snatch cheap shares. Just a few months ago the market was way overpriced.

Persistence and a good dose of serendipity can go a long way.

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Thanks Spoonman. I think your right. In all likelihood my rates of spending will continue to decrease, my rate of saving is likely to increase and my income is likely to increase.
As for buying shares I am too risk averse to buy at the moment. I strongly think that NZ and AUS shares will keep dropping until at least mid 2016. But I could be wrong. Maybe its due to being a first time investor. But for now I'm going to sit back and save until I find more information that convinces me its a safe time to buy.

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

I'm a little bit excited that my ERE plans might be getting a huge boost on the income side of the equation.

I have been looking at doing some contracting work on the side and am now in the process of negotiating the details of a contract. It will be about an additional 5 to 10 hours a week and will be paid at a high rate. The work can be done from wherever I can take a computer. So most likely at home in my PJs most of the time. So while not a passive income and it will take up more of my own time I still feel like this is making me more financially independent. The work is also not too stressful.

Also I am excited to get into this type of work as I could do it from overseas I imagine if I have my first mini ERE next year. And ultimately would be nice work to ease into early ERE doing.
Last edited by thrifty++ on Wed Jan 23, 2019 3:04 am, edited 3 times in total.

heyhey
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2014 7:17 pm
Location: Herts UK

Re: Bon voyage

Post by heyhey »

Exciting stuff, thrifty! Hope it goes well :)

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Bon voyage

Post by thrifty++ »

Thanks heyhey :)

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Bon voyage

Post by cmonkey »

There are a lot of work from home/online work opportunities out there. Being in IT, I am considering it as a post-FI thing if I ever get bored or simply boosting my income ;) Hope things work out for you!

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