Frugal living in rural Canada

Where are you and where are you going?
CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

jennypenny wrote:Are you writing a living will because you got a bike? You're not that bad of a rider, are you? ;)
Haha, no, there just have been too many stories lately at our hospital that warranted the thoughts. Don't get old :)

The bike turned out to be not fitting my height, but okay for my hubby. So I guess I'll wait until someone gives me a smaller size bike lol. I don't really need it, everything is walking distance in our town.

lilacorchid
Posts: 476
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:20 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by lilacorchid »

How is your garden going?

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

lilacorchid wrote:How is your garden going?
Hey lilacorchid! The garden is going fine, thanks, probably will be eating radishes soon and peas are pretty vigorous already, about 6 inches. It looks like it was almost 100% germination rate for the peas! I love peas so much, can't wait for them! Also I have a rhubarb, lettuce, rainbow chard, brussel sprouts, beets, kale. Just recently sowed corn and beans.
I'm already eating the scallions.
I post my garden updates here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5235

I'm planning to post pictures, but later. Next week is my week off!

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

As planned I have been tracking our expenses all month.
Looks like we spend a lot! Not too frugal lol.
Our household is 2 adults and 2 cats.
All numbers are in Canadian dollars.
$4637 total, but $410 will be reimbursed.
Some significant spendings were one time things like Emergency evacuation pack we had to arrange in case of wildfires ($125) and gardening tools+stuff + trees from nursery ($235). Also I purchased a Community Supported Agriculture contract for $400 to be getting fresh organic produce from a nearby farm for the whole season, which is a good value for our area, until I have my own garden better established.
Mortgage payments were $1351. Our house was cheap ($135K), but the mortgage term is for 10 years, that's why this looks like much.
Outstanding mortgage debt now is $87,381.
Income from all sources $8,500 after tax.
Tax returns and other reimbursements $11,000.
Total cashflow $19,500
Invested + whole life insurance premiums $19,800

For the easiness I count premiums paid on whole life insurance for us both as investments, but I don't see why not. Discussion is welcome!
Total investments now about $50K + $6K cash in bank now. Since I read ERE book 2 months ago there was a big boost in savings rate :D

Last night I had an extremely unbearable shift at work and now I'm looking forward to my week off next week. However I should probably pick up overtime to have this nightmare to be over sooner.

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

Submitted application for a discount broker account. I feel ready to start buying mainstream ETFs, I think.

K60
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2014 5:59 pm

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by K60 »

Hi CECTPA, Congrats on the savings! You might be interested in the following: http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

Thanks, K60, looks useful and interesting!

I'm having a little bit of an existential crisis here... I can't decide on whether I want to go part time or to keep working full time + overtime to become FI faster. Right now I feel stressed out and inadequate because everybody at work are so much more experienced than me. I want to get more experience and faster savings, but I'm afraid I'll burn out fast. Right now I'm okay, I think. I'm even getting better with stress management, providing that I don't drink, don't smoke anything, and don't indulge in food. Earlier after a day like yesterday, with 2 crashing patients and a moron doctor yelling at me I would just go home, drink Martini, eat cake and toss and turn all night. Then I would call in sick next day, feeling miserable. Now I'm solid, I go home, read my blogs, listen to some aggressive music, eat my rice and beans, and pack a lunch for tomorrow. Go to work after a good sleep and kill the doctor with niceness. Much less fucks given. Soon I will be free.

But sometimes I feel that going part time would be a game changer. I'd pay less taxes, but would still have overtime opportunities (certain days in rotation). But it would feel like a constant vacation. I could pull through 5 12-h shifts in a row and then 2 weeks off! Which I could use to do whatever, or to pick up overtime. More life, less stress.

But sometimes work can be fun as well.

Maybe I should plan to pay off the mortgage faster (I can increase payments every year 10% and pay down 10% every year). And when it is paid, I'll make a decision.

And now I'll just pack my rice and beans for lunch tomorrow and will try survive another day in emerg...

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

Wow, I can't believe the amount of reading on investments I've done in the past few days. I was reading JL Collins's blog, and got lots of questions. And googled. And read more blogs. And more questions, more googling, more reading.

There are 2 investing strategies I've chosen for us: the Couch Potato balanced ETF portfolio and buying dividend stocks with DRIP program. I found out recently that one of my colleagues is a dividend investor and I learned a lot from him.

So the QTrade account is open and now I need some cash to start buying :)

It's been a month with a lot of spending so far. I had a dental emergency and lots of repair needed to be done with my teeth. Instead of wasting money on fancy bridges or implants (5 front teeth are missing) I decided to have partial dentures, like an old lady. Which was still $1500 (insurance paid 50%). Just imagine how much it would be costing me to have implants!

Dentures is actually a great choice! Have you ever seen old folks with the perfect smile? They are missing all their teeth, but with dentures they still can eat properly, talk and don't have to worry about trips to the dentist anymore. Quite frugal(-ish) and convenient.

Also we had to pay property tax of $900.

Also I had to stay at a hotel for 2 days ($250) for the duration of a Pediatric Emergencies course at a nearby town and I had to pay $70 to a person taking me there and back (60 miles). I still don't have a full driver's license. I thought that would be reimbursed by my employer, but my boss only paid for the course itself. Since the course is not mandatory, he refused to pay for anything else. No way, I'm not taking any more courses!

Despite all that spending I was still able to invest about $2300 this month and to put down $3000 towards my mortgage.

I calculated and looks like it'll take us 2 yrs and 8 months more to completely get rid of the debt! That in total would be less than 5 years since the purchase date.

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

Managed to put together another $5,000 and bought our first ETF: VCN:TSX (VANGUARD FTSE CANADA ALL CAP INDEX) into my Tax Free account. I wanted to buy it last week right after the Brexit, but it took a long time for QTrade to transfer my money :( Now it is a bit more expensive. Oh well. It will be a long term holding.

Spent long time picking. As attractive as VTSAX is, we live in Canada and we get paid in CAD and our buck is very cheap. Not a good time for buying US $ securities (CAD hedged or unhedged). So I decided to stick with the balanced Canadian Couch Potato Model Portfolio.

This ETF is supposed to be 20% of total asset allocation within portfolio.

So I need to score another $20,000 to make it balanced and to buy VAB and VXC. Also when my balance at the broker is more than $25,000 I won't be charged the account fee.

Also I need about $5,500 to make another mortgage principal payment till the end of the year.

That's the plan!

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

Second month of tracking our finances. Here're some stats.

Total household income (including rebates and reimbursements): $9458.9
Total saved: $6,279.11
Savings rate: 66.38%
Mortgage payments $1,351.02
Mortgage principal payment $3,000.00
Outstanding mortgage -$83,237.15
House value $140,000.00
Total savings $46,558.22
Net worth (family of 2) $103,158.95

I'm not happy about our grocery expenses (CAD670 for 2 people - USD518). Maybe because we are up North and everything is more expensive (only 1 grocery store in our town). The main culprit is fresh veggies and fruit. Spent about $120 on watermelon ($8) and pineapples ($4-5) only! Fresh tomatoes is another hole in a budget. Hopefully when our garden is bigger we can cut the cost of food. Also we have a 2nd grocery store opened this month, but they don't have produce yet. But they will. We need more competition.
We don't buy highly processed and ready to eat foods, I cook everything from scratch. My recent achievement is that I started baking our own bread. Very simple, plain tasting, filling food.

My husband is 44 and he went for a check-up with the doctor. Doctor was amazed with his bloodwork. He said he hadn't seen such a good result for cholesterol in men of that age ever. Providing that my hubs is pretty sedentary. We both are very healthy and don't have any health problems. So I guess I should not be so upset about food expenses. Yeah, I know that buying jumbo packs of chicken pops and kraft dinner is super cheap, but the health is also an investment. We need fresh veggies and fruit, I just need to find a good balance.

lilacorchid
Posts: 476
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:20 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by lilacorchid »

Great to hear about the blood work and the savings! Living in a small town is hard for groceries. Have you tried the frozen stuff? I can be "fresher" than the stuff that is shipped as it's frozen right after picking vs having to take a voyage from Mexico.

lilacorchid
Posts: 476
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:20 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by lilacorchid »

Oh yes, and you can shop Walmart or Amazon for household items and have them shipped vs buying them in the local stores if you are inclined to go that way.

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

Hey lilacorchid! Yes, I know about the frozen stuff trick! Thing is I have a few foods that I'm absolutely not giving up. Watermelons is one of them (when in season), and fresh tomatoes (year round). I found a solution! We are still buying watermelons and tomatoes, but cut everything else. We bought jumbo 20 lbs bag of rice and 20 lbs of whole wheat flour last month and I have lots of dry beans in the pantry. Also I have lots of tomato paste frozen (it was a huge 'industrial' size can for $6.99). Basically we're just eating that + fresh watermelons almost every day + greens from our garden. Works pretty well and we're staying lower than the budget!
And online shopping is big here, but I don't really buy a lot of stuff. Quite frugal that way. We also have a great thrift store.

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

I booked quite an expensive trip to West Coast (Portland, Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver) in October. Guilty by choice. I promised this tour to my DH about 6 months ago, before ERE and that will be our last conventional touristic trip.
I picked up a few overtime shifts to offset the cost and boy that hurts, to work so much. That will serve me as a reminder.

I did an IQ test posted here on the forum and got a result of 137. That is surprising because I have been always thinking of myself as slow and slightly retarded. Not that it bothered me. Retarded people sometimes much happier than smarty pants lol. Anyway, I'm reading a second book from the Charlie Munger list and hoping to smarten up more :)

K60
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2014 5:59 pm

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by K60 »

I've been enjoying your journey to ERE! Great work! For investing, this link is an interesting read with good advice:
http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

Thanks again K60, you have already given me this link earlier, and I'm done reading it :)

I had quite an interesting and a surprising conversation today. The convo wasn't with my boss, but a head nurse, a person who has an influence on bosses decisions. I was asked if I would be interested in taking a position of an extended care unit coordinator. Which is not a promotion, but just a different type of work. An office job. Less stress, less gore, less obnoxious people to deal with. Less money, because I won't be working night shifts and long hours (I get modifiers for those), but it can be considered as a "transition to retirement" type of job. Seriously, with the night shifts I'm having I'd give up all those extra money in the blink of an eye. When I'm on nights - I am in charge for the whole hospital. By the end of each shift I'm ready to go on a rampage...

Anyway, it wasn't an official offer, just was asked if I'm interested. I didn't really make an impression of an interested person, but I said if the boss wants to talk to me, I'll listen. I certainly want to hear more.

K60
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2014 5:59 pm

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by K60 »

Sorry for the duplication CECTPA -- I had totally forgotten my first post with the same link! Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. Nice that your boss is thinking of you -- can't you ask for a higher salary if you take it?

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

K60 wrote:Sorry for the duplication CECTPA -- I had totally forgotten my first post with the same link!
I'm reading his The Simple Path to Wealth now ;) Great book!
K60 wrote:Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. Nice that your boss is thinking of you -- can't you ask for a higher salary if you take it?
I actually can't, because I'm unionised and my salary is based on the pay-scale. But with the office job there's going to be less stress, and therefore I will be less likely to be refusing overtime shifts, which is a double time.

CECTPA
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:27 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by CECTPA »

I did not post my Net Worth update for July, oh well. I'm on a track and quite satisfied with the way things going towards FI. I still need to figure out lots of things, but at least I have a plan and we're making steps and leaps.
The philosophy of self-sufficiency and self-reliance becomes very clear and very consistent with my overall values and beliefs. Through reading and watching videos on Permaculture, homesteading, ERE and stoicism I'm discovering new and exciting things and kindred spirits.
A very good thing is that we started a small garden from zero with no skills and have been having some fruitful results and delicious produce. More plans for next year: we will expand and add variety and I also would like to learn how to do home canning.

Noedig
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:15 pm

Re: Frugal living in rural Canada

Post by Noedig »

Hey sister

You are just awesome, a no nonsense, two-fisted ERE commando! Truly impressed by the gumption, ability to ignore inconvenience (walk all weathers in Canada!), willingness to try new things etc. You have good english with amusing command of idiom ('no f*cks given': that was a hoot)

With less gush - you seem to be rationally going about it in a straightforward way, eyes open. Good luck with that (and I don't mean that in the Canadian sense of 'I wouldnt do that if I were you')

Regards also to your fellow traveller, 'Mister Sister'. You guys will get there.

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