DutchGirl's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

We're back from our holiday. It was a nice holiday in Iceland, but quite the expensive one, too. For example, a normal bread in a supermarket would cost something like $6, where in the Netherlands, today, I bought a similar bread in a similar supermarket for $1.20. One big take-away pizza was $30 - we started splitting one pizza instead of each buying a smaller one (which would cost 2 x $25 or so). My boyfriend's not as opposed to spending money as I am, so sometimes I just had to bite my tongue, too. Compromise.

Expenses aside - we had already paid for the majority of the holiday, I'll just have to transfer $600 more to our shared account to cover my half of the extra expenses but that's it - it was a very nice holiday. We traveled a lot during those 2.5 weeks, and we saw a lot of different landscapes, and a lot of nature. I felt much calmer after a while, and I saw the same effect in my boyfriend, who is normally more restless. When I'm working, I seem to have some stress-related symptoms, like tension headaches and other muscle aches. They disappeared. Also, I have slept decent nights for 2.5 weeks straight, in all kinds of different beds. Normally, I tend to have periods where I'll wake up at 3 AM and can't sleep anymore. Never happened these 2.5 weeks.

This (again? Same as after the last holiday?) makes me long for retirement - imagine experiencing this forever instead of just for 2 to 3 weeks. I also made some resolutions to try and make my life at work a bit better, too. I believe I do that after every holiday, too, but still... Let me try to be lessed stressed out by work. Let me try to keep current on household tasks. Let me try to keep meals in the freezer so that I can grab something good and healthy when I have an evening shift and need to pop something in the microwave at some point. Let me try to spend less, so that I can retire (much) sooner.

I also keep thinking about reducing my working hours. My official work hours are 28 per week. In reality, I work some overtime, so on average it's 30 per week. However, then there's travel to and from work (often 30 minutes to an hour one-way, depending on the location), breaks ... So I think I'm really spending more like 40-45 hours per week on work-related stuff. If I were to reduce my official work hours to 24 per week, that would go down to maybe 35-40 hours per week? However, in this last year or so I've also spent a lot of time on my job-on-the-side, which is bringing in much less per hour than my real job. So perhaps, if I feel stressed out, I should let the job-on-the-side go and just focus on the real job. Spend 40ish hours per week on that, and use the other hours in a smarter way.

Income in August was 3000, expenses were 1200 (nice and low - September will be higher due to the holiday expenses). The markets did their thing; so my current net worth is 96k euros. I may very well go over the 100k by the end of the year, which is a pretty cool idea to me.

I saw that I have been writing here for five years now (first post Sept 17, 2011...). A lot of things changed in those five years, but progress is (or seems?) slow. So be it. I know other people make more money, I know other people spend less, too. But this is my path (and I like where it's headed).

Hankaroundtheworld
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

And who knows, the company (investment) of your bf will pay off as well in coming years, could be a nice surprise!
Good to see you enjoy the journey as well, which is ofcoz most important, we only have "now", even though FI requires to have a plan for the future, but it is every moment that counts. Not easy in this rational world (at least western world), happiness is always there inside of us, but it is so damn hard to recognize it every day, while some say that simple meditation will bring it, every day, which is stronger than waiting for FI to happen.
Sorry for my ramblings :-) I am sure you know better than me !

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

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Noedig »

Hey Dutchgirl

"Carry on Carrying On" as they say.

I see nothing wrong with your approach, slowly rolling that ball of savings down the hill, picking up size and speed. You have done the major thing, which is that your thinking is the right way round on ERE, and you are not a thoughtless spender.

I so agree that balancing an intentional life with the day to day flow of mood and energy, is a difficult act.

When it works you feel the flow, and life is excellent. At other times.....not so much!

Iceland is somewhere I have always wanted to visit. I envy you a lot, despite the expensive pizza!

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Income for September: 3030
Expenses for September: 1738

Always nice to get a paycheck when you've only been working one week out of the month, by the way :-) .

The savings rate for this year is 38% so far. I'm hoping to get it back up to something over 40% by the end of the year, due to the fact that I'll get more income (13th month) and plan to not spend much. We'll see.

I am close to having 100k euros in my savings and investments now, that is a very nice development. I reached 98,500, but then I had to pay some bills again. Next paycheck may push me over the 100k for the first time - and then it may very well go down again because of bills. Or maybe the stock market, who knows (I don't care too much - I'll keep buying).

Today I have the day off. It's nice to sit here in the morning with nowhere you need to be. I will go out, but when I've had my coffee - in a leisurely style. It feels like Saturday morning, more or less.

Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Cornerman »

Nice progress, 100 K is a very nice milestone. Congrats in advance :)

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Now it is here! I have 100.250 euros now. Maybe a bit more, if I were to update with the latest numbers for my investments (I saw the markets went up last week). But I always update those numbers on the first of the month and not before. And it doesn't matter much.

I will drop below 100k again in the next month (unless the markets do really well), because of my regular bills. But maybe from the next monthly paycheck onwards, it'll always be over 100k (provided the market doesn't drop 50%, in which case it will go below it for a while, again). Onwards to 200k! :-)

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Forskaren »

I try to avoid looking too much on how the net worth fluctuate on a daily basis, even if it is sometimes tempting to have a look.

How is your approximate investment distribution right now? High risk? A possible drop of 50% indicate mostly stocks, directly or indirectly.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

If the markets drop by 50% (assuming the stocks do that and bonds do nothing), then my net worth would drop by roughly 20k. So no, I'm not 100% in stocks.

saving-10-years
Posts: 554
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 9:37 am
Location: Warwickshire, UK

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by saving-10-years »

Congrats on a milestone reached. Steady progress with some interesting outings and experiments. How is the Fitbit Flex working? Is it helping you keep track of sleep? Has using it become a habit or fallen by the wayside? Did you sleep more when in Iceland. Sleep definitely helps me stay on top of stress.

message
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2015 5:57 am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by message »

Gefeliciteerd!

100k NW is very nice :)
have set that target for myself for 1 jan 2018... Long way to go still :D

each 100k will now be easier, so get that ball rolling :)

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

First 100k took me almost 38 years (ha), or, more precisely, it took me roughly ten years to go from -5000 euros to +100,000 euros. I hope to reach 200k four years from now, due to a combination of more experience with saving and personal finance, higher salary, and compound interest. So yes, hopefully it will be easier.

saving-10-years ... I left the fitbit flex at home for the holiday to Iceland. I put it back on when I came home, but my boyfriend said that sometimes it bothers him at night when I put my arm around him. So now I took it off. I am considering selling it to recoup some of the money. I think it can be a good device to monitor yourself; and I also think mostly I have gotten the answers I wanted - yes, I move around a lot when I work. And yes, I need to go to bed earlier, or learn to sleep in.

llorona
Posts: 444
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:44 pm
Location: SF Bay Area

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by llorona »

The second $100K will happen faster, especially now that you've got the first $100K working for you!

saving-10-years
Posts: 554
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 9:37 am
Location: Warwickshire, UK

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by saving-10-years »

Thanks for that candid review. I should perhaps save my money and just keep a note of when I go to sleep and when I wake up. I have a basic step counter which is really useful for highlighting those days when I am too inactive. My DH goes to sleep earlier than I do and I intend to follow him shortly but sometimes it is several hours delayed. Because he wakes early I also wake early. More sleep would also mean less time online which would also be a good thing methinks.

More than 10k per year saved is very good and you are more confident about your plans in the past few years so should get better. Terrific work.

NickHalden
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:48 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by NickHalden »

Congratz on 100k milestone :D

I think it is an amazing accomplishment in the Netherlands, as I consider it one of the harder ERE climates.

I(E)reland
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:07 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by I(E)reland »

Congrats on the 100k.....great work!

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by steveo73 »

Just to add in - 100k is great.

Dragline
Posts: 4436
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:50 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Dragline »

DutchGirl wrote: it took me roughly ten years to go from -5000 euros to +100,000 euros. I hope to reach 200k four years from now, due to a combination of more experience with saving and personal finance, higher salary, and compound interest. So yes, hopefully it will be easier.
That's great! And yes, it does get easier as the pot grows.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Thank you all. I'm verry happy with it :-)

For October, my savings rate is 57%! Wow! But that only could happen because none of the big irregular expenses happened in this month. And because I got a bit of overtime paid out. November is going to be a bit similar, though. No overtime payments this month, but also no big expenses planned. Well, let's hope it really happens that way. We'll see. It seems like I might end up with a 40% savings rate over the year, even with the expensive holiday which was a few percent of my annual spending.

This week I'm taking things easy after working hard in the previous two weeks. My boyfriend's got a severe cold and I have the milder version, so I'm giving myself permission to do almost nothing when I'm not at work. (I try to keep doing the dishes and the grocery shopping, as things get a lot harder when you run out of clean plates and stuff to eat and so on).

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

The cold caught up with me, so I've been officially ill these last two days and taking a lot of naps to get it out of my system, hopefully.

In the last week, we've also been looking at a specific house to buy. We found it online on the Dutch "house for sale"-database website, funda.nl, and explored the option a lot. (Went there to visit with the realtor, asked the local city government about the laws and building options, asked an architect friend about building options and costs, etc). House would cost 395k euros, renovations could cost another 150k euros... We would both "contribute" half, meaning that I would probably need to take on a 225k mortgage and also have a downpayment of 50k.

Over the last week, it became clear that while the house is in a very nice location, there are all kinds of problems with it. It's small and it may not be allowed by law to add an attachment to it. The ground may be contaminated and then should be cleaned (costing tens of thousands of euros or more). So while it looked promising at first, now it looks more like we won't be buying after all.

Buying this house would postpone my ERE date by at least five years, according to my calculations. The new house and its utilities etc would cost at least 400 euros more per month to just maintain, so that would mean saving 5k less per year AND adding 125k at least to the necessary stash before I could call myself retired... My boyfriend was also more and more hesitant to put so much of his money into this one object. Now I'm actually quite glad it is looking more like a "no" to us. We can still keep our options open for a nicer place to live in at some point, while at the same time having a pretty good life in our current working-class row house.

NickHalden
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:48 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by NickHalden »

DutchGirl wrote:The cold caught up with me, so I've been officially ill these last two days and taking a lot of naps to get it out of my system, hopefully.

In the last week, we've also been looking at a specific house to buy. We found it online on the Dutch "house for sale"-database website, funda.nl, and explored the option a lot. (Went there to visit with the realtor, asked the local city government about the laws and building options, asked an architect friend about building options and costs, etc). House would cost 395k euros, renovations could cost another 150k euros... We would both "contribute" half, meaning that I would probably need to take on a 225k mortgage and also have a downpayment of 50k.

Over the last week, it became clear that while the house is in a very nice location, there are all kinds of problems with it. It's small and it may not be allowed by law to add an attachment to it. The ground may be contaminated and then should be cleaned (costing tens of thousands of euros or more). So while it looked promising at first, now it looks more like we won't be buying after all.

Buying this house would postpone my ERE date by at least five years, according to my calculations. The new house and its utilities etc would cost at least 400 euros more per month to just maintain, so that would mean saving 5k less per year AND adding 125k at least to the necessary stash before I could call myself retired... My boyfriend was also more and more hesitant to put so much of his money into this one object. Now I'm actually quite glad it is looking more like a "no" to us. We can still keep our options open for a nicer place to live in at some point, while at the same time having a pretty good life in our current working-class row house.
Heya DutchGirl,

I am sort of glad for you that this didn't fall through. A house of 550k in the Netherlands is a pretty extravagant mansion (at least in some parts of the country), and in my honest opinion you could find something half the price that is much more in line with the ERE-principles.

E.g. We bought an old house for 160k, renovated it completely for 40k, and it is easily worth over 200k now. Ah and yes it is also a working class row corner house, but I do not feel we need anything classier or fancier just because we can afford it.

I hope you don't take this too personally, but a house that is almost 3 times the price of mine (and I live there happily with my wife and two kids)... it really can't be worth it if you have your ERE glasses on. Maybe if it was some sort of self-sustaining farm, or something.. anyways keep searching, I would say :D

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