DutchGirl's journal

[rube]

That must have been a few awful weeks. Glad that it turned out al to be ok!

[DutchGirl]

Thanks guys

In the end, nothing was wrong with me, apparently. But I still feel like I got lucky.

[Carlos]

I'm so glad you got good news!

[m741]

Congratulations, although it feels strange to put it that way.

I'm happy for you!

[Hankaroundtheworld]

He Dutchgirl, good news indeed, but has this gynaecologist not been too "alarming", they could have been more cautious, and say "we want to do a proper check, just to be sure all is okay", instead of saying "possible cancer", that is quite a statement... but I was not there, so I am not sure how it was explained. One way or the other, good news and it also shows once again, "pluk de dag"

[DutchGirl]

Hey all. Thanks again . And Henk, I also saw what it looked like (they had a tv for me), and I can understand the gyno's concern. It looked "irregular" and growing wildly, like a tumor would. I'm really glad it's just benign. I will need a small surgery to get it taken care of, though. Not really looking forward to that. But hey, all covered by insurance here in the Netherlands!

Today I'm going to celebrate the first birthday of one of my nieces, and be very happy that I can hope to celebrate many more with her.

[StartingLate]

Hey DutchGirl,

I just read you're moving to Munich? Let me know if so, we might have a meetup (if you like to). I will be in Munich at the end of October and at the beginning of December.

[DutchGirl]

Ahem, if we'll move to Munich it will be in January or so. But if so, we will know by the end of October and we might be around in December to find us a place, sign paperwork, stuff like that. I'll let you know

For September income was 2490 and expenses were 1821 euros, of which 100 to spend a weekend away from home, and 400 euros went to charity; I should see about 42% of that return to me after I do my taxes next year, because those expenses are deductible from my income. I have spent more money when I was waiting for the results of the health test, and so a couple of expenses were totally to "console" myself, at least 50 euros of books, magazines, chocolate for that. I hope to stop doing that right now; might make October a no-spend month for fun expenses.

Anyway: a savings rate of only 27% this month...

[FrenchGirl]

Hi DutchGirl,
I'm glad that everthing is fine after all and it was a false alarm! I wish you many more birthdays with your niece

[DutchGirl]

The no-spend month for fun expenses is not happening . I'm giving my boyfriend a long weekend away in the countryside for his birthday, and I'm coming with him, of course. The holiday apartment was found through a website, but it's still 225 euros for three nights. I have to be in the area to work, so it does save me some money on travel, and some hassle too. (I figure that working that day will earn me about 250 euros posttax...). We're staying put there, and after working for one day (for me), we'll enjoy the long weekend there.

Also, our washing machine broke. We had a repair man look at it, who said that the repair would cost 300 euros at least. So now instead we're waiting for our new one, which costs 500 euros, so 250 euros "damage" for each of us. I proposed to get a second-hand one, but my boyfriend wouldn't hear of it. Instead it's a cheap one, one that we would leave behind if we moved to Germany. (We would rent out this house, so it would be a service to the tenants).

However... seems like the move to Germany isn't happening. My boyfriend hasn't heard anything from the company yet, and one would expect them to start inviting people over for interviews earlier, if they want it all wrapped up by the end of October...

The good news is that I'll just get to keep my job, and that he'll also find another project no problem, and then we'll be able to continue on our current path of saving and investing. Maybe one day moving to another house, but no rush there.

[steveo73]

Yes, I can do that... In the last twelve months the average was 42%...

I only care about my yearly savings rate. Are you happy with this savings rate ? Do you feel you are spending too much or too little ?

Personally I think that we all need to be able to be super frugal for small periods of time however we also need to make sure that we aren't super frugal for 5 years and then retire and then 10 years later realize that we need a lot more money.

[DutchGirl]

Nope. Given that it's November already, the move to Germany isn't going to happen. And that's OK, too. Perhaps when I'm FI, I'll convince my boyfriend to live in the UK with me for half a year or so (let's do spring/summer), because I have loved being there for a few months in the past during my studies.

Meanwhile, this month we had a lot of expenses. The big ones:

1. Our washing machine broke down and we decided to replace it for 600 euros (instead of a repair that would have cost 300 euros at least). We chose to extend the warranty to five years (costs are included in the 600 euros), so this should guarantee carefree washing for the next five years at least. Hopefully. We split this cost 50/50.

2. I worked in a far-away place for one day (a 2 hour drive one way - perhaps Americans laugh about this being far away, but my normal commute is half an hour to an hour max), and we decided to make it a weekend getaway. So I spent 250 euros on that, and it doubled as my boyfriend's birthday present. We had a blast, and it was a very nice B&B that we may visit again.

So that's 550 of extra expenses making the total for the month 2175 euros. With an income of 2315 euros, I managed to save only a lousy 140 euros or less than 10%.

My net worth almost reached 60,000 euros this month, but I was 150 euros short. So you may blame the washing machine for that. Or the B&B...

By November 24 or so I should see a lot of extra income. My work will compensate for the drive (both hours and petrol), overwork should be paid, and I also asked to pay me some holiday hours that I won't be using this year. I don't expect any extra expenses in November, but of course you never know... So I hope to get to a better savings rate again in November. And I definitely hope to see a net worth of 60k+!!

PS. I had my minor surgery to remove the cervical ectropion on Oct 31, and it was successful. Insurance will cover all but roughly 100 euros of it. I put away 30 euros/month during the year to cover these kinds of costs, so I already have that money sitting in a savings account. Recovery is taking place currently - the doc warned me to not do too much for a week or so. No heavy lifting, no strenuous exercise. I feel pretty fine, but I'll adhere to her advice...

[henrik]

I also have to make trips for work and get reimbursed the next month. I check my finances at the end of the month and usually I include the reimbursements owed by the employer as their debt to me. It's sort of like a short term liability on their part and thus part of my current assets and current net worth, if that makes sense:)

[DutchGirl]

Hi henrik,

It does make sense, but for me this is an every-month thing... So I feel like I would always be owed roughly $100 by the company for travels, because by the time that the previous month is reimbursed, I have already made new trips. So I could track it, but instead I'll just see it as next month's "income". It's not important enough to track it, because nothing much changes if I do. (And oh, the nice thing for me is that I also get reimbursed for short trips that I normally bike - so I get paid $0.40/kilometer to bike, excellent!).

[DutchGirl]

My dad has a farm. In recent years, the shed has been broken into twice (I believe once in say 2009 and once in 2012). Luckily / of course my dad was insured, but it isn't nice to have to replace tools, machines, doors and locks just because some assholes decided to break in. Since then, my father had thought about getting a security system up. There's an alarm in the shed now, a movement detection alarm that will make lots of sound when somebody enters and doesn't turn it off. And there's a lamp above the entrance, with motion detection. He also looked for a video surveillance system, but they were thousands of euros to install according to a quote from a professional company, so that was too expensive. However, sometimes at night the light would switch on, and my parents wouldn't know whether it was a thief (<1% chance) or an animal (>99% chance).

So my boyfriend bought a new webcam from foscam, and was very happy about it. And then he talked about it when we were visiting my parents. One thing led to the other and now he has created a surveillance system for only 600 euros for them. Including a camera for outside (with infrared option as well) that can handle the weather conditions, and including a tablet to look at the camera images from the safety of my parents' bed. The system can (of course?) also record video or take pictures.

I'm glad that we could help my parents out like this; and also glad that they're now able to just phone the cops when there's a thief: "Guys, I see that somebody is trying to break into my shed, please come now" should do the trick. Compared to my 66-year-old dad having to go out there in the middle of the night to investigate, that's a whole lot safer...

I have selected the tablet, and for 300 euros (400 dollars) it's a tablet that can do more than my 5-year-old ipad. It has two cameras (the ipad has none), it has an android operating system that's up to date (weehee), it has a keyboard that you can attach or detach (in case my mother wants to use it to type emails), it has a great resolution, it's quick and has a lot of memory. The idea is that my parents will put it next to their bed, and if they see the lights of the shed switch on, they can just start the tablet (two seconds), start the right app (another two seconds) and see what's happening outside. Possibly my boyfriend will also tell the camera to start recording whenever it sees movement, so that even if my parents sleep sound while somebody is breaking in, there will still be camera footage of the event. The app can also notify my parents that something is happening - perhaps that's useful when they're out and about.

It's funny how waiting a few years and doing it yourself can save so much money... The tablet is only 35% of what we paid for our first ipad but it can do more. And the camera has a good image quality as well - I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and the quality is so much better than what professional security cameras could offer back then... Now, you can perhaps even recognize a guy from the footage...

Sorry for this long story; I hope it was interesting to someone

[DutchGirl]

November round up... Of course the month hasn't ended, but since it isn't Thanksgiving today here, it also isn't Black Friday tomorrow, so I'm just planning on not spending a dime anymore this month.

I had a nice salary this month, it was 3100 euros due to getting some overtime and holiday hours paid out. Next month will also be a nice salary because of the end-of-year-"bonus", which will roughly be something like 1500-2000 euros on top of my regular salary.

My expenses were 1750 euros. 300 euros are actually meant to cover costs for December, I prepaid them. So, if I count them now I have a savings rate of (1350/3100=) 44%, if I count them in December it's a savings rate for November of (1750/3100=) 56%. I'm pleased with either.

I also now have 60k euros of assets, and I hope not to end up having less than that ever again. And of course next target is 70k euros.

Both my boyfriend and I have lost a few kilos this month (much needed), and our grocery bill has gone down because of our dieting, as we are buying much less candy, snacks, etc. I'm proud to say that I spent zero euros on sweets this month. .

So, progress all around, and that's really nice to see. Hopefully I can finish 2014 strong, with highest net worth ever, and lowest weight and highest fitness level for the year...

[FrenchGirl]

Hi fellow european! No binge eating and spending for me neither! :p
Great month, congrats! I was also trying to eat healthier those last few month. I did drop 5kg but maaaan that was hard! I was never big on store snacks, but I love baking. So when my oven died in july, I did not replace it.It was a huge help for the weight loss but sooo hard! (I miss cakes, I miss pies, I miss cookies, I miss home made pizzas...)

Anyway, cheers for a great end-of-2014!

[Hankaroundtheworld]

Those sweets in Netherlands are hard to resist, well done to stay away from them. I need to follow your example .... need to lose 10 kilo's ...
Have a great December and ending of the year!

[DutchGirl]

Hi Hank... I guess one's palate for sweets and snacks is influenced by what you eat when you grow up. I went to the US a few times and I really dislike most chocolate they have there, while (some) Americans are crazy about it. Meanwhile, I love the chocolate available here in the Netherlands. I would say: good for you, that you'll live in Hungary... Of course they have sweets there, too, but maybe not the ones that are most tempting to you. If you want, I can send you ONE box of Dutch chocolate and sweets per year .

I hope you all have a great December. And Frenchgirl: well done losing 5 kilos (11 pounds) in just one month, that's quite something!

[DutchGirl]

My supervisors from my (previous) thesis contacted me by letter two weeks ago, asking me to discuss with them the possibility to finish my thesis after all. I was quite happy the last few months, the only thing I didn't like was telling others how I had stopped working on my thesis, how I had failed (basically). The letter has brought some new agony to my life (the hope that I can finish this thing after all, accompagnied by fear and sadness and anger for all that happened before). I was invited to a meeting and will go next Wednesday, together with my boyfriend for support. I think this little bit of hope will be crushed again, as I really can't work on the thesis anymore or I'll go mad.

So just a few more days, and then it'll be all over (again).

I keep having to remind myself that a thesis is something we humans invented in the last century or so, that I'm still quite intelligent even if I don't get it, that I'm still a nice person, that I'm still alive and well-fed, and much-loved too. Sigh.