Re: Halfmoon's journal
Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:51 pm
THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS
SAVING MONEY (finally some relevance to ERE!)
Long before we started thinking about early retirement, DH and I were naturally frugal. He had raised his son alone from the age of 6 months, and he came from a wartime background of deprivation and loss. I had no such ERE pedigree, but I grew up in a frugal family*. I was also the primary (and often sole) wage-earner in my first marriage. My only splurge was eating out, and DH cured that by being a great cook.
*In truth: my stepmother was incredibly careful with money because her food budget had to cover unrecorded alcohol purchases. Lots of alcohol purchases.
Reading Jacob’s book would have been a revelation for us. In lieu of that, we practiced a number of frugal habits:
1. We didn’t pay outright for electricity. One might reasonably argue that we put capital into our batteries, hydro system, solar panels, controller and tankless water heater. We never calculated the return on these because being independent was an unquantifiable part of the equation (and capital improvements have always made more sense to us than incessant monthly payments). We did eventually port the solar equipment over to our new home in the mountains, so there’s that.
2. We didn’t pay for (or have) a phone until I started my accounting business. Then the phone became critical.
3. We didn’t eat in fancy restaurants, or eat out much at all. No need to pat ourselves on the back for this one; we just violently hated “fine dining” due to our own work experiences.
4. We bought very little in the way of new clothes or housewares. Thrift stores were the bee’s knees back then, but yard sales now blow those out of the water. No reason to buy new stuff (see @Ego).
5. We never drank in a public place. We didn’t drink at all for years, but either way, drinking in bars or restaurants is ludicrously expensive. I get that this might be worthwhile if you’re single and paying for social interaction, but still. Likewise for the whole wine snobbery thing.
6. We didn’t gamble, including buying lottery tickets (*one mortifying exception, to be discussed later). We did invest in the stock market, which could be considered gambling.
7. We didn’t buy new cars. All of our cars have been bought through Craigslist (or earlier print venues like the Little Nickel). I consider buying a new car the height of folly, but maybe I’m just missing the How-Cool-Is-This gene.
8. We NEVER EVER borrowed money. If we didn’t have cash to do something, we waited until we did. We loaned money on occasion, but that led once to a phenomenal crash-and-burn scenario that doesn’t make us look very smart.
9. We did as much as possible for ourselves. Anything we were remotely capable of doing, we tried. DH maintained and fixed all of our vehicles, equipment and appliances with me standing by reading manuals to him. (Reading the manuals was just self-preservation, because DH sees those as an absolute last resort. He prefers to wade in and wing it.)
10. We shopped grocery store sales. We never went to the store with a list of what we had to have. Instead, we bought what was on sale or marked down and tailored our meals around that. It didn’t hurt that we ate free at our restaurant job.
11. We were LUCKY. During our accumulation years, we were getting at least 10% on our bank deposits. Inflation and loan rates were also high, but we weren’t spending like everyone else or borrowing at all. We worked with a guy who had bought a couple of rental properties at **20%** interest and was in a world of hurt.
12. I’ve never worn jewelry, used makeup, had manicures or appreciated cut (dying) flowers. DH and I have always cut each other’s hair. Some people who know us might say that’s apparent.
13. We didn’t have any new kids. DH had his teenage son, but in my twisted mind creating a child is akin to buying a Lamborghini that has a 50% chance of spontaneously wrecking itself.
14. We spent less than $100 on our engagement/wedding. I don’t have exact numbers, but we paid $15 for a license, $35 to a woman who married us in her trailer and took a Polaroid photo for posterity, and maybe another $40 for pizza and a movie for DH, DS and me. We had committed ourselves long before, and this was just a formality for legal reasons. Our job didn’t allow married employees to work together, so we never bought engagement or wedding rings. After we quit, it just didn’t seem important. In fact, I find the whole idea of being presented with a diamond ring bought with our joint or soon-to-be-joint money insane. I told DH early on that he’d better not waste ~our~ money on something like that (not that he would have anyway).
SAVING MONEY (finally some relevance to ERE!)
Long before we started thinking about early retirement, DH and I were naturally frugal. He had raised his son alone from the age of 6 months, and he came from a wartime background of deprivation and loss. I had no such ERE pedigree, but I grew up in a frugal family*. I was also the primary (and often sole) wage-earner in my first marriage. My only splurge was eating out, and DH cured that by being a great cook.
*In truth: my stepmother was incredibly careful with money because her food budget had to cover unrecorded alcohol purchases. Lots of alcohol purchases.
Reading Jacob’s book would have been a revelation for us. In lieu of that, we practiced a number of frugal habits:
1. We didn’t pay outright for electricity. One might reasonably argue that we put capital into our batteries, hydro system, solar panels, controller and tankless water heater. We never calculated the return on these because being independent was an unquantifiable part of the equation (and capital improvements have always made more sense to us than incessant monthly payments). We did eventually port the solar equipment over to our new home in the mountains, so there’s that.
2. We didn’t pay for (or have) a phone until I started my accounting business. Then the phone became critical.
3. We didn’t eat in fancy restaurants, or eat out much at all. No need to pat ourselves on the back for this one; we just violently hated “fine dining” due to our own work experiences.
4. We bought very little in the way of new clothes or housewares. Thrift stores were the bee’s knees back then, but yard sales now blow those out of the water. No reason to buy new stuff (see @Ego).
5. We never drank in a public place. We didn’t drink at all for years, but either way, drinking in bars or restaurants is ludicrously expensive. I get that this might be worthwhile if you’re single and paying for social interaction, but still. Likewise for the whole wine snobbery thing.
6. We didn’t gamble, including buying lottery tickets (*one mortifying exception, to be discussed later). We did invest in the stock market, which could be considered gambling.
7. We didn’t buy new cars. All of our cars have been bought through Craigslist (or earlier print venues like the Little Nickel). I consider buying a new car the height of folly, but maybe I’m just missing the How-Cool-Is-This gene.
8. We NEVER EVER borrowed money. If we didn’t have cash to do something, we waited until we did. We loaned money on occasion, but that led once to a phenomenal crash-and-burn scenario that doesn’t make us look very smart.
9. We did as much as possible for ourselves. Anything we were remotely capable of doing, we tried. DH maintained and fixed all of our vehicles, equipment and appliances with me standing by reading manuals to him. (Reading the manuals was just self-preservation, because DH sees those as an absolute last resort. He prefers to wade in and wing it.)
10. We shopped grocery store sales. We never went to the store with a list of what we had to have. Instead, we bought what was on sale or marked down and tailored our meals around that. It didn’t hurt that we ate free at our restaurant job.
11. We were LUCKY. During our accumulation years, we were getting at least 10% on our bank deposits. Inflation and loan rates were also high, but we weren’t spending like everyone else or borrowing at all. We worked with a guy who had bought a couple of rental properties at **20%** interest and was in a world of hurt.
12. I’ve never worn jewelry, used makeup, had manicures or appreciated cut (dying) flowers. DH and I have always cut each other’s hair. Some people who know us might say that’s apparent.
13. We didn’t have any new kids. DH had his teenage son, but in my twisted mind creating a child is akin to buying a Lamborghini that has a 50% chance of spontaneously wrecking itself.
14. We spent less than $100 on our engagement/wedding. I don’t have exact numbers, but we paid $15 for a license, $35 to a woman who married us in her trailer and took a Polaroid photo for posterity, and maybe another $40 for pizza and a movie for DH, DS and me. We had committed ourselves long before, and this was just a formality for legal reasons. Our job didn’t allow married employees to work together, so we never bought engagement or wedding rings. After we quit, it just didn’t seem important. In fact, I find the whole idea of being presented with a diamond ring bought with our joint or soon-to-be-joint money insane. I told DH early on that he’d better not waste ~our~ money on something like that (not that he would have anyway).