Early Retirement Extreme Forums

The days are much longer and lighter now, and I managed to get through the winter without being heavily afflicted by seasonal affective disorder. Some of the days, I was just going through the motions - chop wood, carry water - or in my case, go to work, go to gym, go to winter bathing club. It's gr...

Relationship It didn't take long before O became my boyfriend and I've thoroughly enjoyed the summer and autumn with him. But, he works in humanitarian aid, so in November he left for a 6 months deployment in the Middle East. Yes, another long distance relationship - sigh! The redeeming factor is t...

G and I broke up. The long distance relationship thing didn't work out for us and it was an amicable break. In the beginning of our relationship, while we were still living in the same country, he said that relationship compatibility is not just about personalities, values, goals etc, but also inclu...

Time for an irregular update. It's going well. After getting more responsibility and more defined work assignments, I'm happier about working than I've been for a long time. I also do realise that I'm getting a lot of leeway and I would be able to contribute with more if I actually cared. Still, I'm...

I'm quite sensitive to cold in general and I loathe cold showers; it feels like a million tiny daggers stabbing me. Immersion into cold water is easier to deal as I only have to enter the water once, while cold showers feel like entering the water repeatedly. I'm still working on relaxing in cold wa...

Happy to hear that everything is going well, in the grand scheme of things.

That FB group is getting chaotic, but it's great that more people are getting exposed to FIRE.

My savings rate during 2018: January: 42% (split into 51% essentials/49% non-essentials) February: 58% (54%/46%) March: 65% (58%/42%) April: 68% (81%/19%) May: 73% (72%/28%) June: 72% (71%/29%) July: 72% (84%/16%) August: 74% (77%/23%) September: 73 (87%/13%) Average: 66% (68%/32%) Something devasta...

My savings rate during 2018: January: 42% (split into 51% essentials/49% non-essentials) February: 58% (54%/46%) March: 65% (58%/42%) April: 68% (81%/19%) May: 73% (72%/28%) June: 72% (71%/29%) July: 72% (84%/16%) August: 74% (77%/23%) Average: 66% (62%/38%) My savings rate has leveled out and will ...

My savings rate during 2018: January: 42% (split into 51% essentials/49% non-essentials) February: 58% (54%/46%) March: 65% (58%/42%) April: 68% (81%/19%) May: 73% (72%/28%) June: 72% (71%/29%) Average: 63% (62%/38%) Since the last update: I got a side hustle as a sports instructor for 2x2x1 hour cl...

I've been trying to tidy up my spendings since the last update. I've split my spendings into two; essentials and non-essentials. Essentials include: Rent, utilities, food, internet, cellphone, union, insurance, dentist, medicine and fees etc. Non-essentials include: Eating out, vacations, travelling...

You're absolutely right

Christ almighty! Are you on the same investing train as ABC/Megalaks? His returns are absolutely astounding too. Are you following a particular strategy or are you investing only in sectors you understand? Won't your SR jump tremendously once the condo is paid off? I'm living with my GF in a paid o...

How to identify negative influence and how to get rid of it? In this particular case, it was quite easy since said negative influence was a person. We broke up, I got called crazy - well, in much more eloquent and verbose terms than that, but that is the gist of it. I only accept such diagnosis by ...

I’m baaack :D I started this journal 6 years ago, after I’d finished my bachelor’s degree and I was working full-time. A lot has happened since: I got my master’s degree in engineering, including spending half a year in Tokyo doing a research project I bought a condo in a housing cooperative (andels...

I discovered this forum 3 years ago, while I was still working full-time in between my bachelor and masters degree. Now I have finished my masters in engineering in chemistry (it's a lot more chemistry and chemical engineering and I would not have the qualifications to work with "traditional&qu...

<r><URL url="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-sharp-sudden-decline-of-americas-middle-class-20120622"><LINK_TEXT text="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/new ... s-20120622">http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-sharp-sudden-decline-of-americas-middle-class-20120622</LINK_TEXT></...

<t>IMO it's very hard to eat paleo on a budget. The meat is supposed to be from a free-range, grass fed source, the vegetables and nuts from an organic source. Pretty pricy stuff!<br/> <br/> Legumes like beans, lentils and chickpeas are cheap and full of proteins, dietary fibre and minereals. If you...

<t>Thank you! A lot of stuff to look into. Unfortunately, a lot of your suggestions seems to be American brands, I live in Europe, so the shipping is probably quite costly. I can get Osprey here though, so I might go with that one.<br/> <br/> Found some European brands: Haglöf, Deuter, Northface and...

<t>April (in USD)<br/> Total take home salary: 2719+32=2751<br/> Expenses:<br/> <br/> Rent incl. utilities and internet: 449<br/> <br/> Groceries: 139<br/> <br/> Restaurants/take-away: 63<br/> <br/> Clothes: 36<br/> <br/> Medicine: 15<br/> <br/> Drinking: 11<br/> <br/> Misc: 16<br/> <br/> TOTAL: 728...

Can anyone recommend a high quality backpack?

I've worn out two backpacks in ~40$ range over 6 years, need something that will last.
I'm pretty short, so max. 30 liters or my back breaks.