Early Retirement Extreme Forums

@J_ All the ones you listed, except maybe the neighbor (then again, having people always had a chance of a bad neighbor) are continuations of long-term trends. I think the only one that wasn't underway 10-20 years ago is the electrification of bicycles, driven by a rising battery industry which agai...

Jin+Guice wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 17, 2024 2:02 pm

@AH: There are ice chest AC units. Supposedly the ice helps cut down on power usage?

Only if you get the ice for free #thermodynamics

We actually have an A/C with a tube vent that we bought for our previous apartment, because we weren't allowed to hang anything out the window. In summary, it works, but not very well. You basically have a hot compressor inside and you're trying to cool it by blowing air from the inside over the hea...

First outdoor harvest was chives. I also picked up some dandelion leafs for the burittos. Instead of battling them, I've decided to embrace them and eat them. Preparing for sewing, I ran into some horseradish. Since we planted some 10+ years ago, it's slowly been spreading at a rate of maybe 1 foot ...

4) No freezer, no fridge: I haven't read enough about this possibility yet. I know Jacob recommends books on supplying sailboats. Based on a quick price analysis at my local stores, it seems like most preserved food is both less nutritious and more expensive. I feel like there might be a solution h...

I would think that many people would be more hesitant about dropping by someone's garage whenever they want versus an independent locale like MMM HQ. There may also be a concern on the host end, with not wanting to have/wondering about people coming over at all hours. It would be easy to coordinate...

@Scott2 - Fair enough, but... . That's basically an "easy problem" turned into a hard problem due to domain-level ignorance, no? To wit, my car problem initially seemed unsurmountable yet it ultimately turned out to be easy. The average car enthusiast would probably have gotten the point r...

Or for $239,900 within biking distance of Money Dimple neighborhood, you can get this 3240 sq ft. brick beauty with its own woodworking shop: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2002-Miller-Rd-Flint-MI-48503/73945902_zpid/ Looks nice, but? ... what's the catch? If you're serious ... or anyone else i...

There is really no inherent frugality challenge in acquiring housing for $250,000 cash investment and associated property tax/maintenance/insurance expenses. Boring as it sounds, this is a feature, not a bug, because it makes it possible to resell the property w/o a loss of time, loss of money, or ...

@Slevin - Haha, I know a couple of Jeep Wrangler people. That seems more like a lifestyle/exercise in masochism. I think I could get into that though. Would also solve the winter/pothole issues of the local roads. OTOH, they're kinda shite on the freeway or anywhere above 50mph, though, right? @Chri...

This is again where something like introspection can actually be useful if you're using it for mindfulness. That is, becoming aware of what story about yourself you're telling yourself and being willing to let that self-definition go. Or recognizing that you're stuck ruminating or catastrophizng an...

They have a 120sf tiny studio in the backyard, as well as a fire pit and a prison yard free weight set up(power rack, bench, etc). I think I remember [him building/using] that from a few MMM blog posts. I didn't know that it was at MMM HQ as opposed to his personal backyard. They haven't had any se...

An interesting *possible* future scenario for drylands areas is that everything goes to hell there because all the cities depend on the Colorado, leading to massive area depopulation... leaving behind just the scrappy little communities of cooperatively self-sufficient Renaissance permaculturalists...

Why not just rent a car when you need one if it isn't that often? Been there, done that. Long trips usually last 2-3 weeks. One-way out-of-state rentals were (are?) rather expensive ("return-fee") as is renting the same car for the duration to make it a two-way trip. Adding it all up, it ...

@jacob, while most people do not spend much time on introspection, those who do seem to spend a great deal of time and energy on it. In my world, those in the extreme category frequently find ways to work it into conversations. Add to that the fact that therapy-speak has permeated our culture, song...

What does a road trip mean to you? One hour drive or drive from Chicago to southern California? Usually it means a biannual drive of 13 hours on the freeway or 14 hours of interstate in one stretch. Possibly split in two by staying overnight at a motel. Most commonly, it would be 1--3 hour drives l...

I wonder how to translate this to electric cars. Me too. An electric car is much simpler except that manufacturers like to load them up with various gadgets and widgets turning them into computers on wheels. All that is totally unnecessary. So far, it looks like China is winning the electric car ra...

I'm not sure I completely understand the situation or question ... A car that uses common parts and is cheap and simple/easy to work on. This probably means something older with lots of space in the motor compartment, that is, no need to remove a bunch of parts to access X part. Basically something...

As in learning to fix ... Based on recent experiences , I'm a-fixing to change my/our relationship to our car from "a reliable sad-to-break investment that depends on outsourced expertise" to "a cheap-enough to not mind breaking it while trying to fix it". IOW, getting closer to ...

@Scott2 - Giftedness is generally seen as a problem for the teacher/institution who are dealing with a bored/unruly child rather than a problem for the gifted child and eventual gifted adult. IQ testing is a quick and easy CYA institutional solution for sorting in a school setting. The attitude towa...