Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Good God, it's been years. Looking back, a lot has changed.  I have a happy, full life and don’t think (obsess?) about ERE as much as I used to. But I’m naturally goal and future-oriented, so I’m still planning out my future.  Since my last post, my grandmother had a stroke, my workplace had layoffs...

Hi Noedig, Hang in there! If the pound recovers before your 3 years are up, does that mean you can retire? Also, just read through your whole journal and you have a delightful writing style. I have an image of you in my head as an jolly but dignified Briton who says phrases like "old chap"...

Sorry for disappearing for almost a year! Waiting for the update: So how did you pass your cold winter? Very well, so well I'm doing it again! am also very curious about an update. Is the novel finished? Talking about being curious: is your family from India / South Asia by any chance? Novel is fini...

I am long overdue for a journal update. I don’t think about early retirement as much as I used to. I used to read ERE and MMM religiously, and check Personal Capital daily and calculate exactly how close I was to retiring, to 2 decimal places. Since my last post, my grandmother had a stroke, my work...

Just checked the forums after half a year, only to find this on the front page. :lol: So of course I have to reply. I spent about $10 in the last year (one person.) I use the Scott knockoff from Aldi, and keep a couple of rolls of the fancy quilted stuff for guests. The easiest ways to reduce TP cos...

I've never bought the course (this IS ERE after all ;) ), but I tried Wim Hof tutorials from youtube to keep warm. (I challenged myself to keep my house between 45-50 deg F this winter, and I live in a drafty house in the northern Midwest.) The breathing technique is the most important part, I think...

40/16 Interesting because I have been quite empathetic ever since I was a kid, to the point where I would get exhausted or overwhelmed and need to be alone for a little while. In fact, my "empathy emotions" are often stronger than my own personal emotions, which may be one reason I like re...

Living: George Saunders comes to mind. Dead: Fitzgerald? Salinger? Gaddis? James? They all wrote some really great stuff and some truly disappointing stuff. Poet: Eliot Statistically (author from whom I've read the most books, according to GoodReads): Agatha Christie Nonfiction: It's hard to compare...

The posts above seemed to have covered preservation pretty well. Another option is converting your nonperishable foods (i.e. beans, flour) to perishable foods (sprouting your beans instead of buying sprouts at the store, making tempeh or seitan instead of buying tofu, etc.) This way you can store yo...

One viable alternative is to get partway to FI with a practical job, and then follow your passion(s). For instance, I'm planning to work until I reach about a 6% withdrawal rate, then semi-retire without touching my savings. My savings should compound over time so that by the time I fully retire, th...

You can do it Zarathustra! <insert cheerleader smiley with animated pompoms>

I have been completely neglecting all the forums and blogs I follow because I've been frantically writing every day, but today I pulled off a 8k word day and have reach 48k words! So I figured I could take a break.

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I am still in the process of reading all your journals. Very inspiring. Considering value when spending My dad and I had an argument yesterday over spending. He called me “stingy,” which hurt, because in our native language, the word for “stingy” also has connotat...

*cue Lion King music and silly dancing* I think I have had ERE tendencies since I was a kid. Recently, I came across some old journals from when I was in elementary school. Here is an excerpt: "I HATE cleaning my room! There is too much stuff!! I earned 25 cents today! I will save 100 dollars a...