Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I take a fairly deterministic view on particular careers or "callings". Luck seems to play a big role for most people. Who your parents were, what they knew, what they taught you, your schooling, your town/city, your time/place in history, age, genetics, etc. It's sometimes possible for a ...

As a career contractor who job-hunted many times I concur with the OP. CV writing can be a creative endeavour – how to be concise while maximising communication? My favourite aspect was the social interactions - small talk with recruiters and hiring managers, sometimes suiting up and meeting at a ca...

I doubt there's any kind of conspiracy behind it. More likely, modern cooking evolved around what kind of stoves people had access to/generally used. Stir fry works over open fire, so likely lower latitudes. Boiling stuff works on a heath or a stove with a lot of mass to heat the rest of the house,...

your post made me realise i forgot my vacuum bottle i use for cooking while hiking. i boil the water once, pour it in the botlle to pre heat it, close the bottle, cook the meal until hot, pour it in the bottle, close the bottle, wait about 25 minutes for rice, eat. It saves a lot of gaz, it's cost ...

Apologies in advance – I only read up to page 5. Intend to read the full 28 pages, as this is a great discussion! My current fitness regime: Daily - brief HIIT routine after morning coffee - 3 sets of (burpees + running-on-the-spot) at 40+20 / 30+30 / 20+20 sec intervals. Daily - walk to outdoor gym...

Update - so slow cooking turned into not-so-slow cooking. Turns out 3 hours had been excessive and 20 minutes was sufficient. So now my routine is: 1. Cook on high for 5 minutes 2. Place in thermal bag for 20 minutes 3. Done I noticed Jacob's recommendations about a pressure cooker; I might look int...

Congratulations on no longer having to work! Thanks! Been off for 2 months now, it's been absolutely wonderful! Interesting to read about 1:1 "letting go". That sounds like a cultural difference with The Netherlands, I've seen very few of those. When a company wants to let people go it re...

I switched to glass to avoid BPAs, but now that I'm looking into a frugal-minimalist-nomad lifestyle, I'm probably going to go for something lighter-weight such as microwaveable stainless steel. Thinking of getting one of these: https://cuitisan.hk/collections/all/products/signature-stainless-microw...

You can use youtube-dl to download any YouTube video. With -x switch it will download audio-only which is fairly fast. This works regardless of whether you have a membership. They can be synced to your mobile device for offline usage.

As a full time nomad traveling the world with 7kg of luggage, I do quite a bit of sink/shower laundry. 7kg is impressive! I'm gradually working towards 7kg carry-on and 4kg hand-luggage. Here in SE Asia where it's hot, preferred method is to strip down in the shower after an activity while the clot...

I did another experiment - a large plastic zip-lock bag with 3 pieces of underwear. Filled with water, lathered with Dr Bronner soap until the water was soapy, agitated it for a few minutes, zipped it up, let it sit for 30 min in my wash basin, agitated again. Then rinsed with fresh water and squeez...

Interesting device (the OP) but I would prefer not to rely on USB-power. I like the Sea to Summit bucket, can't beat that weight! Yes, agree. After some experiments (see above) I'm settling on the idea of just doing it manually. In that light, I've renamed the thread to "Portable washing exper...

If you want more specific solutions then it would help if you further clarified your lifestyle situation. If you are traveling and staying at hostels/hotels, the easiest laundry solution is to just hand wash your clothes in the bathroom sink, wring them out, and then hang dry them. My lifestyle sit...

It’s pretty easy to replicate the soak and wash cycle of a typical machine using various low tech methods already mentioned in this thread. However, if you are line drying then you want a way to replicate the spin cycle. This is what gets most of the water out of the clothes so everything can dry i...

Regarding drying, I think on next handwash I'll try squeezing/wringing them harder, hopefully it won't damage the clothes. The other suggestions mentioned all sound good. Only they would require one to be fairly settled in one place. I'm interested in techniques that can be used while travelling and...

+1 what DutchGirl says. I once lived 6 months in a region where washing machines were not available to us and not to 98% of the local population. We just copied the local customs. That is, hand washing in a large bucket and line drying. We also have frequently did hand washing while traveling. This...

Thanks for the tips DutchGirl! I would experiment next by washing clothes just with your hands (or feet). The enzymes in the washing powder would probably eat away at your dead skin cells. If you do it twice a year, I wouldn't bother with protective gloves, but if you do it every week you might want...

So I purchased a portable washing machine (USB-powered) out of curiosity of whether I could realistically do my washing this way. This disc-shaped device is fully USB-powered, fairly small (about 12cm / 4.5in diameter), light-weight (270 grams), has a 30-minute timer, and works by churning the water...

This week I decided to give slow cooking a try. Not owning a slow cooker and not wanting to make a rash purchase, I decided to do a small experiment with my regular steel pot. I cooked my usual evening meal (vegetarian), but instead of cooking it through, I just kept it on the stove for 5 minutes (i...

Alternative perspective: Carlota Perez predicts European-led "smart green growth".