Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I saw the beauty in the movie. Lived out of a van for a little while years ago, went to the RTR, met a few of the people in the film. To me, the main storyline was the journey of the main character, dealing with grief and her past with vanliving as a backdrop. She did what she had to do to get by. I...

What a year this is, eh? I don't even know what to think anymore. I do know I am super grateful to have been working on the reducing expenses aspect well before all this hit. Hope every one out there is doing okay!! We were one of those unemployed from this. Have been putting that unemployment benef...

So far Pammy I think you have the low expenses (and creativity to find solutions) nailed. Weren't you pursuing a degree in something? Is that still happening? It sounds like your hubby has lots of drive and skills (as do you!), so it seems like you are well on your way to getting the investment par...

I just binge-read your journal. What an awesome journey! Having people feel sorry/judge doesn’t feel good. I wonder if seeing your changes and progress spurs them to reflect, not feeling so great about themselves, and projecting that BS on you. Hadn't thought of it that way, huh. Here's to hoping m...

Here it is, over 5 months later.. still kicking. Yep, we are in our new place and things have settled down a bit. Things never go as planned, and you can always plan on that. ;) We are still semi-roughing it out here, but it works. Kind of a fun challenge. We finally have electric hooked up, took lo...

Stuff just got real. Stepson gave us a scare that sent us to the emergency room 3 times before they admitted him and spent a day hooked up to massive antibiotics and steroids. Best they can figure it was a severe reaction to a bite, although we never found the bite marks. Left side of his face swell...

Thank you all for the positive replies. :) We've been trying to figure out the best way to divert some of the rain washout around our yard area. There is a hill you go over before you get to our place and the last hard rain there was some washout from the hill, put a lot of dirt/sand on our front ya...

Thank you @bigato. Good ideas on the growing aspect. Good thinking! Pretty much what we are trying with the small garden started. I just picked a few things and put them in the dirt to see how they do. I know this year, since we aren't out there and can spend a lot of time on it just yet, we aren't ...

Trying this again. So I haven't updated in a while. Sorry bout that. Still working on everything. Have not moved yet, but it's close. Much has been done and still can't wait to get out there. One of my favorite pass-times is running numbers so I can see just how much we can reduce expenses. This is ...

Just sick... had a really long update post and when I hit submit, it went to login page and it was lost. (note to self: copy the whole damn long ass text you spent an hour on so you can paste it after you log in again)

Well we got the house moved and leveled. Saved some bucks with the hubby doing the bulk of the work himself. We may have to wait a bit with the moving part, as we are waiting to hear what the electric company tells us the cost will be to connect. If it's too much, it will give me a great opportunity...

I'm going after a bugging in situation along the lines of (wanna be) permaculture. As I live in tornado country, will plan on short term survival, naturally, having enough to weather the disruption. This will be a root cellar that doubles as a hiding place. Until we get that dug, grandma lives in an...

A little good news from this end. Hubby got a promotion and raise. Hasn't even had his 90 day review yet, already promoted. The raise, with it's over-time, jumps the income up 29%. Tomorrow will be unhooking the home from utilities and it's ready to move. Should take us a few weeks to get it live-ab...

Spent the day yesterday unskirting future home. Ended up with a full large water bottle full of bolts, screws and nails, 4 different kinds in all. Whoever put them on I wish to give a spanking to! Have half of one side left to do, it was getting too dark to complete. Thankfully, they rest are just n...

We did have her put down yesterday. I am grateful she is suffering no more. When I got her nearly 15 years ago she had been abused by the previous owner, badly. I am blessed to have given her almost 15 years of the love she so rightly deserved, best doggy I ever had. She can chase all the squirrels ...

A lot changes in a month. Nope to the above mentioned 5th wheel. Sometimes family really can suck. Just as we were interested in this unit, after they have had it on their lot for 2 years, someone comes by and offers to buy it. Not one phone call from my own sister, the rv dealership owner and the o...

What worked for me for weight loss was cutting out sugars/sweetners, then alternating between one meal a day and intermittent fasting. Lost 30lbs in a few months, now at weight I like. Maintenance now is still no sugars/sweetners, and eating real normal foods cooked at home lunch and dinner. It's no...

I started out half idealistic and half realistic. (Semi) retiring to farm was a lot of new for me, despite having grown up on a ranch. My default plan was mostly sticking to what I knew would work. My first major project was building corrales, barn, sweeper gate and squeeze chute. And everything wa...

So, I think we have found us some housing to put out on the land. We are looking at a 2005 model Keystone Montana 36' 5th wheel we should be able to purchase in cash in a few months. It belongs to my sis's father-in-law, has triple slides with 2 big ones across each other in the living area and one ...

Now: 5.1 + 0 (combined with work trip) + 190/100 = 7 When moved: 8.1 + 0 (combined with work trip) + 0 = 8.1 Housing goes down, but transportation goes up with move, hmm. Maybe one day the hubby can figure out how to work from home, then we'd still have the grocery trip and not really have any diffe...