Early Retirement Extreme Forums

@Slevin: Yes I agree there are problems with PPP (or in this case CPI deflating) everything, most notably related to physiological human needs which have likely not gotten cheaper and in some ways have gotten more expensive, possibly while locking in higher quality standards. Counter to this is the ...

Ok but what if: I've read repeatedly that Hunter-Gatherer societies only require 15-20 hours to meet their baseline needs and they also stop "working" (a concept they actually lack, so we are inventing what is work and what is not for them...) once baseline needs are met. Supposedly agricu...

Integrating Some Models: One model I find useful is a 3-way model of thinking/ knowing. There is the cognitive way of "knowing" that "I" "think of" as "knowing." Then there is the emotional way of knowing. Then there is the bodily way of knowing. One way to i...

I have two objections to the rise of neurodivergent conditions. 1) IME, it does lead to pathologization and identification with that pathologization. It leads to limiting beliefs about oneself which often do not correspond to my concept of reality. This is a generalization and is of course not true ...

If you think flow state is an indicator of alignment, then I'm doing alright--I can lose myself for hours and hours in video games. I may be misunderstanding flow. It kinda feels like an addiction. Also, it feels a little absurd to think that my "purpose" is to play games. Of course, no m...

Imagine if humanity had used capitalism to realize what Keynes wrote about his letter to his grandchildren. Instead of becoming reliant of buying and replacing egg cookers every time the last one went out of fashion or broke from deliberately bad construction [in order to solve Borsodi's distributi...

@Hristo: Thanks for the pics. In my mind, I'm modeling everything off of my urban garden friend. He has a Shipping Container with 2 holes cut in it, one for the door and one for the A/C. He has a small window unit A/C. Shipping container is slightly more sqft than my bus. Works great in the NOLA sum...

Thanks everyone for all of the help!!! @mooretrees: I don't have a school bus so window sizes are likely different. It's for sure not school bus windows. I measured the window I've got, it's roughly 28 inches tall by 24 inches wide. A little bit bigger than that in both dimensions it appears. I'll p...

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

Here's the first hit on google: https://www.icybreeze.com/

@jacob, thanks for weighing in. I'm a bit concerned about a window unit making the bus easier to break into. Not sure how much I care about this. Windows are also a weird size... I think a small window unit would maybe fit though? I'd have to see. I'd also need to fill in a bit of open space... I'm ...

@Slevin: I have no idea what I'm doing, so, probably not for now. I'd also be open to expanding the solar setup, particularly to run an A/C off of. I'm into the shade structure out of solar panels idea, but not for this year as I lack the skills. I also need to check with my friends before putting a...

Thanks y'all! Slight clarification: The bus came with a ready to rock solar system (previous owners who did the convert had lived in the bus for several years) and the solar panels are already roof mounted. When I asked about shade structure vs solar panels, I meant how do I address the tradeoff bet...

I'm living in a converted Ford E450 Bus. I need to get an A/C for the upcoming summer. Does anyone have any recommendations or alternative ideas? The bus gets full sun (solar panels... would be cool to run the A/C off of them, but not counting on it/ have access to grid power) and temps are between ...

The constraints, dear reader, are not in our wallets, but in ourselves.

Heh ya, I think if you are earning money in a way you don't want to, i.e. very into freedom-from, or really want to do something for awhile that is unlikely to earn money, this can be an important revelation. Maybe you eventually want to be able to afford XYZ, but you don't need to secure the money ...

I have a slot in a Spotify family plan. This allows you to download music onto our phone (and possibly laptop?). It's possible to download from wifi and not cellular data. My fav way to find new music is to meet sub-35 year old women who are attractive and look like they would listen to music that I...

I think this is a very important revelation, particularly past WL5. WL6 is initially more expensive for most (or maybe just me, but I think it's most) as WL5ers solve problems with money. Getting new skills often requires expanding capital which is likely to require some money for a WL5er. Likely ev...

$50/ month is boring. Is a dedicated space the most interesting and fun way to solve this problem? Is a network of garages? Is it a club or an entire way of life? What is the problem?

I think people would be willing to pay for an ERE HQ. I think the house/ hub idea could work too though. Pluses and minuses for both. Since it's going to take a very dedicated individual to pull this off, I don't think arguing ideals matters that much. It's going to be 1-5 visionaries pulling of the...

I am anti-Lancaster. I grew up in the neighboring county. The irony of all of my favorite people collectively moving to my least favorite place.