Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hello! This is my first post. It's been about a year since I have discovered ERE. I have read the book probably 5 times now and have been making changes in my life. I wish I discovered this about 20 years ago. I wasted lots of money and most important time. I'm now 39 years old, single, and maybe think it's going to be a long journey.

hi

Welcome Climbinghills! Reading THE book 5 times should be a good start What do you mean, you wasted lots of money? Would an ERE lifestyle the opposite compared to your lifestyle in the past? Well, I wish you many fast (small) victories on your journey.

The important question is: are you from Ireland?

Welcome.

Welcome. I like your name.

It can actually be relatively fast to ERE. Below is a quote I wrote in another forum:

All assuming 0% after tax real return and a 4% wr as the target:
50% savings rate: 1yr saved/1yr working~25 years working
60% savings rate: 1.5yrs saved/yr worked~ 17 years working
70% sr: 2.33334 yrs saved/yr worked ~11 years of work
80% sr: 4yrs saved/ 1 yr worked~ 7 yrs work
90% sr: 9yrs saved/1 year worked ~ 3 years work

No I am not from Ireland. I'm from the states, East Coast. By wasting money I mean clothes, shoes, cosmetics, all the girl stuff. I've owned 4 cars. I've had a gym membership for the past 10 years. This is my hardest thing to give up. I'm ditching it in July and going find an alternative. I use to own tons of furniture and I've sold most of it. Been clearing out for a while now.

Welcome! I love your humility. It sounds like you're far into the journey already.

Welcome to the forum. Reading the books and blog is a great start.

The forum is great place to get feedback, ideas from a perspective different than you are likely to find among most people offline.

The gym membership is in my opinion not a waste. Welcome by the way!

steelerfan wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:54 am

The gym membership is in my opinion not a waste. Welcome by the way!

That depends on the cost of the gym membership.

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That depends on the cost of the gym membership.
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True - but you only get one body and one life. The $20 per month I pay is worth every penny. It has a social and psychological benefit as well as maintaining your body. I would cut cable and dining out before cancelling this maintenance expense. If I let myself go - what would even be the point in living? My health is number 1 on my list. Money is only number 4.

I agree that a gym membership can be very important (health is) and is not a waste of money.

Depending on the cost, investing in a home gym could be an interesting alternative. That's what FrugalPatat and I did when we had saved lots of money and weren't ready to start investing. Home gyms (the power rack kind, not the bazillion machine kind) can be resold for about as much money as you bought them for.

My gym membership is costing me $330 a year.

I think a lot of us arrive here after having spent the starting chunk of our adult years a little unfocused. Looks like you've got things turned around at a younger age than I did.

You didn't state enough for me to gauge the length of time you are looking at. Since I started getting my head straight and focused it's been about 9-10 years (6 since I had a plan specific enough I could articulate it) and I've got 1-2ish more to go. Keeping myself mostly focused in the present (something I had to learn and, sadly, practice) has helped. One can get dispirited by focusing too much on what is lacking and how much it will take to overcome that.

With the caveat that I'm a "bad ERE-er" (really, I got here too late to be anything but a pedestrian ER guy), the journey is a balancing act. When it comes to discretionary spending, I find it helpful to examine the expense and think about whether or not it contributes positively to my overall well-being/contentedness in reasonable proportion to the cost (YMOYL 101, in other words), and how it stacks up against competing values as pertains to money. On the surface < $30/month doesn't seem outrageous if you put the membership to good use. There are cheaper routes depending on what you do specifically, and how much trouble you want to go through to avoid the spending, but sometimes having an out-of-the-house routine and possibly some associated social interaction makes a big difference to people. With that said, you seem to have made the decision to change things up despite the difficulty. I wish I had that much dedication. Good luck, and welcome.

Climbinghills wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:49 am

I'm ditching it in July and going find an alternative.

I suggest... climbing hills.

the hill never loses

So it' been a whIle since I've posted. I guess a year and a few months have passed by. The gym membership has gone away. I found myself kinda lost for a bit. I did create more time for riding my bike. I have myself a couple sets of weights. I've been doing some clean n press and deadlifts at home. This is one change I have made of many in the past year. I really need to create a journal.

I have been a regular gym member when I was working and after I FIREd last year. It's still an outlet to be more social and accomplish my goals at the gym. And with the sauna and or hot tub in the same area, it is a great way to relax also. I bought a Concept2 rowing machine but after about a year I grew bored rowing at home so I sold the item dirt cheap and took a loss.