Early Retirement Extreme Forums

EREers!!! I missed y'all!

So, I'm currently living in the back of my truck (it's nice! like an extremely tiny house!) in an adorable tiny town where I hardly have to drive. My expenses are basically almost zero. Also, I'm playing in very official fancy serious grown up land, and no one seems to notice that I'm basically homeless scum with a $35 gym membership that lets me shower and get dressed in front of a mirror every morning so that I blend in, which I totally love!

The problem:

I'm spending way too much money on food/coffee/eating out.

Partly (mostly) it's because I'm writing my thesis and it's due really soon and sitting in a 6x6 box on the back of my truck writing is not really doable for more than a couple hours a day for me. So what'll happen is I'll go do the things I have to do all day, and then I go to a coffee shop and have a bowl of soup and thesis, but then the coffee shop closes and I've only had a bowl of soup all day, so I go to the diner and have a sammich and keep writing. Or, like, today is the weekend. I just spent $13 on a giant salad and a cup of fancy coffee at the grocery store deli, and in a few hours I think I'm going to go fuel this thesis situation with nachos and margaritas.

A smaller part of the problem is that I'll tell myself I have no housing expenses, so of course I can afford a good meal.

The library and almost everything in this town closes at like 6pm.

I don't need advice about how to eat cheaply from the grocery store on the road - I know how to do that. But if I cook, I just end up going in someplace to sit and write anyways, and then I end up getting a cup of coffee or something. It really adds up.

Pick apart my excuses and tell me what to do?

Stop spending money!

Or alternatively, Earn some more money! If you read the ERE book, you will find that for persons in your situation (i.e., already pretty bare bones), earning more may be easier than spending less. You one of dem outliers.

Sorry, this probably isn't that useful. But what you really need to do is get the damn thesis done ASAP and get on with your life.

Eh, I'm pretty good on the earning front - looks like I'm headed for 50% savings this month.

Do any of these coffee shops have some sort of policy on reduced-price refills? Or if you bring in your own mug (or buy one of theirs), you can shave some off the cost? A couple of places near me do this, and it makes it about half the price.

At least then you could enjoy the same lifestyle while spending less. Good luck with the thesis!

Hey! Was thinking of you the other day. I've been dying to go to Alaska for a long time, and now I'm snowed in and the wind chill has been -20 at night so I was thinking Alaska has sort of come to me... which made me think, "I haven't seen riparian post lately. If the wind chill is -20 for me, is it -40 for her?"

I agree with Dragline. If you finish your thesis, the money becomes a non-issue.

Long time no see!

Sounds like you need to get in charge of your blood sugar. Low blood sugar causes stoopid expensive behavior. Trail mix is a good way to regulate that (coffee works too), but it's not a good long-term solution. Being in the habit of making some solid food is better. I've never attempted to make that out of a van. If I were, I'd probably attempt some version of rye bread (fiber and protein) and herring (sorry, it's a national inclination). What's important is that I can make a full balanced meal out of a can and a storeable source.

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That and a bag of apples, raisins or bananas will get you through your thesis writing days. Most boil Ramen but I think that's an inferior solution.

Alright, that settles it. Nachos and margaritas for dinner! LOL

GandK, we've hardly even had winter here! It's in the 40's and raining. The arctic vortex is drunk, so y'all have winter and we don't.

I'm not gonna, like, get a job after I finish my degree.

riparian wrote:I'm not gonna, like, get a job after I finish my degree.

Good! That's what I like to hear!

A warm, quiet, dry place with a table and chair can be a tough thing to find in a small town where everything closes early. Does the gym have a place to sit?

What i would try to do.
At 6pm, leave your workplace (library or office if you have one)
Cook a huge 2000Cal meal mostly from rice and bean.
Eat it over the next few hours while relaxing.
Go to sleep.
Wake up.
Go to the library.
Feel the hunger around noon, but don't eat.(that's the hard part)
Repeat for one week.
Keep repeating this, for ever, but you shouldn't be feeling any hunger during the day.
Congratulation, you can now run your basic task only on burning body fat.
You now have a very stable blood sugar rate,with only one peak and dip, but while you're sleeping, so it shouldn't bother you.

Ego wrote:A warm, quiet, dry place with a table and chair can be a tough thing to find in a small town where everything closes early. Does the gym have a place to sit?

Yes, but limited hours, and also it's a ways out of town, so a gas expense.

Jean wrote:What i would try to do.
At 6pm, leave your workplace (library or office if you have one)
Cook a huge 2000Cal meal mostly from rice and bean.
Eat it over the next few hours while relaxing.
Go to sleep.
Wake up.
Go to the library.
Feel the hunger around noon, but don't eat.(that's the hard part)
Repeat for one week.
Keep repeating this, for ever, but you shouldn't be feeling any hunger during the day.
Congratulation, you can now run your basic task only on burning body fat.
You now have a very stable blood sugar rate,with only one peak and dip, but while you're sleeping, so it shouldn't bother you.

That sounds like a recipe for never finishing my thesis, which is due like yesterday...

Hey y'all! Thesis break. I've decided you're right, I'm just gonna go with this for now because the thing is almost done!

So, I'm at the grocery deli, I had a gigantic salad from the salad bar and a chicken breast, which is pretty much all I need for the day. But I've been here for like 4 hours now, so probably in a couple hours I'll leave and go somewhere else, which means buying something else.

But I'm ALMOST DONE! And I'm defending in a couple weeks. And then I'll be really really done. So I'm not going to worry about a few dollars a day that I can totally afford, but as soon as I get done with this I am getting back on the working out/eating good food path.

During my last month of diss writing I awarded myself one weekly DVD movie (and tons of coffee). While I hate the term investment when applied to this behavior, it's money well spent.

This is gonna sound weird, but what about the town fire department or police station? If you act respectable and just explain that you're a poor student who needs a quiet place to finish their thesis they might let you use a desk that's open after normal working hours (but I wouldn't mention that you're living in the back of your truck

A friend who biked to south america said that police and fire stations were his favorite places to crash when he was in an urban area and couldn't camp.

Stop spending money! If you make a habit of $13 meals, I am guessing you spend more as a homeless person than I do living in an apartment downtown in a major first world city. In fact, it might be cheaper to get an apartment, if having a kitchen and somewhere to hang out would cure your binging.

Defended my thesis, passed, stopped spending so much.

But I am still having some fancy coffees and some meals out. Even if I spent $600/month on having a sort of fancy eating life while living in a truck, that is still way less than what people pay for rent around here, much less rent and food.

Congrats!