CDR's Journal
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:08 pm
You can read a bit more about me here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11612&p=225996#p225996
Much like everyone else, I plan for this journal to document my journey in ERE. Although there are some limitations, as my wife isn't exactly interested in the "extreme" part.
While I have been fortunate to be frugal and financially savvy in comparison to the average, my environment has also been conducive. My parents did not kick me out of the house when I turned 18, I was fortunate to have a full-time job during my summers off University, and many more factors.
This means while it has taken me a long time to get to the full-time job market (I started working full-time last year), at least I am debt-free on arrival. I am however not at ERE levels of discipline and have some improving to do in the finances.
I'm hoping this journal will motivate me to get/stay organized in regards to my budget and goals. While we live with my parents, I have decided to focus in on skills that are advantageous to learn given the tools and other things my parents have access to and could help feed into a system whereby I use the combined tools of us and my parents to create things to sell and then reinvest in more tools or things to sell. Part of this involves using seed money from things I own and will sell.
Skills I would like to focus on until July 2021:
I think Jacob has advocated this style, or something close to the spirit of this. If anyone else has done this, have you included "money I saved by fixing it myself" in this system? I feel like this might quickly break my system if I do it this way, but am looking for advice.
September Skills:
August Financials:
Savings Rate: 72%
I spent $684.19 in August. As I suspected, while my savings rate is okay, it should be much higher than this given we are living at my parent's home.
$191.89 on things I should not have "purchased" including parking tickets, snacks/desserts/food outside the house (including lunch for when I forgot to put my lunch in the fridge at work, so it expired before I could eat it...)
$377.99 on things like a gift for my wife for our anniversary, a gift for my mom for her birthday, but that is coming up this month, our once-monthly trip to sushi, new headphones, make up and under the bed storage for my wife. Also, a year sub for a domain + hosting so I can create an IT portfolio
$87.84 Adobe Sub and Grammarly Sub (Both Cancelled)
$20 - "Loan" to a friend
$14.95 Audible subscription
$2.79 payment to someone I subscribe to on Patreon
My goal is to increase my savings rate in September and get to 90% by October.
For September I will:
I've already cancelled my Adobe Creative Cloud plan, as learning these tools are no longer a focus in my life at the moment.
Cut out all outside snack and food purchases, this is sometimes due to poor planning, if I know I am going to be out of the house for some time, I should bring food (going forward)
Purchase nothing from Amazon or Value Village (going forward)
Ensure I put my parking pass on my car, as I spent $40 in unneeded fines last month.
At the moment, I've spent 47% of my 10%. This is partly because I started paying for parking at work (and parking would have been 8% of my monthly budget), but my organization decided to pay for all employee parking going forward, so that's nice.
As of September 2020, my net worth is around $23k. Given my working patterns, this might be the highest my net worth has ever been.
I thought it might be interesting for people to see the math behind my opportunity cost calculation on returning to University, vs other options in regards to switching careers.
Computer Science Degree:
Tuition per year after financial aid: $8,000
Cost per year not working my current job: $30,000~
Total cost for 3 years = $114,000
Pre-apprenticeship Training: Electrician or Millwright:
Four months of no wage to attend pre-apprenticeship training: $5000~
Tuition for the training: $0 (Paid for by the government )
Total Cost: $5,000
After this point, I would not only be making money but more money than at my previous job, even as a first-year apprentice.
IT Support (studying after work and on weekends, previous experience in the field)
Cost for Certificates, Training Material that I was unable to find for free or in the library, and a used server: $1000
Total Cost: $1000
The cost-benefit analysis scared me off from going back to University. COVID-19 cancelled all the pre-apprenticeship training programs, so in March I started studying for some IT certs. COVID has thrown a rachet in my plans, but I hope to be celebrating the new year in a new job. However unlikely that may seem. I also haven't purchased the used server yet, as I would like to sell my comic books first so I have room for the server. I also don't think I will need it before I finish learning networking.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11612&p=225996#p225996
Much like everyone else, I plan for this journal to document my journey in ERE. Although there are some limitations, as my wife isn't exactly interested in the "extreme" part.
While I have been fortunate to be frugal and financially savvy in comparison to the average, my environment has also been conducive. My parents did not kick me out of the house when I turned 18, I was fortunate to have a full-time job during my summers off University, and many more factors.
This means while it has taken me a long time to get to the full-time job market (I started working full-time last year), at least I am debt-free on arrival. I am however not at ERE levels of discipline and have some improving to do in the finances.
I'm hoping this journal will motivate me to get/stay organized in regards to my budget and goals. While we live with my parents, I have decided to focus in on skills that are advantageous to learn given the tools and other things my parents have access to and could help feed into a system whereby I use the combined tools of us and my parents to create things to sell and then reinvest in more tools or things to sell. Part of this involves using seed money from things I own and will sell.
Skills I would like to focus on until July 2021:
- Sewing
- Budgeting
- Programming (Python & PHP/WordPress)
- Woodworking
- Computer/Smartphone/Electronic Repair
- Networking
- System Administration
I think Jacob has advocated this style, or something close to the spirit of this. If anyone else has done this, have you included "money I saved by fixing it myself" in this system? I feel like this might quickly break my system if I do it this way, but am looking for advice.
September Skills:
- Networking (For my transition to IT)
- Sewing (with a Machine)
- Budgeting
August Financials:
Savings Rate: 72%
I spent $684.19 in August. As I suspected, while my savings rate is okay, it should be much higher than this given we are living at my parent's home.
$191.89 on things I should not have "purchased" including parking tickets, snacks/desserts/food outside the house (including lunch for when I forgot to put my lunch in the fridge at work, so it expired before I could eat it...)
$377.99 on things like a gift for my wife for our anniversary, a gift for my mom for her birthday, but that is coming up this month, our once-monthly trip to sushi, new headphones, make up and under the bed storage for my wife. Also, a year sub for a domain + hosting so I can create an IT portfolio
$87.84 Adobe Sub and Grammarly Sub (Both Cancelled)
$20 - "Loan" to a friend
$14.95 Audible subscription
$2.79 payment to someone I subscribe to on Patreon
My goal is to increase my savings rate in September and get to 90% by October.
For September I will:
I've already cancelled my Adobe Creative Cloud plan, as learning these tools are no longer a focus in my life at the moment.
Cut out all outside snack and food purchases, this is sometimes due to poor planning, if I know I am going to be out of the house for some time, I should bring food (going forward)
Purchase nothing from Amazon or Value Village (going forward)
Ensure I put my parking pass on my car, as I spent $40 in unneeded fines last month.
At the moment, I've spent 47% of my 10%. This is partly because I started paying for parking at work (and parking would have been 8% of my monthly budget), but my organization decided to pay for all employee parking going forward, so that's nice.
As of September 2020, my net worth is around $23k. Given my working patterns, this might be the highest my net worth has ever been.
I thought it might be interesting for people to see the math behind my opportunity cost calculation on returning to University, vs other options in regards to switching careers.
Computer Science Degree:
Tuition per year after financial aid: $8,000
Cost per year not working my current job: $30,000~
Total cost for 3 years = $114,000
Pre-apprenticeship Training: Electrician or Millwright:
Four months of no wage to attend pre-apprenticeship training: $5000~
Tuition for the training: $0 (Paid for by the government )
Total Cost: $5,000
After this point, I would not only be making money but more money than at my previous job, even as a first-year apprentice.
IT Support (studying after work and on weekends, previous experience in the field)
Cost for Certificates, Training Material that I was unable to find for free or in the library, and a used server: $1000
Total Cost: $1000
The cost-benefit analysis scared me off from going back to University. COVID-19 cancelled all the pre-apprenticeship training programs, so in March I started studying for some IT certs. COVID has thrown a rachet in my plans, but I hope to be celebrating the new year in a new job. However unlikely that may seem. I also haven't purchased the used server yet, as I would like to sell my comic books first so I have room for the server. I also don't think I will need it before I finish learning networking.