Great job on the January savings rate!
Ralphy's Journal
March 7, 2011
Month 2 of 66
February Expenses
-----------------
126 - Food
58 - Utilities
30 - Garage rent
87 - Health insurance
.75 - Library fine
-----------
302
I spent a lot of my weekends delivering pizza, and we started our track season this month, so there wasn't a lot of spare time for spending money. This was my lowest expense month since I started keeping track over a year ago, which makes my savings rate for the month look very nice too. A typical month's expenses are more in the 500-600 range. In fact, as I write this, my March expenses are already almost equal to February.
Feb savings rate = 87.7%
Feb passive income / YTD avg expenses = 11.6%
PROGRESS ON RESOLUTIONS
(1) Save $2,000 per month - Success and then some. Made just about enough extra to cover January's shortcoming.
(2) Complete a set of 10 pull-ups - Have been getting back into good shape since we started track season, but haven't started the pull-up training yet. I'll do a test this week to see what my baseline is.
(3) Read 50 books - Fail. I read The Alchemist, but didn't finish any other books. I read some Sherlock Holmes (one of my favorites), some Peter Lynch, and a ton of Internet articles, but really slipped out of the book-reading habit I started in January. That means I have 10 months left to get the other 45 books read. Yikes.
OTHER HAPPENINGS
- one of my secondary goals for the year was to see the parents and family more often. Was glad that I made it home over the weekend to celebrate Grandma's 95th birthday and caught up with several relatives I hadn't seen for too long.
- haven't purchased a new delivery vehicle yet. Am planning to sell the Festiva this month and continue driving the Oldsmobile while I look for something better. Gas prices have gone up about 30% since I started at the current joint back in August, but our vehicle compensation rate hasn't changed, so I'm looking for something a lot more efficient than the Olds.
- I'm planning to start a small square foot garden on the patio. I have room for a couple 1x5 planter boxes, which I'll need to build this month.
Month 2 of 66
February Expenses
-----------------
126 - Food
58 - Utilities
30 - Garage rent
87 - Health insurance
.75 - Library fine
-----------
302
I spent a lot of my weekends delivering pizza, and we started our track season this month, so there wasn't a lot of spare time for spending money. This was my lowest expense month since I started keeping track over a year ago, which makes my savings rate for the month look very nice too. A typical month's expenses are more in the 500-600 range. In fact, as I write this, my March expenses are already almost equal to February.
Feb savings rate = 87.7%
Feb passive income / YTD avg expenses = 11.6%
PROGRESS ON RESOLUTIONS
(1) Save $2,000 per month - Success and then some. Made just about enough extra to cover January's shortcoming.
(2) Complete a set of 10 pull-ups - Have been getting back into good shape since we started track season, but haven't started the pull-up training yet. I'll do a test this week to see what my baseline is.
(3) Read 50 books - Fail. I read The Alchemist, but didn't finish any other books. I read some Sherlock Holmes (one of my favorites), some Peter Lynch, and a ton of Internet articles, but really slipped out of the book-reading habit I started in January. That means I have 10 months left to get the other 45 books read. Yikes.
OTHER HAPPENINGS
- one of my secondary goals for the year was to see the parents and family more often. Was glad that I made it home over the weekend to celebrate Grandma's 95th birthday and caught up with several relatives I hadn't seen for too long.
- haven't purchased a new delivery vehicle yet. Am planning to sell the Festiva this month and continue driving the Oldsmobile while I look for something better. Gas prices have gone up about 30% since I started at the current joint back in August, but our vehicle compensation rate hasn't changed, so I'm looking for something a lot more efficient than the Olds.
- I'm planning to start a small square foot garden on the patio. I have room for a couple 1x5 planter boxes, which I'll need to build this month.
April 3
March Review - Month 3 of 66
March savings rate = 85.9%
YTD savings rate = 81.7%
March passive income / YTD monthly expenses = 12.1%
Net worth / YTD monthly expenses = 56 months
Notes
- 2011 continues to go smoothly financially. Hit my savings goal again. Had my second-lowest monthly expense total.
- Bought a new(er) vehicle for delivering. I'm now driving a 1999 Chevy Prizm with about 100,000 miles on it. Next project is to sell the two old beaters I was getting by with.
- Built two planter boxes for the patio garden...looking forward to getting some veggies planted later this month.
March Review - Month 3 of 66
March savings rate = 85.9%
YTD savings rate = 81.7%
March passive income / YTD monthly expenses = 12.1%
Net worth / YTD monthly expenses = 56 months
Notes
- 2011 continues to go smoothly financially. Hit my savings goal again. Had my second-lowest monthly expense total.
- Bought a new(er) vehicle for delivering. I'm now driving a 1999 Chevy Prizm with about 100,000 miles on it. Next project is to sell the two old beaters I was getting by with.
- Built two planter boxes for the patio garden...looking forward to getting some veggies planted later this month.
May 12
April Review - Month 4 of 66
April Savings Rate = 87.7%
Net Worth / YTD monthly expenses = 68 months
Notes
- I was very excited to grow my net worth by almost a full year's worth of expenses this month. A big part of that was learning about the Saver's Credit, which gave a nice boost to my tax return.
- I built 10 sq ft worth of planter boxes back in March, and got a few plants started this month - tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, cucumber, lettuce, spinach. Hope to have plenty to eat later this summer, but I'm a little worried about not having enough sun exposure on our patio.
- I've been working on putting together an informal running training group for the summer/fall, which has me pretty excited. Most of my personal running in recent years has been solo or with the high school kids I coach, and it's been pretty aimless, so I'm looking forward to some group training and getting back into racing.
April Review - Month 4 of 66
April Savings Rate = 87.7%
Net Worth / YTD monthly expenses = 68 months
Notes
- I was very excited to grow my net worth by almost a full year's worth of expenses this month. A big part of that was learning about the Saver's Credit, which gave a nice boost to my tax return.
- I built 10 sq ft worth of planter boxes back in March, and got a few plants started this month - tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, cucumber, lettuce, spinach. Hope to have plenty to eat later this summer, but I'm a little worried about not having enough sun exposure on our patio.
- I've been working on putting together an informal running training group for the summer/fall, which has me pretty excited. Most of my personal running in recent years has been solo or with the high school kids I coach, and it's been pretty aimless, so I'm looking forward to some group training and getting back into racing.
Hey Ralphy, nice numbers there. 87% is amazing! I just wanted to make sure you were using a trailing 12 month (TTM) expense number instead of a YTD number to calculate your savings. The latter will incorrectly inflate your estimate of months or years of expenses covered. I would do:
12 * (net worth / TTM expenses) = months of expenses saved
12 * (net worth / TTM expenses) = months of expenses saved
Thanks Bendoza. 80+% is surprisingly easy when you have no dependents and have minimal rent payments
You're right, of course, about the calculation, as the 12 month average would capture those once-a-year expenses I haven't incurred yet in 2011. But I also feel like my spending habits have changed a lot in the past year, so the YTD number is a better reflection of my current situation. I hope so, anyway.
You're right, of course, about the calculation, as the 12 month average would capture those once-a-year expenses I haven't incurred yet in 2011. But I also feel like my spending habits have changed a lot in the past year, so the YTD number is a better reflection of my current situation. I hope so, anyway.
Looks like I've been dormant on the journaling front for quite a while longer than I intended. I guess my free time and access to internet have both been intermittent since late summer, as my cross country coaching duties resumed in July.
Still taking the three part-time jobs approach - coaching distance runners, maintenance tech, pizza delivery.
Progress is steady on the financial front. Average monthly expenses for the year are still below $500, so I've been able to maintain my goal of saving $2,000+ per month. Like others have written lately, I've cut most of the spending fat and am more or less counting the months until ERE is possible. Summer 2016 is still looking good, unless I get ambitious and start making some money
Also like several others here, I got into the Permanent Portfolio a few months ago. I researched it pretty relentlessly for six months or so before finally getting comfortable with the idea, but the seemingly steady, non-volatile returns put me at ease. Many thanks to the forum members at Crawling Road.
Our first attempt at square foot gardening was rather encouraging this summer. We had as many tomatoes as we could eat, plenty of bell peppers, and a little bit of basil and broccoli. The cucumber plant didn't fare too well, and our strawberry plants didn't produce as much fruit as I hoped. There's still some fall spinach and lettuce growing, too. I started a nice compost pile at work where we discard weeds, leaves, grass clippings, etc from the property. I had enough finished compost to refill my planter boxes after removing the summer plants. Anyway, I talked to my supervisor at the property I work at about starting a community garden next spring, and he seemed very receptive to the idea, so I'm hoping I'll be able to expand my gardening experiment next year.
Once cross country season came around again, I got back into running on a much more regular basis. For now, my weekly mileage and body weight are back in line with my high school self. I'm definitely getting the itch to take a mini-retirement and do some serious training, but for now I'll fit in running when I can around the current work schedule.
I've already put about 10,000 miles on the car that I bought in April, though most of that driving is compensated. The only maintenance work I've had to do is oil changes and a new air filter, so I've been very happy with the purchase so far.
Currently reading - Walden (my first time)
Net worth / YTD monthly expenses = ~83 months
Still taking the three part-time jobs approach - coaching distance runners, maintenance tech, pizza delivery.
Progress is steady on the financial front. Average monthly expenses for the year are still below $500, so I've been able to maintain my goal of saving $2,000+ per month. Like others have written lately, I've cut most of the spending fat and am more or less counting the months until ERE is possible. Summer 2016 is still looking good, unless I get ambitious and start making some money
Also like several others here, I got into the Permanent Portfolio a few months ago. I researched it pretty relentlessly for six months or so before finally getting comfortable with the idea, but the seemingly steady, non-volatile returns put me at ease. Many thanks to the forum members at Crawling Road.
Our first attempt at square foot gardening was rather encouraging this summer. We had as many tomatoes as we could eat, plenty of bell peppers, and a little bit of basil and broccoli. The cucumber plant didn't fare too well, and our strawberry plants didn't produce as much fruit as I hoped. There's still some fall spinach and lettuce growing, too. I started a nice compost pile at work where we discard weeds, leaves, grass clippings, etc from the property. I had enough finished compost to refill my planter boxes after removing the summer plants. Anyway, I talked to my supervisor at the property I work at about starting a community garden next spring, and he seemed very receptive to the idea, so I'm hoping I'll be able to expand my gardening experiment next year.
Once cross country season came around again, I got back into running on a much more regular basis. For now, my weekly mileage and body weight are back in line with my high school self. I'm definitely getting the itch to take a mini-retirement and do some serious training, but for now I'll fit in running when I can around the current work schedule.
I've already put about 10,000 miles on the car that I bought in April, though most of that driving is compensated. The only maintenance work I've had to do is oil changes and a new air filter, so I've been very happy with the purchase so far.
Currently reading - Walden (my first time)
Net worth / YTD monthly expenses = ~83 months
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Monsternaka
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:01 am
-
LiquidSapphire
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm
I'm really intrigued by your pizza delivery numbers, but I have heard that for those types of jobs, you have to get "special" car insurance. For instance, if you are driving pizza, and have an accident where you are liable, it is feasible that your car insurance company would not cover you ordinarily if you were driving your car for business. How much extra does this kind of insurance cost you? Just curious.
October - Month 10 of 66
October savings rate = 86.1%
Net Worth / YTD monthly expenses = 92 months
Notes
- October marks the end of our cross country season, so my coaching duties are done until March and my work schedule drops from 50-60 hrs/wk to 30-40 for the next few months. I might pick up more delivery shifts to keep the income up, but for now I'm very happy to enjoy the extra free time.
- My primary financial goal at the start of the year was to grow my net worth by $24,000 this year (2K per month), so I'm happy to report that I'm within a few hundred dollars of hitting that, with two months to add to it. Additionally, I'm already past 25% of my minimum ERE net worth goal, so I might get there more quickly than the 5.5 years I originally planned out (depending on if I decide to take a mini-retirement along the way ).
- My gardening season is finally coming to a close, though I do still have a couple salads worth of spinach and lettuce left to harvest. I'm very much looking forward to growing a bigger garden next year and expanding the variety of food we grow. I would love to have the land to be more of a homesteader, but while GF's job pays for our rent, we'll have to be happy with patio gardening at our apartment.
- I mentioned several posts ago that I was working to get a community garden started at the apartment community that I work at, and that I had the support of our maintenance supervisor, but upper management shot the idea down, because they were worried that it would look 'unattractive' to prospective renters if it wasn't fully kept up. Hopefully I can at least carve out some out of the way space for additional container gardening for myself.
- Next skill I plan to learn is beer brewing. I received Palmer's "How to Brew" as a birthday gift this year, so I'm eager to line up some equipment and see what I can create.
October savings rate = 86.1%
Net Worth / YTD monthly expenses = 92 months
Notes
- October marks the end of our cross country season, so my coaching duties are done until March and my work schedule drops from 50-60 hrs/wk to 30-40 for the next few months. I might pick up more delivery shifts to keep the income up, but for now I'm very happy to enjoy the extra free time.
- My primary financial goal at the start of the year was to grow my net worth by $24,000 this year (2K per month), so I'm happy to report that I'm within a few hundred dollars of hitting that, with two months to add to it. Additionally, I'm already past 25% of my minimum ERE net worth goal, so I might get there more quickly than the 5.5 years I originally planned out (depending on if I decide to take a mini-retirement along the way
).- My gardening season is finally coming to a close, though I do still have a couple salads worth of spinach and lettuce left to harvest. I'm very much looking forward to growing a bigger garden next year and expanding the variety of food we grow. I would love to have the land to be more of a homesteader, but while GF's job pays for our rent, we'll have to be happy with patio gardening at our apartment.
- I mentioned several posts ago that I was working to get a community garden started at the apartment community that I work at, and that I had the support of our maintenance supervisor, but upper management shot the idea down, because they were worried that it would look 'unattractive' to prospective renters if it wasn't fully kept up. Hopefully I can at least carve out some out of the way space for additional container gardening for myself.
- Next skill I plan to learn is beer brewing. I received Palmer's "How to Brew" as a birthday gift this year, so I'm eager to line up some equipment and see what I can create.
UPDATE (March 3)
2011 Recap - (long overdue!)
I officially became 100% debt-free on New Year's Day, 2010, so my net worth at that point was 0, or close to it (I probably had a small emergency fund squirreled away). That was the culmination of a two year debt pay-down. For 2010, I hung onto the frugality of those past two years, but didn't have any clear goals, so I saved around 50% or ~1,000+/mo. Toward the end of that year I committed to an ERE plan, so 2011 became my first full year of ERE-living. Here are some of the details -
~35,000 = Gross Income
2,600 = Taxes
2,400 = Transportation
1,600 = Food
1,100 = Health Insurance
...900 = Utilities
...800 = Travel
...700 = Gifts
...400 = Garage rent
...100 = Haircuts
...300 = Other miscellaneous
I received about $2,200 in vehicle compensation from two of my jobs, so after-tax, transportation-adjusted expenses for the year were about $6,000. Even though most of my driving expenses are comp'ed, it still makes me cringe a little that I pay more to feed and shelter my car than my person.
Savings of after-tax income = 82%
Added 54 months of living expenses to net worth, to bring the total to 87.
GF and I started cutting my hair ourselves a few months ago, so that haircut line will be coming off the expense list. So will the garage rent line (GF is getting transferred to a different property, which has garages on site).
******************
Investing
I started building a Permanent Portfolio back in the start of the summer. For the first part of 2012 I'm just piling savings into cash until it's time for a rebalance. I'm eventually envisioning holding the majority of my money in a Permanent Portfolio, with a Variable Portfolio geared toward income.
My goal is still to have an ERE-adequate portfolio by my birthday in 2016 (about 4.5 years from now). If current paces hold up, I'm about 3 years away from a 4% SWR portfolio, and 4 years from a 3% SWR portfolio. I'm guessing I'll transition to part-time work when I get closer to that time, as I really enjoy one of my jobs and won't be in a hurry to get rid of it.
******************
Biggest changes so far -
- I eat out much less frequently (maybe 1-2 times/mo?).
- Learned to bake my own bread.
- Started walking/biking for majority of in town trips (have had lots of fun mtn biking in the snow.
- Have been watching a lot less TV in the past few months.
- Started SqFt Gardening, planning to expand a lot in 2012.
- Paid cash for a more reliable car for delivering pizza.
******************
Upcoming -
- When GF and I move this spring, we'll be about 25 miles away from my track coaching job, so I'll have to look long and hard at whether that gig is worth the commute. It's very gratifying work but also low-paying.
2011 Recap - (long overdue!)
I officially became 100% debt-free on New Year's Day, 2010, so my net worth at that point was 0, or close to it (I probably had a small emergency fund squirreled away). That was the culmination of a two year debt pay-down. For 2010, I hung onto the frugality of those past two years, but didn't have any clear goals, so I saved around 50% or ~1,000+/mo. Toward the end of that year I committed to an ERE plan, so 2011 became my first full year of ERE-living. Here are some of the details -
~35,000 = Gross Income
2,600 = Taxes
2,400 = Transportation
1,600 = Food
1,100 = Health Insurance
...900 = Utilities
...800 = Travel
...700 = Gifts
...400 = Garage rent
...100 = Haircuts
...300 = Other miscellaneous
I received about $2,200 in vehicle compensation from two of my jobs, so after-tax, transportation-adjusted expenses for the year were about $6,000. Even though most of my driving expenses are comp'ed, it still makes me cringe a little that I pay more to feed and shelter my car than my person.
Savings of after-tax income = 82%
Added 54 months of living expenses to net worth, to bring the total to 87.
GF and I started cutting my hair ourselves a few months ago, so that haircut line will be coming off the expense list. So will the garage rent line (GF is getting transferred to a different property, which has garages on site).
******************
Investing
I started building a Permanent Portfolio back in the start of the summer. For the first part of 2012 I'm just piling savings into cash until it's time for a rebalance. I'm eventually envisioning holding the majority of my money in a Permanent Portfolio, with a Variable Portfolio geared toward income.
My goal is still to have an ERE-adequate portfolio by my birthday in 2016 (about 4.5 years from now). If current paces hold up, I'm about 3 years away from a 4% SWR portfolio, and 4 years from a 3% SWR portfolio. I'm guessing I'll transition to part-time work when I get closer to that time, as I really enjoy one of my jobs and won't be in a hurry to get rid of it.
******************
Biggest changes so far -
- I eat out much less frequently (maybe 1-2 times/mo?).
- Learned to bake my own bread.
- Started walking/biking for majority of in town trips (have had lots of fun mtn biking in the snow
.- Have been watching a lot less TV in the past few months.
- Started SqFt Gardening, planning to expand a lot in 2012.
- Paid cash for a more reliable car for delivering pizza.
******************
Upcoming -
- When GF and I move this spring, we'll be about 25 miles away from my track coaching job, so I'll have to look long and hard at whether that gig is worth the commute. It's very gratifying work but also low-paying.
We've had a stretch of record warm temperatures lately, so I spent some time outside getting this year's patio garden started.
First project was to get the compost piles back up to speed. I have three side-by-side bins built out of pallets. Two of those were fully filled last fall with leaves, yard waste, and a little bit of food scraps. They weren't very active when I checked on them last weekend, but within a few days of getting flipped the centers were hot to the touch. One measured as high as 165 degrees.
I have 10 sq ft of planter box space to work with at our apartment. One square is filled with leftover strawberry plants from last year. I planted two squares of spinach about 10 days ago, and that's starting to pop through the soil now. Today I planted the following -
2 sq - leaf lettuce
1 sq - arugula
1 sq - swiss chard
1 sq - kale
1 sq - radishes
I also picked up four broccoli plants and transplanted them into pots. I'm hoping to have some mean salads this spring!
Once we get past the last frost, I'll get into some tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
First project was to get the compost piles back up to speed. I have three side-by-side bins built out of pallets. Two of those were fully filled last fall with leaves, yard waste, and a little bit of food scraps. They weren't very active when I checked on them last weekend, but within a few days of getting flipped the centers were hot to the touch. One measured as high as 165 degrees.
I have 10 sq ft of planter box space to work with at our apartment. One square is filled with leftover strawberry plants from last year. I planted two squares of spinach about 10 days ago, and that's starting to pop through the soil now. Today I planted the following -
2 sq - leaf lettuce
1 sq - arugula
1 sq - swiss chard
1 sq - kale
1 sq - radishes
I also picked up four broccoli plants and transplanted them into pots. I'm hoping to have some mean salads this spring!
Once we get past the last frost, I'll get into some tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
March - Month 15 of 66
March Savings Rate = 76%
Net worth / 12 month avg expenses = 97 months
- The 'months of expenses saved' number seems to be climbing slowly lately - it feels like I've been approaching 100 for several months. My net worth has continued to climb, but expenses have creeped upward a bit over the past six months (mostly due to an extended Christmas trip and jewelry gift for GF). This month it was a bill for a mechanic to help start my car.
- I signed a contract last month to supply an apartment community with an arcade machine. I'm putting an old Street Fighter II cabinet in the laundromat of ~500 apartment unit property. Hopefully that'll give my passive income stream a decent boost. I'm working on adding a small handful of other locations (including a muy prime pizza place downtown).
- The progress of the spring salad garden keeps me pretty excited. Radishes look almost ready to eat already, and all the leafy green stuff I planted is pretty well established. I built another 2'x6' box to use at work. That space will work better than my little patio for vertical gardening, so I'll try some tomatoes and cucumbers there in a week or so.
- Running is going well again. I took most of the winter off, so I felt like I was starting from scratch again, but I'm up to about a month of solid base-building now as I get ready for a few low-key races this summer.
- I feel like I haven't tackled any new skills or read any good books lately - that needs to move up the priority list. Also hoping to take a weekend off soon and take a camping trip with GF and the dog.
March Savings Rate = 76%
Net worth / 12 month avg expenses = 97 months
- The 'months of expenses saved' number seems to be climbing slowly lately - it feels like I've been approaching 100 for several months. My net worth has continued to climb, but expenses have creeped upward a bit over the past six months (mostly due to an extended Christmas trip and jewelry gift for GF). This month it was a bill for a mechanic to help start my car.
- I signed a contract last month to supply an apartment community with an arcade machine. I'm putting an old Street Fighter II cabinet in the laundromat of ~500 apartment unit property. Hopefully that'll give my passive income stream a decent boost. I'm working on adding a small handful of other locations (including a muy prime pizza place downtown).
- The progress of the spring salad garden keeps me pretty excited. Radishes look almost ready to eat already, and all the leafy green stuff I planted is pretty well established. I built another 2'x6' box to use at work. That space will work better than my little patio for vertical gardening, so I'll try some tomatoes and cucumbers there in a week or so.
- Running is going well again. I took most of the winter off, so I felt like I was starting from scratch again, but I'm up to about a month of solid base-building now as I get ready for a few low-key races this summer.
- I feel like I haven't tackled any new skills or read any good books lately - that needs to move up the priority list. Also hoping to take a weekend off soon and take a camping trip with GF and the dog.
