Great step forward in your life. Congrats!
Chris' (iProgramStuff) ERE Journal
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Spartan_Warrior
- Posts: 1659
- Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:24 am
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
@bigato: I have got some books on vitamins and minerals as well as some diet books (mostly vegan/raw like 80/10/10 diet, The Sunfood Diet) that are on my reading list. I don't know if I'd trial a paleo diet, but I have said if I ate meat again I'd probably have a diet a lot like the paleo diet. This is the first time I have heard about macrobiotics, so I'm going to look into it a bit more. Have you ever tried it?
@m741: But, I no longer have the money. I figure if it is returned to me, I can put it in as income in the "Other" category. And, as I understood, but please correct me if I'm wrong, it actually does go towards my last months rent when I decide to move out.
Thought you guys would like the news of me moving out!
@m741: But, I no longer have the money. I figure if it is returned to me, I can put it in as income in the "Other" category. And, as I understood, but please correct me if I'm wrong, it actually does go towards my last months rent when I decide to move out.
Thought you guys would like the news of me moving out!
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
@bigato: Wow, that's pretty close to the source. Learning from a guy who lived with the founder for years, pretty sweet. Pretty ironic thing to happen to Michio Kushi, but I read he had other bad habits (smoking for decades), so maybe that doesn't disprove the diet's effectiveness. Experimenting sounds like a great idea, but I don't know how open I am to eating meat right now, unless I hunted it myself or something, and even then I think it would be hard for me to kill the animal. I also heard that eating meat after being vegetarian/vegan for awhile can make you sick (though that wouldn't stop me from eating it again if I am convinced it is the healthy thing to do)
I plan to travel around the world for some time, for experiences and growth. If I am heading towards Brazil (and I don't see why not!), I will shoot you a message and maybe you could show me some hospitality
What kind of details about my money making are you interested in? I mostly just take the income for dummies approach and trade my time for money. I want to work on better income streams like creating flash games with ads that build a passive stream, or maybe blogging. Steve Pavlina talks about creating passive income streams in his blog and tells you to decouple your value from your time. If you can create something to deliver value over and over again without needing much, if any, of your time then you can build a large income as you combine multiple passive income sources, all the while being more resilient as you can lose any source of income and still have more (or be in a position to create more).
I plan to travel around the world for some time, for experiences and growth. If I am heading towards Brazil (and I don't see why not!), I will shoot you a message and maybe you could show me some hospitality
What kind of details about my money making are you interested in? I mostly just take the income for dummies approach and trade my time for money. I want to work on better income streams like creating flash games with ads that build a passive stream, or maybe blogging. Steve Pavlina talks about creating passive income streams in his blog and tells you to decouple your value from your time. If you can create something to deliver value over and over again without needing much, if any, of your time then you can build a large income as you combine multiple passive income sources, all the while being more resilient as you can lose any source of income and still have more (or be in a position to create more).
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
And now that December is over, here is my update for the month! It has been a month of clear thinking. For the past few months I felt I was constantly busy, trying to learn and do so many more new things. I had a moment of insight this month and realized I need to focus on things I’ve already taken on rather than adding new ones. I’ve been focussing a lot of buying my own property, and starting some other new time consuming hobbies and reading interests. But I have yet to do other things I wanted to. I don’t eat the way I’d ideally like to yet, so I am going to focus more on my meals. I also don’t exercise nearly as much as I’d like, and I will do that first. I’m going to get my current life running smooth and efficiently before adding on more things. It makes sense to me.
Current Savings: $17,914.77
Current Savings Rate: 60.93%
Category This Month Average (6mo)
Transportation 180.00 270.90
Food 330.12 163.44
Housing 17.81 159.62
Recreational 490.00 400.85
Entertainment 25.00 71.26
Rodney 93.09 21.87
Clothes 0.00 41.81
Gardening 0.00 35.66
Cell Phone 28.25 113.00
Contingencies 0.00 2.13
Munchies 4.23 23.35
Gifts 475.99 98.03
Other 78.24 132.78
Expenses 1,652.09 1,449.94
Evertz 2,750.62 2,945.04
Other 22.75 219.56
Income 2,773.37 3,710.93
Savings 1,121.28 2,260.99
% Spent 59.57% 43.79%
% Saved 40.43% 56.21%
Total Income $29,687.44
Total Savings $18,087.90
Total % Spent 39.07%
Total % Saved 60.93%
With regards to the house search, I have set some strict criteria and told my Realtor to contact me if they see a suitable house. My criteria is: A 3 bedroom house with at least 2 bathrooms. Ideally, a 3 pc bathroom in the basement with a basement that I can live in or rent out (while taking a bedroom upstairs). Or a great deal on a house with a separate in law suite. Since I’m not particularly inclined at this moment to go forward with property management and ownership in a city I plan to be far away from in the near future, I will probably only go down this path again if I see an awesome deal.
This month had some extra increased spending due to Christmas. I bought my girlfriend a used Nikon D50 off someone on Kijiji that included two Tamron lenses: 18-55 and 70-300, four filters, and a camera bag. I also bought some $25 gift cards for other people. Though Christmas isn’t all giving, and I got some gifts myself which helped subsidize these expenses. My girlfriend gave me some new clothes (nice plain coloured t shirts), a lettuce spinner (useful for salads, I was not a fan of dabbing lettuce with paper towel), and an awesome yoga mat for my new interest! I have already used it a few times and it is much nicer than the floor or a towel. From some others I received a movie gift card good for 2 tickets (My girlfriend and I used this up very quickly on our 6 year 5 month anniversary this past Friday to see The Hobbit! We also ate at Pho Mai before hand which cost $25 placed into the Entertainment category). Her parents gave me socks, underwear, and a new sweatshirt. Her Nonna gave me a fleece house robe, 2 towels [now I have 4, more than enough!], and her Nana gave me a nice sweatshirt. Most of this is very useful as I only had 1 sweatshirt, and I actually don’t think I’ve bought my own socks in awhile. I believe all of the socks I own are from her parents now, since they often give socks with something else, which is great. The 4 t shirts she bought me should last awhile and save me from buying some new shirts myself. I might not have bought some of this myself, but it is all useful to me.
I think my food expenses are too high. I’m going to try to cut this down to at least $50-75/week. It is hard to know what a good goal is as I have health as a major concern and don’t want to save money on food at the expense of my health. I also feed my girlfriend a lot and that is hard to account for. All I know is, I don’t feel comfortable seeing that number reach over $300 for a single month, and it’s going lower.
I spent a lot on Rodney (the bearded dragon that guards my room in exchange for food) this month, but I expect to spend less on her in the coming months. Lately, I haven’t been feeding her as much as I’d like, and now that I’ve moved, I have access to a different local pet store, and they have a great system that I bought into. You can buy 100 crickets for $14, or a 500 cricket card for $30. You can simply go in and say how many crickets you want and they take it off your card. I bought a worm card too. Rodney will grow big and be eating a lot in the coming months.
It was also my Dad’s birthday this month, so I spent $38 to take him out to lunch and bought him a deluxe mixed nut container from Costco (taking advantage of the membership my girlfriends mother has).
The next month should be interesting, as it is the first month of a brand new year – and that means brand new challenges that I am ready to face head on!
Current Savings: $17,914.77
Current Savings Rate: 60.93%
Category This Month Average (6mo)
Transportation 180.00 270.90
Food 330.12 163.44
Housing 17.81 159.62
Recreational 490.00 400.85
Entertainment 25.00 71.26
Rodney 93.09 21.87
Clothes 0.00 41.81
Gardening 0.00 35.66
Cell Phone 28.25 113.00
Contingencies 0.00 2.13
Munchies 4.23 23.35
Gifts 475.99 98.03
Other 78.24 132.78
Expenses 1,652.09 1,449.94
Evertz 2,750.62 2,945.04
Other 22.75 219.56
Income 2,773.37 3,710.93
Savings 1,121.28 2,260.99
% Spent 59.57% 43.79%
% Saved 40.43% 56.21%
Total Income $29,687.44
Total Savings $18,087.90
Total % Spent 39.07%
Total % Saved 60.93%
With regards to the house search, I have set some strict criteria and told my Realtor to contact me if they see a suitable house. My criteria is: A 3 bedroom house with at least 2 bathrooms. Ideally, a 3 pc bathroom in the basement with a basement that I can live in or rent out (while taking a bedroom upstairs). Or a great deal on a house with a separate in law suite. Since I’m not particularly inclined at this moment to go forward with property management and ownership in a city I plan to be far away from in the near future, I will probably only go down this path again if I see an awesome deal.
This month had some extra increased spending due to Christmas. I bought my girlfriend a used Nikon D50 off someone on Kijiji that included two Tamron lenses: 18-55 and 70-300, four filters, and a camera bag. I also bought some $25 gift cards for other people. Though Christmas isn’t all giving, and I got some gifts myself which helped subsidize these expenses. My girlfriend gave me some new clothes (nice plain coloured t shirts), a lettuce spinner (useful for salads, I was not a fan of dabbing lettuce with paper towel), and an awesome yoga mat for my new interest! I have already used it a few times and it is much nicer than the floor or a towel. From some others I received a movie gift card good for 2 tickets (My girlfriend and I used this up very quickly on our 6 year 5 month anniversary this past Friday to see The Hobbit! We also ate at Pho Mai before hand which cost $25 placed into the Entertainment category). Her parents gave me socks, underwear, and a new sweatshirt. Her Nonna gave me a fleece house robe, 2 towels [now I have 4, more than enough!], and her Nana gave me a nice sweatshirt. Most of this is very useful as I only had 1 sweatshirt, and I actually don’t think I’ve bought my own socks in awhile. I believe all of the socks I own are from her parents now, since they often give socks with something else, which is great. The 4 t shirts she bought me should last awhile and save me from buying some new shirts myself. I might not have bought some of this myself, but it is all useful to me.
I think my food expenses are too high. I’m going to try to cut this down to at least $50-75/week. It is hard to know what a good goal is as I have health as a major concern and don’t want to save money on food at the expense of my health. I also feed my girlfriend a lot and that is hard to account for. All I know is, I don’t feel comfortable seeing that number reach over $300 for a single month, and it’s going lower.
I spent a lot on Rodney (the bearded dragon that guards my room in exchange for food) this month, but I expect to spend less on her in the coming months. Lately, I haven’t been feeding her as much as I’d like, and now that I’ve moved, I have access to a different local pet store, and they have a great system that I bought into. You can buy 100 crickets for $14, or a 500 cricket card for $30. You can simply go in and say how many crickets you want and they take it off your card. I bought a worm card too. Rodney will grow big and be eating a lot in the coming months.
It was also my Dad’s birthday this month, so I spent $38 to take him out to lunch and bought him a deluxe mixed nut container from Costco (taking advantage of the membership my girlfriends mother has).
The next month should be interesting, as it is the first month of a brand new year – and that means brand new challenges that I am ready to face head on!
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My_Brain_Gets_Itchy
- Posts: 267
- Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:29 pm
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Thanks for the encouragement My_Brain_Gets_Itchy! I often hear a similar sentiment from my girlfriend (she thinks I am an anomaly because my family is on a different path). I didn't think much of it, but I am thanking myself for getting where I am now.
And now, my update for January (sorry for being late!):
Current Savings: $18,101.02
Current Savings Rate: 57.11%
Category This Month Average
Transportation 280.12 274.15
Food 459.82 222.38
Housing 535.55 201.39
Recreational 440.00 405.20
Entertainment 32.40 66.94
Rodney 70.36 27.26
Cell Phone 11.30 26.37
Gifts 0.00 87.89
Other 126.17 201.30
Expenses 1,955.72 1,510.65
Evertz 1,500.41 2,784.53
Freelancing 309.90 242.38
Other 119.11 217.29
Income 2,009.42 3,521.87
Savings 53.70 2,009.00
% Spent 97.33% 49.90%
% Saved 2.67% 50.10%
Total Income $31,696.86
Total Savings $18,101.02
Total % Spent 42.89%
Total % Saved 57.11%
The month didn’t really have surprises, but my savings were dismal, less than 3%. This is a combination of horrible spending (I’ll go over it and slap myself on the wrist soon) and due to receiving one payment from my internship instead of the normal two.
This month saw high expenses for Rodney, and this is due to a living upgrade for her. My girlfriend and I made an awesome fake rock structure that gives her heat lamps at two different heights, as well as a shaded overhang, and an enclosed hiding place. We made this from Styrofoam covered in grout and mod podge. It was a blast, and turned out great. She seems to love it, and is already burrowing in the sand, using her hideout to sleep, and basking in the heat.
My stomach drops when I see what I spent on food. I completely failed to reduce my food spending, but I’m no longer sure what a good goal is. I have a big interest in eating an almost all raw and organic vegan diet and I haven’t quite tuned in how much I should be spending to eat like this. I don’t want to eat processed stuff any more, and I’m not willing to compromise my health for money. Truth be told, I think I would be okay spending this much on a diet like that as my health is worth more than that to me. Must stay healthy. For the time being, I’m going to focus on optimizing what I buy (buying more in bulk, and cooking more batch meals instead of individual meals, buying more in season, and shopping at my farmers market instead of the grocery store) rather than reducing it to an arbitrary number. Over time, I expect to settle into a diet, and then make more optimizations. I’ll keep you informed. Hopefully I’ll still see this number under $350-$400 next month.
I ordered the book “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” for $14.17 shipped. I got the cheapest used one at the time, but there seem to be cheaper ones available now. I’m looking forward to reading this. This was placed in the “Other” category.
I made progress towards some of my new year goals, but failed others. I failed to achieve a 70% savings rate this month, but I did write a new blog post. I have been doing more yoga and increasing my flexibility. I have read “The Raw Secrets” and learned more about eating a natural diet that we are biologically designed for. It seems I will be travelling out of Canada in February to go to a wedding in Chicago (February 28th & March 1st), so that will be my first trip ever out of Canada [another new years goal complete]! Not the most exciting way – but the future holds more for me soon. I had to apply for a passport and this was an $87 fee I placed in the “Other” category.
Along with my new years goals, I’m going to add these ‘mini-goals’ for the month of February:
Yoga at least 15 times
Exercise at least 10 times
Meditate at least 5 times
Read at least 1 book
Every time I do one of these tasks I will mark in on the calendar as a Y, E, or M, respectively. That will help me keep track of how many times I’ve done it all
I’ve also done a category revamp this month. My goal was to reduce the number of categories, whilst at the same time increasing the clarity of information I got from them. This was pretty easy since I was starting from a pretty bad design. Some categories have simply become useless as my life has changed [such as gardening, which I no longer do since I moved and took down the hydroponic vegetable system I had].
Here are some change notes:
Merged Contingencies into Other.
Merged Clothes into Other
Merged Munchies into Food (especially since it is now bought with normal groceries, and become very low)
Merged Gardening into Other (especially since I no longer have a garden! though I will be growing and juicing wheatgrass again soon)
I hope you all had a good January! See you next month for another update
And now, my update for January (sorry for being late!):
Current Savings: $18,101.02
Current Savings Rate: 57.11%
Category This Month Average
Transportation 280.12 274.15
Food 459.82 222.38
Housing 535.55 201.39
Recreational 440.00 405.20
Entertainment 32.40 66.94
Rodney 70.36 27.26
Cell Phone 11.30 26.37
Gifts 0.00 87.89
Other 126.17 201.30
Expenses 1,955.72 1,510.65
Evertz 1,500.41 2,784.53
Freelancing 309.90 242.38
Other 119.11 217.29
Income 2,009.42 3,521.87
Savings 53.70 2,009.00
% Spent 97.33% 49.90%
% Saved 2.67% 50.10%
Total Income $31,696.86
Total Savings $18,101.02
Total % Spent 42.89%
Total % Saved 57.11%
The month didn’t really have surprises, but my savings were dismal, less than 3%. This is a combination of horrible spending (I’ll go over it and slap myself on the wrist soon) and due to receiving one payment from my internship instead of the normal two.
This month saw high expenses for Rodney, and this is due to a living upgrade for her. My girlfriend and I made an awesome fake rock structure that gives her heat lamps at two different heights, as well as a shaded overhang, and an enclosed hiding place. We made this from Styrofoam covered in grout and mod podge. It was a blast, and turned out great. She seems to love it, and is already burrowing in the sand, using her hideout to sleep, and basking in the heat.
My stomach drops when I see what I spent on food. I completely failed to reduce my food spending, but I’m no longer sure what a good goal is. I have a big interest in eating an almost all raw and organic vegan diet and I haven’t quite tuned in how much I should be spending to eat like this. I don’t want to eat processed stuff any more, and I’m not willing to compromise my health for money. Truth be told, I think I would be okay spending this much on a diet like that as my health is worth more than that to me. Must stay healthy. For the time being, I’m going to focus on optimizing what I buy (buying more in bulk, and cooking more batch meals instead of individual meals, buying more in season, and shopping at my farmers market instead of the grocery store) rather than reducing it to an arbitrary number. Over time, I expect to settle into a diet, and then make more optimizations. I’ll keep you informed. Hopefully I’ll still see this number under $350-$400 next month.
I ordered the book “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” for $14.17 shipped. I got the cheapest used one at the time, but there seem to be cheaper ones available now. I’m looking forward to reading this. This was placed in the “Other” category.
I made progress towards some of my new year goals, but failed others. I failed to achieve a 70% savings rate this month, but I did write a new blog post. I have been doing more yoga and increasing my flexibility. I have read “The Raw Secrets” and learned more about eating a natural diet that we are biologically designed for. It seems I will be travelling out of Canada in February to go to a wedding in Chicago (February 28th & March 1st), so that will be my first trip ever out of Canada [another new years goal complete]! Not the most exciting way – but the future holds more for me soon. I had to apply for a passport and this was an $87 fee I placed in the “Other” category.
Along with my new years goals, I’m going to add these ‘mini-goals’ for the month of February:
Yoga at least 15 times
Exercise at least 10 times
Meditate at least 5 times
Read at least 1 book
Every time I do one of these tasks I will mark in on the calendar as a Y, E, or M, respectively. That will help me keep track of how many times I’ve done it all
I’ve also done a category revamp this month. My goal was to reduce the number of categories, whilst at the same time increasing the clarity of information I got from them. This was pretty easy since I was starting from a pretty bad design. Some categories have simply become useless as my life has changed [such as gardening, which I no longer do since I moved and took down the hydroponic vegetable system I had].
Here are some change notes:
Merged Contingencies into Other.
Merged Clothes into Other
Merged Munchies into Food (especially since it is now bought with normal groceries, and become very low)
Merged Gardening into Other (especially since I no longer have a garden! though I will be growing and juicing wheatgrass again soon)
I hope you all had a good January! See you next month for another update
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Time for my February update! Better late than never, right? 
Here is my financial snapshot as of February 28th, 2013:
Current Savings: $19,351.28
Current Savings Rate: 55.18%
Category This Month Average
Transportation 220.02 242.49
Food 414.22 219.60
Housing 510.00 211.13
Recreational 695.50 394.75
Entertainment 39.13 58.33
Rodney 0.00 22.30
Cell Phone 11.30 22.60
Gifts 112.11 82.10
Other 122.15 175.81
Expenses 2,124.43 1,429.12
Evertz 3,023.57 2,553.12
Freelancing 316.12 227.05
Other 35.00 180.96
Income 3,374.69 3,188.32
Savings 1,250.26 1,759.21
% Spent 62.95% 51.21%
% Saved 37.05% 48.79%
Total Income $35,071.55
Total Savings $19,351.28
Total % Spent 44.82%
Total % Saved 55.18%
I am reading A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy and I recommend it. I paid $100 to Plan B Organic Farms to join the Community shared agriculture (CSA) group. This will get me a box of local organic produce every other week for the next two months (4 boxes, $25 per box). I got two boxes this month (Feb 13 and Feb 27) and they were terrific.
I also bought an 11 litre glass water bottle. Filling this with distilled water costs me $1.87 (17 cents per litre), and I must say it is much more stylish. I paid $1.59 at the grocery store for 4 liter plastic bottles, and had 2-4 of these per week in the recycling. This will be better for the environment, and I have no more health concerns about BPA or DEHA leaking into my water! Yippy!
And…I moved out of my place today! Disagreements with the landlord made this quite sudden and now I live with my girlfriend. So there will be NO $510 payment for rent in March, so that will be very nice
...I will try to post my March update on time
Here is my financial snapshot as of February 28th, 2013:
Current Savings: $19,351.28
Current Savings Rate: 55.18%
Category This Month Average
Transportation 220.02 242.49
Food 414.22 219.60
Housing 510.00 211.13
Recreational 695.50 394.75
Entertainment 39.13 58.33
Rodney 0.00 22.30
Cell Phone 11.30 22.60
Gifts 112.11 82.10
Other 122.15 175.81
Expenses 2,124.43 1,429.12
Evertz 3,023.57 2,553.12
Freelancing 316.12 227.05
Other 35.00 180.96
Income 3,374.69 3,188.32
Savings 1,250.26 1,759.21
% Spent 62.95% 51.21%
% Saved 37.05% 48.79%
Total Income $35,071.55
Total Savings $19,351.28
Total % Spent 44.82%
Total % Saved 55.18%
I am reading A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy and I recommend it. I paid $100 to Plan B Organic Farms to join the Community shared agriculture (CSA) group. This will get me a box of local organic produce every other week for the next two months (4 boxes, $25 per box). I got two boxes this month (Feb 13 and Feb 27) and they were terrific.
I also bought an 11 litre glass water bottle. Filling this with distilled water costs me $1.87 (17 cents per litre), and I must say it is much more stylish. I paid $1.59 at the grocery store for 4 liter plastic bottles, and had 2-4 of these per week in the recycling. This will be better for the environment, and I have no more health concerns about BPA or DEHA leaking into my water! Yippy!
And…I moved out of my place today! Disagreements with the landlord made this quite sudden and now I live with my girlfriend. So there will be NO $510 payment for rent in March, so that will be very nice
...I will try to post my March update on time
I am surprised that I have never read your posts before!
I can empathize with you regarding your childhood. My father's former second wife had Borderline Personality Disorder so it was not very pleasant growing up with a very unstable individual. It was like walking on eggshells all the time. I'm wondering if your mother has the same issues as my former step-mother.
Like your father, my Dad enabled his wife and didn't set any boundaries around her behaviour. She would blow money on $5000 Louis Vuitton purses and spend her days on Ebay buying junk like tomorrow. When I helped my father draw up a spreadsheet concerning their matrimonial assets, I discovered that she had spent about $225,000 on jewellery. That's enough money for many people on this forum to be FI on.
I remember when I started "coming out" to my friends about my home life, my friends were shocked. They had no idea that I was living in such a situation. Like ERE, living with mentally unstable individuals is unfathomable for people unless they have lived through it.
In any case, I am happy that you have moved to a healthier situation in your personal life. I can actually view my childhood with gratitude now as my personal experiences have made me a more independent and spiritually conscious person.
I also see that you are vegan too. We should swap some recipes sometime. It would be great if you could make it to the Toronto ERE meet-up. It looks like we would have a lot to chat about.
Keep up the good work.
I can empathize with you regarding your childhood. My father's former second wife had Borderline Personality Disorder so it was not very pleasant growing up with a very unstable individual. It was like walking on eggshells all the time. I'm wondering if your mother has the same issues as my former step-mother.
Like your father, my Dad enabled his wife and didn't set any boundaries around her behaviour. She would blow money on $5000 Louis Vuitton purses and spend her days on Ebay buying junk like tomorrow. When I helped my father draw up a spreadsheet concerning their matrimonial assets, I discovered that she had spent about $225,000 on jewellery. That's enough money for many people on this forum to be FI on.
I remember when I started "coming out" to my friends about my home life, my friends were shocked. They had no idea that I was living in such a situation. Like ERE, living with mentally unstable individuals is unfathomable for people unless they have lived through it.
In any case, I am happy that you have moved to a healthier situation in your personal life. I can actually view my childhood with gratitude now as my personal experiences have made me a more independent and spiritually conscious person.
I also see that you are vegan too. We should swap some recipes sometime. It would be great if you could make it to the Toronto ERE meet-up. It looks like we would have a lot to chat about.
Keep up the good work.
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
pooablo, I agree with your entire post!
I do believe that we are all a function of every experience we've ever had, and that I very well would have been a different person if I had a better situation at home. I am happy with who I am - and I continue to grow every day into someone I like even more. I'm sure it has helped me develop many of my traits. In this sense, I am thankful for the circumstances.
I will try to make it to the meet up with my girlfriend of 7 years (who, by the way, is a much better cook than me). Hopefully she is interested in coming
I do believe that we are all a function of every experience we've ever had, and that I very well would have been a different person if I had a better situation at home. I am happy with who I am - and I continue to grow every day into someone I like even more. I'm sure it has helped me develop many of my traits. In this sense, I am thankful for the circumstances.
I will try to make it to the meet up with my girlfriend of 7 years (who, by the way, is a much better cook than me). Hopefully she is interested in coming
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Hey guys, I don't think I've ever mentioned my blog here. I have been posting journal updates on here and on my blog (writing the blog first then adapting it to here). This month I wanted to include some pictures in my ERE post but it seems like a lot of hassle when I can just link to the blog post (which as a bonus has better formatting in the tables and text). So from now on for my journal updates I will link you to the direct blog post. If there is an overwhelming preference for me to continue copying the posts here as I've been doing, I can continue that! But I thought this would be a win-win for both of us
I hope this is okay with the readers!
My march update is already up on the blog:
http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-5-march-2013/
Quick details for the month:
Income 7,668.64
Savings 5,377.04
% Spent 29.88%
% Saved 70.12%
Total Income $44,146.00
Total Savings $26,213.15
Total % Spent 40.62%
Total % Saved 59.38%
I hope this is okay with the readers!
My march update is already up on the blog:
http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-5-march-2013/
Quick details for the month:
Income 7,668.64
Savings 5,377.04
% Spent 29.88%
% Saved 70.12%
Total Income $44,146.00
Total Savings $26,213.15
Total % Spent 40.62%
Total % Saved 59.38%
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
My April update has been released!
http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-6-april-2013/
Quick details for the month:
Income 2,971.62
Savings -217.66
% Spent 107.32%
% Saved -7.32%
Total Income $45,734.56
Total Savings $25,995.49
Total % Spent 46.18%
Total % Saved 53.82%
http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-6-april-2013/
Quick details for the month:
Income 2,971.62
Savings -217.66
% Spent 107.32%
% Saved -7.32%
Total Income $45,734.56
Total Savings $25,995.49
Total % Spent 46.18%
Total % Saved 53.82%
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Here is my update for May
http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-7-may-2013/
Quick details for the month:
Income 3,274.13
Expenses 3,567.33
Savings -293.20
% Spent 107.32%
% Saved -7.32%
Total Income $49,008.69
Total Savings $24,319.23
Total % Spent 50.38%
Total % Saved 49.62%
http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-7-may-2013/
Quick details for the month:
Income 3,274.13
Expenses 3,567.33
Savings -293.20
% Spent 107.32%
% Saved -7.32%
Total Income $49,008.69
Total Savings $24,319.23
Total % Spent 50.38%
Total % Saved 49.62%
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Just moved to a new apartment and we have a lot of expenses with 'set up' that should be one time. We just bought new bikes, house stuff, etc. My girlfriend didn't have a job for most of this (she now has a part time job, but could use more income..just not sure how to bring it in yet) so I have been paying for everything. I've sadly had to dip into savings a little, but I expect my expenses to hit under $2000, and I have about $1600 as a goal, in the coming months as we settle down and optimize our spending. Trust me, my stomach sinks when I see that savings rate, and I'm not going to let this get out of control. Been encouraging my girl to bring in more income to contribute, and we are both working on lowering expenses. I am very confident that we are on the right track though, and will soon reach easy sailing.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for stopping by!
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Re: Chris' (iProgramStuff) ERE Journal
I have let my updates on this thread slip, I apologize. Please allow me to play catch up!
Updates are usually more up to date on my blog (Have never missed a month, so sometime during every month I have posted the journal update for the previous month..even if its sometimes near the end of the month lol), not that I mean to direct you away from here or plug my blog..I am just better at remembering to post updates there and for people who want to follow me more closely/up-to-date, subscribing to my blog's RSS feed is probably a good way.
I haven't been doing so good with saving lately what with school making it harder to work (and costing $3k) and supporting two people (though this should stop soon whether my girlfriend begins earning money or she moves out) and three animals (this should stop soon too as she will pay for the cat and bunny when she earns money, or will take them with her when she moves out).
I have plans to 'reset' my finances when this happens. I may start a new thread here since my financials will change a lot, and it will clear out the chat from the beginning of the thread, which is quite old news now. My expenses will change a lot and the current averages I use will be pretty useless. Financially, I am excited for things to change (whether she gets a job or moves out), but I am a bit more apprehensive from an emotional perspective. The tension between us these days has been a bit much to handle, but losing the partner I've spent the last 7 years with is a big life change. We grew up together and have quite a bond. It's a shame we are at this point, but I'm going to try my best approaching it with a stoic mindset and keep my goals internalized, and ensure my happiness doesn't depend on her; I will be happy no matter what.
So, without further ado, here is my June update:
June Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-8-june-2013/)
Expenses 2,968.02
Income 3,466.78
Savings 498.75
% Spent 85.61%
% Saved 14.39%
July Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-9-july-2013/)
Expenses 1,843.13
Income 1,650.00
Savings -193.13
% Spent 111.7%
% Saved -11.7%
August Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-updat ... gust-2013/)
Expenses 2,534.24
Income 3,520.00
Savings 985.76
% Spent 72.00%
% Saved 28.00%
September Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-updat ... mber-2013/)
Expenses 2,676.67
Income 2,537.80
Savings -138.87
% Spent 105.47%
% Saved -5.47%
I really don't like negative savings rates...looking forward to saving much more once this situation with my girlfriend is resolved!
Updates are usually more up to date on my blog (Have never missed a month, so sometime during every month I have posted the journal update for the previous month..even if its sometimes near the end of the month lol), not that I mean to direct you away from here or plug my blog..I am just better at remembering to post updates there and for people who want to follow me more closely/up-to-date, subscribing to my blog's RSS feed is probably a good way.
I haven't been doing so good with saving lately what with school making it harder to work (and costing $3k) and supporting two people (though this should stop soon whether my girlfriend begins earning money or she moves out) and three animals (this should stop soon too as she will pay for the cat and bunny when she earns money, or will take them with her when she moves out).
I have plans to 'reset' my finances when this happens. I may start a new thread here since my financials will change a lot, and it will clear out the chat from the beginning of the thread, which is quite old news now. My expenses will change a lot and the current averages I use will be pretty useless. Financially, I am excited for things to change (whether she gets a job or moves out), but I am a bit more apprehensive from an emotional perspective. The tension between us these days has been a bit much to handle, but losing the partner I've spent the last 7 years with is a big life change. We grew up together and have quite a bond. It's a shame we are at this point, but I'm going to try my best approaching it with a stoic mindset and keep my goals internalized, and ensure my happiness doesn't depend on her; I will be happy no matter what.
So, without further ado, here is my June update:
June Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-8-june-2013/)
Expenses 2,968.02
Income 3,466.78
Savings 498.75
% Spent 85.61%
% Saved 14.39%
July Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-update-9-july-2013/)
Expenses 1,843.13
Income 1,650.00
Savings -193.13
% Spent 111.7%
% Saved -11.7%
August Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-updat ... gust-2013/)
Expenses 2,534.24
Income 3,520.00
Savings 985.76
% Spent 72.00%
% Saved 28.00%
September Quick Update (for more see http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-updat ... mber-2013/)
Expenses 2,676.67
Income 2,537.80
Savings -138.87
% Spent 105.47%
% Saved -5.47%
I really don't like negative savings rates...looking forward to saving much more once this situation with my girlfriend is resolved!
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Re: Chris' (iProgramStuff) ERE Journal
Here is my update for October 2013:
Read more at http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-updat ... ober-2013/ (kind of about a funk I'm in...and trying to get out of as I type this now)
Read more at http://lifewithabrain.com/journal-updat ... ober-2013/ (kind of about a funk I'm in...and trying to get out of as I type this now)
Re: Chris' (iProgramStuff) ERE Journal
Chris, your blog is kind of laggy :/
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iProgramStuff
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:52 pm
- Location: Hamilton, ON
- Contact:
Re: Chris' (iProgramStuff) ERE Journal
I agree..any idea why? I've noticed this lately too. Perhaps its got too much to load (images from journals?), maybe my host, maybe something else...I'll investigate this when I can find the time!
EDIT: I installed W3 total cache and it seemed to be working, but after clearing my local cache the site was slow again so I don't think that fixed the problem. To me, it appears that the server is taking awhile for the initial response. I use hostgator shared hosting, and from what I read, it is likely to be the problem.
EDIT: I installed W3 total cache and it seemed to be working, but after clearing my local cache the site was slow again so I don't think that fixed the problem. To me, it appears that the server is taking awhile for the initial response. I use hostgator shared hosting, and from what I read, it is likely to be the problem.