sea's journal

[2Birds1Stone]

Enjoying your Journal so far Sea.

[sea]

Enjoying your Journal so far Sea.

I was just enjoying yours too. You are killing it.

[sea]

I've been thinking about reducing my expenses via voluntary simplicity and DIY. All the progress I've made so far has been more motivated by getting my financial house in order now that I'm single. Also, in part as a response to my father's retirement, and some of my older co-workers wringing their hands and making comments that they pray they can retire in 10 years like it's going to take a miracle or divine intervention. I don't want to have to work when I'm super old if I can avoid it. But I've gotten pretty hooked by lifestyle inflation, convenience and comfort again in a short period of time. I feel some disgust too because I already know how to live quite simply, I just haven't been motivated to so yet - no rationalizations.

There's also the question of balance, enjoying the now being mindful of the future. If I were FI, I would have more time and energy to work on music, art, and other projects I may not want to monetize. (I did produce my very first techno track this week!) But FI and ER(E) are still abstract concepts for me. I read about them, but I don't know anyone personally that have achieved them at a younger age or is working toward them. I also am already an outlier in many ways, and think about how being more extreme may further limit the humans I can connect with.

Before I tackle expenses though I think the first step is to get my literal home in order. My bedroom is very clean since it's my sanctuary, but my living room, dining area, kitchen, bathroom and sunroom are all horrendously cluttered right now. It's wasteful and silly to pay for all this space I have to myself, and I'm not even enjoying most it. My dining room table isn't even functional to eat off of right now. I have many things I can donate, recycle or sell too.

Current mission: Tame my clothing beast
I have almost all my clothes piled in my living room to sort as my first step. I tried on my super super skinny jeans which I can zip up for the first time in 3 years! I don't own a scale, but the Pilates, walking everywhere I can, taking the stairs (I work on the 8th floor), and eating a big salad every day is working apparently. I don't have that much more to go before they fit well. Progress! Off to sort and put away the clothes I'm keeping. Writing about it here for accountability to myself.

[Forskaren]

Nice income, it should be possible to ERE if you get costs down and invest.

"Spending money" sounds a bit uncontrolled. Do you keep track on exactly what you spend money on? Is it any special reason why you eat at restaurants at all?

[sea]

Nice income, it should be possible to ERE if you get costs down and invest.

I think so too, it's just a matter of how quickly.

"Spending money" sounds a bit uncontrolled. Do you keep track on exactly what you spend money on? Is it any special reason why you eat at restaurants at all?

I actually removed the "spending money" category from my budget because it was totally uncontrolled. It was a catchall from when I would take money out of an ATM and didn't track where I was spending it on. I think I actually spend less when I use cards, but have a digital envelope system. In the past, I was able to not budget at all and spend much less because I just didn't want to buy anything I didn't need.

Restaurants are out of control too. There are some times that I would like to eat out to socialize, but my restaurant spending is excessive. I know how to cook, but don't enjoy cooking for just myself now. I have started eating more giant salads and bringing them to work for lunch. I've also been making my own coldpress. So it's going down. I've wanted a Vitamix for a long time too, but they are so pricey. I realize that I could just buy one if I didn't eat for a month so that puts things into context.

[sea]

Also, went through most of my clothes and have a bag's worth to donate. Still have one closet to sort which I would like to do over the next week. I was pretty close to hitting my $2.5K monthly expense target, but went over hosting a baby shower for a good friend and traveling this weekend. It was totally worth it though.

[sea]

June was pretty good. I didn't hit 50% SR technically because I got a good deal on a ticket to Prague this fall, but I made a ton of progress getting my space in order. I have a yard waste bag full of clothes to donate and a bunch of other stuff, cleaned and organized an entire closet, my entry way and living room. Rearranged everything to make my home music studio more functional. I've been having a lot more people over too, and have been more social in general.

I almost think that doing a space clearing/reorganization is more helpful for me to be done before cutting expenses. It allows me to take inventory and appreciate what I do have, even if it's just being able to enjoy my space. And find things. I'm not done yet but made significant progress.

For reducing expenses, I set up all my auto-deductions to be at a 50% SR. I'm going to try out the new version of YNAB and see if the new feature of watching money age is helpful. I plan to read Your Money or Your Life again. I also am thinking about doing a financial fast for a month and not being able to spend anything beyond my core expenses. Then slowly add expenses back in and see if they honestly augment the quality of my life or are worth my life energy. Detaching from my increased lifestyle costs has been harder than I anticipated.

[sea]

I've also been considering building a small (music/art) studio with a loft (300-400 sq feet) on my parents property. It would be 3 seasons, but something I could winterize if I wanted to. They have prefab options that even with permits would be under $20K. It's very tempting because I could build something for less than a full 20% downpayment and experiment with the functionality of living in a smaller space again. My place now is about 600 square feet and feels very luxurious for one person.

[sea]

Things are about the same. I've done lots of awesome music stuff in the last month, doing demoes and workshops and more to come next month. Around 50% SR from automatic deductions, and still mulling through future living options. I really miss community. I lived someone once where I had a bunch of friends within walking distance, people over for dinner all the time, friends randomly biking by and stopping to hang out on my porch. I don't know if that's possible to have here, the Twin Cities are so spread out although there a couple pockets where it could happen. I'm buying a cheap reliable car that gets great gas mileage with cash. Still thinking about building a studio in the country too.

I've cut my eating out expenses quite a bit and just moved to the new YNAB to further cut expenses. I've started shopping for some things at ALDI too, and making more food for myself. Still not anywhere near extreme levels, but fairly steady progress. I'll have my FU funded in less than 2 years, depending on the markets. Full retirement a little less than 15 years out which seems way too long. Once I hit my next goal of $2.5K monthly expenses, it's 12 years out and $2K, less than 10. I'm still struggling to come up with a more concrete plan instead of working toward something nebulous.

I'm struggling with the balance of having experiences that augment the quality of my life and buckling down and where that should be. My trip to Europe this fall is not going to be cheap either, but I think will be worth it. Still thinking of having a financial fast in September where I only pay my core expenses and have a small amount of cash and when it's gone, it's gone. I honestly didn't think the lifestyle inflation this time would be so hard to cut.

[sea]

My SR since my trip has been hovering around 26-32% which is good by conventional measures but not extreme at all. To be honest, I've had a very lavish existence for the last several months. I wonder if this is the right place for me or if I should read the book again because it does resonate. I'm four days into a financial fast where I am examining my purchases/expenses to see what is actually needed and what augments my life. I did not max out my 401K last year, but did put in $12K in myself which is the most I've ever done. My goals for next year are maxing the HSA again, maxing the Roth next since it's a smaller chunk, and putting more in my 401K than last year.

I bought a car too with cash and although it does cost more than public transit it's been so very convenient.

My former partner and I are talking about getting back together although this is recent. He's on board with working toward financial independence together and is currently far more frugal than I am. Still looking at houses and duplexes and building a studio in the country.

I've also talked to my tax guy about turning some of my music education stuff into a business and he said it already was tax purposes and is helping me with that. Most of the travel and even gear I buy are for those purposes primarily so even breaking even would be a boon.

[sea]

I haven't updated here in awhile but am still making progress albeit slowly. Total savings rate has balanced out around 26% gross (I've already saved nearly 20K this year) which is not bad, but also not very extreme. My former partner and I are back together and living together again. We rented a duplex in a very nice area to see if we wanted to buy one to be owner-occupied and how much we value being a cute neighborhood and having a million things within walking distance. It's been good, but we have been learning we really value privacy over convenience/being surrounded by cute houses & amentities. He's on board with early retirement and short-term and long-term financial planning goals. We can technically afford a place here, but the thought of being strapped to a mortgage that large makes me queasy.

We've decided what we want a cottage in the city, probably around 1000 sq ft with a decent lot and sub $150K so we can pay it off quickly. We are priced out of our current neighborhood with that but there's lots of options in the greater area. We have down payment and closing costs figured out, and we'll be meeting with a real estate agent soon and getting pre-approved for a mortgage in case we find any amazing deals/short sales over the winter. Otherwise, ideally we will find something in the spring and our lease turns into month-to-month so we'll have a lot of flexibility.

Still working on cutting down expenses. I'm taking another trip to Europe this fall! But it will be very reasonable because I had frequent flyer miles and my friend is letting me stay in his rental flat for free. I am hoping I can do the trip for $1K.

[sea]

I bought a single family home last year in a hot market and still did pretty well all things considered but it was more than $150K, but less than $200K. I have it on a 15-year fixed, but would like to get it paid off in under 10 years. My relationship didn't work out, but I have hit a consistent 50%+ SR on my own although of course I would like that to be higher.

I LOVE having a house even though it's a lot of work. I've been working on getting it to be an urban homestead, thought about putting solar panels in, but didn't want to take any more debt at the moment. I'm focusing on inexpensive projects to get the house to more sustainable and also paying off my debt completely. Have been turning down much higher paying jobs that don't offer the same level of flexibility I have now. I have negotiated with my current employer to telecommute 3/4 days a week which has been wonderful. I also have some music related projects that are starting to bring in monthly income as well.

I've been less focused on early retirement and thinking more about what I would like do all the time. It would be more of a retirement from corporate life since I see myself working in stuff around music for the rest of my life. Thinking about getting a degree that would augment that and allow me to have a private practice in my home and transition from corporate work.

[sea]

I would still like to galvanize myself to be more extreme around financial independence though. I still wonder how much it has to do with me being an artist and educator at heart and an INFJ and not an INTP or whatever.

[sea]

I think I probably just need new goals around it since getting a house was such a big goal for so long. Have specific goals around education, opening my own business and being debt and mortgage free.