m741's ERE Journal
@Chris - that's really how it feels!
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Well, I guess I skipped two months of updates on my journal, so what's new?
I really haven't tracked that rigorously, in either May or June. I estimated expenses of about 2200 and 2700 respectively for each month (the 2700 due to flights and visiting family). I'm tracking expenses again for July and haven't missed anything yet. After so long (almost the whole year) without rigorous expense tracking I'm starting to feel a little uneasy. So I really want to see concrete numbers. July and August are good for this, too. The only thing I really have planned is attending a wedding, which ought to be a low-key thing. In September I'm taking two weeks to travel, and I'd like to pick up some gear for that, but it shouldn't be too expensive.
In June I did visit family. I can't recall any unusual expenses for May.
I came to a decision about what I want to do in the company I work at, and that was to stay where I'm at. It was a really difficult decision for me to make. I don't know if it was the right one (I regret it a little bit right now but think that's mostly buyer's remorse). There may be a future opportunity to transfer and I'd feel more comfortable if I made the decision in 6-8 months - like I wasn't letting down the team I just transferred to, and also like I had a better feel for what was happening in quant-land. So we'll see what happens.
The past few weeks I've been bitten hard by the travel bug. I read a lot of travel books (Paul Theroux is excellent) and poke around on travel websites. It's funny, I'm more interested in daydreaming about travel than making concrete plans for my upcoming trip.
Otherwise, I'm just trying to survive the summer heat, which is miserable for me. Nothing seriously new, just incremental progress (and a lack of hard numbers right now). I did make a post on the forum about how I track my progress, if anyone happens to be interested.
---
Well, I guess I skipped two months of updates on my journal, so what's new?
I really haven't tracked that rigorously, in either May or June. I estimated expenses of about 2200 and 2700 respectively for each month (the 2700 due to flights and visiting family). I'm tracking expenses again for July and haven't missed anything yet. After so long (almost the whole year) without rigorous expense tracking I'm starting to feel a little uneasy. So I really want to see concrete numbers. July and August are good for this, too. The only thing I really have planned is attending a wedding, which ought to be a low-key thing. In September I'm taking two weeks to travel, and I'd like to pick up some gear for that, but it shouldn't be too expensive.
In June I did visit family. I can't recall any unusual expenses for May.
I came to a decision about what I want to do in the company I work at, and that was to stay where I'm at. It was a really difficult decision for me to make. I don't know if it was the right one (I regret it a little bit right now but think that's mostly buyer's remorse). There may be a future opportunity to transfer and I'd feel more comfortable if I made the decision in 6-8 months - like I wasn't letting down the team I just transferred to, and also like I had a better feel for what was happening in quant-land. So we'll see what happens.
The past few weeks I've been bitten hard by the travel bug. I read a lot of travel books (Paul Theroux is excellent) and poke around on travel websites. It's funny, I'm more interested in daydreaming about travel than making concrete plans for my upcoming trip.
Otherwise, I'm just trying to survive the summer heat, which is miserable for me. Nothing seriously new, just incremental progress (and a lack of hard numbers right now). I did make a post on the forum about how I track my progress, if anyone happens to be interested.
On a lark, I checked my calculator to see times until my 'deadline' of 4/15/2015. 999 days; 713 business days. It feels like a milestone to be into triple digits.
I keep fixating on what I want to do when retired. Currently, I have 4 things that I'm really focused on:
1. Hike the Appalachian Trail.
2. Travel internationally (northern Europe, India/SE Asia, and South America are most interesting to me).
3. Travel across the US via car, camping in and hiking at National Parks.
4. Find a more amenable place to live, and try doing some freelance development there - in particular, I'd like to do indie game programming. Maybe do some part-time work at a small company.
Some days I'm a bit frightened about this end date creeping up on me, even if it's three years away. Other days, it feels like it's impossibly far away.
I keep fixating on what I want to do when retired. Currently, I have 4 things that I'm really focused on:
1. Hike the Appalachian Trail.
2. Travel internationally (northern Europe, India/SE Asia, and South America are most interesting to me).
3. Travel across the US via car, camping in and hiking at National Parks.
4. Find a more amenable place to live, and try doing some freelance development there - in particular, I'd like to do indie game programming. Maybe do some part-time work at a small company.
Some days I'm a bit frightened about this end date creeping up on me, even if it's three years away. Other days, it feels like it's impossibly far away.
July Update
So, I'm finally back on track with tracking. I recorded all my expenses. The breakdown looks like this:
Housing: 1300
Food: 322
Social Life: 166
Utilities: 136
Donations: 32
Entertainment: 50
Transport: 70
Work: 60
Pets: 35
Total expenses 2232; savings rate 66%. Dividend income $408 off $105k invested.
July was relatively uneventful, expense-wise, except that I had to spend a bunch for a friend's wedding (buy matching clothes, present, fancy dinner out, take the bus back & forth 3 times). These expenses represent all the transport, and the social life - so about $240. After that, the number I'm not happy about is $322 for food. I have stopped bringing in food with me to work, so on many days I'll spend $10 between lunch and breakfast. Horrible! For the month of August, I want to get this expense under $200. Should be a breeze. Also, I'd like to reduce entertainment expenses.
Aside from the numbers, I had a rough month in terms of enjoying my work: I don't enjoy it much anymore. I'm openly considering changing jobs, something I wasn't a few months back. I'll at least wait until bonus season, then decide what to do - if I'm satisfied with the bonus/raise combo, then I'll stay, otherwise I'll start interviewing. Although this sounds silly from an ERE perspective, it's not the money I care about so much, it's that I can feel unappreciated at my job, and the money is a proxy for how much my managers care about what I do. They say they care... but words are free.
Finally I'm really trimming down what I own. I don't have a large wardrobe and I got rid of a garbage bag of stuff (donated). I've also been donating around 10 books per week to a local church book sale, hoping to make a dent on the least mobile things I own.
So, I'm finally back on track with tracking. I recorded all my expenses. The breakdown looks like this:
Housing: 1300
Food: 322
Social Life: 166
Utilities: 136
Donations: 32
Entertainment: 50
Transport: 70
Work: 60
Pets: 35
Total expenses 2232; savings rate 66%. Dividend income $408 off $105k invested.
July was relatively uneventful, expense-wise, except that I had to spend a bunch for a friend's wedding (buy matching clothes, present, fancy dinner out, take the bus back & forth 3 times). These expenses represent all the transport, and the social life - so about $240. After that, the number I'm not happy about is $322 for food. I have stopped bringing in food with me to work, so on many days I'll spend $10 between lunch and breakfast. Horrible! For the month of August, I want to get this expense under $200. Should be a breeze. Also, I'd like to reduce entertainment expenses.
Aside from the numbers, I had a rough month in terms of enjoying my work: I don't enjoy it much anymore. I'm openly considering changing jobs, something I wasn't a few months back. I'll at least wait until bonus season, then decide what to do - if I'm satisfied with the bonus/raise combo, then I'll stay, otherwise I'll start interviewing. Although this sounds silly from an ERE perspective, it's not the money I care about so much, it's that I can feel unappreciated at my job, and the money is a proxy for how much my managers care about what I do. They say they care... but words are free.
Finally I'm really trimming down what I own. I don't have a large wardrobe and I got rid of a garbage bag of stuff (donated). I've also been donating around 10 books per week to a local church book sale, hoping to make a dent on the least mobile things I own.
Work: 60
Work is costing you money? This is a bad deal, dude. Definitely time to switch jobs (-:
In seriousness, I agree with akratic, and you and I are in a similar situation. The job market for engineers is good right now, and it feels wrong to not be valued properly. Sure, the salary is good, and the FI math works out after a few years. But why not participate in something more engaging while still making a good salary? That certainly seems reasonable.
Work is costing you money? This is a bad deal, dude. Definitely time to switch jobs (-:
In seriousness, I agree with akratic, and you and I are in a similar situation. The job market for engineers is good right now, and it feels wrong to not be valued properly. Sure, the salary is good, and the FI math works out after a few years. But why not participate in something more engaging while still making a good salary? That certainly seems reasonable.
Thanks, guys. I might start polishing my interview skills a month or two early, per your advice. I'm rusty on some of my CS fundamentals.
As for work costing me money... yeah, it does: $60 is the cost of my commute, monthly. There's also occasional dinners out, and work-related clothing. I don't mind the dinners out, and I don't think the commuting cost is exorbitant. I figure that post-ERE these costs will be roughly equivalent to the cost of health insurance.
As for work costing me money... yeah, it does: $60 is the cost of my commute, monthly. There's also occasional dinners out, and work-related clothing. I don't mind the dinners out, and I don't think the commuting cost is exorbitant. I figure that post-ERE these costs will be roughly equivalent to the cost of health insurance.
I forgot to mention two things in my monthly update.
First, I'm making a very serious effort to get healthy. I was always pretty lackadaisical about it, but it's time for that to stop. I have roughly 50 days until I take a two-week vacation. In that time, I want to get healthy and get up to speed on conversational German. So I'm getting back into lifting weights, doing a little bit of running, and really eating healthy (well... except for the recent wedding that I went to!) If you're interested in details you can read about it on the blog.
The second thing is that I re-read parts of the ERE book. I've read through once, and then read certain sections a few times. I feel like maybe I didn't really engage with the book in the right way the first few times. It has a rather peculiar organization and skips around a bit, and that obscured the theory a bit. After reading it, someone on the forum mentioned that it's really a survivalist book that uses retirement as 'bait,' and that's pretty obvious on the re-read. So I'm going to do another read through. I'm impressed how 'meaty' the book is - on re-read, Your Money or Your Life just didn't have much substance.
First, I'm making a very serious effort to get healthy. I was always pretty lackadaisical about it, but it's time for that to stop. I have roughly 50 days until I take a two-week vacation. In that time, I want to get healthy and get up to speed on conversational German. So I'm getting back into lifting weights, doing a little bit of running, and really eating healthy (well... except for the recent wedding that I went to!) If you're interested in details you can read about it on the blog.
The second thing is that I re-read parts of the ERE book. I've read through once, and then read certain sections a few times. I feel like maybe I didn't really engage with the book in the right way the first few times. It has a rather peculiar organization and skips around a bit, and that obscured the theory a bit. After reading it, someone on the forum mentioned that it's really a survivalist book that uses retirement as 'bait,' and that's pretty obvious on the re-read. So I'm going to do another read through. I'm impressed how 'meaty' the book is - on re-read, Your Money or Your Life just didn't have much substance.
Hi 741,
Here some tips for your visit of Amsterdam.
When you arrive at Schiphol-Airport, take the train to Amsterdam Central (about 10 minutes) When you come off the train, don't head to the sign City Centre but walk opposite to the boat ferries over het IJ. They are free. But first have a look over the water. To the left you see an Eye-catching white flat beautiful formed building on the other side of the water. It is the brand new Film museum, the architects are the same who build the Porche Museum in Stuttgart. Then hop on one of the Ferries, and during the boat fare, close your eyes. From the same water around the year 1700 ,wooden boats sailed out to build new Amsterdam with a "brede straat" (now called Broad Way) in now called Manhattan.
You can have a stroll in north Amsterdam with a good view of old Amsterdam or take the same ferry back to Central Station. Then cross the station and when outside turn to the left and have a walk of 8 minutes to the Public Library. It is also a rather new beautiful building of one of my favorite architects. Entracnce is free, take the elavator to the public restaurant on the highiest level, have a coffee and take the vieuws for free over this old (and crowded) city. With its circular canals.
Those were the tips for Amsterdam
For Koln: the Cathedral if you want to see how the Catholic Church impressed their followers, and direct opposite, also direct to the river Rhine visit the Ludwig Museum or its outside terraces (free)
For Munchen: I liked the Automuseum of BMW in the very centre and the Pinacotheek der Modernen.
A pity we are not at the same time in Holland, but I wish you a very pleasant trip.
J_
Edit: I wanted to PM this after our IRC yesterday. But now its done.
Here some tips for your visit of Amsterdam.
When you arrive at Schiphol-Airport, take the train to Amsterdam Central (about 10 minutes) When you come off the train, don't head to the sign City Centre but walk opposite to the boat ferries over het IJ. They are free. But first have a look over the water. To the left you see an Eye-catching white flat beautiful formed building on the other side of the water. It is the brand new Film museum, the architects are the same who build the Porche Museum in Stuttgart. Then hop on one of the Ferries, and during the boat fare, close your eyes. From the same water around the year 1700 ,wooden boats sailed out to build new Amsterdam with a "brede straat" (now called Broad Way) in now called Manhattan.
You can have a stroll in north Amsterdam with a good view of old Amsterdam or take the same ferry back to Central Station. Then cross the station and when outside turn to the left and have a walk of 8 minutes to the Public Library. It is also a rather new beautiful building of one of my favorite architects. Entracnce is free, take the elavator to the public restaurant on the highiest level, have a coffee and take the vieuws for free over this old (and crowded) city. With its circular canals.
Those were the tips for Amsterdam
For Koln: the Cathedral if you want to see how the Catholic Church impressed their followers, and direct opposite, also direct to the river Rhine visit the Ludwig Museum or its outside terraces (free)
For Munchen: I liked the Automuseum of BMW in the very centre and the Pinacotheek der Modernen.
A pity we are not at the same time in Holland, but I wish you a very pleasant trip.
J_
Edit: I wanted to PM this after our IRC yesterday. But now its done.
I just read that you live in Brooklyn now. I suppose that after Amsterdam you will travel by train to Koln in Germany. About 15 minutes after the train has left Amsterdam Central station to Germany, look to the left. You will see a long straight canal, and behind that canal a little village with a tiny church tower. That is the village of Breukelen. After that village your Brooklyn is named!
Hey J_, thanks! I appreciate all your suggestions - I'll write them down and make sure to visit the film museum and public library.
You're right, I am traveling to Koln by train.
Had been planning on visiting the church in Koln, and I'll make sure to check out the BMW museum and Pinacotheek in Munchen!
You're right, I am traveling to Koln by train.
Had been planning on visiting the church in Koln, and I'll make sure to check out the BMW museum and Pinacotheek in Munchen!
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LiquidSapphire
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm
Today I sat in on a meeting which was basically a fight between the two organizations I was thinking of working for at my company. Let me see if I can do justice to this.
The Quant organization had committed to doing a certain project, and allocated two months to work on it. They sponsored the project, were going to do the bulk of the work, and were the major users of the project.
The project was to connect two systems, one which was mostly Quant-owned, with a Tech-owned system; there was a person in Tech who would help describing the protocol of the existing Tech-owned system.
Over the first month and a half of this project, no code was written. The people leading the project didn't ask any questions about either the Tech system or the systems of their own users. It was obviously a project that would fail, from an outside perspective.
Then, just today, we had this meeting. In the meeting, Quants claimed that the person in Tech was not responsive, and that otherwise the project was on track to deliver (ie, they had no blame). This with no updates or warnings for the first month and three quarters of the project. The Tech liaison, who is a fairly outspoken person, was out after having surgery - convenient. The meeting was orchestrated and led by someone in the Quant organization far above everybody else's pay grade... how can you argue with someone like that. The entire allocation of blame shifted from a team of people who repeatedly did things wrong, to one guy who didn't do anything wrong, and who wasn't in the meeting to defend himself.
The whole meeting made me feel sick; it was the worst meeting I've been in for 6 months at least.
I was also glad that I stayed on my current team. For all the lack of political power they have, at least I didn't feel guilty after that meeting; I could still look in the mirror.
The Quant organization had committed to doing a certain project, and allocated two months to work on it. They sponsored the project, were going to do the bulk of the work, and were the major users of the project.
The project was to connect two systems, one which was mostly Quant-owned, with a Tech-owned system; there was a person in Tech who would help describing the protocol of the existing Tech-owned system.
Over the first month and a half of this project, no code was written. The people leading the project didn't ask any questions about either the Tech system or the systems of their own users. It was obviously a project that would fail, from an outside perspective.
Then, just today, we had this meeting. In the meeting, Quants claimed that the person in Tech was not responsive, and that otherwise the project was on track to deliver (ie, they had no blame). This with no updates or warnings for the first month and three quarters of the project. The Tech liaison, who is a fairly outspoken person, was out after having surgery - convenient. The meeting was orchestrated and led by someone in the Quant organization far above everybody else's pay grade... how can you argue with someone like that. The entire allocation of blame shifted from a team of people who repeatedly did things wrong, to one guy who didn't do anything wrong, and who wasn't in the meeting to defend himself.
The whole meeting made me feel sick; it was the worst meeting I've been in for 6 months at least.
I was also glad that I stayed on my current team. For all the lack of political power they have, at least I didn't feel guilty after that meeting; I could still look in the mirror.
I struggle with this also. Even though the company I work for is generally good, and does a nice job of laying out expectations of behavior and reinforcing them, there are still people that act like complete assholes at times. I've been learning about Stoicism and trying not to let things get to me. Sometimes, though, I still get completely pissed off about stuff like this. I almost feel that in order to not let these things rile me up, I have to become less concerned about the success of our business.. And I'm not so sure I want to do that..
In some of these situations I should probably act a certain way in order to reduce any risk of being fired (like just keeping quiet and going with the flow instead of speaking up about realities that others would rather ignore).. I'm sure that becoming FI will help with this. I don't see it helping me to not get riled up in the first place, but at least I'll be able to do what I feel is right without worry. Really a huge reason for FI - and if I recall correctly from the Emotion thread, your main reason right?
(Sorry for poor writing. Typing on a phone)
In some of these situations I should probably act a certain way in order to reduce any risk of being fired (like just keeping quiet and going with the flow instead of speaking up about realities that others would rather ignore).. I'm sure that becoming FI will help with this. I don't see it helping me to not get riled up in the first place, but at least I'll be able to do what I feel is right without worry. Really a huge reason for FI - and if I recall correctly from the Emotion thread, your main reason right?
(Sorry for poor writing. Typing on a phone)
@m741--
When I read the following 4 things you want to do, it feels like I wrote it !!-- Except that I am not a programmer.
Sadly most of the things below does not appeal to my husband, so it is questionable if I will be able to do it by myself.
Nevertheless, good work and keep it up!
1. Hike the Appalachian Trail.
2. Travel internationally (northern Europe, India/SE Asia, and South America are most interesting to me).
3. Travel across the US via car, camping in and hiking at National Parks.
4. Find a more amenable place to live,
When I read the following 4 things you want to do, it feels like I wrote it !!-- Except that I am not a programmer.
Sadly most of the things below does not appeal to my husband, so it is questionable if I will be able to do it by myself.
Nevertheless, good work and keep it up!
1. Hike the Appalachian Trail.
2. Travel internationally (northern Europe, India/SE Asia, and South America are most interesting to me).
3. Travel across the US via car, camping in and hiking at National Parks.
4. Find a more amenable place to live,
Thanks for the responses 
. I'm not worried about anything, to be honest. What makes me unhappy is being forced to compromise in favor of clearly inferior solutions, and seeing people who I think are principled getting pushed around.
To clarify, I'm not in search of ivory-tower 'perfect' software solutions. Every solution is a compromise between time to delivery and code quality. But there's been a round of solutions - rewriting perfectly good applications, choosing an obviously incorrect technology, etc, that grates on me. As time goes on and I save more and more, I can (and to a certain extent, have) become increasingly outspoken. On the flip side, I've learned when someone is just ranting and no amount of talking will convince them of anything.
. I'm not worried about anything, to be honest. What makes me unhappy is being forced to compromise in favor of clearly inferior solutions, and seeing people who I think are principled getting pushed around.To clarify, I'm not in search of ivory-tower 'perfect' software solutions. Every solution is a compromise between time to delivery and code quality. But there's been a round of solutions - rewriting perfectly good applications, choosing an obviously incorrect technology, etc, that grates on me. As time goes on and I save more and more, I can (and to a certain extent, have) become increasingly outspoken. On the flip side, I've learned when someone is just ranting and no amount of talking will convince them of anything.
@m741 I really enjoy your journal
If I were in your shoes I'd try to do the following: find my way to dealing with a legacy system that is critical (at any firm, or even better at a few firms and the bigger the better). Once you get experience on these systems, and if you are the only person who can do the work (normally true since most programmers have no clue about archaic programming languages), you have two beautiful choices to offer them:
1. Quit and become an "insurance policy" for the company - i.e. tell them they need to pay you X per year and for this you will come and fix any problem if it arises, and will work up to one week on it. Beyond that they have to pay you x10 per hour of your current salary
2. Quit and tell them that they can hire you on a per project basis. If there are no projects, you are screwed, but if there is one, calculate the number of hours you estimate times 2 times 100 times your current salary and ask for this project fee. After one such project they will quickly revery to option 1.
As an external consultant, you have no politics, no colleagues, nothing, so it's perfect ... now you just need to find and master those legacy systems
If you want to kick the idea around with me, PM me - I have some cool thoughts on potential places where you can find these systems
If I were in your shoes I'd try to do the following: find my way to dealing with a legacy system that is critical (at any firm, or even better at a few firms and the bigger the better). Once you get experience on these systems, and if you are the only person who can do the work (normally true since most programmers have no clue about archaic programming languages), you have two beautiful choices to offer them:
1. Quit and become an "insurance policy" for the company - i.e. tell them they need to pay you X per year and for this you will come and fix any problem if it arises, and will work up to one week on it. Beyond that they have to pay you x10 per hour of your current salary
2. Quit and tell them that they can hire you on a per project basis. If there are no projects, you are screwed, but if there is one, calculate the number of hours you estimate times 2 times 100 times your current salary and ask for this project fee. After one such project they will quickly revery to option 1.
As an external consultant, you have no politics, no colleagues, nothing, so it's perfect ... now you just need to find and master those legacy systems
If you want to kick the idea around with me, PM me - I have some cool thoughts on potential places where you can find these systems
There's actually 3 cases I know of where I work, with something similar happening; that said, they're quite rare.
The first is a guy who works from home one day on alternating weeks. He's awesome at what he does, but works on a modern system. That's not too crazy but not a bad deal either.
The second was one of two people familiar with a legacy system (now almost fully decommissioned). She worked remotely from a completely different city for a few months before changing jobs.
The third was a consulting company my company hired to create a product. Obviously, this was a different case and the consulting company is a full company.
While it is possible, it's also unusual. To be honest things generally aren't so bad; if they get worse I'd speak out first, then look at transferring within the company, and finally look at quitting. It helps that I'm starting to find this stuff funny/absurd, and also that I'm getting enough stockpiled to feel comfortable regardless of what happens to me personally. I think it would be more demoralizing to me to work on a legacy system.
The first is a guy who works from home one day on alternating weeks. He's awesome at what he does, but works on a modern system. That's not too crazy but not a bad deal either.
The second was one of two people familiar with a legacy system (now almost fully decommissioned). She worked remotely from a completely different city for a few months before changing jobs.
The third was a consulting company my company hired to create a product. Obviously, this was a different case and the consulting company is a full company.
While it is possible, it's also unusual. To be honest things generally aren't so bad; if they get worse I'd speak out first, then look at transferring within the company, and finally look at quitting. It helps that I'm starting to find this stuff funny/absurd, and also that I'm getting enough stockpiled to feel comfortable regardless of what happens to me personally. I think it would be more demoralizing to me to work on a legacy system.
August 2012 Update
A lot of things have happened this past month, so this will be a long post (or set of posts, I'll probably break it up).
Let's start with the numbers. My total expenses were 2163 last month, broken down as follows:
1300 Rent
252 Food
191 Social Life
170 Utilities
32 Donations
26 Entertainment
55 Health
9 Transport
60 Work
20 Clothing
11 Cleaning
35 Other
I brought down my sky-high food expenses a bit, and really should be targeting $200 over the next few months - to be clear, I don't put dinners out in food expenses, unless I had them alone... if I go out with friends or to a bar, it's not something I would have done on my own so it gets filed under 'social life'. Thus the big change this month was in social life, in that I had one. I went out for meals quite a few times, including a rather expensive night out (about $55) a few days ago. I don't really regret these expenses. If I'm out with friends I keep my spending sane (try not to order appetizers, drink water, limit alcohol) but don't really try to cut corners; most of them aren't profligate spenders anyway so I don't stand out.
On the income side of things, things were pretty normal, about $425 dividend income. The one outlier is that I sold my boat. Through high school and college I rowed, and in my senior year of college I bought a used single shell to row in. I'd really enjoy rowing, even today, but I have no car and had no way to get to the boathouse where I was storing the thing, short of a very time-consuming train ride. The expenses for storage were ~$200 per year and simply not worth it. My reasoning was that if I wanted to row in the future, I could always find another boat, and membership in a boathouse with access to singles is not expensive either. So I cut my losses and sold the boat. I intentionally underpriced it to sell quickly at $1000 including oars. I spent $450 on it, and $75 on oars; between storage and other expenses I think I basically broke even on the thing. I could have sold it for $1500, but I got such a good deal to start with, I kinda wanted to spread the goodwill.
With this added to income, I had a savings rate over 70% this month. I'm happy with my tracking and I'm a little bit disappointed next month will have unreliable numbers given my travel expenses.
A lot of things have happened this past month, so this will be a long post (or set of posts, I'll probably break it up).
Let's start with the numbers. My total expenses were 2163 last month, broken down as follows:
1300 Rent
252 Food
191 Social Life
170 Utilities
32 Donations
26 Entertainment
55 Health
9 Transport
60 Work
20 Clothing
11 Cleaning
35 Other
I brought down my sky-high food expenses a bit, and really should be targeting $200 over the next few months - to be clear, I don't put dinners out in food expenses, unless I had them alone... if I go out with friends or to a bar, it's not something I would have done on my own so it gets filed under 'social life'. Thus the big change this month was in social life, in that I had one. I went out for meals quite a few times, including a rather expensive night out (about $55) a few days ago. I don't really regret these expenses. If I'm out with friends I keep my spending sane (try not to order appetizers, drink water, limit alcohol) but don't really try to cut corners; most of them aren't profligate spenders anyway so I don't stand out.
On the income side of things, things were pretty normal, about $425 dividend income. The one outlier is that I sold my boat. Through high school and college I rowed, and in my senior year of college I bought a used single shell to row in. I'd really enjoy rowing, even today, but I have no car and had no way to get to the boathouse where I was storing the thing, short of a very time-consuming train ride. The expenses for storage were ~$200 per year and simply not worth it. My reasoning was that if I wanted to row in the future, I could always find another boat, and membership in a boathouse with access to singles is not expensive either. So I cut my losses and sold the boat. I intentionally underpriced it to sell quickly at $1000 including oars. I spent $450 on it, and $75 on oars; between storage and other expenses I think I basically broke even on the thing. I could have sold it for $1500, but I got such a good deal to start with, I kinda wanted to spread the goodwill.
With this added to income, I had a savings rate over 70% this month. I'm happy with my tracking and I'm a little bit disappointed next month will have unreliable numbers given my travel expenses.