Frugal chicos journal - ERE in The Basque Country

Where are you and where are you going?

bryan
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by bryan »

Had to do a double-take on who's journal this was with the Dolores Park pic :P Looks hella busy! Did you see truffle man or coconut rum dude?

Frugalchicos
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

@Bryan

Didn’t get to see much at Dolores Park since I passed out for like an hour (and burnt the shit out of my face under the sun) I just read Truffle Man’s story and it is quite an entrepreneurial journey!

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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Pretty awesome to say that today is my father's last day at work. He is retiring at the age of 62.

My father didn't have the opportunity to study and escaped from an abusive alcoholic father. Started working when he was 15 years old and learnt many trades; electricity, plumbing, carpentry, cooking (best chef I know). He worked in a steel mill for most of his working career and had plenty of side hustles (like doing photography for weddings and other events with my mom for almost a decade). My mom is also retiring in October at the age of 61. She has always worked at the same company.

My parents met when they were boy scouts. My father was my mom's first and only boyfriend (kind of sad though :lol: )

I feel very proud to say that both of them have been pretty good examples of what you can achieve with hard work, saving and investment. They have been able to accumulate few assets: Their primary condo in the city, a condo by the beach, another small condo in the city, a small commercial space and 3 parking spots (everything paid off). They also were able to help my sister and I with our higher education. They also own stocks and bonds and are retiring with a good social security.

Perhaps they didn't have the most exciting experiences and trips, drove the best cars or ate the most tender meat...but they definitely figured it out.

My parents retiring soon is another motivation to move back. They will be able to be around our future kids (being with my maternal grandpas are probably some of the best memories of my childhood).

Happy for them!

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Seppia
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Seppia »

What an amazing success story.
No wonder with parents like these you also are en route to kick ass

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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

@Seppia - thanks buddy! I can’t complain of parents :)

We invested $10,000 during the roller coaster of this 1-1/2 week. We have 3K in cash savings and we feel comfortable with it. If we need more cash, we know how to find it.

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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

My sister and her boyfriend are coming to visit and travel with us to Boston and NYC. They are bringing two big bags so I can give them clothes to take them back to The Basque Country. I will give them shoes, jackets and coats that I never get to use in Chicago, since this city is either fucking cold or damned hot. I will probably sell my suits on eBay since I don't need them for work anymore (I can dress smart casual, or whatever that is).

I will also bring stuff with me when I go back in summer. It might be the last time I go back home before we move if Chica gets pregnant.

It is exciting to plan this little moving stuff since it makes me realize how close we are to get the hell out and start our new life (A little bit less than two years).

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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Happy 4th everyone. Here we go with our monthly update:

I can't believe June is gone, that was fast!!

JUNE INCOME – $9,992.94
Chico’s Salary – $4,163.44
Chica’s Salary – $5,266
Roommate Rent – $330 (last month – hurray!)
eBay Sales – $233.50

JUNE EXPENSES – $3,897.33 ($2,740.81 if subtracting principal payment)
Mortgage: $1,978.60 (note: $1,156.52 went to principal, counting that as a savings)
HOA: $247.83
Car Insurance: $62.17
Gas (Car): $223.46 (includes our road trip to camping)
Groceries: $378.33
Cellphones: $21.74 (note: Chica’s work pays her cellphone bill, this is just Chico’s phone plan with Lycamobile)
Internet: $60.28
Gas (House): $53.45
Electricity: $39.37
Chica’s Gym: $39.99
Chico’s Gym: $29.99
Misc./Entertainment: $762.12 (includes some home improvement projects, computer upgrades, etc.)

We saved 73% of our take home salary (BOOM! :D ). Note: this doesn’t include any 401K contributions or retirement plans.

CURRENT ASSETS: $294,430.66 ($6,078.01 increase over last month) — didn’t quite reach our $300K by our birthdays goal but getting there!
Cash savings: $2,995.90 (made some Betterment investments with savings)
Investments: $130,483.16 - Invested 16K during this roller coaster month.
Chico’s Retirement: $9,873.72
Chica’s 401K: $46,486.37
Home Equity: $104,591.51 (not counting appreciation)

Tonight we head to Boston for the 4th (courtesy of our Southwest Companion Pass – AGAIN!) — My sister and her boyfriend are flying all the way from The Basque Country to meet us there. We will spend the 4th and 5th in Boston then head to NYC for the weekend before all heading back to Chicago for a week. We are super excited to see them and enjoy some much needed time off. We have to work the week of 7/9, but we will enjoy the afternoons grilling, showing them around, going to the beach, etc...

Goals:
- HAVE FUN! We have some cool trips planned out, Chica's birthday is on the 8th and mine on the 9th.
- Pass the 300K NW.
- Keep miscellanious under $750.
- Investigate more and get better at buying old laptops for new side hustle.
- Sell a laptop I fixed for $465-$485
- Not much going on here, just going in autopilot with our savings and investments.

Achievements:
- Our roommate finally left. We are very happy (and proud) for all the money we made (about 15K)in the past two years in between Airbnb and roommates. But we are glad to have the house for ourselves (it was about fu**ing time!).
- We are renting our parking spot in spothero. We rent it when we are not at home and don't need the spot.
- Found a side hustle: Fix, refurbish and sell old Macs on Ebay. So far, we made $233.50. Need to get better at buying laptops.

Image
Last edited by Frugalchicos on Tue Jul 10, 2018 1:11 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Here we have a 6 month recap of our monthly % saving rate:

January: 66.50%
February: 68.41%
March: 69%
April: 59.50% (Bad Chicos)
May: 69.77%
June: 73%
Average of 67.7%

And this is a picture of our favorite book, in this book we keep track of our monthly meetings. We take it everywhere, it has seen more places of the world than some of my stupid neighbors. We took the pic last weekend when we were camping in West Illinois.

Image

Jason

Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Jason »

You do understand that all subsequent travel pics must at their center be of The Black Book.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Yesterday was Chica's birthday and today is mine. Our NW is 298K as of today, not bad for a 30 and a 36 yo ( our NW 7 years ago was about 5K).

Excited for the upcoming years!

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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

So, this is like about once a month event: Chica's friends decide to play The Kardashians burning some money in the most lavishly and nonsense way possible. Winter girls trip to the Dominican Republic? Yes please!. 10K birthday party? Absolutely! The last one is renting a boat for a 30 yo birthday party for 4 hours, $100/person.

I think the actions I described above are the ones that are fucking up this country. Just thinking in “having a good time”, YOLO or building “experiences”. I believe all those decisions are holding people behind and miserable with lack of options for their present and future. But their Instagram looks amazing...

Perhaps I am a weirdo, or perhaps I just appreciate geniune moments with real friends when you don’t need to spend a ton of cash to have fun. I hope Chica realizes one day about how consumerist and dumb this country can be and that all that stuff is not “normal”...
Last edited by Frugalchicos on Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Jason

Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Jason »

I read an article how corporate plane companies now have an additional revenue stream of people paying to take photos of themselves standing in front of their planes. We are now paying for the image of the image of wealth. And I'm assuming the people who do such a thing are paying for it on credit card so we are in fact borrowing to pay for the image of the image of wealth.

In analyzing our desire to go to Italy, we uncovered some of this same "selfie" motivation and decided to postpone until we are more certain of our real desire to go and our real ability to pay for it.

I hope Frugalchica wakes up and realizes her "friends" are keeping her down in the same way 12 step programs tell people trying to stay clean to leave their running mates behind.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

@Jason

“We are now paying for the image of image of wealth” - You nailed it.

I guess it is hard for Chica to say no to her friends having a feeling of not being part of those "important" moments...However, being part of those events is probably the number one reason of our fights. I honestly can’t understand the stupidity and the necessity of escalating every single event to a major production where you have to drop a ton of cash to show your “feelings” (big weddings, birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers or whatever shower shit...)

It is quite difficult to break that concept of “normal” when these kind of “needs” are baked into the culture.
Last edited by Frugalchicos on Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:52 am, edited 2 times in total.

Jason

Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Jason »

Well she married you so somewhere she knows better. One day she'll wake up and realize she's merely leaving behind a bunch of broke ass chicks with a gazillion Instagram pics and aging ovaries.

The need to celebrate, memorialize, etc. is a function of this social media bullshit. I selfie, therefore I am. Baby gender reveal parties? WTF? I mean we're celebrating an ultrasound? I'm supposed to get excited over the fact that your fetus has a dick? The kid hasn't spent one fucking moment on this planet and we're celebrating how they will be masturbating in 10 years (1)? I mean when you think about it, its nothing more than "I decided not to abort" party.

People are so fucking stupid. When someone retires from my wife's job (public library) they pass around a "retirement" envelope. I told her you put a penny in that fucking envelope and I'm changing the locks. These are government employees with pensions and they are asking you to subsidize their retirement? You are literally just giving someone your money for quitting a shitty job? GTFO.

(1) I don't know current averages.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Don’t get me started with the donating money stuff...

Don’t take me wrong, Chica has changed drastically (we both did). But, I think she still finds herself in between two worlds. One when she is at home and living a simple life. And another one when she goes to work or spends time with her friends...

I guess everything will change when we move to Spain. Mainly because we won't be exposed to that consumerist behavior (or at least to this scale).

Jason

Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Jason »

When I hear people say "my friend" or "my friends" or "good friend" or "good friend of the family" I am very skeptical. Like, what does that mean?

There are diagnostics to run on friends to see what kind of friend you have. For instance, say something like "Chica, call up your friend and say you got into a terrible argument with me about your boat trip and that in the heat of the moment you stabbed me in the chest with a pink steak knife (that adds credibility) and it just so happened to hit my aorta and I bled out and died on the kitchen floor and you need help cleaning up and disposing of my body." My guess is the response will not be the same as asking if they want go to the Dominican Republic. If that's too extreme, just have her pretend her car broke down in the middle of the night, or you need a large piece of furniture moved. Guaranteed those "friends" are going to be real fucking busy.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Who knows man. Chica's friends are good people but not the best decision makers. And I am not sure how genuine their relationship is. My guess is that it will change dramatically over the years (mostly because of their current lifestyle and likes).

In my case, I know I have few friends. I only have 1-2 good friends in Chicago. It is true that sometimes I feel a little lonely, but I rather be that way than surrounded by people that I don't care. Back home I have 2 amazing friends and a great network of family and neighbors that always make me feel good.

Jason

Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Jason »

Well, if it just so happens that it's Chica who ends up with the pink steak knife in her aorta, you PM and I'm good like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWmRTjLRMfU

Frugalchicos
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

I feel I need to record the following feelings/thoughts in the journal:

- I have been feeling trapped for quite a while. I am about 22 months away from departing for good. I feel it is wiser to stick with the current job (it is arguably burning me out more and more. There is no room for growth, I learnt everything I had to learn two years ago) and I don’t think selling the house now makes sense. However, I am so eager for a change, a challenege and a new adventure that the feeling igself can be overwhelming at times.

- This feeling and the lack of genuine social interactions are my biggest challenges. I tried to make friends but people I meet are either too different in persoanlity/lifestyle or dissapear quickly (don’t respond to text messages or are too caught up with their own life).

- My sister’s visit has been amazing, but I feel it made me realize that I have changed in the past years and I might be suffering a mild depression. I am not the person I used to be, I am sour, more worried and less optimistic. I feel compressed and about to blow up at times.

- On the other hand, I am aware of the above (which I think it is the first step to resolve the issues). I am going on vacation in a couple of weeks and I will have time to think how I will turn it around and come back with enough energy to stick around for the next 22 months.

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