What I Spend

Where are you and where are you going?
Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

And just like that, net worth hits a new high score. Watching the CAPE of 36 unwind is not going to be fun.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

After 2 months of decompression, loose ends are resolving and life trends towards a new normal:

We stopped adding to the donation pile, so I dropped of the final load of my Goodbye, Things infatuation. I imagine another round exists, but requires an older wiser me.

I am paying much closer attention to local politics. The recent election for an important local mayoral race was decided by a few hundred voters total, in a town of almost 100k people. The gap was like 7 votes. WTF. There's a local lot proposed for development into apartments, attempting zoning exceptions that hurt my quality of life. I'd like to see it stopped. I never thought I'd have a day of civic engagement. Now I'm the cranky NIMBY guy.

Covid related stimulus changes seem to have stopped, so we paid the large income tax bill. Quarterly estimated tax penalties were accruing. It made sense to stop them.

My 60 day COBRA window is closing, so I ordered my new policy off the exchange. $411 per month. I'll make the HSA contribution early May, then get to ignore health insurance until my October physical. This year's income is outside the cost sharing window, so I didn't bother proving subsidy status. I'll sort that at tax time.

On the theme of financial simplification, I closed a couple zero dollar accounts. Five others are on the short term list, waiting for various dependencies to resolve. Maybe not optimal for my credit score, but I'm more concerned about exposure of my electronic footprint.

We resumed foster animals with the local shelter, picking up 4 newborn kittens and the Mom. This has historically been 90% my wife, but I am now able (and need to) help more. Keeping this going is a large benefit of my new freedom.

After trending to later and later bedtimes (2-3am), I found motivation to reign things back in. I've been up between 6-8am for several weeks now.

Related, my interest in lifting has returned. Starting the day with a several hour morning routine, is what works for me. Tea, snack, walk, lift, shake, shower, lunch. It's drawn out, but I have the luxury to enjoy it.

I also resumed tracking my macros. First session back with the weights, I was having a hard time with 75lbs as an overhead press working weight. On a barbell. Yikes. Turns out with no monitoring, I was getting about 60-70 grams of protein per day. No good.

The run up of VTSAX reinforced that I cannot predict the market. If there is one mutual fund I would of delayed buying on 3/11, it is VTSAX. It helped me accept the missed window around my 401k rollover.

I purged about 2/3 of my Netflix queue. My interest in action/thriller type movies seems to have waned. Same with procedural shows. They were symptomatic of using a familiar plot to hide from work stress. I seem to find the violence more off putting now as well.

I kept in contact with one of my favorite people from work. My departure didn't make things better. It's a helpful reminder, especially when I regret the financial loss. Outside of the obvious time trade off, I don't miss the unsolvable problems or difficult boss.

Cleaning remains a problem. I only scrubbed the toilet yesterday because I could smell it during my yoga. Gross.


So where's this going? Basics:

Covid vaccination means we'll re-establish grocery shopping patterns in May. I am looking forward to greater control over our food and a reason to leave the house. We'll save a couple hundred bucks too, but that's not the driving consideration.

Cost control is very much on the back burner. Short of picking up an expensive new hobby, I don't see us doing much damage. We're even buying supplies for the foster cats, instead of taking free stuff from the shelter.

Re-opening of life. I finally got an oil change and leaky tires replaced. New shoes. Dentist. Seeing family in person. Deferred chores enabled by easier access to stores. Maybe some restaurant food. Etc.


So where's this going? Complex:

I've spent a lot of time learning how the internet works. I clearly spent my career on the periphery, only playing technologist. Why is Google so valuable? Why are their employees paid so well? What does it mean for me as a consumer? How are the digital elite thinking about my life? How are they running theirs? Do they really buy into a singularity? Would I want to collaborate with these people? How would that look given my values?

This leads me to rethink my internet relationship. Yes, privacy related security risks. But also - when am I the product? Who am I doing unpaid work for? Has the reward center in my brain been tricked? Am I ok with that, given the benefit? How do I want tech to augment my life, if I don't accept the defaults?

It's not an easy problem. There are a lot of small improvements I can make. Given the pause of my career, any need to be always connected is low. I don't have to pursue the constant change of tech.

I can afford tradeoffs for greater privacy. I can skip social media. The news cycle doesn't impact me. With less to hide from in life, I can tolerate loss of constant internet enabled dopamine hits. I can favor connection over conversation. I can cut off media built to fracture my attention (ie youtube, insta, tik tock).

I've engaged online for 25+ years. So, any change is giving up something good in hopes of something better. I'm not sure how it all pans out. It is a priority consideration. I recently dropped podcasts (attention fracturing, high noise, time sensitive) in favor of audiobooks. That was definitely to my benefit.

For resources - I read Digital Minimalism and Who Owns the Future. Coded bias was a recent documentary, spiritual successor to Weapons of Math Destruction. I am listening to The Hacking of the American Mind now. Deep Work is up next. Ironically, the Audible subscription is a help here. Many of these audiobooks aren't available via my library. I have a series of books on the social impacts of AI queued as well. Issues I had with my prior employer scraped the surface of all this, in a very obtuse fashion. I think a focused deep dive will be high yield.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

Reading the Hacking of the American Mind highlighted gaps in my life - around community and contribution.

I previously centered everything on maximizing work related income, then used the rest of my life to cope, by chasing dopamine hits. I am working on backing out the dopamine chasing behavior now. I think it will eventually make space for community and contribution.

The struggle is real. I was doing this for along time. Some small, immediate decisions:

- I deleted my facebook and instagram accounts. They weren't heavily used, so that felt pretty easy.
- I decided to stop participating in online forums outside of this one, going so far as to irrevocably lock my user accounts out.
- I went cold turkey on following MMA. It's a fun distraction, but wasn't adding to my relationships
- I remain committed to an early wake time, followed by immediately walking, then lifting.

I've still got problems with spending too much time online, how I manage my relationship with media, eating junk, general laziness, etc. I am slowly knocking off susceptible offenders, favoring a gradual evolution.


On the other hand - I am also looking forward to the newfound freedom of being fully vaccinated. Today, while eating lunch, I browsed websites of local restaurants, making a "to eat" list. We went to the store in person last night. Picking my own produce was glorious. There's an ebb and flow happening.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

April 2021 Total (Couple) - $3577 (excludes taxes)

Groceries - $998.95
Insurance - $782.31
Healthcare/Medical - $654.66
Automotive - $385.88
Utilities - $309.15
Home Maintenance - $260.00
Pets/Pet Care - $144.30
Streaming - $23.98
Entertainment - $17.98

Spendy month, more than the $3200 estimate. We owed about $12k on income taxes. I'll include that in the rolling annual spend, but didn't want it in the monthly roll up.

Groceries were high, due to both instacart fees and mental fatigue over continued social distancing. We are now fully vaccinated. The first trip to Aldi in person was Thursday. This will drop substantially.

Insurance is the annual home owner's policy. The price is good, no choice but to pay it.

Healthcare includes health and dental insurance premiums. This will drop to $300 next month, then return to ~$600 moving forward. I survived my single day without health insurance.

Other notables - replaced two car tires at $325. This shouldn't recur. $150 in supplies for the foster cats. Next month will probably have more.


May brings $6k in property taxes. Excluding those, I think we'll spend $2000. I'm including slack for enjoying vaccination. The biggest risk is unplanned medical bills, which could range from $0-$1000.


Rolling 12 Month Spend (Couple) - $46,517
As planned. Next month will cause an increase of $750. Is it a problem? I don't think so. We're working against a planned ceiling of $53k. Accounting for introduction of monthly health insurance premiums, we are right on trend.

Net worth is up around 0.5% since last month. Inflation feels very real. It definitely confuses year over year tracking.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

We've been fully vaccinated for a couple weeks now. Highlights:

1. Saw family multiple times - obviously good. We skipped the typical eating out that used to tie to this. Nobody wanted to deal with the hassle.

2. Grocery shopping in person - a lot of the food inflation we were experiencing, seems tied to delivery pricing. With the luxury of not working, it will probably be a long time before we return to food delivery. We are shopping all over the place. I'd guess four different stores by month's end, so spending will be comparable to prior months. But, I see this dropping substantially as time goes on.

3. Carry out food a couple times. I love the ease. But the food disappoints. It's hard to ignore the over-reliance on salt / fat / sugar, after 15 months of eating kitchen food. And it's not like I'm shy with packaged foods home. The portion sizes also threw me. What I was once accustomed to, feels big. It isn't sitting or digesting well. My wife has already given up on it. There are a few more places I'd still like to try, but expectations are low.

4. We're looking forward to, but still debating, swim season. Some pools aren't opening or have heavy restrictions. Others are charging a premium. With more time and a flexible schedule, what was once the best option looks less appealing. I do miss my memory of the gym, but the actual experience may be like eating out.

5. Saw the dentist. Was told to buy a waterpik, change my mouthwash and reconsider braces. I did the first two. He made a strong argument in favor of the orthodontics. I was using the pandemic as a reason to ignore this advice, but may schedule the consult now. Ugh.


Rethinking my technology relationship continues.

1. I purged my Netflix queue down to only informational content. After binging that for awhile, I see there's no value add compared to audiobooks. Content tends to be cursory, with a low return on time invested. I've downgraded us to the smallest plan and may stop my personal use. Netflix has been my last vestige of video entertainment.

2. I've given up on paper books / e-books as a medium. It's just too slow compared to audio books. A distraction.

3. I removed email from my phone / tablet, in addition to the web browser. I also dropped personal tracking apps, like myfitnesspal and jefit. I do not want my electronic devices notifying me. I do not want multiple daily calls to attention, as required by logging apps.

4. I've lessened my participation in online forums substantially. More and more, they feel like a collection of people seeking witnesses to their greatness. Talking to be heard, rather than to listen or learn. That's fine, and it is fun, but maybe not the best use of my time.

5. My handle on what's "wrong" with modern tech feels solid. There's an unlimited number of critical books. I am now exploring resources that are more favorable, or ambivalent, towards the topic. Currently listening to chaos monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez.


My long term vision of life remains hazy. I am immersed in big ideas, but find myself increasingly lazy. I feel little incentive to take action. It's hard to say if that's a problem, or the tranquility I've been chasing.

OffBy2Error
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 2:11 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by OffBy2Error »

Apologies if I missed the explanation earlier, I admit to only having read the first 2 pages + this final page of updates...

In regards to paper / e-books being "too slow" had you looked into increasing your reading speed? I know there are a number of techniques such as training yourself to read multiple words at once, focusing your eyes via a pointer/pen/finger, and other actions which people claim greatly increase their reading speed. I do not read often enough so I have not put much time into it, however I did notice around a 50% speed increase a few years ago when I was learning about it. On the other hand if you listen while doing other activities then audio books are most likely much faster since you can hardly multi-task with a physical book.

Thank you for your openness about your monthly expenses! Do you feel that posting them is still helping you try to control them? I ask because I know I easily reach a point of looking at my monthly expenses go up without worry since a monthly update simply makes me numb to the numbers. Seeing an increase is not, by itself, enough motivation for me to keep them in control and it also makes me less likely to seek decreasing expenses since I see it every month and it is normal.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

OffBy2Error wrote:
Mon May 17, 2021 3:55 pm
In regards to paper / e-books being "too slow" had you looked into increasing your reading speed?

Do you feel that posting them is still helping you try to control them?
When I was in college, I spent some time on speed reading. It helped, especially on open book exams. I remember hitting a wall, when they tell you to no longer vocalize the words in your head. As soon as I do that, my attention wanders, even when taking the text in chunks. The bigger problem, is a written book occupies my eyes and hands.

With good noise cancelling headphones, I can do the audio books at 2x speed. The higher speed holds my attention better. I use them cooking, cleaning, exercising, driving, etc. It's easy to get 3-6 hours of content per day, with almost no overhead. I have a "to listen" list well over a 100 books at this point, so I'm ok with skipping books only available in print.


Posting the expenses keeps me grounded. It's a good reminder of the luxury I am consuming, especially compared to others here. All though - I'm not entirely convinced my numbers are strong outliers, even in ERE. I think many underestimate their spending, or overly discount the value of employer provided benefits.

I have my tracking organized, to the point where end of month review takes under an hour. A lot of that time is getting accounts to update, making sure money is where it needs to be, bills are paid, etc. My wife also reviews the journal, so we have a monthly household check-in on finances.

While I do enjoy gamifying the tracking, it's something I have tried to let go. We're fortunate to have enough money, to support our current lifestyle. In the past, I've made some choices that impaired quality of life, in pursuit of a lowest possible score. While I am reaping the benefits, I think that was a mistake. In hindsight, I'd have been a little looser in spending, especially in cases of a couple dollars here or there. When you're saving 50%+, that coffee doesn't matter.

I've also found there's a strong difference between a month of low expenses because it's a fun game, and doing it because you feel there is no other option. The latter is not a pleasant place. I'm grateful to have stumbled into a position, where I'm not running super-lean FIRE. Even now, there are times where I have some financial FOMO.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

May 2021 Total (Couple) - $2356 (excludes taxes)

Taxes - $5,760.86
Groceries - $591.97
Pets/Pet Care - $518.21
Healthcare/Medical - $467.12
Home Maintenance - $260.00
Phone/Email - $201.84
Utilities - $155.30
Restaurants - $70.37
Video Games - $43.19
Streaming - $23.98
Automotive - $23.73

Property taxes hit this month, making it the second most expensive month of the year. For useful month over month comparisons, I have to exclude them in the total.

Otherwise, we are about $350 over the $2000 estimate. I attribute this to pulling our big pet supplies order forward from June.

Rejoining the world was less expensive than anticipated. Eating out is underwhelming. I still hate shopping.

$2300 is a reasonable estimate for next month. A couple expenses swing into full gear - my health insurance ($411) and probably gym membership ($149). Groceries should drop more. We hit all the special stores this month. The novel food was fun, but won't repeat in June.


Rolling 12 Month Spend (Couple) - $47,738
This grew a little faster than planned. We are under the rolling annual cap of $53k. But, I see risk of an overage:


June's big financial unknown is my teeth. The orthodontist (dentist suggested) referred me to a jaw surgeon. I have 3 bad options:

1. Do nothing. Free today. Thanks to an open bite and crossbite, I'm chewing on 8 teeth. They are ground flat. Add in crowding and historically poor dental care - my gums are also receding. With this option, I will lose teeth over time. Behavior/diet changes may slow the process, but it will be painful and eventually expensive.

2. Invisalign with wisdom teeth removal. $7-9k over the next 1-2 years. Working to determine expected outcome, and possible impact of behavior/diet changes. Unknown risk of moving teeth requiring gum work ($500-$1000 per tooth?).

3. Wisdom teeth removal, braces, jaw surgery, more braces, maybe gum stuff. 2-4 years. $10-50k. Best chance of keeping teeth. It might make me pretty. Painful and significant risks. Kind of a worst case scenario financially. Even talking to the surgeon is $200. Insurance doesn't offer much help. I could change plans in 2021, to have a chance at prior auth and some coverage, but that's not a certainty.

Obviously the dominant consideration of my past week or two. My dental routine had been steadily improving for several years. But, it's all too little too late. I am exploring dietary changes now - drastically controlling sugar, small eating windows, softer foods. They'll help any option, so it's smart to see what I can tolerate.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

Some developments:

1. We returned to the gym. New COVID cases have slowed to a trickle and the vaccination rate is leveling off. Social pressure is making the decision for us, short of never leaving our home again.

I was forced to concede my perspective on COVID does not align with the lifting environment I want. I reviewed socials for a dozen gyms in the area. Every gym pushed the rules, with several (having the best lifters) openly defying shutdown orders. One even fell to publicly mocking the governor, cause obviously a fat guy can't make reasonable decisions on pandemic safety. I get it - the shutdown took their livelihood. I'd be upset too.

Forced to compromise, cost and distance made my choice. I am back at my prior fitness gym, the one that ran BJJ classes in May 2020, to my great indignation. The only difference between them and every other good gym, is I was paying attention to their socials. My membership remains paid into September. It's 10 minutes from home. I can go off hours, with maybe a dozen other people, and they are all working hard. I can coast on their intensity. I am the only person still masked, but nobody seems to care.

Before giving in, we tried joining the local country club style gym. They are 10 minutes away, with a pool that is great for my wife. COVID protocols were better than most. While the weight room is older, I figured, "how bad could it be?" The answer is terrible. Most of the equipment was bought by someone that doesn't lift. The good stuff has deferred maintenance - torn pads, worn cables, missing pins, etc. The few people exercising are seniors, soccer moms and teenagers. I have to entirely self-motivate and every lift is a compromise. What's the point?

Once membership at the fitness gym expires, I may replace it with a powerlifting gym. I have the time to travel and a more developed community could provide valuable social structure for my life.


2. The need to grow is returning. Simply reading about other people's lives has hit a point of diminishing returns.

We visited with some old friends, for the first time in 18 months. One of my strongest takeaways, is our lives have diverged. They are on kid #2, she's a stay at home mom, he's frantically working to pay the bills. We care about each other, but our experiences do not relate. Some of the biggest gains of my FIRE experience, have been removing the worst parts of his life. I can share that, but it comes across as a humble brag at best, an attack at worst. I need to build new relationships, and/or dramatically redevelop existing.

Removing negative things has been an important part of my FIRE transition. However, I cannot define myself by what I say no to. While I am happy doing nothing, it makes for a boring and unrelatable person. Moving towards good things needs to resume. My lifting hobby is a first and obvious answer, hence going back to the gym. I don't know if it is a long term component.

I will need to find more, especially once we clear the current round of foster cats. I don't know what. Much of my prior life was determined by hiding from and coping with the stresses of work. My old life, minus a job, simply is not an identity. It is hard to envision the new one.

Scott 2
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Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

I am going offline for the Summer - no forums, social media or internet news. Later.

ertyu
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Re: What I Spend

Post by ertyu »

have a good one!

guitarplayer
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Location: Scotland

Re: What I Spend

Post by guitarplayer »

Scott 2 wrote:
Sun Jun 20, 2021 8:30 pm
I am going offline for the Summer - no forums, social media or internet news. Later.
Enjoy it!

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

Thanks guys. Creating a monthly summary remains useful, so I decided to post it.

June 2021 Total (Couple) - $2662

Healthcare/Medical - $785
Groceries - $407.34
Automotive - $361.97
Utilities - $260.38
Home Maintenance - $260.00
Restaurants - $142.19
Phone/Email - $125.00
Exercise - $120.00
Travel - $75.00
Video Games - $61.91
Pets/Pet Care - $29.27
Streaming - $18.98
Entertainment - $14.99

About $350 over estimate. Health insurance costs in full swing hit pretty hard. Before any care is rendered, we've spent $650 each month. Our situation means the ACA subsidies do very little.

Happy to see groceries trend down, though offset by eating out. The food isn't great, but when leaving the house more, it's helpful.

Smaller expenses - car insurance 6 months, it's a water bill month, annual online backup fee, we got back in the gym, down payment for my wife's annual yoga retreat, a video game.

Next month, I'm guessing $2200. My wife wants to do an amazon order, I'm getting shoes and consulting the oral surgeon.


Four months into FIRE, I lead a boring life. Every day is a Saturday, more or less. I easily fill each day and am generally happy.

I am interacting more with friends and family, though probably under socialized overall. It is harder to connect when other's lives center on work.

Sometimes, living off an investment portfolio makes me feel like a freeloader. Not sure where that goes.


Rolling 12 Month Spend (Couple) - $48,126
Month over month, this grew by a little less than our health insurance premiums. We remain under the $53k target set in March, though it is trending to exceed.

Because of the market rally and inflation noise, it remains difficult to tell if there is a problem. Net worth did hit an all time high.

There is more time and opportunity to spend without work, especially compared to last year. I am feeling cautious.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

July 2021 Total (Couple) - $3275

Healthcare/Medical - $1086.01
Groceries - $630.66
Pets/Pet Care - $506.54
Home Maintenance - $327.35
Utilities - $208.31
Exercise - $163.68
Clothing/Shoes - 91.51
Restaurants - $90.50
Entertainment - $78.70
Automotive - $72.77
Streaming - $18.98


Hard month. Head first into the stressful part of FIRE:

1. Exploring options for my janky teeth, I learned why most health insurance plans on the exchange are HMOs. The surgeon I was referred to is out of network. My initial response - "No problem, I have a PPO!" Problem - balance billing reaches 80-90% of retail rates for services rendered. $60-$100k out of pocket is realistic. In other words - I am locked into the health insurer's network anyways.

If I want a viable option, I need to change my insurance or surgeon to in network, get a referral from my GP, and then get pre-approval from the insurer. That has to be renewed every 3 months, which can fail when the calendar year rolls over. Given the corrective process can easily span 1-2 years, it's a huge risk. I've tabled the idea for now.


2. Health issues caught up to our senior kitty on 7/6. She was an old 13 - high blood pressure, ailing kidneys, meds twice a day, food 4+ times a day. Still sad. Diagnostics plus end of life care hit for $460.


3. That expense, coupled with other unplanned costs, had us trending well over budget by 7/10. My attempts at corrective action, while accurate, were overly blunt. Marital conflict ensued.


The crux of it - we never learned to jointly manage money, especially as a constrained resource. Because it is a touchy area for both of us, finances were separate until a couple years ago. Making FIRE work required bringing things together. Easy with a 75%+ savings rate. Harder now.

Instead of collaborating, I attempted to own any constraints entirely. To stay on trend, I'd encourage pushing out grocery shopping or not consume myself. A weird permission dynamic also evolved, where my wife would run even small purchases by me. My views would vary wildly based upon monthly trend, leading to confusion and frustration. That all came to a head with the sudden $500 expense. Some of our biggest conflict to date.


We are working towards resolution. So far:

1. I am going to maintain a rolling 3 month budget. Since we know current spend for the financial year, and we have an annual target, we can set a monthly target. Tracked data gives an estimate of upcoming costs. The gap between target and estimate is unplanned spend.

2. Together, we are going to allocate unplanned spend each month. We debated between this and taking a personal allowance, but decided the conversation will be preferable. If a large unexpected expense comes up, we may reduce the remaining monthly targets, rather than absorb it in a single month.

3. Initial projections against our annual target ($53,500), determined we have $2600 per month left in this financial year. Not a surprise to me - most of our large recurring annual costs happen early in the year. That amount does not provide the lifestyle we want. The decision was made to bump this year's annual target to $57,000.

The primary goal for now, is to develop our skill of jointly managing finances. Market performance, coupled with inflation, makes the increase in spend justifiable. It is not lost on us, that this is a fortunate luxury. We need to get better, prepare for times of greater financial adversity.

I lightly considered seeking part time work. Stressing over a few hundred dollars feels annoying, knowing my earning potential. However, we think it is better to start with the steps above. We need to learn the skill, not jump into old patterns at the first sign of a challenge.

Casually earning money for luxuries does retain a little appeal. It's hard to tell if that is a symptom of the conflict or a true desire.


Rolling 12 Month Spend (Couple) - $49,691
Per the above, this jumped by $1500, despite mid-month corrective actions. We are definitely not on track for the prior target of $53.5k. The new target of $57k looks reasonable.

bostonimproper
Posts: 579
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Re: What I Spend

Post by bostonimproper »

It seems more that you are bumping up against your budget and the stress of money being a “scarce” resource is really what is getting to you, rather than just a communication problem. Do you have something you might be interested in doing for fun money?

white belt
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Re: What I Spend

Post by white belt »

Is medical tourism an option for the dental issues?

Scott 2
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Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

@bostonimproper - The work I'd do for fun is so low paid, it's hard to justify adding such commitments to my schedule. I never minded tech work itself, just the politics and opportunity costs. Watching my wife's experience teaching yoga - those problems never go away.

What I considered doing is updating my linked in and opening it to remote part time or short term roles. It's been 12 years since I looked for work, and never in that context.

We're going into August with $600 unplanned. September and October look a little better. It's possible once some pent up demand is alleviated, my financial stress fades. The last three weeks of July, I wouldn't even say yes to a burrito.


@white belt - Medical tourism is daunting. The surgeon wants to touch my mouth at least twice. Each surgery would be with general anesthesia, followed by 5 weeks of liquid to soft foods. They don't wire the mouth shut, but they do rubber band it. Months of braces before and after every event. Coordination with the orthodontist all along. The doctors tend to pair up throughout their careers.

My least worst medical intervention option seems like picking the preferred HMO plan, starting right at the beginning of a calendar year. Managing income to hit the ACA cost sharing sweet spot, it's possible the experience lands between $10-20k. $7k of that would be paying the orthodontist.

The do nothing option is free and causes zero additional life disruption. At least, until I start losing teeth from my poor bite. Or maybe develop escalating jaw pain. I'm already accustomed to the other problems, but apparently they are significant. The surgeon said it's like walking around with one leg shorter than the other.

Even if it was all free, the decision is not an easy one. Very disruptive to life today, with all potential rewards years away.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

I felt like reflecting on August ahead of posting numbers.


Budgeting
The new budget approach has hit some bumps, but is working.

The hardest part was our initial conversation. Planning August together meant facing deep seated assumptions. What do I value? What does she value? Is there judgement in either direction? Where were expectations missed? That part was rough. It spread over days.

The resulting framework has yielded positive, affirming money conversations. We had no trouble absorbing disruptions over the month and re-allocating dollar amounts.

My stress over her purchases has disappeared. She no longer feels required to seek permission. The mandate to spend less has faded. We are enjoying consumption for fun. Having a better plan, it no longer feels like spending today is robbing the future. I did write a lengthy (and at times absurd!) "To Buy" list.

A few unexpected expenses tested the plan.


Unexpected expenses
The biggest uncertainty in our plan, was how it would respond to disruption. It did ok:

1. The most stressful - a small pool of water appeared in the basement. We replaced our water heater a few years ago but went cheap. My fear - the gamble had not paid off and we were looking at $1200+ to do it right. After a couple tries (and unanswered calls), I traced the problem to our AC drain pipe overflow.

I hate being hot. Covid has HVAC vendors overloaded. With no other option than wait, I learned get part of that pipe off and flush it. All sorts of gross stuff came out, enough that we could turn the air back on with confidence. After asking around, it seems ignoring the AC clean and check because of Covid wasn't a great idea. So, we ended up paying $150, including full drain replacement.

We were able to offset this by burning some Amazon points and having a few other expenses run under.


2. The most impactful - The lifting gym closed without notice. They cited landlord issues. So much for my membership, paid through mid-September. I pulled forward my plan to try the regional powerlifting gym. The price - a $40 membership fee and extra driving. Chatting with staff at our pool, they might be next. So my local weight room could disappear at any time.

The gym has been one of my favorite activities in the past few months. Covid could take it, especially as fall settles in. I have re-prioritized investing in my home equipment. I am trying to add variety that would keep my joints happy long term. Instead of eating out or buying video games this month, it all went into gym toys. Next month will be more of the same.

The powerlifting gym has not built their business model around membership. It is also very quiet in the mornings - 3 or 4 people in the full building. I hope they will be resilient to disruption. I may buy coaching from the owner. It could give me priority and sustain the social aspect in a lockdown. The drive limits visits to once or twice a week. It is not a total solution, but I find myself learning and motivated.

The other glimmer of hope - my old gym was re-opened by the landlord, under a new name. I don't have much confidence in that lasting, but it is a backup option.


Participating in Society
With 6 months of FIRE under my belt, the thrill of doing nothing has begun to fade. Video games have lost their shine. Last month's money stress made me think about getting more. I decided to check out crowdsourcing and turn on my LinkedIn. Enter the rabbit hole.

1. Crowdsourcing - Years ago I heard about a site called uTest. Find bugs, get paid. I am a good tester and have always been curious about upside in a merit driven program. Due to time constraints, I never followed through. This month, I spent a couple days on their onboarding. I learned new tricks, met a few people, dusted off my testing skills, etc. That part was fun. The business model is fascinating.

The financial upside, has been terrible. I earned $0. The program is open world wide and US dollars go way further in parts of Africa and Asia. This means competing with smart international testers. They need that money for their family, and are eager to work at any opportunity. Work is first come first serve. But first, you must build a reputation, by working for free. I'm not gong to disrupt life over beer money, so I don't make the cut. I am exactly who they want to weed out.

I have enjoyed the gamified learning. I can see that for a US based professional, it could be worth doing for skill development and networking. It also makes a good story. It is humbling to face obvious evidence of success through US born privilege. I may try similar sites - penetration testing, big data and machine learning. Those are all topics I wonder about. I also have mild interest in the gamified coding sites. IMO their networking opportunities offer the greatest financial upside.


2. LinkedIn - Lately, I've been thinking it'd be ok to work a little, a few hours in the afternoon. With delta Covid keeping us home, finding a productive outlet may be worthwhile. I decided to open my LinkedIn and see what happens. I've never seriously looked for work. My newest resume was from 2008. I have interviewed with less than 10 companies my entire life.

Faced with the blank slate, it is clear I cannot sell myself. I don't even know what I want. I built my career by jumping on whatever opportunity seemed to pay. Then I'd ride it until unbearable. My new resume reflects this uncertainty - an unfocused wall of text. My LinkedIn profile is similar - a scattered brain dump. It's ugly. Lacking a story, I find little motivation to improve these.

With the tech market being so hot, recruiters are contacting me anyway. Unfortunately, they all want full time help. Screw that. I love my free mornings. I have zero interest in playing 4 hour work week games. I could scare up part time work from friends, but since I don't know what I want, I hesitate to burn their goodwill. It is possible I try something for a week, get bored or annoyed, and wander off.

Instead, I am exploring why people work and how they earn money. Side hustles, freelancing, authority based businesses, social selling, big tech and everything in between. Coming out of school - I never considered "what do I want to do with my life?" The answer felt obvious - "get money and not work, duh". Now, not so much.

I have no idea where this leads. It feels surreal. With the crowdsourcing, I see people scrambling for scraps of the American economy. A few miles from my house, I see the world's 1% living royally. At times, consuming less than my peers (who are they anymore?) feels deprived. At others, my life without work embodies extraordinary privilege.

Should I end up earning money, we will spend it all. I cannot resume worshipping a net worth high score. My wife and I will split the pot, then burn it. Having built my comprehensive "To Buy" list, this gets laughable. While technically I don't need an air conditioner for my bed sheet, I am prepared to take one for the team.

Salathor
Posts: 394
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:49 am
Location: California, USA

Re: What I Spend

Post by Salathor »

Scott 2 wrote:
Sat Aug 28, 2021 5:29 pm
While technically I don't need an air conditioner for my bed sheet, I am prepared to take one for the team.
I'm curious--are these the kinds of things you bought before and then refrained from while saving for ERE (thus you or your wife feeling constrained), or is a desire for stuff like this something that you're finding growing since you retired?

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: What I Spend

Post by Scott 2 »

Towards the end of my last job, I used consumption as a mental crutch. I would spend to remove any non work related adversity or give myself something to look forward to. Some of those purchases were on the laughable side. The peak Included a $1100 push sled for exercising, as well as an order for $500 of whisky through Instacart. I was earning enough that financially, it didn't matter.

Excluding that, I'd say my desire to consume is higher now. I have time to get new ideas and see how I'd integrate them. Previously, work left me so busy, I'd ignore anything that was not immediately pressing. I was single minded in my focus for a high score, so doing without felt easy. Really - net worth had become a proxy for the freedom I desperately wanted.

Because these new ideas are more considered, I am more aware of having them unmet. Example - My comfortable sleeping temperature is about eight degrees cooler than my wife's. So I'm sweating while she's buried under blankets. I just read how important sleep is for your health and sleeping cooler is even better. That bed air conditioner looks perfect. I could even leave the house hotter at night. I'd save money, make my wife more comfortable and sleep better. Why don't I have one?

I also have more time to see what others have and understand why they appreciate it. My loved ones are smart people with good ideas, after all. It doesn't help that they are still working, not only getting paid, but also increasing their earning power dramatically.

Rationally, I know it's fun to get new stuff. I am in no way suffering. I probably just want a shiny toy. So, I try to scratch the itch only a little each month, spending just enough to avoid making myself unhappy.

I am full of ideas though. I suspect on the high end, I could burn $100k. I am open to trying it, should the money become irrelevant.

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