Frugal chicos journal - ERE in The Basque Country
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
This weekend has been a challenging one... Some of our neighbors think and behave like they are in a frat house. Their drinking parties, screams and techno music didn't allow us to rest properly and made us irritable and feel even more tired than before the weekend.
Anyways, their lack of common sense and stupid selfishness made me think about our goal and how bad I want it...
After a long walk, a coffee and a huge piece of carrot cake, Chica helped me to get back to a more positive tune and reminded me how important our "mission" is and how big the reward will be.
We have been discussing about travelling around Europe once we settled in the Basque Country. So far, the plan is as following:
- Sell everything, quit our jobs and moving to Spain in May 2020
- Settle, spend the summer with the family and then start our 3-4 month trip around Europe. We would like to start from the SW part of France and move up to Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Poland. Then go down to Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. We can go back through Italy, Switzerland, the East Coast of France and the Pyrenees.
- We could teach English online during the trip to make some extra cash.
- We could do the trip with a car and camp/use cheap hotels.
- We could do it by car or (the idea I like the most), buy a VW T3 Westfalia. I would like to buy an old one with a decent engine that I could fix with my father over the summer. It could be an amazing project.
When we come back, we could teach English online and do one on one tutoring while we set up our academy.
So far,all the above is just dreams and we are like about 2.5 years away from getting any close to it. However, we will try our best to make them real!
Anyways, their lack of common sense and stupid selfishness made me think about our goal and how bad I want it...
After a long walk, a coffee and a huge piece of carrot cake, Chica helped me to get back to a more positive tune and reminded me how important our "mission" is and how big the reward will be.
We have been discussing about travelling around Europe once we settled in the Basque Country. So far, the plan is as following:
- Sell everything, quit our jobs and moving to Spain in May 2020
- Settle, spend the summer with the family and then start our 3-4 month trip around Europe. We would like to start from the SW part of France and move up to Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Poland. Then go down to Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. We can go back through Italy, Switzerland, the East Coast of France and the Pyrenees.
- We could teach English online during the trip to make some extra cash.
- We could do the trip with a car and camp/use cheap hotels.
- We could do it by car or (the idea I like the most), buy a VW T3 Westfalia. I would like to buy an old one with a decent engine that I could fix with my father over the summer. It could be an amazing project.
When we come back, we could teach English online and do one on one tutoring while we set up our academy.
So far,all the above is just dreams and we are like about 2.5 years away from getting any close to it. However, we will try our best to make them real!
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
wouldn't it be wiser to do the trip during the summer, when the weather is nicer in northern europe?
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
@family father - hi there! It would probably be better. But, we would leave by the end of August and will definitely try to visit the northern countries during late August-September and leave the south of Europe like Italy, SE France amd Croatia for October-early November. We definitely don’t want to miss summer with the family in Spain sitting by the beach and partyingwith friends in all the festivals!
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
That is wonderful. I'm finalizing my move to Spain now and going through the visa process. I've decided to settle down in Valencia. Don't have any family in Spain so I'm sort of figuring it all out as I'm going along but it's been an interesting journey for sure.
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
FRx - That’s amazing! I bet you are going to love Valencia and Spain. Valencia has one the warmest winters in Europe, it is afordable and easy to walk around. Don’t miss the arroz al horno!
Are you ere-ing there or just moving an planning in working there?
All the best
Are you ere-ing there or just moving an planning in working there?
All the best
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
Man, I love carrot cake. But I hate carrots. I honestly don' know how that works. I am certain if there was a broccoli cake I'd hate it as much as I hate broccoli. Maybe it's the cream? It's kind of fucked up. I don't know what the analogy is. Like you love the book but hate the movie? Or you like The Rolling Stones but hate Mick Jagger?Frugalchicos wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:30 pmAfter a long walk, a coffee and a huge piece of carrot cake, Chica helped me to get back to a more positive tune and reminded me how important our "mission" is and how big the reward will be.
Anyways, glad Chica got you back on track.
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
Good to hear from you Jason! My nightmare would be a broccoli and char cake, disgusting both of them
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
Time for an update!
FEBRUARY INCOME – $13,473.68
Chico’s Salary – $4,163.46
Chica’s Salary – $5,237.19
Roommate Rent – $825
Federal Tax Return – $3,248.03
FEBRUARY EXPENSES – $5,399.87 ($4,256.51 if subtracting principal payment)
Mortgage: $1,978.60 (note: $1,143.36 went to principal, counting that as a savings)
HOA: $247.83
Car Insurance: $65.49
Gas (Car): $57.98
Groceries: $347.35
Cellphones: $21.74 (note: Chica’s work pays her cellphone bill, this is just Chico’s phone plan with Lycamobile)
Internet: $56.30
Gas (House): $118.39
Electricity: $63.27
Chica’s Gym: $39.99
Chico’s Gym: $29.99
Misc./Entertainment: $229.17
Travel: $2,135.72 (August flight to Spain, hotel in NYC for summer)
This month, we saved 68.41% of our take home salary. Note: this doesn’t include any 401K contributions or retirement plans.
CURRENT ASSETS: $253,319.94 ($6,815.72 increase over last month – much lower than expected, thanks, Donald.)
Cash savings: $5,561.74
Investments: $95,629.16
Chico’s Retirement: $8,674.86
Chica’s 401K: $43,472.90
Home Equity: $99,981.28 (not counting appreciation)
![Image](https://i1.wp.com/frugalchicos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/February-2018.png?resize=768%2C523&ssl=1/img)
FEBRUARY INCOME – $13,473.68
Chico’s Salary – $4,163.46
Chica’s Salary – $5,237.19
Roommate Rent – $825
Federal Tax Return – $3,248.03
FEBRUARY EXPENSES – $5,399.87 ($4,256.51 if subtracting principal payment)
Mortgage: $1,978.60 (note: $1,143.36 went to principal, counting that as a savings)
HOA: $247.83
Car Insurance: $65.49
Gas (Car): $57.98
Groceries: $347.35
Cellphones: $21.74 (note: Chica’s work pays her cellphone bill, this is just Chico’s phone plan with Lycamobile)
Internet: $56.30
Gas (House): $118.39
Electricity: $63.27
Chica’s Gym: $39.99
Chico’s Gym: $29.99
Misc./Entertainment: $229.17
Travel: $2,135.72 (August flight to Spain, hotel in NYC for summer)
This month, we saved 68.41% of our take home salary. Note: this doesn’t include any 401K contributions or retirement plans.
CURRENT ASSETS: $253,319.94 ($6,815.72 increase over last month – much lower than expected, thanks, Donald.)
Cash savings: $5,561.74
Investments: $95,629.16
Chico’s Retirement: $8,674.86
Chica’s 401K: $43,472.90
Home Equity: $99,981.28 (not counting appreciation)
![Image](https://i1.wp.com/frugalchicos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/February-2018.png?resize=768%2C523&ssl=1/img)
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
Achievements from February:
- Frugal February was a success. We only ate out once. Limited our dates to coffee dates and were careful with extra expenses.
- Got to enjoy Chica's first big paycheck. Invested everything in Betterment.
- Saved the chiropractor $1,000 expense. Healed my back doing yoga, stretching and working on my chore. Feel strong and want to start quantifying my fitness achievements (counting weight lifted/repetitions, fat lost and body mass gained).
- Bought super cheap tickets for our trip to Spain in August and got a good deal for our NYC hotel room for summer. We can say all our vacations for 2018 are booked and paid.
- Feel that winter went by pretty quickly (which is a great thing. Summer months are very easy in Chicago).
Goals for March:
- We will start our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate on 3/12. Very excited for it. It is a great challenge and I feel it will be very useful in the future. I already have 3 potential students
- Our roommate is a little annoying (mainly being a douchey kid), so one goal is being cool with him for the time being until Chica gets pregnant and we kick him out. About 5 to 6 more months to go.
- We have a little less than 100K to achieve our FI goal of 350K. Will give it all to get there by the end of the year.
- Frugal February was a success. We only ate out once. Limited our dates to coffee dates and were careful with extra expenses.
- Got to enjoy Chica's first big paycheck. Invested everything in Betterment.
- Saved the chiropractor $1,000 expense. Healed my back doing yoga, stretching and working on my chore. Feel strong and want to start quantifying my fitness achievements (counting weight lifted/repetitions, fat lost and body mass gained).
- Bought super cheap tickets for our trip to Spain in August and got a good deal for our NYC hotel room for summer. We can say all our vacations for 2018 are booked and paid.
- Feel that winter went by pretty quickly (which is a great thing. Summer months are very easy in Chicago).
Goals for March:
- We will start our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate on 3/12. Very excited for it. It is a great challenge and I feel it will be very useful in the future. I already have 3 potential students
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
- Our roommate is a little annoying (mainly being a douchey kid), so one goal is being cool with him for the time being until Chica gets pregnant and we kick him out. About 5 to 6 more months to go.
- We have a little less than 100K to achieve our FI goal of 350K. Will give it all to get there by the end of the year.
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
The title of this post could perfectly be: Get rich, ripped and healthier with Aldi.
I freakin love it. Straight forward grocery shop with no BS decoration (yes, I am talking about Mariano's...wtf is that thing of drinking a glass of wine while you do your groceries?)
Before you read the total price, try to guess how much I spent in buying half of the shop:
1 Never any Whole Chicken (Never any antibiotics, hormones, etc)
1 bag of lemons (aprox 9 units)
1 cantaloupe
1 Tray of pork chops (6-7 units)
3 banana stems (aprox 21 units)
2 boxes of strawberries
1 bag of mandarins (aprox 20 units)
1 cabbage
1 Loaf of wheat bread
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 bag of baby carrots
1 bag of deli roasted turkey
2 almond milk
2 cucumbers
2 avocados
1 box of mushrooms
1 celery stub
1 bag of spinach
1 bag of carrots
1 butternut squash
1 dozen of eggs
1 box of egg whites
.... yes, all that for $51.60...I felt I robbed the shop.
I am planning in cooking the following:
- Lentils with butternut squash and spinach.
- Roast the chicken so I have meat for the week and make a soup with some of the meat, celery and carrots.
- Grill the pork chops with some garlic and serve them with roasted piquillo peppers (Brought them from Spain).
- Will make juice with the carrots, celery and cucumbers.
- Some good breakfasts with the deli turkey over wheat bread toasts and olive oil with the blended diced tomatoes.
I freakin love it. Straight forward grocery shop with no BS decoration (yes, I am talking about Mariano's...wtf is that thing of drinking a glass of wine while you do your groceries?)
Before you read the total price, try to guess how much I spent in buying half of the shop:
1 Never any Whole Chicken (Never any antibiotics, hormones, etc)
1 bag of lemons (aprox 9 units)
1 cantaloupe
1 Tray of pork chops (6-7 units)
3 banana stems (aprox 21 units)
2 boxes of strawberries
1 bag of mandarins (aprox 20 units)
1 cabbage
1 Loaf of wheat bread
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 bag of baby carrots
1 bag of deli roasted turkey
2 almond milk
2 cucumbers
2 avocados
1 box of mushrooms
1 celery stub
1 bag of spinach
1 bag of carrots
1 butternut squash
1 dozen of eggs
1 box of egg whites
.... yes, all that for $51.60...I felt I robbed the shop.
I am planning in cooking the following:
- Lentils with butternut squash and spinach.
- Roast the chicken so I have meat for the week and make a soup with some of the meat, celery and carrots.
- Grill the pork chops with some garlic and serve them with roasted piquillo peppers (Brought them from Spain).
- Will make juice with the carrots, celery and cucumbers.
- Some good breakfasts with the deli turkey over wheat bread toasts and olive oil with the blended diced tomatoes.
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- Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 7:55 pm
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
I freakin’ LOVE Aldi. I have recently taken over more of the grocery shopping for my mom; my brother has been doing it, but my mom has been frustrated with some things he does. She asked me to shop for her last week and I warned her I was getting everything I could at Aldi. Well, I seriously stocked her up for about $56. She was thrilled.
My only complaint about my local Aldi is that their produce is not always the best. Sometimes really good, sometimes rough.
What I think I appreciate most about Aldi is the simplicity—100 cereals can be paralyzing (read “The Paradox of Choice”—great book), it’s small, the checkers are blazing fast, and you don’t have to navigate through a bunch of sections you only need occasionally (bird food, hardware, vitamins....). Huge Aldi fan here. (You could bring a flask of wine to Aldi.... pretty sure no one would care....)
My only complaint about my local Aldi is that their produce is not always the best. Sometimes really good, sometimes rough.
What I think I appreciate most about Aldi is the simplicity—100 cereals can be paralyzing (read “The Paradox of Choice”—great book), it’s small, the checkers are blazing fast, and you don’t have to navigate through a bunch of sections you only need occasionally (bird food, hardware, vitamins....). Huge Aldi fan here. (You could bring a flask of wine to Aldi.... pretty sure no one would care....)
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
If you ever want to add photos to your journal, something like this would be a good use of it!Frugalchicos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:35 pmtry to guess how much I spent in buying half of the shop:
.... yes, all that
I've never been to Aldi's
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
ERE Price is Right!!!!Frugalchicos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:35 pm
Before you read the total price, try to guess how much I spent
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
@ EdithKeeler - Yep, simplicity, that's the key. Quick, easy, cheap and good product.
@ Bryan - Here we go some pics of the food I cooked over the weekend.
@Jason - You were the winner. ERE Price!!
![Image](http://i65.tinypic.com/1rdait.jpg)
![Image](http://i68.tinypic.com/155oua8.jpg)
![Image](http://i68.tinypic.com/k36uyx.jpg)
Chicken noodle soup I made with the extra meat and veggies
@ Bryan - Here we go some pics of the food I cooked over the weekend.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
@Jason - You were the winner. ERE Price!!
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
![Image](http://i65.tinypic.com/1rdait.jpg)
![Image](http://i68.tinypic.com/155oua8.jpg)
![Image](http://i68.tinypic.com/k36uyx.jpg)
Chicken noodle soup I made with the extra meat and veggies
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
You and Frugalchica should film yourselves budgeting, creating a shopping list, shopping at Aldi’s, making the meal, serving the meal, eating the meal, using the leftovers to make another meal, eating the leftover meal and send it to Aldi’s to get them to sponsor a cooking show featuring their store.
We watch these shows like Ugly Delicious and all they do is make you hungry for the food they are making.
We watch these shows like Ugly Delicious and all they do is make you hungry for the food they are making.
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
I think at the end of it you should say something like:
“Aldi’s - We love it so much that we don’t care that they may have been Nazi Sympathizers”
“Aldi’s - We love it so much that we don’t care that they may have been Nazi Sympathizers”
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
Lookin good!
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Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
Time for monthly update. Not much to report, just the freakin stock market is too volatile, decided to save 20-25K in cash. It will take us a couple of months.
We also started the English Teacher certificate, so far so good. We will need to do some homework on the side with grammar teaching, etc..
MARCH INCOME – $10,213.45 ($20,213.45 with bonus)
Chico’s Salary – $4,163.45
Chica’s Salary – $5,225
Roommate Rent – $825
Bonus – $10,000
MARCH EXPENSES – $4,323.91 ($3,175.31 if subtracting principal payment)
Mortgage: $1,978.60 (note: $1,148.60 went to principal, counting that as a savings)
HOA: $247.83
Car Insurance: $65.49
Gas (Car): $106.16
Groceries: $404.47
Cellphones: $21.74 (note: Chica’s work pays her cellphone bill, this is just Chico’s phone plan with Lycamobile)
Internet: $56.30
Gas (House): $88.63
Electricity: $44.05
Chica’s Gym: $39.99
Chico’s Gym: $29.99
Misc./Entertainment: $665.66 (mostly just dinner out with each other and friends, coffee study dates and a last minute trip to San Antonio for Chica, etc.)
TEFL Course Fee: $574
This month, we saved 69% of our take home salary. Note: this doesn’t include any 401K contributions or retirement plans.
CURRENT ASSETS: $269,089.10 ($15,796.16 increase over last month)
Cash savings: $5,952.43
Investments: $110,033.92
Chico’s Retirement: $8,973.29
Chica’s 401K: $42,999.58
Home Equity: $101,129.88 (not counting appreciation)
![Image](https://i0.wp.com/frugalchicos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/March-2018.png?resize=768%2C523&ssl=1img)
We also started the English Teacher certificate, so far so good. We will need to do some homework on the side with grammar teaching, etc..
MARCH INCOME – $10,213.45 ($20,213.45 with bonus)
Chico’s Salary – $4,163.45
Chica’s Salary – $5,225
Roommate Rent – $825
Bonus – $10,000
MARCH EXPENSES – $4,323.91 ($3,175.31 if subtracting principal payment)
Mortgage: $1,978.60 (note: $1,148.60 went to principal, counting that as a savings)
HOA: $247.83
Car Insurance: $65.49
Gas (Car): $106.16
Groceries: $404.47
Cellphones: $21.74 (note: Chica’s work pays her cellphone bill, this is just Chico’s phone plan with Lycamobile)
Internet: $56.30
Gas (House): $88.63
Electricity: $44.05
Chica’s Gym: $39.99
Chico’s Gym: $29.99
Misc./Entertainment: $665.66 (mostly just dinner out with each other and friends, coffee study dates and a last minute trip to San Antonio for Chica, etc.)
TEFL Course Fee: $574
This month, we saved 69% of our take home salary. Note: this doesn’t include any 401K contributions or retirement plans.
CURRENT ASSETS: $269,089.10 ($15,796.16 increase over last month)
Cash savings: $5,952.43
Investments: $110,033.92
Chico’s Retirement: $8,973.29
Chica’s 401K: $42,999.58
Home Equity: $101,129.88 (not counting appreciation)
![Image](https://i0.wp.com/frugalchicos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/March-2018.png?resize=768%2C523&ssl=1img)
Re: Let's go Back Home - Frugal chicos journal
The Frugaljasonos had similar discussion about increasing cash reserves due to stock market volatility.