Easier said than done - Melo's path towards freedom
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mountainFrugal
- Posts: 1335
- Joined: Fri May 07, 2021 2:26 pm
Re: Easier said than done - Melo's path towards freedom
Regarding exercising while sick: Are you feeling well enough to walk around the block? Coming back from being sick is hard, but even small bits can add up and get your motivation levels back.
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MeloTheMelon
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:18 am
- Location: Germany
Re: Easier said than done - Melo's path towards freedom
Yes, I'm going for a bunch of walks, although usually just short ones. I'll probably be back at working out normally in a week or somountainFrugal wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 10:47 amRegarding exercising while sick: Are you feeling well enough to walk around the block? Coming back from being sick is hard, but even small bits can add up and get your motivation levels back.
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MeloTheMelon
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:18 am
- Location: Germany
Re: Easier said than done - Melo's path towards freedom
Well, so much to being active regularly here...
I guess, I'm active about one a year, so that's still regular in some kind.
But I don't know if I will even stick to that. ERE hasn't really been a focus lately.
Boring stuff first:
I went back to full-time work a couple of months ago, mostly because there was a lot to do for my projects, and since I don't get paid for overtime it made sense to take the extra pay for full-time instead of doing unpaid extra hours. Then the usual salary adjustments, small raises, inflation adjustments, etc. came in as well, so my net take-home salary is up to ~3.100€ which is nice. Expenses are still pretty much the same as before, so all the extra money is just going to my savings for now.
I know I could save more if I move somewhere else, this area is kinda HCOL for Germany. I know I also could earn a lot more if I get out of research and get an industry job.
That said, I don't really care about either. I like this area, I'm kinda starting to settle down and I'm slowly building up my community here. Same for the job, I could earn more, but I enjoy working in research and I think I won't get the freedom I have right now at another job. Nobody cares about my hours, nobody cares when and where I work, I can pick and choose what I want to work on and where to put my time and I like the people I'm working with. And, since it's in cancer research, it feels like I'm actually doing something useful for once.
So I guess I came to that odd point of "What's enough for me". I don't need to save 80-90% of my salary. I'm fine with the 60% I'm putting aside right now. I don't need to try to retire in a couple of years because I'm fine doing what I do right now for a lot longer.
If there are chances to reduce my costs significantly without much changes to my current life I'll take them sure, but I won't spend time trying to optimize further and further.
The focus, for now, won't be on getting towards an early retirement, but towards a local community I like to be in, towards some actual work I can be proud of, and towards changing in ways to become a better version of myself.
I guess, I'm active about one a year, so that's still regular in some kind.
But I don't know if I will even stick to that. ERE hasn't really been a focus lately.
Boring stuff first:
I went back to full-time work a couple of months ago, mostly because there was a lot to do for my projects, and since I don't get paid for overtime it made sense to take the extra pay for full-time instead of doing unpaid extra hours. Then the usual salary adjustments, small raises, inflation adjustments, etc. came in as well, so my net take-home salary is up to ~3.100€ which is nice. Expenses are still pretty much the same as before, so all the extra money is just going to my savings for now.
I know I could save more if I move somewhere else, this area is kinda HCOL for Germany. I know I also could earn a lot more if I get out of research and get an industry job.
That said, I don't really care about either. I like this area, I'm kinda starting to settle down and I'm slowly building up my community here. Same for the job, I could earn more, but I enjoy working in research and I think I won't get the freedom I have right now at another job. Nobody cares about my hours, nobody cares when and where I work, I can pick and choose what I want to work on and where to put my time and I like the people I'm working with. And, since it's in cancer research, it feels like I'm actually doing something useful for once.
So I guess I came to that odd point of "What's enough for me". I don't need to save 80-90% of my salary. I'm fine with the 60% I'm putting aside right now. I don't need to try to retire in a couple of years because I'm fine doing what I do right now for a lot longer.
If there are chances to reduce my costs significantly without much changes to my current life I'll take them sure, but I won't spend time trying to optimize further and further.
The focus, for now, won't be on getting towards an early retirement, but towards a local community I like to be in, towards some actual work I can be proud of, and towards changing in ways to become a better version of myself.