Hello from Oregon!

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Bytore
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2024 3:50 pm

Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bytore »

Howdy Howdy Ya'll!

About Me:

First off, I have read the ERE book twice and am working on a third time right now. I feel like there are nuggets or something in the words of JLF's book that are wriggling like a worm in my brain to breakthrough and change how I see things.

First-Gen Oregonian, lived in this incredible state my entire life and I am now getting into my 40's.

I have struggled with finances my entire adult life. There was a lot of trauma around finances in my childhood and my parent's just barely made ends meet, most of the time.

The closest of the ERE Wheaton level's to mine is probably level 2. As I am in my fourth decade, I have had the experience of being further along on that scale at times. Life happens.

My credit score is near perfect, I do have some debts. I have a stable job, earning what is considered a low income in my HCOL area. Not that many years ago the area where I live was far more cheap; but private land is relatively scarce in Oregon and the zoning restrictions are pretty severe. I have a love-hate relationship with the land-use policies that were implemented in this state prior to my birth.

I have tried out a few different careers in my life; some of those choices were really top-notch. For instance, 14.5 years with UPS means I should (barring econonic disaster) have at least a $17.6k pension from age 65 until death. I don't work there now, but if I were to return I could retire and collect my pension in my early 50's. The thing about that job is that it can be incredibly wearing on the physical body. Pretty chill though. Other careers I have had: organic farmer, train operator, antique window restorer, bus driver.

In 2024, I found a new hobby which is: trail maintenance, repair, and scouting. One of my other hobbies is working with my and others [mostly family] financial data through spreadsheets. Just started learning a bit about using the programming language python and some extensions to do data analysis. Admittedly, the python bit is mostly me learning how to prompt an AI to get the program to do what I want it to do. Way way back in my early college days I did take a couple years of programming; so I know I can learn the stuff.

My current situation is as thus:

-- No signicant other, no kids.
-- Live with my parents; this happened due to losing a lease on farmland and needed to move immediately a few years ago. I have hung around since as I -- get along well with them and wasn't making much money to afford rent for a few years. I help them with home repairs and other stuff.
-- Decent job that is almost stress-free as a public (government institution) janitor.
-- Net income currently @ $2,650 USD/month [salary]
-- Budget:
--- Food: $200/month [not realistic but it's my current goal. That said this is totally do-able and I have even had months of spending $150 or less. Actual 2024 monthly average is: ~$600. Experimentation, Trips & Holidays cause the spike.]
--- Auto Insurance $157 bi-annually.
--- Fuel for Vehicle: $100/month [higher due to my hobbies]
--- Health & Pharmacy: $75/month
--- Sewer: $50/month
--- DMV Fees: $8.33/month into a fund.

Total Debts:
Student Loan: $22,000 [may be forgiven in about 1.5 years]; otherwise monthly payment is $208. FYI, I got a B.S. in Geography 16? years ago.
CC1: ~$2,600
CC2: ~3,300

I guess I will start a journal as there is a lot more I could write up but I don't want this introductory post to get too long!

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loutfard
Posts: 600
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2023 6:14 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by loutfard »

Hello and welcome!

Curious to observe your way towards ERE.

In our early days together, my wife and I heavily relied on detailed budgets out of sheer necessity. You mention making detailed budget spreadsheets. Would you be willing to share yours?

We have since brought our expenses much more in line with our goals. Largely cuts, but some expansion too. The alignment made detailed budgets redundant. I "only" keep an executive overview now: income, expenses, savings rate, assets, investment portfolio and debts. That executive overview too I intend to drop once we're further down the ERE road, once money truly feels like tap water.

loutfard

Bicycle7
Posts: 146
Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:37 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bicycle7 »

Welcome Bytore!

I'm a fellow lifelong Oregonian :) Happy to see you here!

I've gotten to do some trail building in the Siskiyous, it was wild to see a dense hillside with no trail suddenly have a smooth walking trail go through.

Bytore
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2024 3:50 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bytore »

Morning Bicycle7 and Loutfard,

@Bicycle7:

Cool to hear from a fellow trail enthusiast! Were you blazing new or restoring trails in the Siskiyous? When I was a wee lad my Dad took us on the lower Rogue trail, that was my first backpacking experience! Other than that, I have not done a lot of hiking in them. Last summer I did do a bunch of work in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness; I found out that a lot of that is technically in the Klamath mountains? I might be wrong there. Getting out more in my home-country and realizing how little I really know about it is humbling.

@Loutfard:

Regarding my path towards ERE, well my first read of ERE was one year ago. Other than that the concept of FI has been something I keep coming back to after a bunch of false starts. I have probably read a bunch of the same books as other's here; YMOYL, Dave Ramsey, etc. Marketing, lifestyle creep, starting businesses, and other choices have forked me off the path a few times.

More specifically about my spreadsheets... More than budgeting, I have been tracking every expense and income for the last two years. I have missed a few bits of cash here and there, but otherwise I am about 97% accurate, I figure. I record all of my transaction data and use that to quickly look at trends. Right now it is more about gaining an awareness of my spending and thus gaining knowledge of myself and habits. I do have a section in my spreadsheet for budgeting and it is setup as a monthly and yearly thing and I can compare my budgeted values to actual values as well as do future predictions.

I am working to make my system more robust.

As I work my way through a third reading of ERE, I got to the part where Jacob talks about not having detailed budgets. I was reminded of that this week and so my goal for year 2025 is to first pay off my consumer debts; can be done by May and then keep my expenses at 1 JAFI. You mentioned keeping an executive overview, that is something I aspire to.

Are you interested in a copy of my financial planning/budgeting spreadsheet? It is a work-in-progress and I would need to modify it to take personal details out but I am always happy to share the projects I am working on. Not sure if there is a way to attach files in the forum.

Here is a copy of my proposed 2025 budget.

Year Subcategory January February March April May June July August September October November December
2025 Paychecks/Salary 2600 2600 2600 2600 2600 2600 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700
2025 Groceries -200 -200 -200 -230 -230 -230 -230 -230 -230 -230 -230 -230
2025 Healthcare & Pharmacy -25 -25 -75 -75 -75 -75 -75 -75 -75 -75 -75 -75
2025 Home Maintenance -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100
2025 Auto Ins. -150.45 -150.45
2025 Fuel -120 -120 -120 -120 -120 -120 -120 -120 -120 -120 -120 -120
2025 Veh. Maintenance -180 -115 -115 -115 -115 -115 -115 -115 -115
2025 DMV Fees -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10
2025 Sewer -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50
2025 Phone -180
2025 Pets & Livestock -40 -40 -40 -40 -40 -40 -40 -40 -40 -40 -40 -40
2025 Savings -1070 -1500 -1200 -1630 -1630 -1630 -1630 -1630 -1480
2025 credit card2 -325 -1129 -1767 -394
2025 Household Items -25 -24 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50 -50
2025 credit card1 -1575 -1293.91
2025 Tax 500
2025 Federal Student Loan -208 -208 -208 -208 -208 -208 -208 -208 -208 -208 -208 -208

Bicycle7
Posts: 146
Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:37 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bicycle7 »

I love the Lower Rogue, I've backpacked out there several times :) I had a temporary gig blazing new trail as part of a project to develop a hiking trail connecting Ashland to Jacksonville. They have several sections of it complete, but last time I checked, they are still waiting to fill in some gaps.

I still haven't made it out to the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, though would like to!

Bytore
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2024 3:50 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bytore »

@Bicycle7

That's pretty rad regarding the temporary gig. How many miles is that trail going to be, do you know?

The Rogue-Umpqua Divide is a very special place. The trails do need a lot of work, but a lot of the forest still has huge trees, hardly anybody out there. Lots of high meadows. In the southwest area, just outside of the wilderness is a huge area full of huckleberries. The Cow Creek people go up there every year to harvest them. Another pretty cool aspect of the RUD is that there are lots of access points all around it.

Bicycle7
Posts: 146
Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:37 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bicycle7 »

Wow, cool to hear about the RUD, from what I'd read about it on the internet, it seemed less traveled.

That's a great question! I'm not sure, but this link has a lot of info on the project: https://www.sutaoregon.org/

Bytore
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2024 3:50 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bytore »

Bicycle7, yeah the RUD is definitely less travelled.

Checked out that link. Pretty awesome trail, by the looks of it!

Bytore
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2024 3:50 pm

Re: Hello from Oregon!

Post by Bytore »

Bicycle7 wrote:
Sun Dec 15, 2024 11:21 pm
I love the Lower Rogue, I've backpacked out there several times :) I had a temporary gig blazing new trail as part of a project to develop a hiking trail connecting Ashland to Jacksonville. They have several sections of it complete, but last time I checked, they are still waiting to fill in some gaps.

I still haven't made it out to the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, though would like to!
@Bicycle7 FYI, this coming Summer I will, fire permitting, head back out there to work on the RUD trail #1470 https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/umpqua/ ... ecid=63852

The folks I worked with last Summer went from Yellowjacket Camp over towards Abbot Butte. Feel free to PM me or I can PM you closer to the date when I might go up there.

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