After some years of on-and-off reading of both the blog and this forum, I decided to stop my quiet lurking and finally jump in.
Hopefully keeping a journal here or at the very least, posting here, will become something akin to the proverbial 'stick' when it comes to my ERE.
Now, for something of an introduction (warning: long because apparently, I built up quite some enthusiastic semi-rant about myself!) :
'Like the topic title already states I am one of those bike-loving Dutch folks. I am 25 years old, of the female persuasion and a full-time student. I am hoping to finish my Master's in Anthropology/ Public Governance next year. I know, I know - not one of the most ERE-minded studies, but at the very least, (economical) anthropology taught me a lot about consumerism and human culture(s).
My dear parents (most of all my mother and her family) taught me that saving one's money was the right thing to do and frowned upon 'frivolous spending'. So I guess I have always been more careful with my money - even though books have been (and most likely always will be) my guilty pleasure when it comes to spending money. Thank God for libraries.
However, I had never thought of retiring before the age of 65 (or whatever the 'official' retirement age will be in the future) and was extremely impressed by the ERE-blog (the book should be on its way as well by now).
Still, I highly doubted that I was able to follow the blog's guidelines and live as 'strict' as Jacob did (and does).
Especially since my first boyfriend and their family were a lot less tight with their money - I 'loosened' up. That is, I became less frugal (even to the extent where I barely cooked my own food anymore, shame on me!)
However, I continued to refuse spending more money than I earned and somehow, I almost always managed to save some money. Even when things got really tight and I had (still have) to finance all my study expenses by myself - I still got by.
Said change in my financial situation, caused by a several accidents and illnesses few in the family once again made me realize that there was (or had to be) more to life. More to life than the 'typical career path' of studying, getting a good job and work hard at said job for 45+ years to finance a big house, expensive dinners and so on.
I also realized (or re-realized?) that spending (read: splurging) money on random things was not real happiness. Not to me anyhow. (Even though I can still rejoice over a new/ secondhand book, a quality bike, etc.)
So, I here I am. I decided to get really search for what matters for me and become a better person. I see ERE as a great way to do this because of the discipline it involves, but even more so because it gives you a definite goal.
So far, some of my plans and/ or accomplishments are:
I went 'back' to the gym and work more on my health because a) you only have one body and b) the required health insurance won't be getting any cheaper here. Also, I really hope to fix/ lessen my asthma - something which showed up after I gained too much weight. So I am doing some weight-lifting/ cross-training and overall more cardio focused exercises (spinning at least 1/week, planning to add some running into my scheme). I am learning to eat more healthy again. Which, for me, mostly translates to just eating the healthy things (something I already do) and no longer maintaining the unhealthy side-snacking habit which I had acquired over the years (WIP
).So far: I lost 10kg (22lbs) by now and am looking to lose another 10kg before December this year.
I have also learned how to cook and garden (growing herbs and experimenting with vegetables) and am looking to further improve these and other DIY-skills in the future (permaculture, but also improve on my electronic skills, math-skills and overall teaching-skills for example).
Turn of the television (and computer) more often and grab myself a good and instructional book more often again. (Speaking of which: there are some great lists on both the blog and the forum, thanks for that!)
Also: get a good overview of my finances and possible ways to start saving up more.
Learn from other people (that definitely includes all the people here - I loved reading all the posts and especially the journals) and generally become a more useful and self-reliant person.
I hope to create a journal on this forum in the nearby future. In this journal I plan to keep track of all my personal goals, both financial and otherwise.
It should also help me with getting a more concrete plan and an actual overview of what I have and want, as well as the road towards said 'wants'. I have noticed that having an actual overview of e.g. one's finances allows one to see where the money goes (and also, where you can/ need to save money!)
Also, I know I sometimes want to do too much at once or the way in which I tend to lose track of the progress which I have already made when things get tough(er).
So.. I guess that's the end of my most likely too-long and slightly chaotic intro.
All the best and thank you all for contributing to this forum. It really inspired me. And of course, Jacob; thanks for creating this blog/ forum in the first place.
If you have any questions and/ or comments - fire away.
Meliora.
TL;DR : Dutch, female, 25 years, student Anthropology/ Public Governance Masters, works part-time as mail-woman and tutor (10-20 hours a week). Thrifty upbringing, got sloppier along the way but never managed to shake off her frugal roots and now has decided to 'rejoin' the fray and get ERE-serious.
Being money-wise always helps, because once you know where it's all going you can make a conscious choice about it, whereas most people (that I know) don't have a clue.