C40's Journal

[George the original one]

OHI didn't have a dividend cut... what happened is, due to the merger, they paid 2/3 of the dividend a month early and then paid the rest of the dividend at the usual time. Prior quarter's dividend on Jan 29 was $0.53 and the most recent dividend was $0.36 + $0.18 = $0.54 (Mar 27 & Apr 28), thus their quarterly raises remained intact.

This naturally confused many investors, not just you, and the share price has been beat down!

[wizards]

Nestle didn't actually cut the dividend - I think the decrease you recorded was due to the strong dollar:

http://www.nestle.com/investors/sharesa ... /dividends

Nice to see the van project coming along.

[C40]

Well now - don't I feel like an idiot!

I think I was able to cancel both sale orders. Thanks for the quick heads up guys!

[vexed87]

Loving the van project C40, I have sub'd!

[Gilberto de Piento]

Nice job on the van, it looks like things are going well. Regarding the bike seat, if the bike is a mountain bike and you don't mind the expense you can get 4 or 5" of travel with a dropper seatpost.

This is a dumb question, but how do you keep your expenses so predictable? Our situations aren't that different but my journal is filled with random, somewhat unpredictable expenses that really add up. Your expenses are house payment, food, gas and not much else every month (aside from the van).

[Standard Staples]

This is really phenomenal. It's really cool to see someone executing their plan and closing in on living life exactly they way they choose.

Regarding the van, will you just cook/wash dishes on your knees? Or will you have something like a car creeper to sit and slide around? Might be useful for moving around and for performing some of the van maintenance along the way, and it'd be easy to store on a wall or ceiling. Just curious about your plan in that aspect.

[zarathustra]

Great planning for the van. As a previous van dweller I can see you are keeping the right things in mind! Organization and simplicity of stuff is key for happiness! I may've missed discussions on the following questions, but here goes:

Have you thought about where dirty laundry will go and how to keep it from stinking things up?

What about emergency bathroom situations in the middle of the night?

Shoe storage (this was annoying - i ended up keeping them in a bucket)

Garbage storage?

For sleeping that direction, you'll have to be extra cognizant of where you park and the leaning of the van (you want a flat surface). Lots of streets slant down towards the curb a tad and that could mess you up a bit. I remember my first night in my van and I was parked at an angle. It made my body feel crazy!

AZ . . . have you been to Saguaro Nat'l Park? It's basically a million huge cactuses. I loved hiking around there the Christmas I quit my job. It's truly unique from my perspective, having grown up in the PNW. I have family in AZ too.

[C40]

Nice job on the van, it looks like things are going well. Regarding the bike seat, if the bike is a mountain bike and you don't mind the expense you can get 4 or 5" of travel with a dropper seatpost.

This is a dumb question, but how do you keep your expenses so predictable? Our situations aren't that different but my journal is filled with random, somewhat unpredictable expenses that really add up. Your expenses are house payment, food, gas and not much else every month (aside from the van).

Thank you! It's just road bikes for now.. A mountain bike may be in the picture later...

I looked at your expenses a bit... There doesn't really seem to be huge stand outs.. It looks like the things that vary may be:
- Health expenses
- Whatever you're spending your cash from ATM on **
- Car repairs

** - I'd recommend keeping track of what you spend this money on. When you take money out of the ATM, all you're doing is moving money between your bank account and your pocket. You haven't spent it. ATM/cash is not a spending category.


As for how my spending is consistent: well, this is what I thought of after reading your question:

STRATEGY I do try to have things set up in my life so emergencies and unexpected large expenses are unlikely to occur. I'm not sure exactly how to explain this - but this is something you can aim for as a strategy. In the business world, there are methods for this that you could research if you're interested (Search for "Risk assessment", or other terms with "Risk".. The information you'll find may be more related to contingency planning for systems that already exist, but it's much better to make the consideration when initially creating the system (or in this case, your life arrangement).

Sometimes I consider how well my car runs, or how little home repairs I've had to make so far and think that maybe I'm lucky. That may be true, but I think it also has to do with my general strategy of not having emergencies. The house? I bought a small house in good shape, did a thorough inspection, and fix small things myself before they become bigger problems. The car? I bought a very reliable economy car. I drive in a way that puts minimal wear on the car (basically light hyper-miling). I do regular maintenance myself so there's no chance of the Lube or repair station to screw something up. In general, I air on the side of simplicity. I aim to have few things, of high quality. Things that are simple and not prone to failure (two common and easy examples - shaving with a double edge safety razor instead of an electric one. Using a reel lawn mower instead of one with a motor - which is also easier to lift up a terrace wall in my back yard to mow the higher part of my yard, and also possible to just carry down into my basement - so no shed or garage is required to store it. And then every time I mow my lawn I remember that and I think "ha haa! I love this mower

Another part of strategy is to make hay while the sun is shining. One example - now that I travel for work, I don't go on "vacations" any more. I wait until I go to an interesting place for work, and then add on a few days there for some fun. Sometimes I can also organize my travel schedule to support this (for example, by making sure I go somewhere else the weeks after I work in Arizona, so that me not flying home that weekend makes up for the increase rental car cost, thus making my personal expenses for the trip nearly nothing).


THE "DO NOTHING" OPTION When you have a problem, and you're deciding what to do about it: always remember that doing nothing is an option. I don't mean to ignore big problems. But if it's a problem that doesn't totally need to be fixed right away, letting it sit for some time can help in two ways.
1 - You'll probably end up repairing it at less cost. When I want something (done), wanting it done as soon as possible nearly always results in me spending more money. Sometimes way more money. I give myself time to figure out how to fix it inexpensively (consider alternatives, research, find things that I need to buy at low prices, etc..)
2 - If I give a problem some time, I will probably end up thinking of a much better solution eventually. Even if I'm not actively thinking about it (and thus, it's not bothering me), at some seemingly random moment I may all the sudden come upon a very good way to solve the problem. Lots of times I will see something and realize that what I've just seen could be used as a solution for the problem.
3 - The problem might just go away, or
4 - I might realize that it's not actually a problem, or I just forget about it because it's not really a problem.

One example is that I had a check engine fault on my car for a long time. I went to a parts store to have them run the code. It was not a serious problem, and, in my opinion, would not cause accelerated engine wear. I cleared the code and waited to see if it came back (it did). I paid close attention to see if it impacted my milage or made any noticeable difference (it did not). So I didn't do anything about it. A year or two went by. Eventually, I was dating a woman who was training to be a car mechanic. She worked on it for me for free .

note that this last strategy might make it seem like I'm just living with problems, and that problems would add up or bother me. That doesn't happen though - because of the first strategy limiting what goes wrong, and because of prioritization - if something does need immediate attention, I take care of it and the next one (flexibility) helps

FLEXIBILITY I have a lot of free time, so if some problem comes up, I have the option of devoting a significant amount of time to solving it (without needing to spend a lot of money). This helps with the point above about not rushing to solve a problem.

[henrik]

Thanks for the van update!
Have you thought about blinds or something for the windows? Your layout looks nice and open, but you'll probably want to sleep and maybe even get some privacy at times:)

[C40]

Thanks for the van update!
Have you thought about blinds or something for the windows? Your layout looks nice and open, but you'll probably want to sleep and maybe even get some privacy at times:)

Yes. I’m hoping I can find/make some roller shades to use (it’s the kind that you pull down from a roll, much like you pull down a projector screen in a classroom.) I’d like those because they take up little space, and seem like they’d be easy to put down or up. I might get some magnets or something to sort of seal the shades around the sides of the windows, or something down at the bottom of the window to hold the bottom of the shade tight against the wall/window.

Great planning for the van. As a previous van dweller I can see you are keeping the right things in mind! Organization and simplicity of stuff is key for happiness! I may've missed discussions on the following questions, but here goes:

Have you thought about where dirty laundry will go and how to keep it from stinking things up?

What about emergency bathroom situations in the middle of the night?

Shoe storage (this was annoying - i ended up keeping them in a bucket)

Garbage storage?

For sleeping that direction, you'll have to be extra cognizant of where you park and the leaning of the van (you want a flat surface). Lots of streets slant down towards the curb a tad and that could mess you up a bit. I remember my first night in my van and I was parked at an angle. It made my body feel crazy!

AZ . . . have you been to Saguaro Nat'l Park? It's basically a million huge cactuses. I loved hiking around there the Christmas I quit my job. It's truly unique from my perspective, having grown up in the PNW. I have family in AZ too.

For the sleeping - yeah, I hope that isn’t a problem for me. Other times I’ve slept in the vehicle at angles and it didn’t bother me. If I’m going to be at angle, I feel the most comfortable with my head on the high side, which I could do on streets.

No, I haven’t been to Saguaro. I’ve been meaning to make a list of places I want to go, but I haven’t yet. So far, I’ve always been north or east of Phoenix - and as far north as Flagstaff (so, Tonto, Coconino, Red Rock, etc.)


1 - Dirty Laundry - I haven’t thought about this very much. And not about the smell issue at all.. I guess, so far, my dirty clothes smelling has never been something I notice (not that I can’t smell or can’t notice, but they don’t really smell). I expect I’ll have some bag that I store them in. Maybe a mesh laundry bag. The only likely issue would be with bicycling clothes. If I stay in the good habit of washing them after riding, that won’t be a problem.

2 - Bathroom in the middle of the night. When I’m not in the city, outside. Inside cities where I don’t want to get out of the van: #1 - a bottle, probably either a dedicated Nalgene bottle, or laundry soap bottle. #2 - Small size plastic trash bags. I’ll likely have a bucket in the van (for sitting on it upside down, for sponge baths, for whatever else I need a bucket for) and if I desired, I guess I could put the trash bags in the bucket and do it that way.. I’m not worried about this subject.. Once I pooped outside a few times, I discovered that it really is not a big deal not having a big porcelain toilet.

At one point I was wondering whether you meant just normal bathroom needs at times where it’s annoying to do so, or whether you meant something like being sick and having explosive diarrhea. The later is an extremely rare occurrence for me, so I’m not too worried.

3 - I haven’t got into storage details yet… I’ll need to figure out a lot of things like this

4 - Need to figure that out also. On one video, a guy had some bag that attaches to the back doors, on the outside, and he used that for storing trash. I’ll keep that in mind as an option.

So far I’m thinking primarily about whatever steps come next in the conversion. I haven’t got around to these storage details yet.

[jennypenny]

Yes. I’m hoping I can find/make some roller shades to use

We've had both, and I prefer honeycomb shades. You can get them trim-to-fit. Repositional window clings come in different levels of transparency and work well in combination with the shades. I think I paid $10 for a 6' roll of limo-level insta-cling at Pep Boys.


Storing Dirty Laundry: A cooler can work because it has a better seal. It holds in the stink, is easy to wash, and you can wash the laundry right in it. It also provides a spare cooler/seat/table if needed. I mean something like an old rectangular coleman cooler. In my van, it fits sideways between the front seats.

Garbage/Bathroom: I'm sure you know this, but you have to be cognizant of where you are if you put the garbage outside the van. You can attract lots of animals, even in a city. A five gallon bucket with a screw on cap can work in the van. Use a 'cinch sak' type garbage bag, so you can pull it closed and tuck in into the bucket when you want to seal it, and then open it back up when you need to add more garbage. Keeping it cinched keeps the bucket cleaner. It also makes an easy middle-of-the-night bathroom. All you have to do is unscrew the top, open up the bag, and sit a toilet seat on top. Your van is high enough to do this comfortably.

[henrik]

We've had both, and I prefer honeycomb shades.

I was going to say the same, though I didn't know the name for them:) They take less space and work better with windows that are at an angle. You would probably also need some kind of a curtain between the front and the back of the van?

Another option:
http://tosimplifyold.blogspot.com/2011/ ... hades.html

[jacob]

Storage/garbage: Take a hint from boats and use bags (plastic or cloth) for anything that doesn't need to be in a box (tools, instruments, ...). E.g. garbage goes in plastic shopping bags and is disposed off the same day. Dirty clothes goes in a big plastic bag to be replaced when needed. Clean stuff goes in a tote bag or duffelbag.

[thrifty++]

Wow it has been awesome to read your post. Its impressive to watch the diligence and attention to detail you undertake for every part of your ERE plan. Quite inspiring.

[spoonman]

Thanks for sharing your van photos and plans, she's a real beauty.

I must say that you scared me a bit when you thought OHI had cut its dividend, beause I hand't heard of such a thing (I kept reading farther down and got relieved to see it was a false alarm). But yes, it has confused many people. One thing that I annoyed me about their recent M&A activity is that it confused Wells Fargo's annual income estimator. They just grab the last dividend and multiply it by 4, which normally works fine, but this time it completely distorted things and I had to sit down for 20 minutes in order to figure out why their estimate was way off.

[Kriegsspiel]

Storage/garbage: Take a hint from boats and use bags (plastic or cloth) for anything that doesn't need to be in a box (tools, instruments, ...). E.g. garbage goes in plastic shopping bags and is disposed off the same day. Dirty clothes goes in a big plastic bag to be replaced when needed. Clean stuff goes in a tote bag or duffelbag.

Great idea. Thanks.

[Matty]

I’m enjoying the van updates C40!

Before I started full-time work I bought an old VW and spent a few months doing it up and then solo travelling in it. Some of my happiest days were spent working on the van in anticipation of my adventures. Enjoy it!

I will definitely be allocating some time for a van project + travel into my semi-ERE plans!

[C40]

(accidental double post)

[C40]

----------------------------------------------
JUNE 2015
----------------------------------------------


NORMAL SPENDING: $916

• * Home - $469
  * Food - $212
  * Entertainment - $206
  * Clothes/Hygiene - $28

The entertainment cost was all for a SSD external hard drive to use for back ups. I’ve had a couple mechanical hard drives for years. They take a long time to update. This one is faster, smaller, and probably much more durable. I’ll probably get one more so I can have one with me while traveling, and the other another at a family member’s house.

VAN SPENDING: $2,367

• * 5 new tires - $1131
  * Lunchbox Locker - $447
  * Everything else - $725

The only other big purchases remaining are the electrical components. Those will cost up to $1,500 for everything. I’m not doing the conversion as cheap as possible because I’ll put my house for sale when it’s done. Once that happens, my spending could go down significantly. So the sooner I get it done, the sooner my spending will go down. Also, I just want to get the van done quickly to start using it. I don’t want to be working on it into the winter.




Net worth dropped from stock prices going down. The spending line includes van spending in the last couple months. The chart below shows spending without the van build included:





INVESTING

RAI / LO ACQUISITION
I had shares of both Lorillard and Reynolds. In June, RAI acquired LO. Here’s what happened with my shares:

Original Purchase:
RAI: ~$5k. Late 2013
LO: ~$5k, early 2014

Stock values at merger date:
RAI: $7100
LO: $7000

So basically, my LO shares were sold at current value up to the amount I initially invested ($5k). The rest of the LO shares were converted to RAI shares.

Values now:
RAI: $9.3k
LO: 0
Cash: $5.1k


STOCK PURCHASES
JNJ (~$5k)
KMI (~$5k) I already had some KMI so my position is up to over $10k

I have another $5k to buy something… I didn’t spend much time researching, and nothing really jumped out right away. I was thinking about UNP, but their low current yield made me hesitant. I took a very quick look at the prices of stocks I had previously researched. Some were down. I should read about this Greece thing and the vote today and that that might do to prices.




VAN BUILD PROGRESS
It’s coming along pretty well. I’ve been taking a lot of time off work to build it. Next week will be the third week of vacation I use for it.

The main things I have left to do are:
- Lunchbox locker installation
- Finish interior (kitchen and storage spaces)
- Electrical system

If the week goes really really well, I may get the first two done. But after those I’ll still have a bunch of small things to finish up.

Here are a bunch of pictures. There are more and larger pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132174156@N04/


I insulated and put panels on the side and back doors:


And painted them:


Then insulated the walls. (and in a couple places added these “furring” boards to attach stuff to later)


The back corners (curved) were annoying to insulate and especially to put a finished panel over that.


Cardboard template for a wood panel


Wood panel. (1/4” plywood)


Here, all of the side walls are insulated and paneled. In some places (the lower sections) I used plywood. In other sections I used some plastic sheeting. In this picture, you can see I’ve started insulating the ceiling towards the front of the van. You can also see the ceiling vent fan that I installed.


Ceiling insulation and paneling all done:


LIGHTS! LED lights are so awesome. These are 236 LEDs. At maximum brightness, they use 12 watts and light up the entire van brightly. Because there are so many lights, there are nearly no shadows inside the van.


Got some laminate wood flooring for really cheap at a habitat for humanity store


And built these boxes around the wheelwells to support the bed.



Here is the bed frame. It’s about 34” wide by 73” long. Plenty big for me. A cozy fit for two people.





While building it, I was hoping I could fit these 14 gallon storage containers that I already had underneath it. Well, they BARELY fit. Without the lids. Perfect!


I’m in the process of installing the kitchen. Here is most of that area. On the right that’s just a plywood box. I’ll cut the front open and probable put a door on it. On the left is a refrigerator. I have it elevated on a platform so the top of it will be ~level with the other nearby surfaces. Plus now I get some storage underneath. The fridge holds 1.8 cubic feet (~12 gallons)









I put new, slightly bigger tires on (diameter is bigger by 1.4”). I took off the running boards and trailer hitch.

Before:


After:


Parts removed: (trailer hitch and support pieces, running boards and support pieces, plastic liners from footwells at doors)

[George the original one]

Nice work!

I, too, would have kept the hitch assuming it's a receiver-style.