vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!

[vexed87]

My SO went out with her lady friends today so I had chance to sneak out for an impromptu bike ride. What was supposed to be a quick 30 minute ride around the hood' turned into a 4 hour epic tour to the nearest national park, 60 miles covered by pedal power.

The sun was out (which doesn't often happen in England) so I decided to abandon my plans to dig up the garden and head out on the bike instead. What a lovely reminder of all the beauty that is around us, I really need to make more of an effort to explore my own region (Yorkshire is often adorned with the title of being the most beautiful county in the UK, definitely the hilliest )

Here's the route I took.




I stopped for half time coffee and cake near Skipton Castle before calling it a day and heading back home. Bit knackered now, but a good day out. Will sleep well tonight. I have done this ride a couple of times but my first attempt solo riding this sort of distance. Next time I'm taking a friend though as it was a bit of a slog home!

Built in 1090 to defend against some angry Scottish folk... apparently. For those interested...


My company for the day (and main form of transport ):

[cmonkey]

Nice ride! I have never gone on a long ride like that but I can imagine it is very freeing.

That is an awesome looking castle! One of the things I wish I had living in the states.....more history and culture. Also wish we had more biking paths around here....I think we have some, more on the Iowa side.

[vexed87]

@cmonkey, there is no need for dedicated bike paths, just open road. The best way to get into the long rides is to join a cycling club, they tend to know all the good local routes and riding in a bunch gives you extra 'ommph' thanks to the slip stream effect. You can easily cover a longer distance than you would solo. You'll need a road bike though, I turned up on a heavy hybrid for my first long ride, it was torture!

May Update

I was debating whether I would upload my analysis this month but realise that I need to be honest with myself about figures, and what better way to remain accountable than sharing your financial woes on the interweb . If I'm not honest with myself, there's simply no point in collecting all this data. Frankly I've failed to save a penny in May . In fact expenses exceed my income for the month . In addition my dog has developed a leg injury, he's limping so looks some additional vet bills are likely later too.

Discounting the repayment of a significant family loan (my last unofficial debt), May wasn't such a bad month for expenses, I would have managed a 50% rate despite some extravagant purchases including a new waterproof rear bike light, a bulk purchase of inner tubes (more cost effective, duh), a Kindle Paperwhite, £36 of books (for my holiday reading - all purchased used, or ebook). I also spent over £80 more on food than budgeted due a few takeout meals. That will teach me for not properly planning meals. I'm hoping to make up for this in the coming months with a ban on takeouts. It's really interesting to see the break down between essential food spending vs the cost of eating out, take outs and discretionary purchases (i.e. treat food I could live without).

It looks like my expenses are highly variable month to month, which really isn't a surprise. It will be interesting to see how it averages out when I have 6 months of data. I have already made the shift to buying in bulk and stocking up on certain goods. So some months I end up spending considerably more than others. One positive worth sharing this month is that I have been experimenting with baking my own bread, some of the loaves are hit and miss but occasionally I make a great one that is gone within a day! For the first time I have baked every loaf in the month rather than resorting to the store bought crap. Feeling pleased with myself about that!



Stay tuned...

[cmonkey]

@cmonkey, there is no need for dedicated bike paths, just open road. ............ Frankly I've failed to save a penny in May ...... For the first time I have baked every loaf in the month rather than resorting to the store bought crap. Feeling pleased with myself about that!

You must not be familiar with American drivers.....that would be a very unsafe thing to do . In recent years people have begun taking out their economic frustrations by driving like absolute idiots. Truly a red queen phenomenon. One of the reasons I just couldn't handle it anymore. Just yesterday a car cut off the bus I was on, making a right-hand turn from the left lane in front of the bus! It was insane.


Don't fret too much over the lost month, I have had a couple of months that weren't quite what I had planned. What counts is that you recognize it. June is going to be a horrible month for me as I will be forking out $1300 to plug an old water well in my driveway (stupid county laws) and will be making a bulk purchase of chicken feed through a service called Azure Standard. Probably $700+ for that. It will reduce my feed expenses by about 60% though and I won't have to buy anything for 6+ months.

For the record I really enjoy the charts/visuals you use for tracking money. I think I am going to do something similar.

Awesome job on the bread . We make all our bread (except some bagels lately). Can't remember the last time we bought a loaf, its probably been 4-5 years now right after we married.

[vexed87]

It seems to be a common held belief that drivers local to whomever always seems to be worse/dangerous/more aggressive than elsewhere... in fact, I don't think I've ever heard anyone claim the opposite (apart from maybe people who live in Amsterdam or Copenhagen where cycling routes are largely segregated! I can assure you getting out on the road is infact much safer than off roading. My ancedotal evidence trumps all, because I've crashed 3 times off-road, and only once on the road and have the war wounds to prove it

WRT the charts/tables, 'Your Money or Your Life' inspired these, there's some really good tips on tracking expense etc, net worth and savings ratios, while I was doing it previously, my expenses data wasn't detailed enough to learn anything so I'm starting from scratch. Hopefully when I have few more months of data I can do some cool new charts too

Snip...will be making a bulk purchase of chicken feed through a service called Azure Standard. Probably $700+ for that. It will reduce my feed expenses by about 60% though and I won't have to buy anything for 6+ months.

Have you worked out how you will keep it so it doesn't spoil/go stale? I thought about stocking up on dog food in a similar manner, but the mice always find a way into my containers when its stored in the garage and haven't been able to come up with a cheap solution, the mice have chewed their way through plastic drums...

Garden log 1
I finally did it...

A 4'x4' patch. Not much to shout about but it's a start. My back is killing now too . I had initially planned to dig 4'x8', but I seriously struggled, you can't seem them below but I used a pick axe to remove some huge rocks, looks like someone has buried rubble under the field many years ago, that or I'm unearthing a lost Roman colosseum. . There were so many rocks that despite adding loads of compost to the holes whilst double digging, the bed isn't raised! Not too sure how my plants are going to fair as the sub soil layer (not 100% on terminiology) is clay and stoney...

Not going to get a chance to sow any seeds now until I return from my holiday. I plan on planting some potatoes and lettuce, and whatever else is quick to grow... so much to learn!


My GSD helping with the clean up process!

[cmonkey]

Have you worked out how you will keep it so it doesn't spoil/go stale? I thought about stocking up on dog food in a similar manner, but the mice always find a way into my containers when its stored in the garage and haven't been able to come up with a cheap solution, the mice have chewed their way through plastic drums...

Powerful little teeth on those rodents! I have stored bird seed and cat food in large 55 gallon garbage cans with lids and also a whole bunch of mylar bag/5 gallon buckets of beans/rice/wheat in the basement for several years now and haven't had one get in them yet. I keep about 3-4 traps down there at all times and have sealed the foundation pretty well. We are not getting many in as before. Plus I have an outdoor cat that brings me dead mice and voles

A 4'x4' patch. Not much to shout about but it's a start. My back is killing now too . I had initially planned to dig 4'x8', but I seriously struggled, you can't seem them below but I used a pick axe to remove some huge rocks, looks like someone has buried rubble under the field many years ago, that or I'm unearthing a lost Roman colosseum. . There were so many rocks that despite adding loads of compost to the holes whilst double digging, the bed isn't raised! Not too sure how my plants are going to fair as the sub soil layer (not 100% on terminiology) is clay and stoney...

Not going to get a chance to sow any seeds now until I return from my holiday. I plan on planting some potatoes and lettuce, and whatever else is quick to grow... so much to learn!

The rocks don't sound fun, but rocky clay isn't as bad as you'd think actually. Clay is the best to plant in because it hold nutrients very well and the rocks will add to the drainage.

[Ydobon]

Is your family loan paid off now, because that seems to skew your figures quite a bit?

[George the original one]

Your future gardening self will thank you!

It really is a lot easier when the rocks are gone and clay really needs the organic matter to make it workable in wet weather. The one tip I'll add is to install edging so the grass doesn't start sending runners into your enriched soil. Clay is better in that regard because they happily spread the runners in sandy soil, easily bridging a 4' patch within a season if you let them.

[vexed87]

@Ydobon, yes, that is what messed up my liquid net worth/expenses. I have enough in cash to get through June and a small amount in savings (~1 FU). I thought about excluding the loan from my charts as it is one of my wedding expenses, If I do any analysis of average monthly expenses I might be inclined to exclude it as it is not going to be repeatable expense.

@GeorgeTOO, my hands and back are certainly not thanking me right now, ouch! When I add another 4 ft patch when I return from my break I'll be sure to add lots more compost. Great tip, what kind of edging do you recommend? How deep? This is really just a short term experiment as I'm not going to be living here for long. If I was I would have invested more into it and built raised beds to keep slugs at bay etc, I figured I would keep costs way down as I could be long gone in 6-12 months time.

I'm going to plant some seeds on the day I fly out on holiday, I'll water them and hope for the best, i.e. enough wet weather to keep them going for two weeks.

Can anyone recommend some good permaculture resources? I've added richsoil.com and permies.com to my bookmarks for browsing while I'm away in Greece. Just 4 days until I fly out now, rather looking forward to getting some time out of work to catch up on my reading list and other important projects.

[Ydobon]

Enjoy Greece, one of my favourite holiday destinations

[cmonkey]

Great tip, what kind of edging do you recommend? How deep? This is really just a short term experiment as I'm not going to be living here for long.

This would probably be more work than you'd want since you won't be there long, but my personal edging of choice is brick of some sort, preferable concrete blocks if you can find them cheap. Some people give them away and they go down about 8-10 inches. Its more difficult to install but it effectively blocks anything from spreading in. If you put the edge down far enough you can mow over it as well keeping it nice and clean.

Also, if you put the concrete block holes facing to the top it provides a great place for toads and beneficial insects to live. We discovered this after the fact! Could also plant in those holes as well.



Similar to that but sunk down in the soil.

[George the original one]

I'm using rolls of plastic edging available from garden center. In my locale, grass will find the cracks between cement blocks, so not going there. Also, slugs in my area will climb any vertical surface, so formal raised beds are no defense (seriously, I see them on the exterior wall of our metal barn, 10' off the ground).

[vexed87]

Haha, spider slugs!

[vexed87]

Finally, I have escaped the dreaded 24 month mobile phone plan. Technically it wasn't up until July, but I spoke with my provider and they advised it was possible to upgrade early. I realised this was a lovely little loop hole as they didn't specify a plan so I 'upgraded' my plan from a £35/month plan to £14 rolling 1 month contract (no new phone).

I have saved £21 next month, and then I'm dropping from the new plan to prepaid the following month. Going forward I think I can squeeze 2-3 months out of £5 credit. Yes it's a small saving, but comparing 35*300=£10,500 needed in investments to pay for my plan vs 1.6666*300=£165, I'm quids in!

I was using 30-40GB data a month previously, but never connected to WiFi and did a lot of downloading movies etc, habits are changing though and I've only used 4mb over the last 6 days! Once I'm on a PAYG plan, I'll cut the data cord altogether and only use data when in range of WiFi. Happy days.

[cmonkey]

Welcome to the world of prepaid/wifi! It is a wonderful, cheap world.

Now that I am riding the metro I am considering going cold turkey completely on a cellphone. The only reason I had it in the first place was in case the car broke down. Cars have so many hidden costs beyond purchasing/buying gas

What is this 35*300 calculation you speak of? It looks familiar I think I saw it on the blog at one point, got interested and then forgot about it.

[vexed87]

I think a basic handset would still be worth keeping for calling emergency services , here in the UK at least you don't need credit to make calls to 999 (911 in US) or receive messages/calls.

I'd be nervous about not being able to call an ambulance/police in an emergency.

[cmonkey]

I think a basic handset would still be worth keeping for calling emergency services , here in the UK at least you don't need credit to make calls to 999 (911 in US) or receive messages/calls.

I'd be nervous about not being able to call an ambulance/police in an emergency.

The DW has a prepaid as well so I would just use that. I have become an extreme homebody, the only time I am out by myself now is on the metro. Plenty of cell phones on that, that's all people do.

[vexed87]

That wouldn't work for me sadly. I still commute by cycle to work so need a phone in case I get stranded with a mechanical failure. Maybe one day I can work towards being totally phone free, but for now, I'm stuck with it.

Whilst we are on the topic, I've tried reverting to dumb phone but missed note taking and other productivity apps, calculators etc. Then I realised an old skool mini moleskin note book and fountain pen is way cooler than a smartphone! I have a calculator at work and home and most dumb phones do have a calc function... but for the time being I've got to get my money's worth of data from my smartphone

[cmonkey]

How far do you bike to work?

I also went back to a smartphone about 2 months ago. Tracphone has a $30 phone and the reviews were excellent. Plus I used a $5 off promo card to really get a deal.

Mainly for listening to music on the metro, however, I am finally getting over the motion sickness of reading while riding. I have it hooked up to email and my etsy shop as well which can get fairly irritating.

[vexed87]

The shortest route is 8 miles each way, extended by 5-10 miles when the sun shines.

What kind of OS does your $30 phone use? Funny you mention irritating notifications. It is not until you go without that you realise how imposing your phone really is. Even alerts about posts on this very forum gets a bit much sometimes, so I've stopped my phone from notifying me anything other than texts and phone calls and now manually sink my e-mail at a time that's convenient.