Early Retirement Extreme Forums

The Food Revolution - AHS 2011: http://youtu.be/FSeSTq-N4U4
Watch this for more info. It is not a "diet" but a revolution.

March 2015 Update: BTW, Happy Easter!!



Current Debts:
None. $0

Current Assets:
Home. $70,000
Car. $2,500
401k $54,300
IRA $10,900
HSA $0

Total Assets. $136,800

March was a pretty chill month. My bed broke in and is now comfy to sleep in or maybe I just got use to the additional stiffness? Either way it works. I contributed $5,500 to my 2014 Traditional IRA & will start to contribute to my HSA. I decided maxing out the HSA first before the 2015 Traditional IRA would be a good idea since I only have until the end of 2015 to max out the HSA and I’ll have until April 2016 to max out the IRA. On a side note it’s been really difficult to find a Vanguard fund to put my money into. They all seem to be at their all time highs and I don’t want to buy at the top of the market.

Diet/Exercise

Ok so the Bulletproof Coffee thing is complete crap “in my opinion”. I gave it a good try but didn’t feel good. I started my old routine on the 24th of March and all I did was really increase my veggie intake, drank lots of water, and walked at the park 5+ miles each day. This equates to 4 laps around my local park and I just listen to my Pandora music. I’ve lost 3 pounds doing this so far and I still hit the gym for the weight training but only twice a week now.


Goals for March were:
~Acquire one or more accounts for my business ((Failed))
~Go on a date ((Failed))
~Find cheaper auto insurance ((Accomplished))

Goals for April are:
~Solicit business for my company
~Pay Property Taxes
~Increase Net Worth by 4k
~Find a way to reduce stress

April 2015 Update:



Current Debts:

None. $0

Current Assets:

Cash $1,340
Home. $70,000
Car. $2,500
401k $58,638
IRA $11,678
HSA $1,300 (Mint is not allowing me to link to this account?)

Total Assets. $142,895

April was freaking Nuts!! Let's take it slow & talk about the blown out tire I had on my way home
Thursday morning. I was only a few blocks from home so I limped it there and into my driveway.
I got my heavy duty jack from my garage and opened the trunk to grab my spare tire when I find
out there's no spare tire!? A little over a year ago the car was stolen and taken for a joy ride. The
insurance fixed all damages above my $500 deductible but I guess those jack asses stole the
spare. So I wasn't out of options because I had a small compressor that I could use but it's
powered by the cigarette lighter. Bad news is when I installed the new radio it required me to
unplug the cigarette lighter socket and I forgot to plug it back in until everything was already
back together. So long story short I paid $60 for a tow and $340 for all new tires with lifetime
replacement warranty, free balancing & rotation.

Ok, now for the BS that's been going on at work. There has been one guy that's been getting
20-32 hours of overtime every week since February. The most of us get 12 hours per week if
we're lucky. This has definitely hurt moral at work. I've spoken with the scheduler several times
about the difference in overtime & he brushed me off every time. So I finally had it and I
contacted the corporate office and had a back and fourth with them for over a week. They stated
that in the future any overtime will be given out in a more fair manner. So far so good (or so I thought) because I actually got 20 hours of overtime the second to last week of April, but now there is no overtime given to anyone except for the 2 guys with the most seniority. Yup, one of those 2 guys is the one that’s been getting all those hours for months and now I am more motivated than ever to find accounts for my own company and GTFO of this company. I know the scheduler and the guy getting all the OT are friends and go golfing together; so I'm going to call what’s happening favoritism.

Finally, let's talk about the results for April. I paid $1,500 in property taxes and deposited $1,300
into my HSA. Net worth increased by $6,561 and I plan to max out my 2015 HSA by the end of May. For some reason Mint isn’t allowing me to link my HSA account so the number Mint is showing for my net worth is shy by the $1,300 I deposited in April. Also there was a excellent deal on Groupon for a Sams Club Plus Membership for $45 (regular price over $100) but you also get a $20 gift card, a rotisserie chicken, big tub of fresh salsa, and 8 gourmet muffins. To me it was too good of a deal to pass up since a Sams Club is not too far from me and these club stores usually have the best prices on fuel. I filled up for the first time a few days ago for $2.94 per gallon and while pumping I pulled up the gas buddy app and gas stations in the area (Chevron, 76, Shell, & Safeway) were all between $3.24-$3.40

Goals for April were:
~Solicit business for my company ((Failed))
~Be at or under 200 pounds ((Failed))

Goals for May are:
~Find a way to reduce stress
~Finish funding the rest of my HSA $2,050
~Actively find accounts for my business
~Clean out my front office and get it ready for prime time

May 2015 Update:



Current Debts:

None - $0

Current Assets:

Cash - $1,026
Home - $70,000
Car - $2,500
401K - $60,570
IRA - $10,671
Roth IRA - $0
HSA - $2,532

Total Assets - $147,299

Work Drama, my scheduler at work is still giving endless overtime hours to his buddy and since I had the nerve to ask for hours to be spread out in a more fair manner, he is doing his best to minimize my O.T. I am always looking at the bright side of things so here are the things I’ve done with my spare time. I’ve been able to hit the gym a lot more and go on walks everyday. Usually a good 45minutes-2 hour walk (depending on mood and things I have to do) 5 days a week where I am almost in a jog but not quite. Since I am still overweight I don’t want to jog since it may be too much pressure on my knees, but I started the month at 220 pounds and I am now at 212 pounds. As the month went on and the weight came off I’ve been able to sleep a lot better. I carry a lot of my weight in my stomach which is unfortunate because having a good nights sleep is difficult (similar to a pregnant woman with a large belly). Also I am able to keep my house cleaner and it brings me more joy when I come home to a clean house.

The Sams club membership I got from Groupon last month has been great! I’m buying a big bag of apples, bulk sliced cheese, deli sliced chicken breast, bag lettuce, and whole wheat bread. I have a fridge at work so I just bring a weeks worth of food and I make sandwiches and have 1-2 apples per day. I enjoy these meals at work and am finding myself having bowel movements daily whereas before I would be going every other day or every third day. Yes, I could buy these items at other stores but the prices are way better at a club store and the products are very good. I am also spending more time on my home business getting things organized and am being more aggressive trying to find clients, this is fueled by the new hate I have for my job/scheduler due to the blatant favoritism in the scheduling. I wish I had that “F-You Money” that I heard about on a podcast, but I am building that up now.

I’ve been paying close attention to my credit score using Credit Karma & I’m at a 732. I was forced to file Bankruptcy back in 09’ due to not being able to find work after a lay off. My credit score was excellent and I went from paying every bill on time to filing BK. So even after I filed bankruptcy my credit score took a hit but my score was still better than some of my friends since I was hovering around 800 when I filed. One of the ways to keep a credit score high is to use less than 30% of available credit. My credit limit at the beginning of the month was only 4k and I’d use between 1-2k monthly which was ok because I would simply pay the full balance before the statement even printed (closing date) so it would look like a had a very low utilization rate for my credit. But I thought it’s time to raise my credit limit so I applied for an increase and my credit union came through for me. I now have a 10k limit! The advantage of this is I can hold on to my money longer and just pay the full balance on the due date instead of the cycle ending date. Another great thing is that the bankruptcy will fall off next year and hopefully I can get back up to the high 700’s low 800’s again. Not that I plan on getting any loans but if I chose to; I like that my interest rate will be very low.

Things I have done to save money not just specifically this month but overall:

-I haven’t purchased clothes in years, except for a new pair of slacks I was forced to purchase a few months back due to my old slacks not fitting (being too fat) and a new pair of shoes to go with those slacks. The only reason I bought the slacks & shoes was because I wanted to go out in person to prospective clients. 2006 is when I started to hate spending money and I still have a closet full of clothes from my “consumer” days. I haven’t even purchased new workout/running shoes in years since all I do is wash them in my washer machine and they come out great. If it’s sunny and hot outside I’ll put them out to dry or if I’m doing laundry at night or on a cold day I’ll put the tray that came with my dryer in and place the shoes on it and let the dryer do it’s job. I have about 7 workout shoes and I don’t anticipate buying a new pair for a very very long time.

-No More Starbucks! I haven’t set foot in a Starbucks in over a month We are going on to month 6 of 2015 and if you added up all the times I’ve gone to Starbucks this year it would be less than a single month for me in past years. I drink instant Nescafe at work and on days off I’ll use my french press and have great coffee at home.

-I haven’t gone to a barber shop since the late 90’s. I got tired of the whole thing, coming in waiting in line hope your favorite barber isn’t too busy. So I began cutting my own hair, I use to buy the cheap clippers from Walgreens and they would last me for a couple of years. A few years back I spent less than $200 on 2 great clippers on sale from Amazon. The Andis Masters and the Andis T-Outliners. These are what the pro’s use and it’s what I use at my home. I can say I have probably saved in the thousands since I use to get my hair cut every other week.

-I purchased a lifetime membership at 24 hour fitness back in 2000. It was expensive upfront approximately $800. That $800 was good for 3 years so the break down was a little over $20 per month for 36 months but the deal was that each consecutive year is only $49 annually to renew. This was a great buy and if I ever decide to do the van dwelling thing my 24 hour fitness all club lifetime membership will come in handy for the restroom & showers.

-I have a Brother MFC-7340 All in One Laser black & white printer. The toner cartridge is very expensive and I tried to find cheaper knock off toner online but found on Amazon a seller that sold refills for the OEM toner cartridges. I paid $6 for 2 refills!! That is excellent since the cheapest I can find the actual toner cartridge for is $48 each on Amazon. The refills work excellent at a great cost savings. Remember I paid $6 for 2 refills where I would have paid $48 x 2= $96 for two toner cartridges. This was like finding a glitch in the Matrix for me. I’ve had expensive ink jet printers before and now I will make this printer last as long as possible.

-I very rarely eat out now. If I do it’s a quick drive through or treating myself once in a while to a Chipotle burrito, but almost never to a sit down restaurant. I also haven’t been to a movie theatre in a very long time. I would love to watch Avengers right now but I know it will shortly be at Redbox for $2 Blu-Ray which is a much better price than $9 matinee or $15.50 later showing. Lots of times Redbox sends me emails with free rental codes as well or some sort of special.

-

Expenses:

Okay, so I had $900 in fees to renew my business license for city and state. I also did an oil change on the car and cleaned out the fuel system. I did the car work myself, parts from Autozone cost me approximately $38.



Goals for May were:
-Find a way to reduce stress (Done!) The walks are GREAT!
-Finish Funding the HSA (Failed) Still have $800 more til maxing out
-Actively Find Accounts for my business (Ongoing)
-Clean out the front office in my home (Failed)

Goals for June:
-Continue the walks and going to the gym
-Continue to eat healthy
-Begin funding 2015 Traditional IRA
-Finish Funding the HSA
-Be at or under 200 pounds

June 2015 Update:



Current Debts:

None - $0

Current Assets:

Cash - $1,626
Home - $70,000
Car - $2,500
401K - $61,645
IRA - $10,329
Roth IRA - $0
HSA - $3,323

Total Assets - $149,423


Man I was so happy last week, my new worth was comfortably over 150k for the first time in my life, but since the whole Greece debacle my investments dropped down considerably ;( Oh well it was still a pretty good month. I finished maxing out my HSA and I was going to begin investing in my 2015 IRA but I decided to wait and I’m glad I did since it looks like I’ll get a better price on shares if I buy later. (BTW Mint Summary is not showing my HSA balance which is why there is a descrepancy)

My Mint summary shows me having a CC balance of $973.87 but I just transferred that amount from my checking. My bank actually takes 2-3 days to show the payment but they assured me the payments “effective date” is the day the money is transferred.

I’ve tried to stay in shape but it’s a uphill battle. I’ll go into detail on the next post since I’m in a rush to get this up.

The biggest news of the month is that my credit score jumped up from 732 to 741!! Next year my bankruptcy will be falling off my credit report and I can only imaging how big of a jump it will take then.



Non Monthly Expenses:

Annual Home Owners Insurance Premium of $470

Wants:

I have been wanting to travel for many years now and it looks like 2016 will be the year to go. The thing is I have a pretty long list of items I want to buy in order to have the trip I would like. The list is as follows.

-Macbook or Macbook Pro (I’ve had my iMac since Summer of 07’ and it’s been the best computer I’ve ever had, but now it’s age is starting to show. So this computer will be a necessity either way)
-GoPro Hero Action Camera
-Final Cut Pro Video Editing Software
-Universal/Global Charger
-Gorilla Pod or Gorilla Grip Mini Tri-Pod
-Travel Backpack
-Miscellaneous: Rain Coat, Quick Dry Towel, Etc

I’m considering working a part time job for several months so I can save up for these items. I want to keep my saving/investing strategy the same so I won’t be using the money from my current job to make these purchases. Also I will not buy any of these items until right before my trip so that I can have the latest and greatest. With electronics the new generation items are better and usually the exact same price as the outgoing product.




Goals for June were:
-Continue the walks and going to the gym (Fail)
-Continue to eat healthy (Fail)
-Begin funding 2015 Traditional IRA (Fail)
-Be at or under 200 pounds (Super Fail)

Goals for July:
-Go to the gym and make it a routine
-Find a good stress reliever. Walks are no longer an option since summer is fully here and 100+ degree days are the norm.
-Look for another job or get an account

Not to worry Star*Bucks, I suspect that a few of us have seen our portfolios dive since the latest round of Eurozone craziness kicked off. It's probably had a greater impact for me, as I'm in the UK and have a portfolio that is a little heavy in 'this side of the world' stocks.

Can I ask a question about US retirement accounts? Are you able to draw money from them early, or are you nearly at retirement age? I asked as you seem to be a bit overbalanced in terms of retirement investments vs. more liquid ones. I have the same problem, but in my case it's just because I've always had pensions, whereas I've only recently started serious investing

Just wanted to drop in and say that I'm enjoying your journal, keep it up!

Ydobon wrote:Not to worry Star*Bucks, I suspect that a few of us have seen our portfolios dive since the latest round of Eurozone craziness kicked off. It's probably had a greater impact for me, as I'm in the UK and have a portfolio that is a little heavy in 'this side of the world' stocks.

Can I ask a question about US retirement accounts? Are you able to draw money from them early, or are you nearly at retirement age? I asked as you seem to be a bit overbalanced in terms of retirement investments vs. more liquid ones. I have the same problem, but in my case it's just because I've always had pensions, whereas I've only recently started serious investing

Just wanted to drop in and say that I'm enjoying your journal, keep it up!

Hey Ydobon, sorry for the late reply, I use to get notices whenever someone posted on the threads I’m following but I didn’t receive any. Yes, by the looks of it I’m massively on the side of retirement accounts and that is because at the beginning of 2012 when I was in a good amount of debt I decided to just live absolutely cheaply. I’d just pay my monthly/living expenses and all remaining money would go towards paying down my debt. I wanted to be debt free really bad but on the same note I knew I needed to save for retirement; so I began saving 25% of my gross income to my companies 401k retirement plan and also invest in Retirement IRA’s (and most recently an HSA). I did this to take advantage of the tax benefits/savings and I still had plenty of money left over to make considerable monthly payments towards debt. Now that I am debt free I do plan on investing after tax dollars into investments as well, but I don’t plan on doing that until after I get back from my vacation which should be sometime in the 2nd quarter of 2016. It was a Very Very Long road to reach being debt free and I want nothing to do with debt again.

To answer your question in regards to taking money out of retirement account; Yes it is possible but there is a 10% penalty/fee and then you have to pay taxes on the amount withdrawn. My hopes/plans were to retire by 40 and then travel the world while doing a annual roll over from my Traditional IRA’s to Roth IRA’s. In that scenario the Roth money (principle not earnings) can be taken out if I needed it penalty/fee free. Also if I do this gradually over several years I could conceivably have money that I was never taxed on in a Roth account that will grow tax free and I will be able to withdraw tax free. There is a really good blogger named Madfientist and he had a post called The Roth Conversion Ladder and that’s what I hope to accomplish as I backpack through the world.

By the time I “retire” (at roughly 40 years of age) I will sell my home and everything I own except for a backpack and small essentials. The majority of the home sale proceeds will go into investments and about 20% will be the seed money for me to go backpacking through the cheaper but culturally rich parts of the world. I’ve been wanting to travel/explore the world since the mid 90’s and I’m sure it’ll be much more enjoyable/manageable doing so at 40 instead of 65. Shit I wish I could go now! lol Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to read my thread. I happily take any advice or criticism in how I’m going about things; I’m still wet behind the ears and wanting to learn...

Re. pensions, we are kindred spirits. I too prioritised my pension while paying off debts, but in my case it was because it was money that my creditors couldn't touch. I didn't manage nearly 25%, but it was a generous government pension, so they were paying in something like 18% for me. Through the long years of paying down £10,000 of student debt, one of the few things that kept me going was the fact that I knew that my 'future' was sorted. Like you, my concern is now the fact that the 'future' can't come quickly enough! Oddly enough, we now save more in a year than my entire debt pile from those bad old days

I'm familiar with Madfientist and while the examples re. IRAs etc. only excite passing curiosity for me, I think your plan sounds entirely sensible.

Ps. I think I'm more of a homesteader than a global nomad, the thing I envy you most about your planned travels is the minimal packing!

Ydobon wrote:Re. pensions, we are kindred spirits. I too prioritised my pension while paying off debts, but in my case it was because it was money that my creditors couldn't touch. I didn't manage nearly 25%, but it was a generous government pension, so they were paying in something like 18% for me. Through the long years of paying down £10,000 of student debt, one of the few things that kept me going was the fact that I knew that my 'future' was sorted. Like you, my concern is now the fact that the 'future' can't come quickly enough! Oddly enough, we now save more in a year than my entire debt pile from those bad old days

I'm familiar with Madfientist and while the examples re. IRAs etc. only excite passing curiosity for me, I think your plan sounds entirely sensible.

Ps. I think I'm more of a homesteader than a global nomad, the thing I envy you most about your planned travels is the minimal packing!

Dude that's awesome! I wish I had an employer that contributed 18%! I had debt that was at 13% mostly car loan and credit card so I decided to put all efforts in paying those off over investing after tax dollars in the short term. It IS amazing how much I'm saving now. In fact looking back on old tax returns, I'm saving more per year now than the total annual income I had all through my 20's. Wish I would have started to live a more minimalistic lifestyle back then instead of buying nice clothes/shoes, having the newest gadgets, and going to nightclubs trying to "get at girls" every weekend.

I like the homesteading idea as well. In fact I would keep my home if I had at least a half acre but my home is very small. Even so 5 years ago I put up two 5'x10' raised beds in the backyard and planted a fig, lemon, and pineapple guava tree. I found that I only used the lemons so I removed the fig & guava trees even though they were productive and I plan to plant more citrus. The 2nd raised bed I leave for tomatoes in the spring/summer and for different veggies during the winter. Another reason homesteading would be difficult for me is because California is ridiculously expensive (not to mention this insane drought currently). I doubt I will be able to move out of California since my entire family lives here. Have you taken any steps towards homesteading? Is it a more viable thing to get into money/resources wise in your part of the world?

Don't be too proud of the one backpack thing either. I have small storage at my parents house (closet in my old bedroom) that I will put a couple of boxes in like old photo albums, yearbooks, etc. Besides that it'll be a TSA approved carry on bag with 3 changes of clothes cameras and a laptop. But who knows I may decide traveling isn't for me after I take my maiden voyage next year. I'll be going for 3 weeks and the destination isn't set yet but more than likely SE Asia, since the dollar conversion is very strong there and I'll be able to visit 2-3 countries since they are so close.

Have you taken any steps towards homesteading? Is it a more viable thing to get into money/resources wise in your part of the world?

Land in general is very expensive in the UK, more so for agricultural land. You will find none of the $50,000 houses on 5 acres that crop up in US personal finance discussions here!

I think I would be more likely to just buy a home with a very large garden and go hi tech with my approach to farming (polytunnels, vertical farming, hydroponics etc.)

As it stands, I'm about as far from homesteading as you can be, living in an apartment in the city centre. Still, I'm not daunted by gardening, I used to do quite a lot when I was younger and several friends and relatives grow lots of their own veg etc.

July 2015 Update:



Current Debts:

None - $0

Current Assets:

Cash - $3,400
Home - $70,000
Car - $2,500
401K - 64,300
IRA - $10,300
HSA - $3,300
Roth IRA -0

Total Assets - $153,800

July was pretty mellow, good amount of O.T. still chubby and trying to lose weight for vain and health reasons. I'm in a big rush so I'll update a more detailed post with next months reporting.

August 2015 Update:



Current Debts:

None - $0

Current Assets:

Cash - $5,600
Home - $70,000
Car - $2,500
401K - $64,018
IRA - $10,212
HSA - $3,276
Roth IRA - $0

Total Assets - $155,606

So let’s get the uneventful stuff out of the way. My stocks have all fallen, but my net worth still increased by $1,800 over last month due to my contributions. As you can see I had a little over $5,500 in savings so my plan was to at sometime in September deposit the max contribution to my 2015 IRA. This is very significant because it would have been the first time I’ve contributed to an IRA during it’s actual calendar year. I found myself in the past couple years depositing my contributions for prior year IRA’s in March or April of the following year.

I began the month of August very bright eyed and optimistic. I was studying the feasibility of living on a boat and looking at some beautiful catamaran sailboats. I was almost infatuated I guess because I was reading everything blogs, free ebooks from the ibooks store, youtube videos, and sailing association websites. All the fun came to an end 2 days ago when my 2000 Honda Civic broke down. To be more specific the automatic transmission is stuck in 4th gear. When at a stop trying to accelerate is so painfully slow due to not having any of the torque from gears 1-3, the engine roars like your trying to race someone but the transmission just very slowly moves the car. I pulled the codes from the computer and after a short talk with the guys at my local Autozone they said I need to take it to a transmission shop. Could be a simple solenoid or could be a completely wrecked transmission, (SH~T!) So yesterday after limping my car home from work, I reserved a rental a car in order to drive down to the Bay Area and grab my sisters van for the interim. In order to stay civil I will keep my experience with the rental car place short. The reservation was for the cheapest car possible which was $37 per day but then since I was taking the car on a oneway trip to San Jose there was a drop off fee of $35? WTF is that about? I asked the lady that took my reservation what the fee is for and she stated it’s because the car is part of the local fleet and there is a cost they have in trying to get it back up to the local area after my rental. Well, the car they gave me had Ohio plates on it and that leads me to believe it’s not part of the “local fleet” and the fee is just another way to stick their fingers deeper into my wallet. Another thing was there was check engine light on, the car wasn’t cleaned (looks like they flipped it to me right after another person returned it) the gas tank was half full instead of completely filled which makes it a complete bitch when returning (I returned it 3/4th full) also the vehicle had 45k miles on it. I paid for all the insurances as well so this 1 day “cheapest” rental came out to $110 plus the cost of the additional gas I “gave” to them. I wish I could have just taken the train down. Alright so now I have wheels again I went home and to bed because I had to work grave shift last night. When I got off work at 8am I began my drive to the Bay Area in the midst of the commuting masses (some of you will understand the magnitude of this traffic, it’s horrendous) So I finally get to the Bay and my sister told me hey btw the van failed it’s smog check and it needs to pass smog within 2 weeks, OMFG as if I didn’t have enough to deal with on my Civic. I literally walked back into my house 30 minutes ago, made myself the biggest White Russian I’ve ever seen/made.

The whole drive home I was contemplating just trashing the Civic since it’s 15 years old and getting something new. I rely on my car for work and missing days is not an option especially now with the projects that are happening. But then again I think, the last new car I bought was the 2014 Nissan Altima in Jan of 2014 and it was 22k out the door. Man that’s a lot of money, I could spend nearly 2 years retired/backpacking S/E Asia with that amount of money. I could always buy a smaller car like a Corolla and there are some dealerships with specials to get rid of the 2015’s to make room for the 2016’s. I just really hate having to get a loan again. 2.5 years ago I had no money saved at all and I had a lot of personal debt and a car loan. During this time I paid off all debts and including a total of 2 car loans (one new and one used) plus put away about $83k in retirement accounts. I was really looking forward to seeing how fast I could stash cash away with out any loans on my back. I’m going to be weighing the pro/cons here and making my decision up. Really messed up my mojo but c’est la vie.



Goals for September:
-Figure out Transportation issue
-Continue to work out
-Find second gig or an account for my company

September 2015 Update:



Current Debts:
Visa $2,278

Current Assets:
Cash $8,379
Home. $70,000
Car. $0
401k $66,979
IRA $9,206
HSA $3,276

Total Net Worth $155,562

Alright, so I'm starting this post a few days into October which I dislike doing but have been very busy. Stocks were down again last month, they have recovered a bit the first few days of this month but still down overall. I removed the Honda Civic from my Mint account which was an immediate $2,500 reduction in Net Worth. Total overall Net worth has dropped by $54 this month over last.

The big problem for me last month was my car. I ended up selling it to cash for junk cars and they gave me less than $300 for it. It was giving it away at that price but it was taking room up in my one car garage and I wasn't going to spend anymore money on it. I spent the first 3 weeks of September driving my sisters Honda Odyssey van and I did some final work on it which included a oil change, replacing 4 brake lights & 1 headlight, deep cleaning the interior, passing smog check, fixing windshield washer fluid hose which had a huge hole in it, degreased and washed the undercarriage due to oil residue dripping on exhaust causing smoke, replaced rear wiper blade, and r&r of rear brake light housing which had a crack in it (got another one from pick n pull) All in I spent about $200. After cleaning the undercarriage I checked for leaks and couldn't find any? So I gave back the Odyssey and swapped it out for the 07' Camry on my day off. So far I have done an oil change on it about $25 spent in parts. I've already ordered some items from Amazon to get the Camry 100% up to date on maintenance but that will be on Octobers post.

Also at the beginning of September my iMac stopped working. I spent days trying to get it back up and running and I've come to the conclusion that it's the GPU that's out on it. I purchased my iMac in the summer of 07' and I wanted it to last me 5 years. It has been a great machine and lasted 8 Years! I'm not putting anymore money into it because I'm sure other parts are ready to go as well and the new hardware has come along so far. So I purchased a Macbook Pro Retina display and with my brothers military discount of $100 off I spent just over $1300. Here's hoping I get 5 years out of this one. I went with the laptop even though I would have really preferred to go with a desktop like the new iMac 27" but I need to be mobile especially if I get any accounts for my business or if I start traveling as I hope to soon do. The silver lining is that I was able to get all my old data/files from my broke down iMac by removing it's hard drive and purchasing a usb enclosure for $22 off of Amazon! Now I'm able to use my old 1TB hard drive as an external back up drive.

Future plans for my transportation needs are currently going to be to drive the 07' Camry for the remainder of 2015. Just to get me past the holidays and property tax time in December. So by January I would like to give the car back to my family so they can have their back up car again just in case they encounter any problems with their primary vehicles. Right now the plan is to go for a 2016 Toyota Camry, I've been quoted a little over 18k for the base model version. By that time I should have about 10k to put as a down payment. I hope I run into a much better idea before that time comes but as for right now that's the plan. If I do go that route the bright side is I won't have to worry about car problems for years just maintenance.

With all this stuff happening in September I had no chance to go to the gym or even give a F about what I was eating. At one point the scale said 225! I've never seen that number before. Today 10/04/15 I weighed in at 222 and Octobers main focus will be to eat a much more wholesome/healthy diet and hit the gym. This time not just weights but plenty of cardio. I also plan on doing a tune up on the Camry, changing the dirty air filters and getting the transmission fluid flushed since it looks/smells burnt.


Goals for September were:

Figure out Transportation issue (Accomplished Temporarily)
Continue to work out (Failed)
Find second gig or an account for my company (Failed)

Goals for October are:

~Start losing weight & improve diet
~Complete Camry's maintenance

It is great to see how you are improving yourself financially and in other ways. Continuous improvement despite minor setbacks.

sky wrote:It is great to see how you are improving yourself financially and in other ways. Continuous improvement despite minor setbacks.

Thanks Sky, it was definitely the hardest month I've been through so far during this ERE Journey...

So far this month I've been drinking green juices. My most recent juice I made consisted of cucumber, lemon, ginger, kale, and granny smith apples. Comes out tasting good and surprisingly fills me up. I'll try to have one 32oz glass of fresh juice daily. So far down 1.5 pounds.

I've also been thinking about the new car purchase in January of 2016, and how I had planned on putting 10k down and financing the rest (18k plus tax, license, reg) but now I'm having second thoughts. I may just use the 10k to fund my 2015 & 2016 IRA's and just finance the car outright. By doing that I could simply focus on paying down the car principle in 2016 instead of trying to do multiple things (i.e. fund ira, has, & pay down principle on car). I'd be able to fund my HSA in 2016 hopefully with my tax return or by doing some overtime.

This change of plan came to mind by one goal I had at the beginning of 2015 which was to have 100k+ in retirement/HSA accounts by the end of the year. I can achieve that by funding both 2015/2016 IRA's in the beginning of January, but if I use that money for the downpayment on the car then my goal will be short that amount. My mother worked for the same company for over 30 years and she would contribute between 0-10% depending on what her circumstances were at the time and when she retired she had 110k in her 401k, my father wasn't such a good planner so he retired with zero in 401k. They are good to go now due to having a house that's paid off and collecting social security but I wish they would have saved more. To think I'll be at or above 100k with just a little over 3 years of focus makes me quite happy. I don't really blame my parents for not saving as much as they never really made good wages and it was quite expensive growing up in the Bay Area and having kids. I'm lucky as I don't have any kids and very few needs. Hopefully I'll be able to save enough by the end of the year to be able to fund 2015/2016 IRA's and 2016 HSA, so my focus could be left simply on paying that car off. Damn I hate the fact I gotta buy another car...

October 2015 Update:



Current Debts:
None

Current Assets:
Cash $7,961
Home. $70,000
Car. $0
401k $72,459
IRA $10,453
HSA $3,276

Total Net Worth $164,239

Net Worth increase of $8,677!!! That’s the best month to date since I started this journey. My stocks recovered a bit and I didn’t have any large expenses in October. I was at my all time high in weight in September at 225 pounds and now I’m down to 218. Not as big of an improvement as I would have liked but I’ve been very busy at work and getting a decent amount of overtime. I will go into more detail in next months reporting.




Goals for October were:

~Start losing weight & improve diet (Ongoing)
~Complete Camry's maintenance (Ongoing)

Goals for November are:

~Continue losing weight & improve diet
~Complete Camry's maintenance (Transmission fluid flush and detailing the interior)

Hey Starbucks. I enjoy reading your journal. Especially since you started out your ERE journey close to where I am now and you have made progress so quickly. Looking at people on here who already have $700k or so can seem daunting when I haven't been able to see them document the earlier stages of their journey.

I have a suggestion re your weight loss plans. It's not necessarily overly ERE because of the cost but I find it very effective. Every single workday I eat a fresh "vege stack" with about 180 grams of meat. I will buy whatever I can throw into it based on price (whatever is in season/on sale). So this week its broccoli, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, gherkin pickles, cucumber, jalapenos, red capsicum, avocado, canned baby corn, canned baby carrots, and canned five beans. That's just this week but it changes every single week based on what's on sale. I try and buy fresh where possible but often a couple of canned items is required to ensure I have enough food for the week without spending too much. I always check the nutrient list on cans to ensure the sugar content is low (like less than 4%). I also put a small amount of cheese on top (this week's cheese on sale is Gouda). Sometimes I dress with a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar but usually nothing is required. This week canned chicken is on sale so I am eating a 180gm can on top each day. I make the salad early each morning (takes 10 minutes). This practice from shop to eat has become so ingrained that I basically do it on auto pilot with no inconvenience whatsoever and it takes bugger all time. So much so that I now find it more inconvenient and annoying on those very rare occasions where I have to go buy lunch somewhere. You will notice that there are no shit carbs in this meal and it is nutrient dense as. Its not cheap to eat like this but I think worthwhile and definitely loses weight and grows muscle. The secret is to have enough veges in the stack and enough meat that you don't need to eat shit carbs.

Sorry to hear about your car. I wonder if it is an option for you to get to work by walking, public transit or by cycling? Seems that would be super efficient if possible by losing weight, getting to a destination and back and saving loads of money all at once. I haven't owned a car for over three years and I find now that I really dislike being in cars and regularly turn down lifts from other people as a result. I find it much better for my spine health to be upright when transporting myself somewhere. I enjoy walking so much more.

I look forward to watching your progress.

thrifty++ wrote:Hey Starbucks. I enjoy reading your journal. Especially since you started out your ERE journey close to where I am now and you have made progress so quickly. Looking at people on here who already have $700k or so can seem daunting when I haven't been able to see them document the earlier stages of their journey.

I have a suggestion re your weight loss plans. It's not necessarily overly ERE because of the cost but I find it very effective. Every single workday I eat a fresh "vege stack" with about 180 grams of meat. I will buy whatever I can throw into it based on price (whatever is in season/on sale). So this week its broccoli, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, gherkin pickles, cucumber, jalapenos, red capsicum, avocado, canned baby corn, canned baby carrots, and canned five beans. That's just this week but it changes every single week based on what's on sale. I try and buy fresh where possible but often a couple of canned items is required to ensure I have enough food for the week without spending too much. I always check the nutrient list on cans to ensure the sugar content is low (like less than 4%). I also put a small amount of cheese on top (this week's cheese on sale is Gouda). Sometimes I dress with a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar but usually nothing is required. This week canned chicken is on sale so I am eating a 180gm can on top each day. I make the salad early each morning (takes 10 minutes). This practice from shop to eat has become so ingrained that I basically do it on auto pilot with no inconvenience whatsoever and it takes bugger all time. So much so that I now find it more inconvenient and annoying on those very rare occasions where I have to go buy lunch somewhere. You will notice that there are no shit carbs in this meal and it is nutrient dense as. Its not cheap to eat like this but I think worthwhile and definitely loses weight and grows muscle. The secret is to have enough veges in the stack and enough meat that you don't need to eat shit carbs.

Sorry to hear about your car. I wonder if it is an option for you to get to work by walking, public transit or by cycling? Seems that would be super efficient if possible by losing weight, getting to a destination and back and saving loads of money all at once. I haven't owned a car for over three years and I find now that I really dislike being in cars and regularly turn down lifts from other people as a result. I find it much better for my spine health to be upright when transporting myself somewhere. I enjoy walking so much more.

I look forward to watching your progress.

Thanks Thrifty! I appreciate you reading my posts, I can't tell you how much it helps to write stuff down. I can see where I F'd up and I can see where I did good, and can make better future plans just by reviewing old posts. Wish I would have done this a lot sooner. Looking at the people on here with massively larger net worths is kind of difficult but good as well, gives me more motivation to catch up.

I've been struggling with my weight a lot. I do believe the carbs are my weak point and I'll give your diet a go this week. I do have a mostly sedentary job so I really need to focus on moving my body more as well, whether at the gym or jogging around my neighborhood. As far as the car thing, I wish I could give it up but I have a 40 mile roundtrip commute to work. Also I'm really thinking about jumping off the deep end here in a few months and selling everything I own including my house and living very minimally in whatever car I purchase in January. There is a guy on youtube who lives out of his Prius! If you search for "Hotel Prius" you will find how he does it. This would give me access to money locked up in equity to invest and make it start working for me as well as give me more money on a monthly basis to invest as it's not going to bills, utilities, property taxes, etc. This would also free me up to travel more which is my passion and what I hope to do full time when I FIRE.

BTW I subscribed to your journal and just began reading it. I have Christchurch New Zealand on my bucket list. A friend shared pictures and videos from his vacation there and it looked absolutely beautiful!

Good luck with your weight loss plans. I also eat raw oats for every breakfast because it's got no added sugar like most other cereals and is high fiber (as well as cheap!). I don't mind its blandness. Alternatively I eat wheat bix which is similar but with wheat. I'm not sure you have that product in USA though.