Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I am a student,
Therefore my income is not great. I am taking out student loans and working part time 6 days per month. My current spending breakdown:
For ease of reading I have converted currencies to USD.

Income:
Student loans: 800,-
Part time job: 8-900,-

Expenses:
Rent: 500,- (Includes internet and electricity)
Gym: 27,-
Phone 40,- (Including a interest free payment plan on a phone)
Spotify and headspace: 15,-
Transportation: 44,-
Food: 4 - 500,- (This is the primal thing I am looking to cut.)

Total: 1126,-

Assets:
Emergency fund: 4000,-
Home savings account: 6000,-
Retirement account: 1200,-

Liabilities:
Student loans: 28.000,- (40% will be forgiven when I finish, this will grow to about 40.000,- and then get reduced to 24.000)


Goals!
Finance Goals:
- Get total budget below 1000 per month. (Excluding one off expenses.)
- Fully funded emergency fund (10.000,-)
- Have enough savings that I don`t have debt when finishing university.
- Retire by age 43.

Fitness goals:
- Be able to do 40 pushups (Current: 23)
- bench 100 kg (Current: 80 kg)
- deadlift 150 kg (Current: 90 kg)
- Be able to squat with no pain. (My right shoulder is to tight)
- Be flexible enough to touch my toes (I am about mid shin atm)
- Loose about 15 kg of fat. (I am not obese, I would be ripped at that point.)

Social goals:
I want to gain influence in my local society and become an important pillar.

Summary:
If I reach my budget goal I can save as much as 600 per month. I also want to commit to healthier living and aging gracefully.

First entry:

I am going to be using this journal as my accountability tool, So for those who read beware. Not going to be much excitement, just day to day struggles. However if you choose to read my journal and want to give me some feedback, tips or encouragement I am really appreciative of it.

However, I will try to give the reader a few things in return for indulging me:
1: I am a great cook, and will try to include a recipe with every post. This will not be super cheap. But cheap for the meal you are getting.
2: When I learn something, so will you.
3: I will in general share stuff I find awesome, and hopefully so will you.

This journal will probably be updated a few times a week as day to day does not hold enough content to merit writing.

Today I woke up late by a call from my cousin. I was sleeping in and the time was 09:00, I turned around in my bed thinking something to the effect of "You absolute lazy fuck, class started an hour ago!" Well, I guess I might as well get up and cook something. I did my shopping for one week on Saturday, but looking at my fridge and freezer it looks like it contains about two weeks worth of great food.

I got some breaded fish from the store on Saturday for cheap. I had some 7 months old french fries in the freezer and some frozen peas. So I naturally did not let the opportunity for fish and chips pass me by. I made two portions and put the leftovers in a baking safe dish. No need to worry about lunch tomorrow.

It is now about 11:00 and I need to start some university work, after about half an hour of important television I start finishing my assignment. I am spending the day at home so I can do laundry and sporadically clean my room in between studying. I know this is not optimal, but my ADHD brain need`s frequent breaks. (If anyone here got through university with good grades and ADHD....help)

Goals for today:
- Finishing my first assignment in accounting.
- Lay groundwork and plan the second assignment
- Read 20 pages of weapons of math destruction. (I have a goal to read 5 books this year that are not related to school)
- Half an hour run
- Meditate for 10 minutes.
- Clean my room
- Wash my clothes
- Don`t spend any money.

I am having a rough first week of only shopping once per week. I don`t miss food that much. But I am fighting the impulse to go buy food I suddendly want. I am really craving reindeer and lingonberry cream in a wrap with veggies, Nice and healthy. (Reasonably cheap at about 5,- per portion for dinner)

But I have food that will go bad if I go buy that, so it will have to wait until at least next week. So I am going to make a list of cravings at the bottom so that I can go back to check next week if I want to indulge any of them. I will also add the recipe for my reindeer wrap if anyone is interested.

Before next week I will post a weekly menu of a broke student and combine it with a shopping list and budget for that week. Today I am having my dinner for free at the salvation army. It`s not a soup kitchen, but a cooking club. So I will be enjoying great food and the company of new people. I want to meet them to see if they need help cooking for the poor people here. (I get to do my hobby and help people, now that is value!)

On Saturday me and a few friends are hosting a boys night. We are cooking artisan sour dough pizzas and having a few beers. As opposed to going out this evening will probably cost me less than 20,-.

So I will have to get back to my schoolwork, thank you for reading.


Reindeer wrap:
Meat:
- 50 grams frozen Reindeer in thin strips (Any wild game will work here)
- spices: Salt, pepper, dried time, fresh grated died garlic, chilli powder and a hint of smoked paprika. (Also use whatever you like. )
- Butter for cooking. (Don`t get shitty margarine, real butter cost more. But the health benefit of good butter and oils are huge.)
- Mushrooms (Prefferably wild)
- Carrots
- Onions (Preffered: sharlots or red onion)
- Mild chilli
- garlic

Filling:
- Big taco wraps (Tortilla)
- Fresh salad (preferably something with decent crunch, kale is also a good option)
- Fresh time herb


Lingonberry cream:
- Lingonberry jam
- sour cream
- salt and pepper
- olive oil until thin like ranch dressing (Can also use mayonnaise, but I like oil better)

Note: Lingonberry jam may be hard to find, but is the only part that can`t be substituted. If you live somewhere it grows I highly recommend picking it. You can make the jam and sell it. If not it has a long self life and goes with anything savory as a sweet side.

Step 1: Mise en place.

To become a great chef you need to learn the most fundamental lesson of cooking, everything has a place. And everything should be in it`s place.
Finely chop Mushroom, half a carrot, half a chilli (I include the seed, they melt and give flavor) and one garlic clove.

Cook everything together in the pan with a pinch of salt so it releases water and firms up a bit. (You don`t want to much water in the wrap)

I season the mix after the meat has a bit of color and the vegetables has lost a bit of water. So I don`t burn the spices.

Step 2: Finishing step 1
While everything is cooking you prep the wrap and sauce. I take the kale of its stem, roll it up and cut it into ribbons.
Then I just mix all the ingredients for lingonberry cream and season to taste. (I have not put in amounts because I cook by feel, and so should you.)


Step 3: Assembly
Just heat the tortilla in the oven for a few minutes and start by putting lingonberry cream, then kale and finish with the mix, Enjoy it warm.




Cravings:
- Reindeer wraps (We had a food festival, and I loved it and been craving them since. They cost about 30,- to eat out, and 5,- to make at home)
- Coca cola (I have a serious addiction to soda, it has made me fat and unhappy, but now that I quit withdraw is a bitch)
- I wanna go out to eat, but I am trying to stop.

Will follow:) And I’m going to try the wraps asap!

Financial hangover!

Hey Zanka, good to see you.

I went out on Sunday, the damage was not horrible (50,-) But still an unplanned expense. It is really not the sum of money bothering me, but the fact that it was not planned.

Once per month or so me and a few friends host a boys night, and this time we had pizza. It is a bit more expensive than a normal weekday dinner. But there is usually wine and great food prepared by me and a friend who is also a chef. This time we had pizza, and we made about 5 liters of tomato sauce. This is great for those night`s I want something quick and easy.

So it has taken it`s place in my freezer. I am sitting here on Sunday thinking about Saturday morning. I woke up with two hangovers, one financial and one alcohol related. But enough beating myself up, time to look ahead.

I still have a lot of food left in my fridge, so I am simply going to get creative and try to empty it before buying more. (It should make a bit up for going out.)

We had my favorite pizza during boys night, pear, blue cheese and nuts. (Recipe below)

I have a lot of school work this week, so food will have to be prepped on Monday.

I made a huge purchase today, in an attempt to get a smaller transportation budget. So I got an electric bike! It cost me about 1300,-. Having the bike will save me 44,- per month. So the pay back period is about 2,5 years. But it will make it easier to get around, the buss stop is about 500 meters from my house. (Not that far, but I want to move more) Now I will get to school in about 10 minutes by bike.

Time to burn some calories!

Goals for the week:
- Meditate every day!
- Not spend any more than 25,-. (I have a lot of food, so should be fine)
- Only one shopping trip allowed. (For food)
- work out 4 days.

I will update on progress with these goals, and if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!


My favorite youtube for the week!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKVy4JBSerM&t=1865s


My favorite pizza:

- Pizza dough
- mild cheese
- blue cheese (A very strong one)
- parmazan (Never buy pre grated cheese)
- pear (to taste)
- your facorite unsalted nuts.

Instructions:
- Roll out the pizza dough very thin!
- Topp it with a thin layer of olive oil
- Do not have to much cheese, it will make the bread soggy.
- ad pear and put it in a warm oven until the dough is cooked and the cheese is slightly browned.
- Top it with your nuts chopped. (Insert your joke here)

Suggestions:
- Topp it with chilli oil
- Topp it with ruccola salad
- Topp it with serrano or parma ham.
- Or all of the above if you want an amazing pizza!


I love this one, and it is quite cheap, so good luck! (It is amazing date food!)


Cravings:
- I want to see the new joker movie. (I have spend`t to much money this month for fun, so I will be missing out.)

I gave in to drinking soda today, but it has been a week since last time. So I will just deal with cravings tomorrow. I haven't made the wrap yet.

Thank you for taking the time to read my journal.

The rough day.

My productivity today have been roughly zero. I for some reason wake up some days and have a really hard time starting anything. And if I give in the whole day will be wasted. I have some work to do with myself.

I did none of these things:
- School assignment (Thank god i`m ahead)
- Workout (Wanted to run, but was simply to lazy)
- meditate (I am going to do it right before bed, but should have been in the morning.)
- Make presentation

What I did do was watch TV for 12 hours straight. I did cook, so that is a small win.

Sounds really dumb to not be able to do these menial tasks. But sometimes these things tend to build in my mind and I just wake up fried.

So I have to make some goals for tomorrow, and one is going to sound silly.

- Eat breakfast and drink tea
- Meditate
- Finish school assignment
- Try to get enough snacks through the day.

I think I am having to many calories of shit quality. This is probably the reason I feel bad. So I need to focus on what I am eating tomorrow.

Time to get ready for bed.

I am an absolute idiot.

I have been feeling really bad these last few days. I was unmotivated, tired and moody. And today I realized as I was bumping around my appartment that I haven't left in 4 days other than two days ago I went down to the salvation army to cook. (I volunteer) And it just hit me, I stopped drinking soda about 4 days ago.

I am going through withdrawal, and it fucking sucks. I keep drinking water, but I am always thirsty, food tastes like shit. When I get over this I am going to remember this feeling of shit when I consider drinking soda again.

It is expensive, it ruins my teeth and makes me fat.

It is the literal enemy of every goal I have.

This too shall pass.

I actually mean streaming, we actually have a great free selection of stuff to watch here. And then there is youtube. So when I have days like this I can just catch up on the hours of stuff I don`t have to for the rest of the week. But cutting down would for sure be better.

I got a deal on oats!

I don`t get why people hate oats so much. I love them, I got 6,6 kg on 70% off, it cost med 6,-. Now I have months of oats lying around. Also got 3 kg of cooked rice and 3 kg of taco meat from work for free. So now I have free food for a while.

So I am going to give you a quick guide to oats that can help you up the oats game!

Basic oats:
A basic oatmeal is one part oats and one part liquid. (Add a pinch of salt) and boil.

It can be any liquid really, but my favorite is milk,

My basic oats:
100 ml oats
200 ml milk (Can sub 50 ml for heavy cream if you want super decadent.)
10 grams fresh butter
a tiny pinch of salt

Boil for 1-2 minutes, I just put everything in the pan and wait, this way the oats soak up the liquid.

I top them with sugar, a knob of butter and lots of cinnamon.

My hacked water oats!
100 ml oats
200 ml water(Can still sub 50 ml for heavy cream if you want super decadent.)
10 grams fresh butter
a tiny pinch of salt

Now the trick to this is to cook it for longer, if you cook it for about 5 minutes the oats will go from looking like someone sneezed real hard into them to a milky silky smooth oatmeal. This is because the fat of the butter emulsify with the water and the oats releases the starch and creates oat milk. This way you get a beautiful milky oatmeal.

You can skip the butter, but I highly recommend it.


Overnight oats!
100 ml oats
200 ml water(Can still sub 50 ml for heavy cream if you want super decadent.)
a tiny pinch of salt
a pinch of suggar

This one is quite simple, water can also be used, but since there is no cooking it gets very bland. Just put it in the fridge over night, I use a jar with a tight lid to cover it.

Now you can top it with anything, but here are some of my favorites.
- Jam (Literally any sweet or savory jam, but if you go savory I would add more sugar to the oats for balance of flavor.)
- honey
- maple syrup
- berries (Any you like, but blue berries and strawberries are my favorite)
- Cut fruit (I love bananas and apples)
- Cinnamon
- cacao powder
- any nuts (Yes, even theeze nuts)

naturally you top the oats in the morning when you are eating it.

Some overnight combos I love:
The sweet:
- cacao or chocolate milk powder

The apple cake:
- honey or maple syrup
- half a finely chopped apple (The rest I cut into boats and pack into my lunch)
- cinnamon

The banana bread:
- Banana
- maple syrup of honey.


As a general rule try not to add more than three things at once. Most mornings I cook my oats and top them with sugar, a knob of butter and cinnamon. It gives me a nice mix of fat, complex and simple carbs, I usually have a protein rich lunch.


Bonus: Oat milk!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zXQufqSZC0

I highly recommend making your own plant based milks. It will save you a ton of money and is not that much work.


Back to my life!
I am going to have a meeting at the salvation army, I wanna finish setting up a plan for helping out in their kitchen. I had a soda the other day and all my pain went away. So yea, that is going to be a fun challenge do deal with. I am just going to stay at home for a week and ride it out. As a student my work load is massive. But I don`t actually have to go anywhere to do it.

Money wise I have been doing ok, not super great. But far from the spending happy guy I used to be. I actually need to loosen up a bit on the social spending. Going out for drinks as a student can be very fun.

So far this month I have spend about 150,- on food and entertainment, So I am on track to make my budget. I am going to be eating oats for breakfast as a habit from now on. In the weekend I want to make some avocado toast. So there may be coming some recipes on that.

But lets make a cost breakdown of a bowl of oats!
breakfast:
Oats: 1,6,- per kg
Milk: 1,6 per liter
butter: 7,- per kg
Sugar: 1,5 per kg
salt: 0,8 per kg

One portion of oats cost:
100 g of oats: 0,16,-
200 ml of milk: 0,32,-
Butter: 0,07,-
pinch of sugar: 0,0075,-
pinch of salt: 0,0016,-
Toppings: 0,5
Total: 1,06,-

That is a great value for a warm luxurious breakfast! It sorts out breakfast for 33,- per month. Leaving me 267 for every other meal. That is almost 9,- per day. I can have dinner like a king if I eat breakfast like a peasant!

Now for some cool stuff I found on the internett.

Great youtube videos!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUm-7AWwARs&t=549s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKfmRhfuI8g

I love Alan Watts philosophy and when it is set to music it goes down easier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS9H8v3D_lA&t=1150s

Spending money!

I made two purchases since last, I bought a waffle iron, and the ERE book. So I have had waffles for breakfast the last 3 days, it was glorious.

I am going go look into more healthy waffles so I can get to eat them often. I have a lot of university work at the moment, so other than a few beers out after long study sessions I have been doing a decent job with money.

Goals for today!

- meditate
- get a quick workout in.
- Finish my presentation for Thursday.
- Do laundry
- Go shopping for food.


It is a mundane list, but it is the small things every day that builds up.

Thank you for taking the time to read my short post today, I will probably be more active once things settle down a bit at university.