mathiverse's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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basuragomi
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by basuragomi »

As with any new hobby, don't get all the gear at once, get one thing and see how it works for you before continuing on.

Generally the more expensive things perform more functions at once, e.g. the most expensive overshoes are pretty much winter boots in their own right with insulation+waterproofing+tread, cheaper ones are insulating+waterproof, cheaper yet are waterproof only.

My current setup is meant for mostly biking around in winter with occasional mucking through icy sidewalks. So I alternate between basically zero tread wear on a bike and abrasive concrete/ice/salt.

I use YakTrax + gaiters + a waterproof hiking shoe + insulated overshoe. I don't wear the YakTrax if I am cycling or spending the day on a polished/tiled floor, and I leave off the overshoe unless I'm out all day since it dries faster.

I like the YakTrax instead of stud-type crampons since they're more repairable.

I use an overshoe designed for cycling. They usually expose some of the original shoe tread and have a very thin bottom that can be patched when it wears out. Since I'm usually either on a bike without crampons or on ice/sidewalk with crampons it's worn down very slowly.

I've honestly never used galoshes long-term since the waterproof shoe + overshoe renders them unnecessary. I'd probably go with the thinnest tread available and only wear them if spending several hours in slush/snow. If you're walking on clear sidewalks you probably don't need them, though they should provide lots of insulation through cutting wind alone. There's nothing stopping you from carrying a bag around to put them on as needed too.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

The discussion on subscription services was a timely reminder to cancel Sling. I'd picked it up to watch some sports in November but forgot to cancel it after the first, cheap month. That kind of thing is always an annoyance, and I really don't want or need to pay for more than one television streaming service.

I'm keen to see how much you can slash that food budget in the next couple of months. It seems really high and should be possible to cut in half or 2/3's almost immediately. I would encourage you to ditch food delivery completely. One of the benefits of going to the store in-person is that you can see what is on sale, and what produce looks good. When I do my regular shopping, which consists mostly of produce and possibly some lean meat like chicken or turkey, more than 50% of my basket or cart is on sale. I go to a discount store for non-perishable items once or twice a month. I'd encourage you to think of a way to make the shopping trips enjoyable, possibly listening to a podcast or music you enjoy. I always see my food trips as a bit of an adventure - an opportunity to find delicious and nourishing food that will serve as an inspiration for delicious meals over the next 4-5 days.

shaz
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Location: Colorado, US

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by shaz »

If you just want some wind protection with your sneakers, a quick fix is to slip on a plastic baggie over your sock. It also works to windproof cycling shoes.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Revised January 2022 Update - ERE Progression
mathiverse wrote:
Sun Jan 23, 2022 2:46 pm
Goal for 2022: Spend $24,000 or less excluding utilities, health care costs, and gifts to my family.
I bought more groceries before the end of the month, so I want to update this.

Total Personal Expenses (w/ caveats above)
$3,167.73

Code: Select all

Rent			$1,250.00
Food - Groceries	$1016.08
Travel			$328.33
Clothing		$144.95
Food - Eating out	$124.17
Household supplies	$108.28
Books			$95.00
Internet		$69.99
Cell phone		$30.93
---
Total			$3,167.73

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

basuragomi wrote:
Sun Jan 30, 2022 12:05 pm
I'd love to see a breakdown of your grocery spending...
I put together the info and here is it.

Code: Select all

Milk, cream, chocolate bars (no receipts)	$122.52
Frozen strawberries				$115.28
Eggs						$95.22
Chicken						$84.23
Chocolate bars					$65.26
Beef jerky					$51.46
Delivery tips					$41.51
Cheese						$35.88
Tea						$34.99
Honey						$30.50
Shepherd's pie					$26.00
Shipping fees					$25.00
Salt						$24.48
Frozen blueberries				$21.28
Coffee beans					$20.99
Shredded Coconut				$20.41
Sweet potatoes					$14.40
Amazon Prime					$14.18
Yogurt						$14.00
Ground beef					$13.98
Butter						$13.29
Frozen onions and peppers			$12.90
Milk						$11.50
Pre-baked Goods (Cheesecake and pumpkin pie)	$7.99
Bottled drinks (coconut water and choco milk)	$7.49
Heavy cream					$5.99
Green bell peppers				$5.48
Chili powder					$5.29
Yellow onions					$4.87
Frozen peaches					$4.79
Mushrooms					$4.77
Rosemary leaf					$4.59
Celery						$4.58
Frozen broccoli					$4.38
Asparagus					$4.23
Cream cheese					$3.79
Carrots						$3.28
Tomato paste					$3.16
Bananas						$1.37
---
Total						$985.31

Note that this is slightly less than the number in the prior post because there was some toilet paper mis-categorized as food expenses since they were on the same receipt.

My Takeaways and Thoughts
  • I won't be shopping at the store where I get milk, cream, and chocolate bars anymore because my partner no longer wants milk from there. I'll still buy cream from another store, but the cost is lower there. (-$110)
  • If I replaced every pound of strawberries (18 lbs @ ~$6.40/lb) with a fruit that was $3/lb or less, then I'd save $61.28. (-$61.28)
  • The chocolate bars I bought will last about 4 months. (-$65.26)
  • I will not use delivery this month and see how things go. (-$41.51)
  • I cancelled Amazon Prime since I won't be using the grocery delivery this coming month (and hopefully ongoing). (-$14.18)
  • I also won't order food from the place that had a $25 shipping fee. (-$25)
  • I have honey to last for a year. (-$30.50)
  • I have tea to last for at least three months. (-$34.99)
  • I learned to make homemade shepherd's pie. (-$26.00)
  • I won't buy anymore yogurt for reasons. (-$14.00)
  • I won't buy bottled drinks by making sure I go grocery shopping when I'm not hungry or I'll make them at home (chocolate milk). (-$7.49)
  • I will keep homemade cookies made at home and bring some with me when I go grocery shopping. I can also get free pastries and candy from the food bank I volunteer at if I plan ahead. (-$7.49)
  • I recently learned that I can easily make homemade beef jerky. I think there would be some savings there. (-$25? I don't know exactly what the likely savings are.)'
  • I have enough salt to last a year. (-$24.48)
  • I have enough chili powder and rosemary leaf to last a few years. (-$4.59 and -$5.29)
  • The frozen peaches were gross, so I won't get those again. (-$4.79)
  • I have a lot of frozen chicken leftover from overbuying chicken. Perhaps a third? I don't have to buy that next month. (-$30)
  • I have most of the frozen blueberries that I bought last month. I don't need to buy more. (-$21.28)
  • I have enough butter to last a month or two. (-$13.29)
  • There is a mark up for the majority of items I have been buying online compared to buying them in person. I noticed that today by looking at my price book. Switching to in person shopping will save money by avoiding that mark up as well as providing the chance for me to prefer items that are on sale. (EDIT: rephrased this bullet point)
  • I could buy onions and peppers that are not frozen and pre-cut. That would be a bit of savings.
  • I can buy cheaper cuts of chicken or learn to process a whole chicken. I can buy the cut of chicken that is on sale instead of buying whatever cut is easiest to handle for me. That could be significant savings. Making the price book resulted in my noticing that there were significant price differences between different cuts of chicken.
  • If I get better at batch cooking, then I could probably eat less cheese. Or if I find a cheaper snack to eat when I don't want to cook anything. That would save some money.
That list adds up to $558.93 of fairly easy and direct savings for at least the next month. I have some non-direct savings opportunities listed there as well. With the direct changes, I'd be at $426.38 in grocery costs. Given this information, it seems like I'm on track for spending less than $400 on food next month.
Last edited by mathiverse on Tue Feb 01, 2022 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Reviewing the list from the prior post, I think I can make a few shopping rules for February that make sense in my situation.
  • Do not buy:
    • Yogurt
    • Milk
    • Pre-baked goods (cakes, pies, etc)
    • Frozen blueberries
    • Salt
    • Honey
    • Chocolate bars
    • Bottled drinks
    • Beef jerky
    • Tea
    • Coconut
    • Butter
    • New spices or herbs
  • Compare the cost of cuts of meat and buy the cheapest available when any cut will suffice
  • Only buy fruits (frozen or not) that cost less than $3/lb
  • Buy all groceries in person

bostonimproper
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

That’s a lot of strawberries!

theanimal
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by theanimal »

You should be able to save at least $60 or so on eggs alone by shopping in person. I'm guessing you eat a fair amount of eggs, but free range/organic are usually $5-6 (same price more or less at supermarket and from the farmer). 6-7 dozen a month would only amt to about $30-35. Or if organic is not as important to you, you can lower your cost further and buy 5 dozen in bulk for $10.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Goals and Plans for February 2022
  • Continue the no buy period until February 22, 2022 excluding buying a winter shoe solution.
  • Spend less than $400 on groceries. Stretch goal: Spend less than $300 on groceries.
  • Spend less than $250 while on a trip at the end of the month excluding lodging which is already locked in at some price that my friend will tell me when I get there.
Last edited by mathiverse on Tue Feb 01, 2022 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

theanimal wrote:
Tue Feb 01, 2022 4:14 pm
I do eat a lot of eggs. Most of the grocery list is food for myself alone, however I buy eggs that are eaten by me and my partner. I haven't had a chance to check the prices at my local grocery stores to confirm, but I'm not sure there will be too many gains there if the grocery store price is $5 - $6 per dozen. I do get organic, free range or pasture raised eggs.

Online, the price is $4.79 - $6.29 depending on which brand is in stock. I bought 18 dozen eggs this past month. At $95.22 for all of them, I paid $5.29 per dozen on average. Three dozen will be eaten in February since I bought them at the end of the month, so I guess I (and my partner) normally eat ~15 dozen per month.

Once I check the grocery store prices, I'll update you. Maybe eggs are cheaper at the grocery store here than they are in Alaska!

theanimal
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by theanimal »

15 dozen! That's impressive! I figured it had to be an surcharge from the delivery company as I thought I ate a lot of eggs at 6-7 dozen a month. :) I bet they will be cheaper there. Everything in the stores here originate from Washington at the closet, usually farther.

white belt
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by white belt »

Do you have Aldi in your area? Shopping at Aldi instead of a traditional grocery store was enough to shave $100+ off my monthly grocery bill while buying the exact same foods. It’s very hard to beat Aldi on prices for meat, dairy, and produce.

Making your own jerky will save a lot of money. Try canned peaches if frozen didn’t work for you. Buy the giant family packs of meat and split them into smaller sized bags for the freezer. Buy block cheese and grate it yourself instead of pre-shredded cheese.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Thanks for the advice!

There is an Aldi near me, but it's about 2 miles away. I have five closer grocery stores, so I was planning to start by checking those for better prices. If I need to shave even more money off my food spending after that, then I planned to increase my radius and check out Aldi. But now that you put some numbers to it, if I could shave that much off my grocery bill even when getting good prices from the closer grocery stores, then I guess the extra hour or two to go there once a month or so would be worth it... Hm, another friend mentioned Aldi would be worth checking out, so maybe I'll make a trip there this month to add prices to the price book and then decide if I should go more often.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

@theanimal

It looks like I should save some money on eggs by going to shop in person too. I went to the store today and I saw some potentially free range eggs for $3.99 per dozen. They were out of stock today, so I'm only guessing based on the description on the price label. The next time I'm there, if the eggs are out of stock, I'll ask someone when they normally restock them, so I know when to find them.

They also had 18 packs of eggs for $4.66 per dozen that were definitely free range. So even if the above doesn't pan out, I'd get 18 dozen eggs for $83.30 which saves me $10 compared to this past month.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Also, wow! Strawberries are $1.99/lb at the Aldi until February 5th! If I had bought all my strawberries at that price, then I would have saved ~$72 last month. I guess the strawberries at the Aldi aren't organic, but I think I'd be okay with that. What other savings await me at the Aldi?

Kriegsspiel
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by Kriegsspiel »

I don't know if every Aldi operates the same, but mine always has a sale on chicken the first week of the month. The jars of tikka masala there are really good with chicken and rice.

I have 2 grocery stores near me, and I just shop at whichever one has better sales in their weekly ad.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

I checked out the Aldi. It seems worth a visit once or twice a month given the savings. It also was less annoying than I expected to go two miles each way to check it out. Carrying a heavy grocery bag for forty minutes was a nice workout for my core probably (single arm farmer's carry).
Last edited by mathiverse on Fri Feb 04, 2022 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Work Update

I still don't want to study for interviews.

I also realized in the last few weeks that I *don't* want to return to working full time. Scott 2 is right that part of my resistance is the lack of flexibility. Through further introspection, I also realized that a lot of the positive ERE related changes and general life changes I've made lately are due to all the extra time I've got lying around and the flexibility of being able to do whatever work I need to do when I have the most energy to do it (that is, in contrast to having to do the work when I have free time in the evenings or the weekends). I was kind of fooling myself into thinking that I could *definitely* keep everything extra I've been doing going with a full time job, but I think there is a high risk of this not being true.

So in searching for a solution to this problem, I realized that a good solution might be to get a job that only requires me to work three days per week.

So here is my new plan:
  • Continue to return process for my old job and ask if they will let me go to 60% right away during the process
  • Reply to every recruiter or hiring manager asking if they would hire someone at 3 days a week. Continue the hiring process only with those who say this would be okay.
  • Apply directly to companies that are known to allow 60% roles. (Microsoft is the only company I know with this precedent. Tips on others are welcome.)
  • Work with a third party recruiter to see if they have any clients willing to hire me at 60% as an independent contractor.
This means I have to study for interviews. I'll start with attempting one algorithm problem a day and then I'll go from there. Hopefully scheduling interviews and not wanting to completely bomb them will motivate me to spend a few hours studying for them before they happen. Enough crammed studying will mean I'm prepared enough to pass a couple interviews if I keep on looking.

---

Another work related issue is the lack of winnability in my last job. What I mean by that is that my last job functions in a way where it was easy for me to feel helpless or like my struggling at work wouldn't lead to what I aim for. I sometimes had the sense that it didn't matter what I did because the outcome was out of my control if I looked at the big picture. I do have a sense that I can reduce this feeling or work on avoiding those situations at my old job via internal work and making different choices about what I did at the job if I returned. But after the discussion that AxelHeyst started which echoed some of my concerns, I also realized it may be useful to look for a place that I can more readily exercise my agency to reach outcomes that I choose. To that end, trying a new company may be fruitful even if it means I have to study for interviews again.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

ERE Update

I decided that, in the months I have before returning to work, I will aggressively try to level up with ERE.

The continued focus on how I can live without spending money is a part of that. My Mastermind group goals are related to that focus.

I continue to cook everyday and improve my methods so they take less time and energy for the same outcome. I've also started prioritizing recipes that might be suitable for my SO and I to share, so eventually I'll cook for the both of us.

I hope to continue the no buy experiment for a few additional months excluding while I'm on the trip with my friend later this month.

I also joined the repair guild mastermind group.

I'm also going to potentially try a non-software part time job for a few months before I return to my software job (ie non-overlapping jobs). I want to experience the possibility of getting other jobs. I found that the theoretical knowledge that I could probably get another job in another industry doesn't make me any more comfortable leaving the software industry. Hopefully the experiential knowledge will make me more confident that I have more choices than software.

I want to think of it as "What can I do or learn in order to improve my quality of life?" and then from there I prioritize things I can do without spending money. There are a lot of things I can do without spending money that improve my quality of life. Figuring them out and then executing is the hard part.

---

I think I'm still at the point in ERE where it is fruitful to explicitly focus on not spending money. It's a good way for me to activate my non-monetary spending creativity and problem solving skills. At some point, I can stop thinking about it in terms of money, but right now framing it as keeping X category of expenses below $Y is very actionable for me. I haven't transitioned from group 2 to group 1, as mentioned in ERE vs sacrifice thread. I hope to lose this focus on money in the future. Maybe once my default lifestyle (even under stress) is a low level of spending (ie once I'm solidly WL5), then I'll focus more on some other aspect of the problem and trend towards a higher Wheaton level.

AxelHeyst
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

:shock: that thread is gold! And your last paragraph resonates. I get that the end point is to have a mindset as indifferent to money as tap water, but when I try to embody that mindset now I just… indifferently spend too much money. Because for too long, my income meant that I truly was indifferent to ‘high’ spending. My brain requires reconditioning. Must learn the numbers in order to forget the numbers.

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