NewBlood's journal
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 3:54 pm
Hi.
I’m in my late 30s, originally from western Europe, living in the US for the last 15 years. I recently relocated to the East Coast, in the midst of COVID. I have been reading about ERE for a while now. I don’t remember how I found the ERE website anymore, but read it in its entirety back when it was still active. I remember being very inspired by it but was having a hard time implementing it the RHCOL (really high cost of living) area where I lived. I had pretty much resolved to buy a cheap plot of land and attempt building a tiny house on it and try my hand at food self-sufficiency when I started a new relationship. Those plans were quickly squashed by new SO on the account of way too much hippiness. I don’t fall in love often, so that all took a backside to the new relationship. We have always kept our finances separate though, because it was clear from the get go that we had drastically different spending habits.
I might be one of the few here who found ERE first (I don’t remember how, but IIRC, I came to it initially from a climate change/peak oil thought process) and then went to MMM, which, in the context of the new relationship, seemed more achievable/palatable. To the point where we now have a joint savings account and have reduced SO’s spending with a goal to save a sizable down payment on a place (achieved many years ago on my end, getting there for SO). SO has even started talking about how great it would be if we could find something cheap enough that we could pay cash. After initial conversations of buying a 400/500k house with almost zero money saved for a down payment. It’s taken us quite a few years and detours to get here but I’m pretty proud and happy about these more recent developments and feel like I’m/we are somewhat back on track.
We moved to this SHCOL (super high cost of living) area in March for some very well timed job opportunities (sigh…) with the idea that city living was going to be great, no more car, public transportation, etc… We love the city and have enjoyed being able to walk and bike everywhere. More importantly, I love being able to meet all my needs with just walking and biking. But we chose our specific apartment based on the ease of metro commuting (ha!) to our respective offices, which means our rent is insane. I justified this in terms of quality of life after being stuck with a one hour car commute each way in bumper to bumper traffic for the last few years and wanting the exact opposite of that here. We knew COVID was going to impact the office situation for a bit once we moved here, but really did not expect the longer-term surreal American exceptionalisms that we are now living through…
So now that remote work is finally a thing in my field and for the foreseeable future, I’m not sure living here makes sense anymore, but we are stuck with a one-year lease. So we’re not going anywhere until at least March.
I have been thinking a lot about where to go from here, especially in this new COVID world, and I think I finally came around to the concept of web of goals (another post), which is why I’m finally posting here. I hope some people will be willing to share their thoughts and feedback.
I have been a lurker here for a while, have read quite a few threads and many journals. I have never posted anything before (I’m in introvert even in the cyberspace, INTP here, as far as I can tell from free tests online), but thank you to everybody who has been journaling about their journey for years. What an inspiration, and I have learned a lot.
I’m in my late 30s, originally from western Europe, living in the US for the last 15 years. I recently relocated to the East Coast, in the midst of COVID. I have been reading about ERE for a while now. I don’t remember how I found the ERE website anymore, but read it in its entirety back when it was still active. I remember being very inspired by it but was having a hard time implementing it the RHCOL (really high cost of living) area where I lived. I had pretty much resolved to buy a cheap plot of land and attempt building a tiny house on it and try my hand at food self-sufficiency when I started a new relationship. Those plans were quickly squashed by new SO on the account of way too much hippiness. I don’t fall in love often, so that all took a backside to the new relationship. We have always kept our finances separate though, because it was clear from the get go that we had drastically different spending habits.
I might be one of the few here who found ERE first (I don’t remember how, but IIRC, I came to it initially from a climate change/peak oil thought process) and then went to MMM, which, in the context of the new relationship, seemed more achievable/palatable. To the point where we now have a joint savings account and have reduced SO’s spending with a goal to save a sizable down payment on a place (achieved many years ago on my end, getting there for SO). SO has even started talking about how great it would be if we could find something cheap enough that we could pay cash. After initial conversations of buying a 400/500k house with almost zero money saved for a down payment. It’s taken us quite a few years and detours to get here but I’m pretty proud and happy about these more recent developments and feel like I’m/we are somewhat back on track.
We moved to this SHCOL (super high cost of living) area in March for some very well timed job opportunities (sigh…) with the idea that city living was going to be great, no more car, public transportation, etc… We love the city and have enjoyed being able to walk and bike everywhere. More importantly, I love being able to meet all my needs with just walking and biking. But we chose our specific apartment based on the ease of metro commuting (ha!) to our respective offices, which means our rent is insane. I justified this in terms of quality of life after being stuck with a one hour car commute each way in bumper to bumper traffic for the last few years and wanting the exact opposite of that here. We knew COVID was going to impact the office situation for a bit once we moved here, but really did not expect the longer-term surreal American exceptionalisms that we are now living through…
So now that remote work is finally a thing in my field and for the foreseeable future, I’m not sure living here makes sense anymore, but we are stuck with a one-year lease. So we’re not going anywhere until at least March.
I have been thinking a lot about where to go from here, especially in this new COVID world, and I think I finally came around to the concept of web of goals (another post), which is why I’m finally posting here. I hope some people will be willing to share their thoughts and feedback.
I have been a lurker here for a while, have read quite a few threads and many journals. I have never posted anything before (I’m in introvert even in the cyberspace, INTP here, as far as I can tell from free tests online), but thank you to everybody who has been journaling about their journey for years. What an inspiration, and I have learned a lot.