not sure but i'll try Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

June 2021 Spend Update

Post by not sure »

A spendy month:

Income 6,634 - I am putting more into post-tax Roth 401k at work, so take home has decreased
Total expenses 3,981
% of income 60% - Savings rate a measly 40%

Breakdown:
Rent 995
Food 542- bought a $200 Costco cash card as our membership finished and we won't renew, so effectively $342
Auto 210 - a short weekend trip and some maintenance
Bills 125
Shopping 56
Activities 777 - a large one off payment, otherwise close to $100
Sub-total 2705

Gifts+Donations 1,276

Total NW $262 k

Analysis:
Food budget out of control. We splurged on Costco as membership was expiring. I also ordered snacks online at the beginning of the month - should have known better! And I can make perfectly yummy snacks at home.
Plan to practice with dough-y stuff, see if I can come up with a few recipes which are good for freezing.

Keep activities to under $100 per month.

Intermittent fasting has been going good - did 2 weeks, 2x per week. Feeling pretty good about it.
Went for a few good hikes at the beginning of the month as we were on vacation. Wish I could do this more often!
Also drew a web of goals just to try and visualise them. Common theme/connector was a part time job. Time-wise a lot of my goals are only partly compatible with a full time occupation. So that would be the goal in the next 2-5 years - find a suitable part time arrangement.

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

July 2021 Spend update

Post by not sure »

Month 31-Jul-21
Total NW $275 k
Income 10,132 - husband's bonus
Total expenses 3036
% of income 30%
% of total NW per year 13.2%

Rent 995
Food 225
Auto 157
Bills 115
Shopping 62
Activities 0
Medical/Health 126
Sub-total 1680
% of income 17%
% of total NW per year 7.3%

Gifts+Donations 1356

Kept activities in check because our trip of the month (rafting) was paid for in May.
Food spending was ok, too!

I quit intermittent fasting as I started getting a tommy ache more frequently than before

not sure
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Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by not sure »

Experimented with car camping this past weekend. It went well. I have a little Honda Fit, where the back seats fold flat. I picked up a free mattress topper off craigslist in the last month and bought case-cover for it ($10).
Stayed at a campground (paid for) just to be more comfortable in the surroundings and it was ok comfort-wise. Definitely easy to set up camp. Adjust seats, unroll the mattress, fit window covers and the sleeping shell is ready to go in 10-15 min!
Was in the Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park and the view of the dunes from my little "home for the night" was glorious!

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

August-September Spend Update

Post by not sure »

August and September were both quite speedy due to travel purchases.
I am also expanding a few categories previously covered under "Misc" so I can better understand where and what's going on

Month Aug Sep
Total NW 308k 310k
Income 6806 6698
Expenses 3932 3882
% of income 58% 58%

Rent 995 995
Food 393 267
Auto 128 345
Bills 116 65
Shopping 223 97
Activities 123 0
Travel 978
Medical 98 75
Sub-total 2076 2821

Gifts+Don. 1856 1061

Added Travel and Medical categories.
Food was a bit high in Aug but went back under control in September.
"Travel" in Aug was spread over Activities, Auto and Shopping, so I created a separate category.

Overall, this tracking is helping me get a handle on the overall spending across the year, not just the most typical "food/rent" categories.
I am also tracking how it translates into yearly and % of NW spending.

Thinking through ideas on generating another income stream, although all are still in the "not yet born" stage.

DH got a new job - praise the Lord! He'll enjoy it so much more.
And, there will be less pressure on me to stay in a job I don't like ;-)

AxelHeyst
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Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

not sure wrote:
Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:26 am
I *love* car camping in the desert like that, particularly near dunes! Have you been to White Sands? Done any other camping since that trip?

not sure
Posts: 141
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Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by not sure »

@AxelHeyst, sadly, no. Unfortunately, this has not been a priority even though I had a few weekends between then and now when I could have gone.

I'll add the White Dunes to my list of places to visit - New Mexico is a beautiful state and I'd like to see more of it.
Right now we have a big CO map in the living room where DH and I marked the sights we want to visit with different color stickers. Maybe I need a similar map for NM.

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

October Spend Update

Post by not sure »

October is the highest expense month so far, since I started tracking.
We had an expensive car bill (gotta thank MN driving and salt on the roads which made break pad replacement tricky) and started buying presents for family. Also found a deal on glass mosaic supplies and equipment on craigslist, so DH and I gave each other a present for wedding anniversary (Activities) :)
Food budget was under control and bills were pretty low.
I feel that "shopping" and "activities" are discretionary. We can definitely get by with less, but we choose to spend there because it gives us joy

Total NW 328k
Income 8167
Total expenses 4169
% of income 51%

Rent 995
Food 225
Auto 956
Bills 25
Shopping 284
Activities 250
Travel 73
Medical/Health 75
Sub-total 2883

Gifts+Donations 1286

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by not sure »

One of my "post-ER" aspirations was to try and write a book.
One of my "getting to ER" resolutions was to bring some of these post-ER activities forward and start doing them now.
So, I am joining the crowd at Na-No-Wri-Mo with the goal of writing 50,000 words for my novel in November https://nanowrimo.org
Wish me luck ;-) I'll definitely need it as I am NOT a writer.
...Or maybe not yet?

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by not sure »

On the book writing: Sitting at 18k words today.
Sitting is the key word here
1) the process is painfully slow, but I remind myself that it's not a race and every 100 words get me closer to the goal
2) it requires a lot of bum-in-the-chair time

Other goals: My walking goal is taking a back seat. Still try to go for at least one walk a day, although it's short.
Walked a total of ~800 mi this year altogether
Went on ~90 new to me trails. Falling behind this month, but overall better than I thought. Accountability helped.

Not doing the burpees (shame on me) but been trying to do jumping jacks instead. lowered the bar :( :)

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

November 21 Spend Update

Post by not sure »

Total NW 345k
Income 5,326
Total expenses 3,150
Expenses % of income 59%
Expenses % of total NW per year 11.0%

Rent 995
Food 196
Auto 121
Bills 83
Shopping 165
Activities 123
Travel 66
Medical/Health 125
Sub-total 1,874
Sub-total % of income 35%
Sub-total % of total NW per year 6.5%

Gifts+Donations 1,276

Ok month, although there will be additional travel expenses in December.
Have been reasonably active, walking and doing stretching regularly in the end of the month. Stopped tracking that in great detail.

Writing with NaNoWriMo was tough - lots of time in a chair, typing and thinking. And just tough mentally, once more than a quarter of the content was written. I put it away from the 1st of Dec, but plan to come back to the book once pre-Christmas craze is over.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: November 21 Spend Update

Post by mountainFrugal »

not sure wrote:
Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:46 pm
Writing with NaNoWriMo was tough - lots of time in a chair, typing and thinking. And just tough mentally, once more than a quarter of the content was written. I put it away from the 1st of Dec, but plan to come back to the book once pre-Christmas craze is over.
Keep going! NaNoWriMo sounds grueling, but then you will have something to work on! Hopefully you will continue writing other stuff daily to keep the writing muscles limber for when you come back to your novel.

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by not sure »

Thank you for the encouragement, @MF
It helps with feeling accountable ;)

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by not sure »

Been struggling with motivation at work and the overall sense of dread - of doing it for another n years. Unfortunately, DH wants a house and we live in a fairly HCOL area. I wouldn't mind a place of our own, too, but it seems a waste to pay 2x or 1.5x of what we could pay in other nice locations. Sigh..
Anyhow, seems like we'll be stuck here for a while, so I am doing mental gymnastics to trick my brain to accept it.
Today I stumbled on a good one - I'll put a line in the sand and set a date for the end of "conventional employment". 23 June 2023
The reason it works is that it's a round date - a Friday exactly 10 years after I started my first job post grad school. Seems too perfect :)
Just the thought of it makes me excited!

Will try to save as much as possible towards a potential (or real house) by that time. However, no matter what the NW number looks like by then, I give myself permission to quit a conventional "9-5". By then a good chunk towards house price will be generated, Lord willing. And the rest - well, DH wants to work till he is old :lol: He does not know yet, but I don't think he'll mind. We've talked about me travelling more to see family or going part time a few times and he seems to be on board.

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Dec 21 Spend update

Post by not sure »

Month 24-Dec-21
Rent 995
Food 163
Auto 85
Bills 139
Shopping 151 - a few presents
Activities 60
Travel 382 - extra ticket due to fam circumstances
Medical/Health 75
Gifts+Donations 2441 - extra donations, as we've gotten a bonus this month, so income was higher than usual, and there are always good people and causes to direct an extra donation to ;-)

NW grew to 370k
Fairly frugal month by my standards, extra travel expense was inevitable.
Started jogging and signed up for a half-marathon in summer!

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Re: not sure but i'll try Journal

Post by not sure »

Reading though some of the journal inspired me to post some of my 2022 goals on here.
I often do a napkin plan at the beginning of a year - it usually works better than some fancy journal due to low activation energy required to start.
Also, I cannot plan too much - they have to fit on a napkin!

So non-financial goals for 2022:
1. Finish writing and editing the book that I started during NaNoWriMo
2. Reach and maintain 122 lb weight
3. Run a half-marathon (means to goal#2)
4. Learn to play Amazing Grace on a Native American flute
5. Read 12 books
6. Ski 12 times
8. Write 12 letters
9. Go car camping again (aiming at least twice)
10. Visit home country twice
11. Take the youth we are mentoring out hiking
12. Visit friends in MN

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Jan 22 Spend update

Post by not sure »

Spendy month - planning travel for the first half of the year
Wins - Food budget was under 200 - yay!

Made some changes to the calculations.
Decided to include accounts I previously did not include in my tracking, so NW is up substantially, despite the stock market correction.

Total NW $424 k
Income 8k
Total expenses 4790
Expenses % of income 60%
Expenses % of total NW per year 13.6%

Rent 995
Food 198
Auto 79
Bills 149
Shopping 148
Activities
Travel 1650
Medical/Health 89
Sub-total 3308
Gifts+Donations 1482

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

2021 Year Review

Post by not sure »

Putting this on paper to "get it out of my head".

Overall 2021 has been good.
Accomplishments:

1) with all the financial tracking I've done in the past 12 months I have a better idea how much we spend, on average, and in what categories. This helped me narrow in on the FI numbers with more certainty (in the following update)

2) I've been much more active than the year before - walking regularly, and doing more stretching in the mornings

3) walked 94 new trails (did not quite hit 100), so I feel like I know my new locale a lot better

4) went from 212k to 370k total NW - combination of salaries, market and additional account tracking

5) hit 200k in my retirement accounts. I did not mention it before but this was my "magic" number. I said to myself that I am free to have almost any job once I reach that. So I guess, this has spurred on some soul-searching re: my current job

6) we've splurged less on random activities and eating out than in the prior years, although I don't have a good grasp on the exact numbers

Failures:

1) only one - did not get my snacking habit/weight under control. In fact I gained about 4 pounds in 2021 :(
will be working on it in 2022

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

refined FI numbers

Post by not sure »

At the beginning of this journal I said that my fin goal was 500k, and that it was a stretch by 2025.
Now that I have a year's worth of actual averages to work from, I can better refine these numbers.

Based on my tracking for a year, we spend just over 2.1k on monthly expenses and just over 1.5k in monthly gifts and donations in addition to that.
The expenses included things like travel, which is discretionary (albeit important to me) spending.
Monthly gifts and donations were partially based on % of income or bonus income. So this category would have looked differently if our income was lower. After FI, the thought is to maybe contribute more time and less dollar amount, - we'll see.

So I think I build in some slack by using these values to calculate the FI numbers.
Using the 25x rule of thumb (I know its limitations, but this is a rough calculation), this puts us at 640k "expenses only" and 1.1 million "expenses+giving" for an FI number.

Thinking and reading accounts of others, I've realised that I am not looking to "retire" or quit work entirely. I want to have more flexibility for travel, volunteering, and hobbies, as well as other, possibly paid work.
That led me to think about the FI number slightly differently. I like the approach I read at moneyflamingo, they called it Flamingo FI, or FI standing on one leg. Their plan was to hit a half-way number, then move to part-time work and coast to full FI.
So applying the 12.5x rule, our number looks like 320k "expenses only" and 550k "expenses and giving".

Thus, I am going to work towards 550k and then look for ways to scale down to part-time work. This also fits nicely with my desire to move away from full time by June 2023. There could be a wrench in this plan if we decide to buy a house in our M-HCOL area, but will re-evaluate if this happens. DH is in general on board with me scaling down to part-time in 2023.

Now I have a number and a date that are backed up by slightly more solid reasoning ;-)
I hope it'll stop my mind from repeating the loop it's been playing the last couple of months!

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Jan 22 goals update

Post by not sure »

I 'll repeat the non-financial goals for 2022 here so I have more accountability.
I feel like I have a better chance of hitting them if I commit to posing updates every month.

1. Finish writing and editing the book that I started during NaNoWriMo
7.1% rough editing done

2. Reach and maintain 122 lb weight
lost 1 lb, 128 now

3. Run a half-marathon (means to goal#2)
0, not much running due to feet issue :(

4. Learn to play Amazing Grace on a Native American flute
-1, did not even practice :(

5. Read 12 books
3 books in progress - Heaven, TheArt of Reading Minds, According to Plan

6. Ski 12 times
skied 3 times

8. Write 12 letters
0

9. Go car camping again (aiming at least twice)
0

10. Visit home country twice
booked one trip

11. Take the youth we are mentoring out hiking
0, but mentoring program kicked off!

12. Visit friends in MN
0

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

mid-month goals check in

Post by not sure »

1. Finish writing and editing the book that I started during NaNoWriMo
-1
7.1% rough editing done - no more progress

2. Reach and maintain 122 lb weight
+1
1 lb down, 127 consistently

3. Run a half-marathon (means to goal#2)
-1
same thing not much progress - winter and running don't go well together in my world :(

4. Learn to play Amazing Grace on a Native American flute
+1, been practicing a little a few times a week

5. Read 12 books
3 books in progress - Heaven, TheArt of Reading Minds, According to Plan
+1
making some progress

6. Ski 12 times
+1
skied a total of 7 times this year

8. Write 12 letters
+1
wrote 2 letters

9. Go car camping again (aiming at least twice)
0

10. Visit home country twice
0

11. Take the youth we are mentoring out hiking
0

12. Visit friends in MN
0

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