Rube's journal

[DutchGirl]

I'm glad you're doing well!

And yes, I also remember the days when you would PERHAPS call your parents for a few bucks right after you had arrived, and then PERHAPS, if they were lucky, a second time after a week or so with the good news that you were still alive and well, but that would be it.

On our last holiday I think I shared at least one picture every day on our family-groups app, and my sister had done the same a few weeks earlier when she was on holiday. It's less romantic but yes, it's also nice to see that they're doing fine and are enjoying themselves.

I hope you will continue to enjoy your stay in Asia!

[Western Red Cedar]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear that the trip is going well. This resonated particularly strongly based on some of my recent trips:

The traveling have showed DW and myself that we are no longer in our 20's or 30's, i.e. our bodies have more difficulty to adapt to (too) hard or (too) soft mattrasses etc, while the kids happily tell us that they don't have any issues with mattrasses etc.
We also have been getting more accustomed to a more luxurious standard than 25 years ago, like getting a grab/uber taxi for a few USD instead of walking 30 minutes in burning sun while being tired, spending a few dollars more to have AC in our rooms and hot water in the shower. Yes, we could walk, see it as a work out and save the money, but I am happily spending in those situations a few extra dollars to keep everybody happy, including or perhaps mostly, myself.

Traveling nowadays, that means compared to 25 years ago when we travelled a longer period for the first time, is often somewhat less romantic and adventurious as most of the information is on the internet, due to the availability of google maps, the uber/grab app, staying in touch with friends and family is being easy etc. On the other hand, that makes it also a bit more comfortable and helps in nobody getting homesick .

I still have a vision of the style of backpacking and vagabonding I did in my twenties, but that seems increasingly unrealistic based on age, resources, and technology. DW and I talk about how there are different phases of travel based on age, so I'm just trying to accept that we are in a slightly more luxurious phase - and trying to enjoy it without feeling guilty or hyper-focused on opportunity cost .

We'll see what another long-term vagabonding trip brings though, as opposed to a 3-4 week holiday.

If you are comfortable sharing more about the specific countries you visited, and some of your favorite cities or destinations, I'd love to hear more. No worries though if you prefer to keep that private.

[rube]

@WRC, sorry for the late reply. I'm not totally comfortable to list the exact countries and places we have been to..
But I find it also difficult to answer as I can list a couple of great things from every place we visited, but also lost some negative things. So it's depending what your goal is, is it a 3 to 4 week holiday or longer term staying, prefer to relax or enjoy good food, nature, contact with locals etc.
If you would like to know more details about the places and details, feel free to send me a PM.

[rube]

We're still traveling and still okay, but getting pretty close to going home. We have traveled most of the time faster as I envisioned before we left, but we also took our time to stay and relax here and there quite some time. Overall it was balanced and it worked for the whole family.

Most of the time during the traveling I didn't had the feeling that we did a lot, saw a lot, it was very special etc., because you're "in it" while you're doing it. But glancing through our (private) travel blog and remembering all the highlights, we actually did, saw and experienced really a lot and it is truly special.

Soon we're back home and we'll continue with back-to-home things, DD moving out to go to a campus for college, I'll probably have to do some work on the rentals, socialize with friends and family and hopefully we can enjoy a nice summer.

[rube]

Wow, almost 4 months since my last post. We're back home from our traveling for 3 months now. We had a great time and and at moments I already do miss the traveling. Since we're back home DD moved out to start college, DS started school again and....DW started very recently a new parttime job. It's a project of 3 months but it might turn out to be (much) longer. I'm busy, but in a very relaxed way, several DIY projects on the house (seems never ending), cooking, biking, walking, socializing here and there. Browsing (too much?) the internet and watching Netflix, is it bad? I don't know, at times it is feels not so productive at other times it gives me joy and it is usefull in some way. I just need to keep an eye on this.

DW and I camped one night very basic - we might do this more in the future. Perhaps I will do it myself on a multiple day bike trip. I'm also thinking of doing longer bike trips (say weeks) in the future. Did I already say I miss some of the traveling? At the same time I love our house, it's very comfortable and it is nice to have my things around and be able to make things with my tools etc.

We're a little over 12 months without any income from the traditional job (DW will get paid soon with her new job). Our NW has been quite stable in the last 12 months despite the increased spending during traveling. Though, that also means our NW has not grown to keep pace with inflation. It's still difficult to predict how much NW we need with all the proposed changes for landlords, local taxes, two teenagers who we want to support during college and our own future needs and wants. Because DW never paid much attention to the financial side I had the feeling she doesn't really understand the impact of spending more (or less), change in taxes etc. while I probably didn't give her enough trust to let her do the things (which cost money) that are important for her. without raising an eyebrow too often. We therefore now review each month the expenses, income and net worth. Just so we both know the actual situation and if this is okay or if we want or need to change something. And perhaps simply to not have unpleasant surprises later on.

I have been tinkering with smart home switches and reading about Home Assistant. I recently installed Home Assistant on my laptop to get a feeling for it. I think once I am further with my home improvements I'll buy a Raspberry 4 and make it a dedicated home assistant server to play around with. That means, being able to automate/control the lights, music, solar panels, ventilation systems, perhaps the heatpump and to learn from the software and electronics.

13 years ago I bought a nice second hand hybrid bike. It was already ~4 years old when I bought it, so it must be around 17 years ol now. It's old, nothing very fancy but simply a nice bike to ride. Since I started to bike more and further, I didn't trust the still original tires with the countless cracks anymore and so I replaced the tires and the tubes. I might make some further adjustments to it in the future to change it a bit towards a touring bike in order to be able to carry some camping gear etc.

Well, so far a short update with some of the things going on in my life.

[comandante]

We therefore now review each month the expenses, income and net worth.

This is a great idea, that I've also been applying. I see a challenge here in getting the mood to remain positive, curious and excited, as opposed to trending into one of repetitiveness and constrained. I wonder if you have such thoughts.

I'll buy a Raspberry 4 and make it a dedicated home assistant server to play around with

So cool! I'm still figuring out what to use my arduino for. Will you use a breadboard or go into PCB making?

[rube]

This is a great idea, that I've also been applying. I see a challenge here in getting the mood to remain positive, curious and excited, as opposed to trending into one of repetitiveness and constrained. I wonder if you have such thoughts.

Not really anyting specifc other than to be and stay on the same page and avoid unpleasant surprises later on.

So cool! I'm still figuring out what to use my arduino for. Will you use a breadboard or go into PCB making?

You should make some cool project for your arduino and post it!
I will start simple with ready made sets and focus on the software part, i.e. Home Assistant OS. Perhaps later on I might do some more challenging projects with making (soldering) sensors etc. but I definitely won't start with the breadboard or PCB making.

[DutchGirl]

This is a great idea, that I've also been applying. I see a challenge here in getting the mood to remain positive, curious and excited, as opposed to trending into one of repetitiveness and constrained. I wonder if you have such thoughts.

My thoughts, for what they're worth...

On the one hand: a lot of people do experience "a boring middle" - so maybe it's inevitable that sometimes these monthly updates will be boring. "Yeah, we're a month older, $2k richer, two home improvement projects done, three to go, we should continue on our path, yawn."
On the other hand: since it's a meeting that you yourselves organize, you can at any meeting keep the subjects that are boring as hell as short as you want to. Maybe some months there's nothing interesting to talk about, nothing to discuss or improve or explore. In that case, it can be a very short meeting. But I'm sure that along the way some meetings will be more interesting and useful.

[rube]

you can at any meeting keep the subjects that are boring as hell as short as you want to.

Exactly. Since DW doesn't have any intrinsic interest in finances, we keep the financial part as short as possible.

But I'm sure that along the way some meetings will be more interesting and useful.

For sure.

[rube]

I believe it was Sclass who some time ago wrote something along the lines that the majority of his NW is now from yield from stash and no longer from income from previous employment.

Working on my administration I noticed something similar: (% relative to current NW):
NW 11 years ago 15% + Income from employement during the last 11 years 51% - Expenses* last 11 years 32% = 33%.
Meaning that around 67% of our current NW is coming from yield on assets over these last 11 years (interest, dividend, rent, value increase of stocks, metals, real estate).
*Obviously this is assuming all expenses are paid out of the original income from work. You can argue if this is correct.

It will be interesting to see how this will go the next years, when we don't earn that much anymore through more traditional work (employement/self employment).

I'm still tracking our expenses. In the last 18 months our energy bill has been (on average) negative, because we return on annual basis almost 8000 kWh on the grid (after deducting our own usage) for which we get paid. In my "accounting" system our energy bills are seen as expenses, but now it looks we less than we actually did? Perhaps I should move these kind of expenses to "income" when it is positive to keep track of the actual expenses
I don't think I am able to change all our expense categories into money producing categories Though probably we could change the housing category in positive cashflowing when renting out a room or two. But not planning to do so.

[DutchGirl]

Or for accounting, you could create two categories: one for solar panel income, and one for energy usage? Say for example the solar panel income could be 250 euros average per month and the energy usage could be 120 euros average per month. The increased income does more than cover the expenses, but now you can track both your energy expenses and your solar panel income separately?

[rube]

Hmmm, it took me some time to grasp the suggestion. I don't know why, because it's basically a very simple and good idea.
Next time I play around I'll see if I can make a reasonable split between expenses and income for the energy bill.

[rube]

I'm still alive. Just living my life, doing things and doing nothing. Ups and downs. Most or all of the regular stuff people do except going to work and getting a paycheck.

I solved the issue how to account for our solar panels income versus payment for energy usage. Solution: we bought an electric car. I expect we generate on anual basis about the same amount of energy to cover everything for our house (heating, hot water, cooking amd all other electrical appliances) and transportation by the electrical car, but no longer any (or only marginally) a surplus. So no longer (or only a marginal income), but no cost either for energy usage.

Maybe more later. Or not. I'm not sure it is so interesting for others anymore.

[mooretrees]

I’m interested!

[simplex]

Hi Rube,
Nice to hear from you.
Please keep posting once in a while, it's interesting to see how you handle ERE after the accumulation phase.

[J_]

@simplex +1 !

[rube]

Alright, I will continue to post once in a while.
In this case a lot of random thoughts....

I do not follow the forum so in depth anymore, which is actually a shame as I waste too much time on other useless things and there is still so much to learn. This morning I read this post from Jacob in the journal of 2birds1stone2 about ERE vs LEANFIRE:

ERE is more the realization that there are often more ways to get things than simply paying for them......

I realized that that with certain things I easily throw money to "solve" the issue but with other things I go a long way to find out alternatives. Mostly that means I will do things myself instead of paying others do it for me, but I do spend more than "needed".

For example, I could have bought/build a basic car charger for just a few hundred euro. But instead, I spend about 3-4 times more, so I have one with a lot of settings how to charge the car (when, how fast, load balanced, make optimal usage of our green solar panel energy, monitor usage incl. graphics etc.). On the other hand, if I would have had it installed by someone else, I would have either paid the same but for a more basic version or more for the same version. Also, I did learn quite a lot about 3 phase electricity, ARC fault circuit breakers etc. which I wouldn't have otherwise. But that's probably rationalizing my choices. On the other hand, I think we can afford it, so why not?

Another example of spending easily money to "solve" something: we took a group of 10 to a buffet restaurant. We could have spent much less if we cooked everything ourselves (or even together with them) and invited them to our house. But we wanted to give them something "special". And we'll do the same soon again with another group. We know they like it, some of them are older and we don't know how long they still with us, we like it and we have the money. But its sounds more it is (lean)fire instead of ERE. On the other hand, we never buy take out (unless we're traveling) and always cook ourselves (also when we have people over).

I guess what I am wanting to say is that in certain area's we're probably more the "fire" type, but in other areas I'm much more attracted to ERE because in many cases I want to do as much as possible myself and learn along the way.

Something else....if you ask me now, would you ever go back to a traditional job, my answer would be "No way!". But I do have some difficulty to find a productive rhythm. I am by far not doing all the things that I imagined in the past. I watch too much Netflix, waste too much time on the internet/phone, go to bed too late, sleep in, eat too much, I am not exercising enough. You can call me lazy I guess. The good thing is, I know this and I am aware, the bad thing is, I have a hard time to change it.
Now, not everything is bad, I am way more relaxed, less stress, I do walk/cycle more than before (even it is by no means as much as I think I should), I still do things like DIY, cooking, helping others, socialize with others etc. BUT BUT I can be (and should be?) so much more productive/better taking care of myself etc.
I guess I am missing a strong intrinsic motivation at the moment and my discipline is lacking. I know about some of the theories about habits, how to improve etc. but nevertheless at the moment I'm by far not as good at it as I should. Maybe it is also because I'm still in the first year I don't have anything big going on (i.e. job, traveling fulltime, own business). But like I started with, do I think it is better going back to get a job: NO. I don't say never or a part time job, but no. If I would do anything again, I would see this it as "project", which is how I see most of the things I do currently anyway.

Perhaps related a bit too above, over the last couple of years I made our house energy efficient and with that it became also comfortable, i.e. almost always the same temperature inside in the whole house, clean air, easy to keep it clean, nice kitchen etc. All in all, perhaps it became too comfortable, such that I need to push myself to go outside. Or that when I go outside, I realize how warm/cold it actually is and I am inside disconnected from the "real" outside world. And now we also bought another car, electrical. Moneywise it was probably a good decision, because the all-in price per km/mile is probably the same as with our previous car while this one is much better (i.e. more safe, luxurious, not burning fossil fuels) but it is also more comfortable.

I guess the above two paragraphs have in common that life became easy, comfortable, perhaps too? I remember Ego wrote that it's good to not have too much money because things would be too comfortable. Well, I guess he had a point.

Continue rambling but perhaps related to above: I talked already a couple of times with DW of planning a trip alone, like the one at AH later this year or the ERE Europe meetup. DW encouraged me to take the step and go ahead.
So, I planned an overseas trip to meet some (old) friends and forum members to a place I did visit frequently in the past for work. I booked a simple Airbnb and a cheap flight. I already know that this won't be as comfortable as staying at home. I hope I'm not disappointed in how I will experience this trip as previously it was always combined with work and I don't recall I ever travelled alone for more than 3-4 days or so. But I do look forward to meet up with other people and be active, experience new/different things and being away of my (comfortable) home.

Another topic: Being a landlord helped us tremendously financially to get to the point where we are today. But lots of things happened and it is not so interesting too me anymore. That is, financially but also the excitement of buying a new rental, seeing the rent coming in every month etc. is gone. It's now more "business as usual" and we have one renter who is, well how to say this, not very good in communicating things. I have to keep my breath and will never reply immediately, just to let it go and reply professionally and keep in the back of my mind as long as she's a "paying customer" I should just let ignore her tone and sometimes unreasonable requests. Luckily this doesn't happen too often.
But like I said, also financially it is no longer that interesting. this is because the house prices increased so much in the last couple of years while the rent didn't increase in the same rate. Therefore I "worked" to get one of the rentals for sale end of last year and last month the official transfer took place. It was sold extremely well, demand is high and supply is low. So that was another "project" that kept me busy for a couple of weeks. Now we are down to four rentals of the original six we had. Later this year I will be able to end the lease of another renter and I will put that one also up for sale. Another "project" that will keeps me busy for some time.

Lots of other things going I could write about, but enough rambling for now, I should get showered and start doing something more productive! Although, maybe I should write here more often (but shorter) as it might also help myself to think more about certain things (I read something similar at another topic here recently).

[comandante]

Although, maybe I should write here more often

I like that.

[AxelHeyst]

I’d also like to read your thoughts and journey here more often. I appreciate your reflections on comfort. I agree that too much can be a ‘bad’ thing - but there’s an art to designing the type and quality of ‘dis’comfort in our lives. It might help to ask ‘what kinds of discomfort can I welcome/design that will induce me to move/act in the ways I most want to?’

[Western Red Cedar]

Continue rambling but perhaps related to above: I talked already a couple of times with DW of planning a trip alone, like the one at AH later this year or the ERE Europe meetup. DW encouraged me to take the step and go ahead.
So, I planned an overseas trip to meet some (old) friends and forum members to a place I did visit frequently in the past for work. I booked a simple Airbnb and a cheap flight. I already know that this won't be as comfortable as staying at home. I hope I'm not disappointed in how I will experience this trip as previously it was always combined with work and I don't recall I ever travelled alone for more than 3-4 days or so. But I do look forward to meet up with other people and be active, experience new/different things and being away of my (comfortable) home.

Solo travel, particular when you are in a long-term relationship, can represent an incredibly valuable experience. The travel writer Andrew McCarthy talks about this and says he regularly schedules solo trips with the blessing of his wife. I've found the experiences and the way I interact with my new environment is dramatically different than when I travel as a couple. I tend to be much more social and extroverted, but I also like the option of just doing my own thing for a few days.

Please let us know how it works out after your trip.