Freedom through Frugality: Sabaka's Journal

[Sabaka]

Hiya everyone, update time!

June 2019 Summary


Ledger

Name - Cost (£)

Recurring exp - 157.48
Book - 29.46
Food - 25.71
Misc - 108.99
Clothes - 10.5

Total (£) - 332.14

So, a fairly good month with low costs altogether. I started using Sam Harris' meditation app, which pushed my recurring expenses cost up a little. However I will not be continuing with the subscription, so it will June only. Ultimately I just didn't find that type of meditation to be having much of an effect for me. Book costs were quite high, as I bought quite a few. What can I say, I love reading! . I do try to use the library more, but the issue is that often I have to reserve books which then take ages to arrive, plus I love eBooks!

The Misc costs were largely for a rucksack/suitcase which I will be needing in the short future (more on that in the last section!). This piece of kit cost £85 in total, which is quite expensive I know. It is however a really gucci bit of kit, and I actually got excited about it, haha (it's an Osprey farpoint 55l, if anyone is interested). Plus, I did manage to get a bit of a deal as I got it from eBay, the lowest RRP is £105.

Other costs were generally all okay. Only annoying thing is that the 'Clothes' (jeans from eBay) were far too small (too many squats!) and therefore I am having to relist.

Not much else to say here, so let's move on to the investment section.

Investments

Again this month, no investments (I'm unemployed! ). Also, this month I have drawn down from some of my investments in order to make a large purchase. Currently this money is still technically in my current account and therefore part of my NW, however it is due to be gone soon, so I am going to be calculating my NW without it. Based on this, the total value of my investments is currently: £38,278.23p.

Focuses for June

So, it has now nearly been two months without work, and I still believe I made the right decision. I have been much happier. This is despite the fact that I am actually a big believer that having a purpose to get up and get on with your day will generally lead to a happier existence. I have experienced periods in my unemployed/bum phase in which I've missed this. But I am still much happier than I was in work.

So, the big news! I've booked to go and study Russian in Russia for 3 months! I will be in Saint Petersburg, however I hope to visit other areas in Russia whilst I am there. I feel that I've simply got a bug to go to Russia, and until I do this I am going to remain quite unsettled. I'm also hoping this quite long period will not only increase my Russian skills, but also life skills also, such as making friends, navigating new situations, etc.

As some of you will know in a previous post, I did explore other options for going there, like maybe teaching English. However, upon signing up and paying for a TEFL course, I realised how brutally dull I found it, and that my only interest in it would be as a route to going and spending time in Russia. I do not thing this is a justifiable reason for expending a considerable amount of time and effort. So therefore I have decided to bite the bullet and spend a load of wonga to go be a student there for 3 months.

I'm also hoping that this will help balance my relationship with money, which I feel has become far too neurotic in the past couple of years (one of the negative downsides of FIRE, offset by many, many positives ). Essentially, the way I am justifying it to myself is that I'm 21 yo, I've got potentially decades of work left and I've already saved quite a bit, now I need to just live life a bit.

In terms of cost, I've budgeted for £6,000 for the 3 months out there. I believe this allows quite a bit of wriggle room, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it comes below that. I've already paid for the bulk of the cost, which is the course cost and accommodation (which includes 2 meals a day - it is a homestay) which came to around £4,500. My parents have generously offered to pay the flight and visa costs, which leaves around £1,500 remaining for the 3 months out there, which will almost entirely just be for lunch and extras.

I'm really excited!

In terms of what I will do when I come back at the start of December when I return (I fly out at the start of September), I have no idea . I am trying to adopt more short-term thinking, haha.

In other news, I've continued with the Aeschylus works, however I broke it up to read other books also. These were both Stoic-themed, "How to think like a Roman Emperor" by Donald Robertson and "Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot" by James Stockdale. Both were great reads, and Stockdale is simply an extraordinary man. I would recommend both.

Anyway, that's about it, seeya later.

Удачи! (Good luck!)

[Cheepnis]

Way to go for it! I think you're gonna have a great experience. I remember from reading you're journal that you've mentioned Russia multiple times, any idea where the fascination came from?

[matt0533]

Thanks for the reminder on Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot. That book has been on my to read list for quite some time.

I held a similar opinion to you on using the library about a year ago. The reservations can be slow but I tend to reserve a load at once and they seem to trickle in or occasionally they all come in at once. The latter just means I read more and the former means I'll just buy the occasional ebook whilst I wait. Using the library is saving me at least £20 a month currently.

I can't wait to hear how you get on in Russia and the difference in culture compared to the UK.

[Sabaka]

@Cheepnis

Thanks! Honestly, no idea where the interest came from. I think part of it must have been that the Russians were always the bad guys in a lot of my favourite movies! . But I also love the history, literature, even the architecture.

@matt0533

Damn, you're a much more prolific reader than me! I think even at my fastest pace I'd struggle to read enough books to save £20 p/m! You sound like you've got the right strategy in place for the library though. In all honestly, it's just my laziness at the moment which means I'm buying more kindle books

Regarding Jim Stockdale, what is interesting is that just recently the presidential candidate that Jim Stockdale stood as a running mate for has died. He's well worth a wikipedia search, I feel they would've made for a better White House team than any current (or potential) occupants!

I plan to include a few posts talking about Russia once I'm there, stay tuned

[Sabaka]

July 2019 Summary

Ledger

Name - Cost (£)

Recurring exp - 145.49
Food - 27.88
London - 22.42
Russian - 57.19
Misc - 7
Clothes - 233.91

Total (£) - 493.89

Back up to higher costs, doh! Food costs were fairly standard, so nothing to worry about there. A one-off expense this month was the one incurred going to London. I had to go to London in order to send off my Russian visa application, and in all honesty, I could have gone there, sent the application and gone home without having spent any extra money. However, whilst there I felt the temptation to forget frugality for a day and just be a normal person. As such, much of that cost is simply food and drinks, although £5 of it was for a Russian book (A midsummer night's dream translation, if you were wondering).

And the other large cost, clothes. Again, this was an example of me not being as frugal as I could be. For my defence, I offer these 4 explanations:

- Much of my wardrobe no longer fits, due to having been doing barbell training for the last 7 months. I've actually put on 10kg since the start of the year. I therefore needed new clothes.
- I hate clothes shopping. It stresses me out, and I find no enjoyment in it whatsoever. Being frugal in anything often requires a greater investment in time, and I very much did not want to spend more time on the subject of clothes.
- I have had pretty much the same wardrobe since age 17/18, 3 years ago. Since then, I have spent pretty much zero money on clothes. Consequently, I was very much lacking in anything that could be described as a complete wardrobe. Of course, for the large part of those 3 years I had no need for a complete wardrobe. I had enough clothes for work, the gym and going out once in a blue moon, and this was enough. Now, however...
- I will be going to live in St Petersburg for 3 months. The type of things that I will be doing requires a wardrobe that I simply did not have. I want to be dressed sufficiently well that people will not instantly dismiss me as a hobo

On the bright side, I have now finished 99% of the clothes shopping, and hopefully this lot will also last 3 years!

Investments

As I am not currently contributing to any of my investment accounts, I have decided that for now at least I am going to shutter this section. Having read some other journals, I've decided that instead I'm going to instead include a section detailing my progress/regress in my hobbies and personal interests.

Hobbies and personal interests

Lifting and exercise

As alluded to above, I have been lifting since around January, following the Starting Strength program. This is the longest I've ever stuck to a fitness program, and I've made fairly good progress. My current bests are:

- Squats 115kg x 4
- M Press 50kg x 4
- B Press 77.5kg x 3
- Deadlift 140kg x 4

I'm currently weighing 98kg, 6ft 4" tall, and probably packing around 15-20% body fat. I really don't like carrying around excess fat (I much prefer being in the 10-15% zone) but I want get my lifts a bit higher and get a little more muscle mass. In terms of cardio, I cycle at least 15 miles per week, usually closer to 25, plus I walk pretty much everywhere. I don't have the same level of cardio fitness as I had before starting lifting, however you have to make compromises. Once I am at a level I am happy with regarding strength, I'll move to more well-rounded fitness routine. I also especially want to start some form of martial art again, but all in due time.

Russian

Now that I am off work, I have lots of time to spend on Russian. Generally, I do, usually 3-4 hours a day. Some days this will include an online lesson with my teacher, or chatting sessions over Skype, other times it will involve standard textbook work, vocabulary training and consuming content on Youtube. I'm generally really happy with the progress I've made in two years. I can understand a large amount of different media and I'm getting better at being able to understand pure talking without subtitles, although I still suck at this . My speaking also is still not great, however I am hoping the 3 months in Russia will improve both of these things.

I am looking at asking my parents for some Russian grammar books for my birthday, as I feel this is also an area I can improve in.

Reading

I did not read as much as I would have liked last month. This was in large part due to experiencing some down periods. During such periods I usually become something like a sloth, just sitting in front of a TV, watching movies, tv series, etc. The books I did read were Aeschylus' Oresteia series of plays, and "The Way Home" by Mark Boyle. I did somewhat enjoy the Oresteia plays, however I do not believe I will be rushing back to Greek plays any time soon. I really loved "The Way Home". It is about a man who is trying to craft a life for himself in Western Ireland without the use of any modern technology. Some really moving passages in that book, and I believe it covers many themes which would be of interest to FIRE followers.

Next up will be another nature type book "Field notes from the edge : journeys through Britain's secret wilderness" by Paul Evans. I do tend to love consuming any content which is about the natural world, so I'm sure this won't be the last such book. Also, I will make sure to read the next book along in the 'Great Books' checklist, "The plays of Sophocles". More Greek drama, what fun .

Focuses for August

Last month before Russia, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've had a couple of periods feeling down this past month, mainly due to thinking too much about "After Russia" (what will I do? should I do this or this? am I good enough for x? why do I have so little friends? etc). However, in general I'm just really excited, and I'm going to try and live every moment in Russia in the present, not worrying about some future that may not even arrive anyway.

So, general focuses will be working on adopting this sort of mindset, crack on with my lifting, Russian and reading, and doing my best to enjoy life as an unemployed bum!

Спасибо ребята, до следующего месяца!

(Thanks guys, until next month!).

[Bankai]

Great progress in lifting. How much of the 10kg you reckon is lean mass vs. fat? Are you looking to read some of the Russian classics/21st century novels before heading to Petersburg? And what about classic Russian movies?

[Sabaka]

@Bankai Hiya man. Just read your latest update, you're smashing it with the lifting as well . And I'm envious on the home gym set-up. I would definitely go for one myself, but my parents are not too keen . And you've switched to flavoured protein! Bet it feels like luxury compared to the pea stuff!

I made a typo, I've actually put on around 20kg. When I started I was very low body fat, definitely in the sub 10% range. However, I did have a foundation of a couple years of bodyweight and barbell training, so that definitely helped the progress in the first few months of starting strength. I'm not too sure about the ratio of muscle to fat. I've definitely put on a fair bit of fat, my constant need to buy new jeans attests to that! . However I'm not at a level where I have a large gut or anything like that, so I feel okay to keep on cramming the calories down!

Also, thanks for mentioning the maximum genetic muscle metric in your post. I had no idea about this, and having now done some research my own is around 96-100kg. This is a really cool metric to work around, so I'll probably look to bulk to around 11-115kg before cutting down to to this weight. I've read shamefully little classical Russian literature (only one Dostoevsky book and some Chekhov short stories. I really want to read some more actually, I'll probably put a hold on reading the "Great Books" in order to do so. Classical Russian movies, I've watched zero. Have you got any recommendations?

[Sabaka]

Final update before Russia!

August 2019 Summary

Ledger

Name - Cost (£)

Recurring exp - 145.49
Book - 17.17
Food - 27.67
London - 13.29
Misc - 307.9
Russian - 25.79
Clothes - 83.8

Total (£) - 621.11

Ugh, another high spending month. Although, this looks worse than it actually is as part of the "Misc" cost was for a different backpack, due to the fact that the one I had originally bought was not big enough. I managed to sell this for pretty much what I bought it for, but that does not reflect in the ledger. Still a high spending month however. More clothes, stuff more suitable for the cold environment I will be going to! High book costs again. This is not through lack of effort in getting out library books, however I have been reading much more than I would be if I was working so I am just going through much more books. London costs were just for food whilst I was there picking up the visa.

Food costs were still okay, Russian costs were standard, so all in all not too bad on those two fronts. In fact, my monthly costs will go down a little whilst I'm in Russia, as I won't be paying out some of the costs I currently am. Of course, I will still probably end up spending quite a bit each month, due to buying lunches, tickets to attractions, general good stuff, etc.

Hobbies and personal interests

Lifting and exercise

I started a new exercise program/template this month. It is by Barbell Medicine and is called "the Bridge". It is designed for lifters who have started to plateau a little on beginner programs like SS. My actual numbers are not really high enough to be in the typical intermediate range, however I had plateaued for a few weeks and I also wanted to switch to a maintenance/slight cut calorie intake. Doing 5x5 at high intensity would just kill me if I were not continuing to bulk.

I think I've actually made some slight progress, but this is based on 1RPM calculators, so I don't know how accurate it actually is. Here are my estimated 1RPMs anyway:

Squat: 130 kg
Deadlift:155 kg
Bench: 90 kg
Press: 62.5 kg

I'm pretty happy with the program so far. A particularly good point about it is that it includes GPP days, which are where you can do some accessory work and cardio stuff. The accessory stuff has already helped to improve my body composition (get those Biceps and Abs Bro! ) and I just generally enjoy doing cardio stuff. At the moment I've been doing 25 minutes of running at a pretty decent pace each GPP session. Altogether, so far so good.

Russian

Generally done quite a bit less this month. I've still been doing my online tutor lessons and my conversations with practice partners, as well as vocab learning. But altogether I've been probably doing on average 1-2 hours a days, whereas I was doing 4-5 a month ago. I think the lesser hours is just a result of a combination of a) knowing I will be in Russia and practising 24/7 soon and b) being busy with some other things, going up to London, etc. All in all however, progress is still being made.

Reading and other stuff

I've been reading a lot of wilderness/travel books recently. In fact, recently I have been feeling an increasing call to nature. I went out to walk in my local woods a few times, and being there made me realise how much I prefer "nature" to "civilisation" (I don't know where the line is drawn between the two). In London I felt stressed, frazzled, etc, whereas in my local woods I just felt much more calm. I think that has helped clarify for me that FIRE/ERE would have to be about allowing me to spend much more time in nature or close to it.

One option that appeals to me atm is smallholding/permaculture. I have been reading and watching a lot about this recently, and for some reason I just find it really appealing. However I do sometimes get different whimseys, so I'm not setting out any certain paths yet! But I am going to try find ways in which I can practice these two concepts in what limited way I can, maybe doing a bit of planting in the parent's garden or something like that .

I've also been researching my investment strategy and wondering whether it is the best option for me or not. I had gone total 100% world index fund, thinking that I'd just tough it out if it all went pear shaped. However after having spent many hours on PortfolioCharts (I believe the creator has a profile on these forums? Thanks greatly for the resource if you are reading, and I'll buy you a couple "coffees" as soon as I'm earning a bit of money again!) I have realised that with my current allocation suffering a potential 14 years before my portfolio recovers does not appeal!

At the moment the PP by Harry Browne is what appeals. Or maybe something along the lines of a 20/20/20/20/20 split, with a REIT or Small-Cap Value fund thrown in also. According to PortfolioCharts, the longest recovery period for these portfolios is 4 and 5 years respectively, which is much more liveable!

I'm now reading more Greek plays . I'm determined to continue with the "Great Books" list, even if it kills me. One day I will be able to call myself an educated gentleman . I started out trying to do a ratio of 1 normal book to 1 "Great Book", however due to how boring the GBs have been so far that has slowly gone down to 5 normal books to 1 GB= .

Focuses for September

Enjoy Russia as much as possible! That's honestly what my main focus will be on for the next 3 months. I don't want to come back from Russia and be like "I could of done X, Y or Z". I want to take full advantage of any opportunities offered. Other goals include more reading, implementing a new investment portfolio and writing at least two blog posts in September.

Inevitably, at points my mind drifts off to "after Russia". "What will I do?", "What job do I want to do?", "Do I start studying again", etc. I do have a few potential options appearing in my mind, some better than others in certain areas, but also worse in other areas. Given such cloudy thinking, I am hoping that Russia will act as some sort of Asprin, clearing my mental fog and helping me decide what to do for the rest of my life. This might be wishful thinking, but it's nicer than thinking about the alternative, which is that I will still have zero clue what to do.

Anyway, see you in a month!

[Alice_AU]

Hi Sabaka, I really enjoyed your journal. I hope you’ll have great time in St Petersburg, although the weather is guaranteed to be miserable. I wouldn’t dream about going to Russia in autumn, and I was born there! You’re very brave

[Sabaka]

Hiya @Alice_AU, thanks a lot! Haha, all my language partners have said the same thing I think I should of gone for the summer months, but it is too late now!

A интересно, ты говоришь по-русский?

[Alice_AU]

Конечно

[Sabaka]

@Alice_AU Круто! Я только читал твой журнал, очень интересный! Я очень хочу путешествовать в Австралия. У меня есть родственников кто переехал туда, и они очень любите там. Гораздо лучше образ жизни чем в Британия, они говорите. И лучшая погода, конечно! . Удачи в твоем путешествии!

(Also, sorry for my use of only the informal case, I don't know how to use the polite case very well! And the grammar mistakes!)

[Alice_AU]

Спасибо! Удачи в Петербурге. Ко мне можно обращаться на ты, а грамматические ошибки - ничего страшного, главное что все понятно. Надеюсь, читатели твоего журнала и администрация форума не против небольшой переписки по-русски?

Dear All, apologies for initiating a conversation in a foreign language, it is just a quick introduction and a few good luck wishes

[fiby41]

даже если они против, что они могут сделать

[Sabaka]

Большое спасибо. И я думаю что у нас есть международных и терпимых форум здесь, никто не будет возражать!

(Thanks a lot. And I think that we have an international and tolerant forum here, nobody will mind!).

[jacob]

Actually I do mind. It does get annoying having to run entire conversations through a translator. I don't want to turn the forums into a tower of babel.

[The Old Man]

Actually I do mind...I don't want to turn the forums into a tower of babel.

Jacob, you are either an English imperialist or have a babel phobia. We need to be inclusive and diverse. If people can't understand each other, than that is just the price we have to pay for diversity!

[jacob]

I'm also not sure if that was a joke. I'm fairly sure forum owners can't be sued for what gets posted. There's some law. However, aside from the hassle of moderating, running multiple languages also risks balkanizing the forum. In international environments, it's just common courtesy to switch to the shared language whenever someone who doesn't speak the local language enters the room. On a public forum this is basically all the time.

I don't really mind people sending off a few greetings or sentences in non-English, but sustaining a conversation is basically exclusive and somewhat inconsiderate to the non-speakers. So since the above conversation suggested that I might think otherwise, I wanted to make my position clear before a precedent was set.

[daylen]

It was definitely a joke.

[Sabaka]

No worries lads, I will stick to English from now on. Not at a high enough level to write huge posts in Russian anyway!