The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Post-FIRE => Topic started by: Gone Fishing on January 15, 2015, 09:09:15 AM
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Tell us about your awesome (or not so awesome) day in ER!
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Hmmm...
Pretty typical day. Get up at 8 ish. Get the kids up and ready for school. My mom picked up the 2 year old for the day. The older girls and I walked to school.
After returning from the walk, I did some routine maintenance and checks on our 15 year old car. Added coolant, checked the oil, noticed a small oil leak around the valve cover gasket/distributor cap. I'll have to add some air to the tires. We're about to head out on a 900 mile road trip tomorrow (cruise to the Bahamas FTW!), so getting the family sedan ready for the vacation.
Wow, it's an hour later and I'm still sitting here on the MMM forums. :) It's about lunch time (leftover yellow curry and pan fried steak and rice probably). Then I have a few things to do to get ready for our vacation. At 3 I'll walk back to school and get the kids. Maybe squeeze in a couple hours of book reading and/or computer game playing somewhere in there if the busy schedule permits. And probably 30 minutes or an hour to polish up a few blog posts for the next couple of weeks.
I say that's a typical day, because my schedule is pretty varied every day. The only thing constant is the morning and afternoon kid drop off walk. Otherwise, it's taking care of daily business and chores for maybe an hour or two max and then play time, surfing, gaming, reading, etc.
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Well, the "awesomeness" of my post-ER days is a bit limited by the soggy Vancouver winter season. Once Spring and Summer arrives it will a different story.
A Winter ER day in Vancouver looks like this:
Up at 6:30am with my wife. Coffee. Flip on BNN/CNBC - decide whether any action needs to be taken with our investments. Most of the time I will leave things be (buy, hold, collect dividends). Light breakfast. See wife off to work with a kiss. Check out various forums I hang out on. MMM. ER.org, CMF, etc...Head to gym for typical 2 hour session (see Strength and Fitness 2015 thread). Home. Shower. Plan dinner - walk over to market if I need any ingredients (I pretty much walk EVERYWHERE now - when TIME is not a premium anymore, walking is AWESOME). Check investments again near market close. Make adjustments if necessary. Our home is not large, so a half hour is ample time to do a quick housecleaning. By this time it is mid afternoon and I will either read for pleasure or fire up the Xbox One and slay some Orcs (Shadow of Mordor is an incredible game). Start to prep dinner...my wife is home at 4:30pm, and I like to be in dinner making mode when she walks in the door - she really is enjoying my ER/kept man status as much as I am. We have never eating better - or healthier. My cooking skills continue to improve. Haven't had too many "dud" meals.
The evenings with my wife are typically simple and wonderful. Every other day we will go for a run (usually around 10k) when she gets home from work. After dinner, will watch a movie or one of our favourite shows...maybe play some co-op Xbox (she is also a gamer ;)), read together, or practice our Spanish with one another (hers is WAAAAAAY better than mine).
In future posts I will describe our what Gulf Island and Baja days are comprised of...these days are dominated by being OUTSIDE and mostly on or near the ocean.
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Following. Shhh, don't tell anyone. I'm currently Pre-FIRE status. THIS will be motivating for me. Congrats to all of you for crossing the threshold. Carry on.
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Cheddar, there is no doubt you will get there. Yours is one of the Journals most worth following. You are taking concrete steps towards FIRE. You have a PLAN. You are EXECUTING said plan.
When I was still in the depth (abyss?) of my career, I also used threads such this to remain motivated. Drove me nuts to read about the post-ER exploits of people sometimes - but it can indeed be motivating.
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This is a good question because even in FIRE the days fly by and half the time I can't remember what I did. I get distracted by doing in depth research on different things I'm interested in. For example, yesterday I spent about 4 hours trying to find a place to learn traditional yoga. Most studios are just overpriced stretching classes (and nothing like yoga taught in India). I finally realized it was a hopeless cause and I would need to go back to the Indian grocery store that gives me underground information that is never published online or in newspapers.
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Woke up at 8am.......stopped for a $1.90 coffee at, GASP!, Starbux....headed to Lowes to look for a mustashian way to replace a countertop I have, went to Kohls and picked up 2 pairs of genes and 3 shirts for under $20. [including a $20 gift card. I am now getting ready for my daily, online French lesson with DW in preperation for our trip to Aix En Provence this July. After that I'll have a little lunch, practice my guitar or an hour or 2 then make a pot of coffee for the afternoon in anticipation of tonights dinner prep.
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Well, today is Thursday, so I got up early to put out the garbage and recycling (it was -22C), put out/let in and fed the dog. Fed me. Went curling (we won). Home to set up a group email folder for a mailing I have to do. I still need to practice for tomorrow's music class and brush the dog. Later I will hop in the car (horrors, I know) and drive many km to visit the library, Costco and DD. Then home and to bed, because tomorrow I do my dog therapy visit, have my music lesson, and curl again. Exciting? No. My very happy life? Yes.
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damn I can't wait to be posting in this forum as a bona fide member of the post-FIRE crowd. until then, I'll be following you mentors closely!
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New retiree and new Florida resident. Went to (free) exercise class with my awesome neighbors, came home and made tomato parmesan soup from scratch, now thinking about a nap. People are complaining about how cold it is. I moved here from Maine. It's 60F.
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I want to hear from someone who woke up at 10AM or later!
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That, I can safely say, is something that will NEVER happen. :)
Not saying we won't stay in bed till 10... Sleeping in won't be the reason...*hint, hint, nudge, nudge*
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When I worked I would sleep really late on weekends. Now I have a natural rhythm where I go to bed between 9-11pm & naturally wake up between 7-8am. I take care of dogs, drink coffee & read paper. Then I play on computer. Then I do some real work & some house work. I usually take a long walk with dogs in afternoon. Sometimes I walk again with my neighbor when she gets home. I make dinner & then my hubby & I watch some TV. WE also sometimes take a nite time walk. On weekends we go downtown & check out the local events (walking of course). We also get together with friends. Not working f.t. really makes it so you can walk more because you are not on such a tight schedule & not so darned tired.
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I want to hear from someone who woke up at 10AM or later!
Ok, I'll bite...lol. Woke up at 8. Let the dog out (said dang it's cold out). Cooked a few eggs and potatoes. Hopped back into bed to warm up and my dog was shaking from the cold too so I lifted him up (he's old). He's a snuggle bug...so we drifted in/out until about noon. Finally got out of bed to take a shower, cook lunch and did some dishes. Got on the computer a bit then kicked myself to get on the treadmill for about 45 mins until one of the rollers started making a noise. Lubed the rear roller and it fixed it...maybe because I don't use it enough. Then cooked dinner. That's all.
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When I worked I would sleep really late on weekends. Now I have a natural rhythm where I go to bed between 9-11pm & naturally wake up between 7-8am. I take care of dogs, drink coffee & read paper. Then I play on computer. Then I do some real work & some house work. I usually take a long walk with dogs in afternoon. Sometimes I walk again with my neighbor when she gets home. I make dinner & then my hubby & I watch some TV. WE also sometimes take a nite time walk. On weekends we go downtown & check out the local events (walking of course). We also get together with friends. Not working f.t. really makes it so you can walk more because you are not on such a tight schedule & not so darned tired.
I expect this will happen to me. When I am on vacation it takes me at least a week to start waking up earlier again. But 7AM will probably never happen :-P
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I want to hear from someone who woke up at 10AM or later!
My kids have to be at school by 8:30, so 10 am is a no go for me during the school year. It's happened in the summer before.
And on weekends and over the holidays when Mrs. RoG is there, we sometimes don't make it out of the bedroom before 10. If we stay up til 1 or 2, 10 am is about the right time to wake up.
I actually like getting up at 8 or 9. Plenty of rest and still some time to get stuff done (like have some coffee and read a book) before it's lunch time.
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I usually get up after 10AM. I've always been a bit of a night owl, so I get up between 10 and 11 AM. No alarm clocks!
I almost never eat breakfast. Just a cup of black coffee and then the wife and I head up to the mountains for ~3 hours of XC skiing. (Monday-Wednesday they don't groom so XC skiing is free. As long as there isn't any fresh snow this is not problem!)
When we get home I'll cook dinner. I usually eat two, or even one meal a day. I try to intermittent fast 16 hours and eat all my calories in an 8 hour window. (See leangains.com)
Then I watch some news or get online for a while. The evening usually ends with some Netflix viewing or library book reading.
One or two days a week, if I can get a dispatch, I'll head down to the coffee house. I get a black cup of coffee for two dollars and play chess with the troops or surf the web for hours. (We don't have fast internet at home, so this is my chance to watch videos online.)
I usually hit the sack between 2 and 3AM.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
(http://www.worldchesshof.org/uploads/2014/10/24/7-bobby-fischer-and-samuel-reshevsky-compete-in-their-1961-match.jpg)
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Gym day. End of tough gym week. It is now what my wife and I call "Red Wine Friday", a little reward for our weekly good behaviour...our alcohol consumption is WAY DOWN from my working years, but we will happily keep this "tradition" going.
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Gym day. End of tough gym week. It is now what my wife and I call "Red Wine Friday", a little reward for our weekly good behaviour...our alcohol consumption is WAY DOWN from my working years, but we will happily keep this "tradition" going.
Dang it...I've been thinking it was Thursday. Maybe I still have time to figure out something to do. lol
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Took the dogs to a new place in a canyon where they can be off leash & they loved it. Ran in to one other person doing the same. Beautiful day & great exercise.
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One or two days a week, if I can get a dispatch, I'll head down to the coffee house. I get a black cup of coffee for two dollars and play chess with the troops or surf the web for hours. (We don't have fast internet at home, so this is my chance to watch videos online.)
So are you Bobby Fischer or the Russian? Also, your name always makes me think of Stand By Me.
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Spent 2 hours with a girlfriend who just got burned by a commission financial manager who caused her to incur a $4,000 fee. She knows nothing about investing and she is frightened and does not trust anyone now, but I'm glad she came to me. I feel like I want to scream to the world "why doesn't the world teach women about finances???" She's been convinced by people it's too hard to learn about. Arg....I told her to pretend someone offered to pay her $4,000 to learn about money (that's the amount she could have saved). She liked that angle.
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I want to hear from someone who woke up at 10AM or later!
I slept til about 10:30 this morning, but I'm not retired. Just taking the day off. Is that kind of the same thing?
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Sol, you will be a stellar retiree!
Today we got up at 6 as it was a volunteer day; all day for DH and 2-3 hours for me. Had coffee and oatmeal. Got back from volunteering and did 1 hour of consulting on line. Called 2 friends and made a plan for Big game Sunday. Walked 2.5 miles, getting the mail and some mild on the way. Birdwatched in my yard and fed the chickens. Sat where I have a beautiful view and read for about an hour. Decided what was for supper-- from the freezer tonight--cracked open some wine for DH who came home tired from volunteering. Talked and ate, did a few emails. Now going to do some kettlebell swings and hit the sack, reading for awhile. Lovely winter-- very cold and windy--day.
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I want to hear from someone who woke up at 10AM or later!
I slept til about 10:30 this morning, but I'm not retired. Just taking the day off. Is that kind of the same thing?
Good way to spend your birthday. Happy birthday sol!
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Happy Birthday, Sol! I hope your evening was a bit more exciting!!
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One or two days a week, if I can get a dispatch, I'll head down to the coffee house. I get a black cup of coffee for two dollars and play chess with the troops or surf the web for hours. (We don't have fast internet at home, so this is my chance to watch videos online.)
So are you Bobby Fischer or the Russian? Also, your name always makes me think of Stand By Me.
There's no way I could ever hold a candle to either of those juggernauts! Victor Korchnoi once said that no sane person could become a grandmaster. That's probably close to the truth.
BTW don't let any Polish folks hear you refer to Reshevsky as a Russian! He was from Poland, and later moved to America.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=11209
Like Bobby Fischer he was also a child prodigy. Here he is giving a simul in Paris as a young lad...
(http://en.chessbase.com/portals/4/files/news/2011/reshevsky04.jpg)
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Went to a museum with free admission since the library now has a program to get free passes for several big museums (MOMA, Intrepid, etc). Used the car for second time this month since it is not accessible by public transit. Filled gas at station owned by a casual acquaintance who stared briefly before recognizing me (I've grown a beard in retirement).
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Woke up naturally with an alarm about 8 AM. Had a breakfast burrito. Hit the markets because I have a buy-write position on RIGP that was missing the covered call because I haven't been able to get a decent price on the front month. I went to March and got 45 cents on the 17.50 strike. About 15 percent annualized for a chance to exit at breakeven, nice.
Started a fire. A nice toasty one that got the room up to 74 before I started using fewer logs at once. Surfed t3h int4rwebs. Discovered MMM.com, already hooked!!! Who knew there were so many people who 'get it'? Ate some hot soup.
Answered some emails and then quit futzing around and got to my defined project for the day: writing an outline for the ebook I intend to write on how to use options to produce income while reducing risk even if you have never traded before. I desperately need a shorter title though.
It is now 5 till 5 PM local and I have nothing important on my plate. Listening to some Pandora radio and continuing to surf. I'll do that for a few hours and then I think do a little calisthenic work because the Lizard King has gotten sort of chubby. More surfing, maybe a netflix movie and then bed.
Beats the hell out of grinding out financial analysis and SEC reporting schedules in a cube. Highly recommended.
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I love reading this stuff. I guess I am "retired" since I was never able to find a decent paying job when we moved. So I take care of the house and DH until he can retire. I just received a $32,000 pension buy out from a company I worked at 20 years ago that had a pension plan. That was sweet.
My typical day is up at 8 or so. Read the paper, look at emails and the internet for a bit. Plan dinner, do house stuff - laundry - cleaning.
Things I add in each week - some crafting - try to teach myself something new. This week is to install snaps and grommets in leather.
I volunteer tutor and also volunteer for an organization that raises funds to clothes school kids and another organization that funds college for women.
Having two dinner gigs at our house this weekend so shopped at Costco.
Always looking for ways to save money and am working on travel hacking now and reducing grocery bill - both thanks to MMM. Signed up for the travel hacking class here.
A pretty simple life - very happy and blessed. Need some grandkids next :)
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I decided that I felt like making a great big salad for dinner tonight. A peek into the fridge revealed that I needed to stock up on our veggie supply. There is a nice produce market about a 10 minute walk away. And another one 45 minutes away. Looked outside, sun was shining (about 15 Celsius), and decided to take the longer, more scenic route...hit the library on the way, got a few gardening related books (no Sepp Holzer, grrrr). Poked around a few other stores that peaked my interest. I was in no hurry. Got the produce...walked home. The ability to chose an option that actually took MORE TIME had me smiling to myself - to not be a slave to deadlines or a lack of time is one of my favourite aspects of the FIRE'd life. The stress-free, unhurried pace of my days continues to be a revelation - after the daily chaos of my career, I'm still not quite accustomed to it. Getting there though...
Now getting ready to chop some veggies. :)
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Went to a museum with free admission since the library now has a program to get free passes for several big museums (MOMA, Intrepid, etc). Used the car for second time this month since it is not accessible by public transit. Filled gas at station owned by a casual acquaintance who stared briefly before recognizing me (I've grown a beard in retirement).
WHAAAAAT so awesome! Another reason to love libraries! :)
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Woke at 6:45
Spent a couple of hours with coffee, cat & internet
Had a fun 45 minutes in the sunshine, shoveling snow - what a beautiful, bright, cold day it's been!
Worked on an issue for my mother
Conversed with my partner for most of the afternoon ('til naptime!)
Housework (very little today, actually, as tomorrow's the blitz day)
About to slip early dinner into the oven, then off to a concert this evening.
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Woke up at 7:30, got myself and the kids ready for school.
Nice chilly 1 mile walk to/from school and back home by 8:30 for coffee and bagel time with the 2 year old.
An hour of playing "water slide" with the 2 year old (sliding little tykes little people down a paper towel tube into a cardboard box). Eventually I migrated to reading a Steinbeck novel (Winter of Our Discontent) while looking out over our lake. I was still conscripted into another 30 minutes of playing "water slide" but my focus was on the book and eventually the kiddo picked it up on his own (such is the role of a parent).
We worked on ABC's and numbers for maybe 15-20 minutes before it was internet surfing and computer game time for me and educational netflix for him (more ABCs, colors, stories, etc).
Around 10:30 I took a break from leisure time to put what ended up being pork pibil on the stove. Slow cooked shredded pork in a spicy tangy sauce mmmmmmm...
By noon the kid was down for his nap and I was eagerly awaiting my slow cooked pork while playing some computer games. Around 1 pm lunch was served with a side of netflix documentaries.
At 2:30, I headed out for my afternoon walk to pick up the older kids from school. After returning home, the kids work on their craft projects and I get back to my computer game for an hour or so. My wife arrived home from work and decided she didn't want the enchiladas I plan on making and we made empanadas instead (using the leftover pork pibil). Also made some guava/cream cheese empanadas and pepperoni and cheese empanadas. The kids loved them (and so did we). It took a couple hours from start to finish to make the dough, chill it and then experiment with baking some (didn't work!) and eventually deep frying them. But hey, we have the time and we spent the downtime during cooking chatting and catching up on the day's activities.
This evening was watching a few shows and The Interview movie with the wife and sharing a beer or two. Now it's sleepy time (read some more Steinbeck and drift off into dreamland).
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Went to a museum with free admission since the library now has a program to get free passes for several big museums (MOMA, Intrepid, etc). Used the car for second time this month since it is not accessible by public transit. Filled gas at station owned by a casual acquaintance who stared briefly before recognizing me (I've grown a beard in retirement).
WHAAAAAT so awesome! Another reason to love libraries! :)
Library joy - vancouver has that too, if you ever end up here :) it's called the Experience Pass. I'm on hold right now for my second run with it. It's awesome!
Oh sweet, thanks for the tip! How long does it usually take to get one?
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Decided this morning I was going to make a big batch of lentil soup (thank you Budget Bytes). Again, in need of 3 carrots and 4 sticks of celery, I chose to ignore the convenience of the veggie stand across the street, and instead walked 45 minutes to another one. After all, it's quite a nice day and within hours a 4 day monsoon is supposed to commence - a lovely, brisk walk it was.
I did hit up the library for more gardening books - and spent $1.40 for my carrots and celery. Life is a little mundane these days; two hours daily at the gym on average...clean a bit of house. Continue filling the gaping holes in my gardening knowledge - my first actual PHYSICAL gardening attempts start this weekend - I'm scared.:) A bit of Spanish practice. Manage investments. Toss around ideas for a blog...learn how to edit my GoPro vids....cook a tasty, healthy dinner (ie, lentil soup)....surf MMM. ;)
Mundane to some perhaps...but to me, wonderful. This Spring and Summer, things will get truly awesome.
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-routine 1 mile walk in freezing weather to school with kids, then breakfast with 2 year old
-collect on a loan to family ca-ching!
-build log cabin with 2 year old (out of wooden toys)
- 1 hr spent helping brother in law apply for a biotech job and polish his resume. Also discussed getting his finances straight. And how to prep for the interview and how to keep job hopping a secret in case it doesn't work out. He brought me fresh cilantro from his mom's garden as "payment" lol
-make epic guacamole (why I needed cilantro)
-ate guacamole with mole poblano pork pibil burritos while watching 35 minutes of a prison documentary
-prepping for completing my taxes
-taking a look at finances since I have to make $11k IRA contributions before filing taxes
-blogging related work
-read the paper, checked out groceries on sale
-signed kids up for robotics and other summer camp and researched summer pool pass options
I totally meant to wake up this morning and play computer games all day. It's 3 pm already, I haven't even loaded the game and I think I'm an epic failure. :) Luckily there is every day for the rest of my life for those computer games.
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Last gym day of the week. Tonight, a nice healthy dinner (lentil based soup), a couple of glasses of red wine each(our Friday night tradition) and we will catch up on some shows we have taped on the PVR - Walking Dead, Better Call Saul...
In the morning we are catching the ferry for the island - got some work to do. This is what we face. Firewood anyone?
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Played golf in the morning. Then went to a local bar restaurant for oyster wednesday. Ate 60 raw oysters and lots of beer with 6 friends. Great day!
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41 - retired 6 months. I find I need to do something constructive every day during the week - otherwise I get a bit cranky. Not 8 hours hard work or anything, just a couple of hours on a job so that I feel I have accomplished something - which makes me happy and I can watch TV/ read a book guilt free. This week was spent tiling the out side of my swimming pool. Will take a couple of weeks doing an hour or so a day. Bit of gardening and normal play in my workshop for an hour or so.
Today, being a Saturday, wife and I jumped on the motor bike for a ride to another towns little farmers market. Picked up 8.5 kgs of pears for R30 for making fruit leather - which is really nice. ( 19lbs for $2.50) Bit heavy carrying it in a daypack back though! Otherwise had an afternoon nap and now watching sport/tv
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Double-digging garden beds and burning deadfall debris from the past Winter. My routine is this: throw a big pile of stuff on the bonfire, then go dig in the garden for 15 minutes...by that time the fire has subsided and I go throw more on to burn, then back to digging...this will be my routine for the next several days. Hard work to be sure, but I often find myself with a smile on my face. And at the end of the day I will let the fire die down and roast a couple of smokies over the embers. Maybe even a beer...or two. ;)
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Let's see...
- Made scratch waffles for family brunch.
- Took bonus daughter to SFO for flight home to CO.
- While in SF, checked out the work a contractor our Realtor recommended for our first flip, which is in escrow. Meh - we can do better work ourselves, certainly for less OOP.
- On the way home, shopped for tile for flip at the big Chinese Importer's Warehouse. Nothing grabbed us, so no money spent.
- Stopped at an Open House in the neighborhood. Who the hell thought Zebra wood kitchen cabinets went with Saltillo tiles installed with 1" black grout? Wow, there's a look we won't try to emulate.
- Came home, made homemade pizza and green salad for late lunch/early dinner, which we ate outside.
- Bonus son's doing the dishes, I'm playing here and DH is shopping for materials on CL.
This is the first weekend we've been home in way too long. We are enjoying each other's company and the unseasonably warm weather.
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Celebrating my 1 year FUversary! Slept in until 7:30AM, breakfast, tea then outside to play in the dirt. Going to the library to pick up some books that were not available in ebook form. I'll stop at Aldi for produce and then hit up the produce departments at 4 other stores that I pass by. Will spend the afternoon reading and then get ready for a volunteer appreciation dinner - how thoughtful of them to schedule this for today! Will hang out with a handful of friends later this evening (wine will be involved).
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Up at 7:40 AM naturally without an alarm. Caught up on email. Visited Aldi grocery store for first time on recommendation of a friend. Great place for Mustachians. I got everything I needed for a week of premium sandwiches including premium bread, bread and butter pickles, a big tomato, cheese, blackforest sliced ham (1 lb), and spicy mustard for under 10 bucks and had enough left over to try out their "Significantly Spicy" humus. The Lizard King then came home and ate a delicious sammich.
Mostly taking the day off today as I've been helping my dad replace my brother's roof (hard work!)
Going to spend some time researching options in the municipal bond space. I've had a long think on it and decided increasing my bond AA, especially to munis in my taxable account is where I want to be. I have "enough" and see security as more important than growth these days.
If the weather holds, I'm going to the Mercer Arboretum (free!) around the corner to take a nap on a shady bench.
Later I will water my tomatoes.
That leaves time to kill and I have a couple movies from Netflix (Elysium and Expendables 3) so may watch one and save the other for the weekend.
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Just ran 12km. Heading into garden soon - it's almost looking presentable.
No rest for the weary in FIRE.
And I wouldn't have it any other way. :)
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Spartana, come to think of it, I haven't been sick ONCE since I have FIRE'd - that's 8 months. I guess it agrees with me. :)
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Ok, now don't everyone jump all over me...but this sounds kind of boring day in and day out. I understand I am reading a description of what happened during your day, not how you felt doing it. I had about 2 years or so when I moved to the US after getting married, when I was not working and DH was completing his PhD. I finished my cpa exam during the early part of this time and went back home for 3 months. But otherwise, I was running the house. It definitely got boring every so often. Also, lonely, though we had other student friends we got together with often.
Maybe because we were quite poor and this was not a choice I made? Idk, this is the part that worries me abour RE. Ennui.
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Retired my Professional Engineering license!..... It makes financial and professional sense.. But boy that was 500 hours of study to pass both exams... Like letting go of my identity.
Fortunately I can reinstate it within 5 years by simply doing 30 hours of professional education and paying that year's fee.
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Retired my Professional Engineering license!..... It makes financial and professional sense.. But boy that was 500 hours of study to pass both exams... Like letting go of my identity.
Fortunately I can reinstate it within 5 years by simply doing 30 hours of professional education and paying that year's fee.
I just quit paying the renewal fee and haven't heard much from them since then. :) They told me I could pay to reinstate and catch up on 2-3 years worth of PDHs. Hopefully I wouldn't have to take the exam again if I wait past 5 years. It's almost worth it to take 30 pdh hours and pay 1 year's fee to reinstate every 5th year as insurance. Probably not a horrible use of a week and a few hundred dollars.
I did officially "retire" or whatever they call it from my law license. I had to file a formal petition to leave the bar.
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Fun reading the different activities people do and the varied interests.
This is our yesterday: Mr. LC went on an all day motorcycle ride with a buddy. Rode 472 miles through the beautiful farmlands of Wisconsin. Meanwhile I stayed at home and caught up on a some chores. Gave the refrigerator a good scrubbing and vacuumed the whole house. After lunch went for a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood on the bicycle. Spent two hours staining the deck. It is on the east side of the house so staining is best done in the afternoons. Mr. LC pulled in just as I put the stain supplies away. We cleaned up and had leftovers for supper. Afterwards went to celebrate our friend's anniversary at a local brewery where we listened to an awesome 10-piece live band. It was a great day!
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Ok, now don't everyone jump all over me...but this sounds kind of boring day in and day out. I understand I am reading a description of what happened during your day, not how you felt doing it. I had about 2 years or so when I moved to the US after getting married, when I was not working and DH was completing his PhD. I finished my cpa exam during the early part of this time and went back home for 3 months. But otherwise, I was running the house. It definitely got boring every so often. Also, lonely, though we had other student friends we got together with often.
Maybe because we were quite poor and this was not a choice I made? Idk, this is the part that worries me abour RE. Ennui.
I do understand what you saying. IMO though, most jobs are also pretty meaningless - selling, making, advertising or distributing some sort of widget or service. So at the end of the week you haven't really done much anyway. Granted there are a fair few jobs out there that do help humanity - maybe if I was in one of them ER might not have looked as rosy.
My point though, is that if I spend 3 hours sorting out all my nuts, nails and skrews I probably have achieved more than working in retail for a week. If not, I definitely had more fun.
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Spartana, your views on FIRE match my own EXACTLY. When I read your posts I often find myself nodding approvingly.
Some folks will never "get it" like we do...and that's ok. ;)
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I also have found that what before were chores on a dreaded, and never ending, to do list - now are interesting projects that I can do when I want to and take as long as I want to to get them right.
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Today I met up with a friend of 10 years that I met on the early retirement forums. She lives in Mexico City and I'm staying here for a few weeks. We bought some freshly puree'd mango/guava/orange juice from the vendor near her apartment and then got some crazy huaraches covered in steak, cheese and other goodies for an ad hoc lunch (for a few bucks).
Right now I'm letting the kiddo take a nap and I'm catching up on a little surfy surfing. About to head out to the local market for some fresh fruits and some other staples after I play some video games.
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Today was another glorious ER day. Visited the incredible zoo in Mexico City and saw more primates than I've ever seen in my life up to this day. Then did the ropes course and zip line ($2 USD per person!). Twice. And even got my scared-of-heights daughter to join me. Then rented a row boat and paddle boat for our family. Even though it started pouring down rain and we had to get off the lake before our time was up, it was really cool. We ended up soaking wet by the time we got back home. We may have also eaten dried horse meat (at least that's why I bought the snack).
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Had a great day! Had a quiet breakfast at home. Went to the gym for quality time on the treadmill. Stopped at the Farmer's Market on the way home just to look around. Didn't buy anything as our garden is giving us all the asparagus, onions, peas, etc. that we could possibly want. Mr. LC played paddle ball in the afternoon while I went for a neighborhood stroll. Caught up with the kids via face time in the evening and then watched an episode of Orange is the New Black on Netflix.
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I'm staring out at the Salish Sea right now...saw orcas out in the channel this morning and witnessed a seal give birth on a reef just out front not 3 hours ago. Then watched a bald eagle swoop in and steal the placenta and take it back to its nest. Then another eagle showed up and seemed to have designs on the seal pup itself. I launched my kayak from the beach with the intentions of trying to scare the eagle away, but I only succeeded in upsetting the mother seal more - she now perceived threats on two fronts...so I paddled back to shore.But to her credit, the mother defended its offspring with determination that was inspiring. It took her about an hour to coax her baby into the water for its first swim. I watched them frolick together in the kelp beds...it was clearly a swimming lesson of sorts - momma seal would let the pup get progressively further from her - but then she would close the gap, make contact snout to snout, then continue the lesson.
This was magical to watch. And just another reason I FIRE'd...these were the type of things it was KILLING me to miss.
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Well today I went rock climbing at Smith Rock with my wife and my friend. We go about twice a week and almost never on the weekend when it it more crowded. Back at home my wife and I had a beer after a long day outdoors and made some dinner. Did a little more research for our camping/climbing trip out to City of Rocks in Idaho next week (Sun-Wed). Sent a text to another friend about mountain biking tomorrow - You know, a typical weekday.
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I'm not FIRED but today I got really really drnk
drank drunk! Can you tell?
I feel great and i can even type faster. That must be the secret to touch typing - just get really really pissed!
/end thread hijack, carry on folks...
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Sorry about that :) I really have had too much lol.
Ciders these days. Have more alcohol content than beer!