Hello - OP here – every one of the posters and lurkers in this thread has taken steps to increase the speed at which you’re traveling to FI/RE/FIRE and it’s been awesome to see the growth of frugality muscles first hand.
Sharing some of my personal developments over the past year:
• I got fired.
Getting downsized from my previous corporate IT job at a national retailer and starting my own
consulting business resulted from the change – it’s essentially the same work, a few more working hours
a week, but for 50%
more pay (and getting paid hourly!). Office is now a 10 minute bike ride away – since we don’t even
come close to living paycheck to paycheck the uneven paychecks don’t really matter, neither does taking
a few months between assignments – hasn't happen yet, but if it does - surprise vacation!
o Wife carrying health insurance makes this possible (now would be a good time to recognize to
her and anyone listening that she’s awesome)
• Realizing I have FU money – I cannot even begin to tell you how much easier it makes life knowing that we *could* survive for years happily on my wife’s salary alone with the 4% of our current stash.
o Work has become less clang and clatter and is now a more considered experience. My current client
asked me to travel 50% of the time, I told them it sounded fun, but I wouldn’t be able to. Did they
still want my services? Yes, they said they could make an exception and let me work from a work
location within biking distance. FU money and the position of strength.
• Health has improved
o Went from car commuting 43 miles in a day to bike commuting 6 miles per day, including taking
both kiddos to school in the double bike trailer of the gods that we were able to buy after selling our
second car
o Less sitting on my butt has certainly made a difference, as has less traffic angst
o At my last physical, I was down to 202 from 211, my resting heart rate and blood pressure were
both down
o Our new place has a gym and there’s a constant stream of runners going past our place gently peer
pressuring us to get out and enjoy the neighborhood with a run
• Moved Houses
o Proximity - Now we’re across the river from my downtown employer and so much closer to wife’s
work and kids daycare – we spent months of conversation determining whether it was a good idea to
sell our house of 7 years and move to a rental that basically triangulated equidistant trips for each
of our work/daycare trips – fantastic move so far.
o Selling the house - Lots of effort to de-clutter and move houses/prep for sale and work full time with
full time kid responsibilities but since we didn’t have tv to get in the way, I really wasn’t using those
hours between our kid’s bedtime and midnight anyway – so I got to work – we are closing next
Tuesday – bought the place for 119k as a foreclosure, DIY rehab, selling for 268k after ~90k in
renovations. So not a home run, but definitely a wealth builder and wonderful learning opportunity
as I ended up doing almost everything except for the roof and building the new kitchen cabinets with
my wife and family member who were game to use power tools.
o Renting - We basically did exactly the approach that MMM wrote about when he talked about the
2,300/mo apartment in downtown Toronto that is actually a better deal lifestyle and hidden cost-
wise than a suburban home
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/07/27/rent-vs-buy/
o Similar costs – our monthly housing payment did go up about 50%, which has been offset by
dropping down to one car and not paying for parking anymore at my wife’s work. She even got a
sweet new hybrid bike for hauling the kiddos and making her commute – I still happily rock my
Orange 1980’s steel frame.
o Hidden benefits – we aren’t sure where the kids should go to school, so renting buys us time and
flexibility to determine which neighborhood to move into and set down roots, without having any
artificial deadlines or long lead times weighing down our next move – there’s a comfort in knowing
we can drop our rental with 30 days’ notice. Now, if only we can find time to clean out the closets
that are of course still a mess after moving in and getting settled – one thing at a time. We would
never have freed up enough mental space to work through the public school lottery system and all of
its byzantine ins and outs and find a “forever” home in our previous life situation.
I feel good about my current situation and more confident than ever that 2020 is my FIRE date. Balancing this is that selling a house and moving a family is emotionally hard - getting laid off is, too. Can't wait to FIRE myself and get down to the business of fundamentally improving the energy efficiency, convenience, safety and security of homes using emerging materials and technology - only a few more years left to dial that idea in and take some test runs.
Wishing you continued success and at least one more good equity buying opportunity before we hang them up in 3.5-4.5 years!