Author Topic: Celebrations Thread  (Read 1648347 times)

Mazzinator

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #150 on: April 30, 2013, 07:49:19 PM »
I helped dh adjust his withholdings, we were sooo stupid (big face punch needed) he already overpaid taxes for this year..and it's only April..

So, when he did this, I started his TSP and now it's maxed..what's even better??? By my best calculation, his net pay should only be reduced by about $400/month..to MAX it out..geez, we are idiots!!!

I debated, over several days, of maxing the TSP vs using that to pay down debt vs Roth ira... Either way, it's soooo much better than letting the big gov hold it for us!!!

Wyobraska

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #151 on: May 01, 2013, 04:30:55 PM »
Hi guys!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I opened up my first taxable Vanguard account today. I already had my Roth IRA thru Vanguard, so adding a second account was a breeze.

I'm currently maxing out my Roth, and was putting $750 a month in a no interest savings account. After finding MMM's blog and doing some reading, I decided my savings account just wasn't cutting it. So I took a chunk of the money in savings and decided to open a new account with Vangaurd. I chose to invest in the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund -- VASGX. I started with the default $3000 investment, so I wouldn't deplete my emergency savings. Going forward, I'll still put $250 to my savings account for my emergency OH SHIT fund, but the other $500 a month will go into the investment account.

Once my car is paid off, I intend to divert all of those funds to this account as well, but at that time I'll probably add in an REIT in addition to the VASGX fund.

Nice to meet everyone!

- Wyobraska

matchewed

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #152 on: May 01, 2013, 05:09:11 PM »
May is the month where with the aid of an additional roommate, current roommate's GF, I will be able to get my after tax savings rate to 45%. My non-savings budget is at about 1k per month now. That puts my total savings rate, including 401k and match to 60%. About a year ago I was at a 30ish savings rate. Between some dedication and a raise I've been able to move the guess of between 6-12 years until FI a bit closer to the 6 than it used to be.

/little dance

/little love

/getting down tonight


MrSaturday

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #153 on: May 03, 2013, 01:09:54 PM »
Unless there's a big drop in the stock market in the next couple of hours, today will mark the first time I cross into 4% SWR FI territory.  My portfolio will be slightly above 25 times my current expenses.

I'm still a long way from being ready to retire early since I'm aiming for more like a 3.2-3.5% withdrawal rate and planning for higher expenses when I've got more time for travel and hobbies, but I feel like I finally have FU money and that makes me feel a lot more free when I'm grinding away at the desk job.

FI@2022Jem

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #154 on: May 03, 2013, 04:27:00 PM »
Mr.Saturday- That is so exciting!  Any plans to celebrate this occasion or just business as usual?  (and by celebrate I obviously don't mean drop a ton of money ;)

MrSaturday

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #155 on: May 03, 2013, 05:48:52 PM »
Mr.Saturday- That is so exciting!  Any plans to celebrate this occasion or just business as usual?  (and by celebrate I obviously don't mean drop a ton of money ;)

I'm just having a beer or two.  I figure the market will bounce around and I'll cross this threshold a few more times before I can really consider myself FI.

brewer12345

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #156 on: May 06, 2013, 07:26:07 PM »
As of market close today I hit my target number (plus another 10k) to bail on the day job.  This is the total net I was hoping to hit as of April 1 of next year and in the meantime DW will dump in another approximately $85k.  All of this means that is the market takes a moderate sized dump at an inconvenient time I should still be within spitting distance of my target.  If things go better than expected from here, maybe I won't have to hustle for much income when I pull the plug.  I am still in a bit of shock and it does not quite feel real.  I am hoping it sinks in and makes the next 10 or 11 months of horse pucky more tolerable.

Nords

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #157 on: May 06, 2013, 07:41:27 PM »
All of this means that is the market takes a moderate sized dump at an inconvenient time I should still be within spitting distance of my target.  If things go better than expected from here, maybe I won't have to hustle for much income when I pull the plug.
Woo-hoo!

Do you feel the urge to hedge with buying more puts, or have you been doing that all along as part of the plan?

I think it'll sink in real hard on your next thrilling business trip...

brewer12345

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #158 on: May 06, 2013, 07:46:28 PM »
I am actually short a very small amount of puts on a name I like.  This is a market where you can lose your shirt buying puts, so I have not.  Instead, I have been selling covered calls and just outright flinging shares out the window as the individual names I own spike or hit my valuation target.

I'd like to make it through the first quarter in order to have a little more runway and max out some benefits, but if the market keeps cruising upwards the rest of the year i will very likely be celebrating the new year by quitting.

arebelspy

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #159 on: May 06, 2013, 07:47:13 PM »
As of market close today I hit my target number (plus another 10k) to bail on the day job.  This is the total net I was hoping to hit as of April 1 of next year and in the meantime DW will dump in another approximately $85k.  All of this means that is the market takes a moderate sized dump at an inconvenient time I should still be within spitting distance of my target.  If things go better than expected from here, maybe I won't have to hustle for much income when I pull the plug.  I am still in a bit of shock and it does not quite feel real.  I am hoping it sinks in and makes the next 10 or 11 months of horse pucky more tolerable.

Congrats!  I've seen a little bit of your journey at E-R.org, and I'm excited for you.  You made it!  :D
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
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I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

brewer12345

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #160 on: May 06, 2013, 07:49:27 PM »
As of market close today I hit my target number (plus another 10k) to bail on the day job.  This is the total net I was hoping to hit as of April 1 of next year and in the meantime DW will dump in another approximately $85k.  All of this means that is the market takes a moderate sized dump at an inconvenient time I should still be within spitting distance of my target.  If things go better than expected from here, maybe I won't have to hustle for much income when I pull the plug.  I am still in a bit of shock and it does not quite feel real.  I am hoping it sinks in and makes the next 10 or 11 months of horse pucky more tolerable.

Congrats!  I've seen a little bit of your journey at E-R.org, and I'm excited for you.  You made it!  :D

I hope so.  At this point, even if I am somewhat short of my target I will pull the plug unless the wheels are really coming off the economic bus.

adam

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #161 on: May 07, 2013, 02:02:41 PM »
Due to an unforseen circumstance I found it best to delete my entire Journal entry.  Despite that I felt like I wanted to share a small celebration somewhere, so...

My wife has a job!  She's still part time on call in name, but she's back to 40hrs/week, and they should be working on making her into a permanent full time employee. She will have to take a small pay cut for that, but we decided it was worth it for the security.

For the last two months we have effectively been living off of my salary alone, so seeing that, she basically agreed that we should bank all of her paychecks and continue to live a little less large.  Getting her buy in has always been the difficult part, so hopefully this sticks.

And now that means we should have an additional $2500/month to go straight to debt/savings!

Oh, and its looking more and more like the furlough is never going to happen.  So that's good news too.

ketchup

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #162 on: May 07, 2013, 06:48:55 PM »
Sold my extra car!  Unloaded my goofy 1995 Geo Metro with all my extra parts for $800!  The car has several problems, but hopefully it gives its new owner fewer headaches than it gave me.

Nords

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #163 on: May 07, 2013, 11:26:19 PM »
I am actually short a very small amount of puts on a name I like.  This is a market where you can lose your shirt buying puts, so I have not.  Instead, I have been selling covered calls and just outright flinging shares out the window as the individual names I own spike or hit my valuation target.
I'd like to make it through the first quarter in order to have a little more runway and max out some benefits, but if the market keeps cruising upwards the rest of the year i will very likely be celebrating the new year by quitting.
All of that is great to hear, especially since it matches my own confirmation bias...

You'll be keeping the kids in squirrel pot pie and giving your spouse that secure domestic base from which she can unleash her own high-powered career.  It's all good.

frugalman

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #164 on: May 08, 2013, 07:25:58 AM »
My gas grill is 4 years old. The porcelain heat shield is quite rusted and disintegrating. In my pre MMM life, I would just have bought a new grill and pawned off the old one in the free pile or to my kids. So I looked at the back of the grill and got a model number, GBC820W and googled it for parts. Amazon has a great replacement part for $25.76 shipped to my door, so I bought it and saved myself $100 at least.  Good for another 3 to 4 years. I didn't even know it was called a porcelain heat shield until my google search and looking at the parts available. It's just very empowering to do some DIY projects every now and then. I've been doing a lot more lately since I started reading MMM.

grantmeaname

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #165 on: May 08, 2013, 08:16:40 AM »
As of yesterday's market close I hit admiral shares territory for my Roth IRA! That's a puny stash compared to most here, but now I've got that sweet, sweet .05% expense ratio on my partial ownership of every public US corporation!

Hopefully the next 74 $10,000s are faster than the first!

Emerald

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #166 on: May 08, 2013, 08:45:11 AM »
I now own 30% of my home.  I'm on track to pay it off by age 45.

boy_bye

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #167 on: May 08, 2013, 08:49:20 AM »
i love reading this thread! WINNING, PEOPLE!

my celebration is that we are finally closing on our house sale tomorrow!!! there are not enough exclamation points in the ether for me to express how effing happy i am about this!!!!

icefr

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #168 on: May 08, 2013, 12:23:34 PM »
As of yesterday's market close I hit admiral shares territory for my Roth IRA! That's a puny stash compared to most here, but now I've got that sweet, sweet .05% expense ratio on my partial ownership of every public US corporation!

Hopefully the next 74 $10,000s are faster than the first!

Woo! I was so happy when I bought my first Admiral shares fund last year in taxable. I think I might hit Admiral shares finally in Roth IRA with my 2013 contribution - I have it in two funds and this will only be my 4th year contributing, so it's taking longer than I'd like.

jrs

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #169 on: May 08, 2013, 12:43:38 PM »
...I wanted to share a small celebration somewhere, so...

My wife has a job!  ...  And now that means we should have an additional $2500/month to go straight to debt/savings!

That's so fantastic!  Congrats!

Wyobraska

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #170 on: May 09, 2013, 09:57:35 AM »
Today, for the first time ever, I logged into Mint and my net worth is a positive number. I'm pumped!

I'm excited about the future now... as the mortgage and car loans continue to go down, and my investments continue to go up, that number will just keep growing. Next goal is a net worth of +$1000, which I am hoping to hit next month.

chatsc

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #171 on: May 09, 2013, 11:18:50 AM »
We have hit 50K in investments (not counting pension stuff).  That is more than I thought I would ever have and I am only just beginning.....

You guys are right, it is addictive...

EK

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #172 on: May 09, 2013, 04:56:40 PM »
Today I've been celebrating all day because my husband has finally really adopted our new, frugal life!!!  He's been getting just as excited about me about making changes to cut costs, and has been researching on his own and making suggestions!!  Woo!!!!!!

KMB

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #173 on: May 17, 2013, 10:58:16 AM »
Today is National Ride Your Bike to Work Day - so I did! First time and it feels pretty good. The ride is about 4.5 miles each way. I'm looking forward to the ride home!

aj_yooper

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #174 on: May 17, 2013, 11:28:47 AM »
I moved all of my investments  to Vanguard and have had a 15% gain this year with way lower expenses.

I used points from my credit cards for planned trips to Las Vegas and San Francisco; thank you Fidelity 2% AE.

footenote

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #175 on: May 17, 2013, 12:03:49 PM »
Congratulations to everyone on awesome recent accomplishments!

Today was my last day at my (last!) turned-out-to-be-crappy corporate day job. We will continue to work on getting the house ready for sale. And I'm  trolling for fun consulting oppo's to keep me busy (and my husband sane) for the next year-to-whenever-ish.

It's so worth frugality in your 20s, 30s, and 40s to be able to do whatever you want by my age (55 - or sooner if you're Ultra-Mustachian!). Every time one of you celebrates a first-time net worth of $1,000 or $10,000 or $100,000, I treasure memories of reaching those sweet milestones. Good on ya and keep going!

Rural

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #176 on: May 17, 2013, 07:14:36 PM »
Congrats, Footenote!

Meanwhile, my husband landed his dream job today, only five miles from our new house. That may not seem close to many of you, but consider that we're 35 miles from the nearest (very small) city. He's been angling for this job (teaching at his very small alma mater) for seven years; had to wait for one of his own high school teachers to retire, and he's been out of school for twenty-five years.

He may never agree to retire now. He definitely won't RE. We'll have to rethink some plans, but in a very happy way.

And now that that's settled, as soon as we can both get to the bank at once, we're paying off the mortgage.

boy_bye

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #177 on: May 17, 2013, 07:25:34 PM »
Today is National Ride Your Bike to Work Day - so I did! First time and it feels pretty good. The ride is about 4.5 miles each way. I'm looking forward to the ride home!

Woo hoo! That is awesome, keep going!

sol

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #178 on: May 18, 2013, 02:35:08 PM »
Use this thread to post your mini-accomplishments so we can celebrate with you!

Our mini-accomplishment for the day is hitting a half million in invested assets.

I've been patiently watching Mint's total value calculation skyrocket with the recent market run, and today we ticked over into semi-millionaire territory.  It's a fake victory, since it doesn't include property values or debts, or college saving, or pensions, and much of it is locked up in tax shelters, but it's still a psychological landmark for us.

A landmark that I don't feel like I can share with anyone in my real life.  How sad is that?

arebelspy

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #179 on: May 18, 2013, 02:43:05 PM »
Congrats sol!  Most people never reach that mark, to hit it by your mid-30s is quite a feat!  Definitely worthy of a mini-celebration.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

sol

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #180 on: May 18, 2013, 02:48:55 PM »
Congrats sol!  Most people never reach that mark, to hit it by your mid-30s is quite a feat!  Definitely worthy of a mini-celebration.

Having two professional incomes helps. 

Tonight we're celebrating in rich-as-hell-people style by dining out at Jimmy John's.  And I'm getting the chips AND the drink with my sandwich.  Because that's how I roll, now that I'm joining the 1%.

footenote

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #181 on: May 18, 2013, 03:25:30 PM »
Sol - WOW - congratulations, that is an awe-inspiring accomplishment by your (or really any) age!

happy

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #182 on: May 18, 2013, 04:15:21 PM »
Way to go, congratulations Sol. Would that be the large or small serving of chips? (I thought Americans only ate "fries"?)

Zaga

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #183 on: May 18, 2013, 05:12:19 PM »
I finished my MBA today, woot!

arebelspy

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #184 on: May 18, 2013, 06:41:04 PM »
Way to go, congratulations Sol. Would that be the large or small serving of chips? (I thought Americans only ate "fries"?)

He doesn't mean that kind of chips. To you what he means is crisps.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

happy

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #185 on: May 19, 2013, 12:32:40 AM »
Nah, they're chips too ( packet-a-chips vs hot chips if its ambiguous).  Crisps are found in the UK.

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #186 on: May 19, 2013, 11:03:46 AM »
I finished my MBA today, woot!

Hooray for you! That's awesome.

And for another celebration from me: I got a check in the mail on Thursday for editing work I did back in March. That's $245 I didn't have before!

Zaga

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #187 on: May 19, 2013, 05:20:14 PM »
I finished my MBA today, woot!

Hooray for you! That's awesome.

And for another celebration from me: I got a check in the mail on Thursday for editing work I did back in March. That's $245 I didn't have before!
Thank you, it's been 3 very long years to get this done.  Now to relaxing, if I remember how!

footenote

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #188 on: May 19, 2013, 05:34:19 PM »
Zaga - Congratulations! I remember the year after I finished my MBA as "What in the heck am I going to do with all this time??"          Kudos!!   

adam

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #189 on: May 22, 2013, 06:36:33 AM »
I just paid off my rewards credit card by sending $1655.  This one has been a struggle at times because its the main card we use for bills and things, so sometimes it can balloon up more than we intend and we end up carrying a balance. 

In the month of May I sent $3655 to this card (including this payoff). In April I sent $3290.  In March I sent $1700, and etc, etc.  Its taken longer than I was hoping but now we are done.  On to the next card!

edit: Updated my spreadsheets and I have another milestone.  My net worth just went positive.  $714!  lol.  Wife's mortgage went slightly positive about a month ago, mine is still $30k in the hole.  Still, I'll take that as a win.

edit2: 16 months to pay off all but student loans & mortgages, 28 months to pay off all but mortgages.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2013, 07:48:09 AM by adam »

kkbmustang

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #190 on: May 22, 2013, 09:41:58 PM »
This may seem lame but this is major progress. My parents came back from vacation and only brought a small gift for each kid and none for the hubs and me. This is huge!  We told them we didn't want or need anything. And they listened! I'm so excited I don't have to deal with another t-shirt or anything else I don't want. Whoo-hoo!

Rural

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #191 on: May 23, 2013, 02:08:43 PM »
Paid off our mortgage today.

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #192 on: May 23, 2013, 02:11:48 PM »
Rural - woohoo!

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #193 on: May 23, 2013, 02:32:45 PM »
As of this week, for the first time both my RSPs and TFSAs are fully maxed out. I'm 36 now and should be able to keep maxing them every year easily. Only 15% of my money is in taxable accounts right now.
I didn't think I'd ever be able to save that much, so I'm happy I'm now able to do it easily.

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #194 on: May 23, 2013, 02:49:06 PM »
I finally accumulated enough into my Vanguard VGSIX fund for it to be converted to the Admiral version, VGSLX. Took a couple years since it's only 5% of my AA. The ER is less than half! (0.10% vs 0.24%)

I loved the little notice I got when I logged into Vanguard: "Would you like to convert this account to Admiral" Why yes, I would!

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #195 on: May 24, 2013, 08:07:58 AM »
I rode my bike yesterday.

Doesn't sound like a huge accomplishment, but here's the backstory: I am a fairly weak bike rider, I am short and have had bad experience with adult size bikes, so have mostly ridden crappy children's bikes..  I live in a walkable area so I use my car for midrange trips (and work) and mostly walk for everyday errands.  However, we're moving soon (renting out our old place YAY!) to an area that is not so walkable.   My son will be starting kindergarten in the fall and his school is about 1 mile away and then most of my shopping/errands/community resources would be within 0.5-1mile of his school.  This is a very bikeable situation, but clownlike in a car.  My goal is to improve my bike skills enough by August to be able to do his school commute with him on the back of a Yuba Boda Boda (which fits riders even a couple inches shorter than me).  So yesterday, after probably 2 years without riding, I pulled my crappy children's beach cruiser out of the garage and wheeled around the block.  Small step, but on my way.

-jj

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #196 on: May 24, 2013, 06:55:59 PM »
Good job jj!

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #197 on: May 25, 2013, 10:12:57 AM »
I rode my bike yesterday.

Doesn't sound like a huge accomplishment, but here's the backstory: I am a fairly weak bike rider, I am short and have had bad experience with adult size bikes, so have mostly ridden crappy children's bikes..  I live in a walkable area so I use my car for midrange trips (and work) and mostly walk for everyday errands.  However, we're moving soon (renting out our old place YAY!) to an area that is not so walkable.   My son will be starting kindergarten in the fall and his school is about 1 mile away and then most of my shopping/errands/community resources would be within 0.5-1mile of his school.  This is a very bikeable situation, but clownlike in a car.  My goal is to improve my bike skills enough by August to be able to do his school commute with him on the back of a Yuba Boda Boda (which fits riders even a couple inches shorter than me).  So yesterday, after probably 2 years without riding, I pulled my crappy children's beach cruiser out of the garage and wheeled around the block.  Small step, but on my way.

-jj

Feel you on the shortness, jj! I always had a wheel 24 bike, but when I started riding to work I felt I needed a few things I couldn't fit into the frame or wheels (mostly the fenders and rack, very hard to find here for this size). DH gave me a wheel 26 (used and pretty good) with a reduced frame (admittedly, the rack isn't parallel to the ground), and we sawed the end of the seat pipe, so I could set it lower. It works fine, and all parts are easier to find than for the child-sized bike I had before.

Congrats on your achievement! Wishing you good luck!

marty998

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #198 on: May 26, 2013, 04:54:21 AM »
So because I use my car very infrequently, the battery has a tendency to die every year or so.

Thanks dad for showing me how to fix it without calling the NRMA.

grantmeaname

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #199 on: May 26, 2013, 11:46:13 AM »
I just went through and did our household's budget recap for the first five months of the year. So far we've averaged $518 per person per month for food, brewing ingredients, household consumables, utilities, and rent! Like sol, we're celebrating in rich-as-hell people style: cheeseburgers, red wine, and maybe a board game!