Excited to find this tribe :) Travel + Zero Waste <3s MMM

[Adventure Chick]

Hey All! New here and just feel like talking about where I fit on my new MMM journey.

Right now I'm 24 and working as a social worker + bartender as a second job.

I grew up in the upper middle class suburbs of CA and since a young age watched my peers rat-racing all around me but never really got why? I always thought I was a bit weird -- I liked my 1997 crappy Jeep because it was OK to get it dirty, fit my surfboards, and wasn't the end of the world if it got scratched -- isn't that the perfect car for a girl who loves sports? Meanwhile I had friends telling me that it must be "embarrassing" to drive that car and always left me SO confused!!!

Fast forward to university where I went to... USC! Yep! university of spoiled children! Once again I enjoyed my life and saw nothing wrong with wearing normal (non brand name) clothes, not having the latest macbook, etc. Here I accumulated $35k debt of student loans and it's currently at ~$31k (have only just recently had it click to pay off my debt aggressively. Yay for learning personal finance skills while growing up??? NOT!)

I managed to "save" $3k after graduation and spent it backpacking around Europe and Australia for 6+ months. Lived out a backpack and for me this is when I really had an AHA moment and realized
1. I don't need things to keep me happy
2. I don't need many things to really live off of!

Then, my desire for the newest things basically was snuffed out despite having a lot of people around me completely obsessed with social status.

ANYWAYSSS I met my current partner who is German (I'm from California), getting his PhD with a tax free salary on top, and has some knowledge of investments, savings, interest type things. We live in Australia -- in a sharehouse, are vegetarian, and generally live a frugal lifestyle.

I do bulk + organic shopping, avoid disposables (WHY would you use a takeaway cup, WHY!), and live a pretty low waste lifestyle. We research things for months before purchasing big expenses (laptop, shoes, sporting equipment). I told the chefs I work with that I want to take home any vegetarian leftovers from the night and basically come home every day with my breakfast and lunch for free! Once again, I get the "aren't you embarrassed?" UHHH... no? Because I just got $20 worth of ingredients for free just by asking. How is that embarrassing!!!

Living just like this (pre MMM!) I've saved about $17k just by basically "not trying" (and now I know that needs to go to my debt :) thanks MMM!) Like, I never felt that the lifestyle I had was extreme or anything. I just thought 1. I don't want to damage the environment by buying more shit I don't need, and 2. I don't want more things because more things = more to clean and organize.

TO ME, I thought this wasn't saving much but was shocked when a coworker (who makes 2x as much as me) lives with her parents (no rent payments!) and has no dependents, told me she plans to save $20k within the next 5 years and is "proud that she has $5k in savings). What the hell?

So now I'm really excited to learn more and get to know people's habits. I'm just starting my MMM journey but feeling pretty good about the bases I have covered so far.

:) Love being in here!

[young canadian]

Really awesome story! What was your trip through Europe like? Mind sharing where you stopped along the way? Or tips on doing it 'on-the-cheap'?

[Adventure Chick]

Hey! Thanks! Europe was amazing!!! One thing I did was use the couchsurfing community -- I even wrote a guide on how to use it! http://www.chantae.com/traveling-girl-guide-couchsurfing/ Targeted towards girls but good for anyone, really. I found Spain to be awesome in terms of community and they have a culture of tapas -- which means free food whenever you buy alcohol! Granted it's not the healthiest food, but still. If you stick to the southern countries it's so easy to do a TON on such a simple budget. In Hungary, Croatia, Spain I think my average daily expense ended up being around $15 because of hostels and couchsurfing. Countries like Switzerland and the Scandanavian countries are so much more expensive and you'd struggle on $50/day (USD). Are you thinking of going?

[Upstate NYer]

Sweet. I bookmarked your blog. Thanks!

[DollarBill]

You're my dream girl...lol. I don't understand why a lot of people make life so difficult.

[Retired To Win]

Hey All! New here and just feel like talking about where I fit on my new MMM journey.

Right now I'm 24 and working as a social worker + bartender as a second job...  I'm just starting my MMM journey but feeling pretty good about the bases I have covered so far.

Have you got ANY idea how much of a head start you now have on life??!!  Super good for you.  To have the understanding and viewpoint that you do at 24 is outstanding.

Even if you "only" save 50% of your take home pay, you'll be able to retire before you hit 40.  And I say "only 50%" because I think you are going to far surpass that.

Good luck.

[Adventure Chick]

I'm about 10 years older than you, but you remind me of me :) DH & I are vegetarian, live as "zero waste" as possible, are living small in BC, Canada with what I like to call 'semi-minimalism.' we also love to travel - it's our splurge every year, but we do it on a super budget. Our goal is not necessarily to retire early (we both love our jobs in the social services fields), but to be FI so we can work less & travel more at our leisure.

I love your enthusiasm :) Good luck on your MMM journey!

Sounds like you are living the dream! Very cool :) Thanks :)

[Adventure Chick]

You're my dream girl...lol. I don't understand why a lot of people make life so difficult.

:D Haha.

[Adventure Chick]

Hey All! New here and just feel like talking about where I fit on my new MMM journey.

Right now I'm 24 and working as a social worker + bartender as a second job...  I'm just starting my MMM journey but feeling pretty good about the bases I have covered so far.

Have you got ANY idea how much of a head start you now have on life??!!  Super good for you.  To have the understanding and viewpoint that you do at 24 is outstanding.

Even if you "only" save 50% of your take home pay, you'll be able to retire before you hit 40.  And I say "only 50%" because I think you are going to far surpass that.

Good luck.

Thanks so much for the feedback and motivation. Now I'm really excited to keep it up!

[Livewell]

welcome!  wish something like this was around when I was 24

if you haven't run into it yet, here's something I highly recommend reading through as well http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

[Davids]

Great story!

[csr]

You're so cool! Nice blog too.

Keep up the great work!

[Retired To Win]

Hey All! New here and just feel like talking about where I fit on my new MMM journey.

Right now I'm 24 and working as a social worker + bartender as a second job...  I'm just starting my MMM journey but feeling pretty good about the bases I have covered so far.

Have you got ANY idea how much of a head start you now have on life??!!  Super good for you.  To have the understanding and viewpoint that you do at 24 is outstanding.

Even if you "only" save 50% of your take home pay, you'll be able to retire before you hit 40.  And I say "only 50%" because I think you are going to far surpass that.

Good luck.

Thanks so much for the feedback and motivation. Now I'm really excited to keep it up!

Go, girl!