Our first days of financial independence, early retirement and freedom
The past month has been the hardest since Best Husband, Doggo and I locked down on February 25, a few weeks ahead of the official public health order from our city and then our state. Vastly distanced time outdoors kept us holding on mental health wise, but tens of thousands of lightning strikes on August Continue reading Eight Months of Pandemic Time
What a time, ay? A pandemic. I won t lie: It s nice to be FIRE. I am also glad we joined the paid-off-mortgage club (even though housing prices will almost certainly fall) because our monthly costs are low. We haven t seen any losses in our portfolio yet, for the same reasons we missed out on most Continue reading Suddenly, everyone can do all the frugal things after all.
It is high Hygge season ( a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being, regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture ) over here, even if I am Polish. We ve been relaxing, visiting, cooking, reading, and watching things like Playing With FIRE on Netflix. December is always the month Continue reading Holidays and Hygge
That s one more thing out of the garage, and $250 in hand. Not terrible, considering I bought the bike for $700 almost 12 years ago. Selling a perfectly good bicycle may not seem like a very anti-car, Mustachian move, but it was. My bike use has decreased since achieving FIRE, as I no longer have Continue reading Bicycle: Sold!
Today, inspired by the Frugalwoods getting a dumpster, doing an epic clean-out of their barn, and writing about balancing minimalism and frugality, Husband and I finally tackled the garage. As garages go, it s got room for one car and most everything else on shelves, but improvements could be made. We drove e-waste to the recycling Continue reading Celebrate What You Don t Have
I m feeling the relief that comes from having put more attention, and intention, into recovering the RE part of FIRE. Summer feels much more mellow, even if summer in our parts means June Gloom and Fogust, and summer summer means Fire Season. Here are a few thoughts on unditching the dryer (for data) and an Continue reading Dryer Ditching, Housesitting, and Happy Accidents
It s nearly June, which marks our fourth FIRE anniversary. And I feel almost as exhausted as I did when I quit my job in 2015. Why? Too much FI, and not nearly enough RE. Too-much FI has taken two forms: paid work I love, and even more unpaid work I (used to) love. This year Continue reading More RE to the FI
The cost of health insurance is a big one perhaps the biggest for FIRE folks in the U.S. We are too young (often by decades) to qualify for Medicare like traditionally retired people, and the Republicans have only sought to block, and subsequently undermine and destabilize, the ACA and state health insurance marketplaces Continue reading Switching to Kaiser from Blue Cross
After not posting for most of this year, I ve gotten a few comments and emails asking if we re still FIRE and what s up in general. June 2018 marked our three-year FIRE-nniversary. We love it more than we did in the beginning, which was still new in sometimes terrifying, transitional ways. The longer we re free, the Continue reading Still FIRE, Still Happy
Long ago, as a 19-year-old undergraduate, a friend gave me a copy of The Writing Life by Annie Dillard as a birthday gift. Recently, during the KonMari process of going through my books, I reread (and kept) this inscribed gift. I came across a passage that has become quite popular: How we spend our days Continue reading How We Spend Our Days