Monthly Archives: December 2011

Day 123 | $57,116 paid | $33,601 till freedom

This entire week is a corporate holiday at the place where I work, and since I didn’t fly home for the holidays to save money, I’ve had to keep myself entertained here in Austin. The temptation, of course, is to spend money–go to movies (Mission: Impossible 4, anyone??), accept the invitation from my friends to go to the shooting range, etc. To pass the time, I’ve gone out to the bars with friends a few times since flasking is free, I’ve been blogging a lot more than usual (also free), and I’ve hit the gym and made it down to Town Lake for a few runs (sunk cost of annual gym membership and just the cost of fuel to drive).

I’ve also used the time to attack some chores that I’ve been wanting to get to for awhile. By doing (most of) them myself, I passed the time, I saved money, and all of them but the last one made me feel good about doing a job well done, on my own.

Chore #1: Fixed Convertible Top
Tuesday was gorgeous, so I washed my car and patched two tears in the soft top. The car is 12 years old and the top is original and looks fine from far away, but it has a half-inch and a one-inch tear that are the result of wear and tear (literally), not any sort of abuse or negligence. The tears don’t let in any rain, but they are definitely cosmetic issues. One of them is right above the passenger’s head, and a girl once ask me if she was going to get wet if it started raining. That was embarrassing.

Before I stumbled upon the concept of early retirement, my intention was to live with the tears for the next six months until my loans were paid off, then spend $1,500 (only slightly more than a typical pre-NMHD monthly loan payment) to replace the entire top.

Now that I’m taking a longer-term view past the loan pay-off period, I’m thinking that $1,500 is quite a bit to spend on fixing something that is 98% fine. So I went online and found that Tear-Aid ($7) is the recommended choice by S2000 owners who have repaired their tops. I picked some up at Academy and patched up the top in about thirty minutes. I put the patches on the inside of the top to avoid the patchwork quilt look, and they seem to be adhering well so far.

Chore #2: Cleaned House
I spent six hours on Wednesday doing spring fall cleaning–dusting, polishing, vacuuming, etc.

 Chore #3: Repaired Towel Rack
I have a monster of a bath towel that gets heavy when it gets wet. The towel rack in the master bathroom had relatively puny anchors holding it onto the wall and they were slowly working themselves out of the wall and threatening to give up the ghost altogether. So I installed some hardcore anchors and I could probably do pull-ups with the towel rack now. Problem solved.

Chore #4: Replaced Grout
About eight inches of grout between two tiles in my shower was shrunken and cracked and would soon be at the point of allowing water in behind the tiles, so I chipped all the grout away with a screwdriver and applied fresh grout.

Chore #5: Raked Leaves
Yep.

Chore #6: Tried and Failed to Fix Toilet
All of the chores this past week have gone really well, except for this one. In fact, I’m still frustrated by it.

I had a classic running toilet problem: post-flush, water was slowly leaking from the tank into the bowl such that the tank would have to refill itself every hour or so.

I finally got around to opening up the tank this week and having a look-see. I diagnosed a faulty flapper, so I replaced it. The problem persisted. I then decided that I would replace the entire flush valve, thinking that maybe the replacement flapper wasn’t compatible with the original flush valve. I closed the water line, emptied the tank, sopped up all the water out of it, and took the flush valve out. This was easier said than done because that sucker was on there tight, but I still managed to remove it without using any tools besides my hands. 

I put in the new flush valve and gaskets, then finger-tightened it as much as I could and opened the water line. Water went everywhere! Apparently, the gasket between the valve and the tank wasn’t seated tightly enough. I tightened the flush valve down some more with my hands, but the problem persisted.

At this point, I figured I just needed to get better leverage on it to tighten it, so I removed the entire tank from the toilet and put it on my bathroom counter. I really put my back into it this time and finger-tightened it as much as I could. I didn’t think I needed a wrench to get the proper torqie because I had been able to remove the original valve using only my hands.

Once I got it as tight as I possibly could, I conducted my version of a leak test, pictured below. I put it on top of a bucket and filled the tank a quarter of the way full. Leakage! I put the tank back on the counter and tried to tighten it some more. My fingers were developing painful indentures from the flush valve nut because I was putting so much force on them. I eked a little more movement out of the nut and conducted another leak test. No leaks! I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t going to have to call a plumber and get charged $100 or $150 for a house call. Extremely pleased with myself, I replaced the tank, tightened up the bolts holding it onto the toilet bowl, and opened the water line.

After the tank was about halfway full, a slow leak of about a drop a second developed. Apparently, my leak test had not been robust enough, and the weight of the additional water was heavy enough to create a leak. I was getting extremely frustrated. I removed the tank from the toilet again and tried using the old gasket, which looked markedly different from the new one. My logic was that maybe the new gasket wasn’t “right.” Clearly, I was getting desperate. I tightened up the flush valve, replaced the tank onto the bowl, opened up the water line, and the leak was actually worse than before!

I thought about running up to the store to get a wrench or something to tighten the flush valve, but I sincerely thought that that wasn’t the problem because I had been able to remove the valve with my bare hands in the first place.

After wrestling with the toilet for two hours, I admitted defeat and looked for a plumber on Yelp. The first two highest-rated ones didn’t answer their phones, but I got through to the third and he came by within a couple of hours.

I watched him work through the entire process, and he ended up using tongue-and-groove pliers to tighten the valve. I wanted to shoot myself in the face. Those things cost about $20 at the store, and they’re pretty much a workshop necessity, anyway. If I have a number of obscure tools for my old motorcycle, then surely I should have a set of tongue-and-groove pliers, right? Wrong.

I have to say that boiling down the two-hour debacle into these few simple paragraphs makes it clear that this was definitely not my finest hour of lucid thinking. If I had been more patient and investigated a few more alternative solutions–like getting a wrench–I could have saved a considerable chunk of change.

The plumber threw the tank back on the toilet, filled it up with water, and of course, there were no leaks. The flapper was still causing problems, though, so he replaced it. We put some dye in the tank, and none of it leaked into the toilet bowl. $94 later, my plumbing problem was solved.

Or so I thought.

Yesterday, the darned thing started leaking again, albeit at a slower rate of about one tank refill every three hours instead of every one. It appears that the flapper isn’t making a perfect union with the flush valve–instead, it’s landing on it slightly askew. I haven’t called the plumber back yet, but when I do, I’m hoping he’ll come  back and fix the problem for free. He should.

Day 122 | $57,116 paid | $33,601 till freedom

A long-time reader requested a post dedicated to my dating life and how it fits (or doesn’t) with NMHD. The timing of this request was perfect, as I’ve been meaning to devote some time for reflection on this matter and put pen to paper for the sake of my own mental clarity, but I just haven’t been able to get around to it yet. Her prompt was just the sort of encouragement I needed to finally git ‘er done.

Before NMHD, I was averaging about one or two dinner dates and one or two drink dates a week for a spend of about $150+/week or $600+/month. Throw in a bar night or two or three with friends each week and an occasional trip, and it’s easy to see how I was spending $1,000 to $1,400 a month on entertainment.

I haven’t been on a single dinner date or drink date since starting NMHD. Instead, I’ve occasionally bought drinks for girls I meet at bars when I’m out with friends, and I’ve been on coffee dates, hike dates, and chill-at-home-and-drink-wine/beer-and-watch-a-movie dates.

I would say I’m dating roughly as much during NMHD as I did before, but at a much, much cheaper level.

I can’t say that I miss the dinner and drink dates, but they were definitely a little easier to set up since they’re more of a social norm.

“Hey, it was great to meet you. Do you want to go out some time?”
“Um, yeah, for sure.”
“Ok. We should go check out <X>. I hear they have excellent <Y> and <Z>.”
“Oh, yeah! I’ve heard great things about that place. We should totally go check it out.”
“Great! It’s a date. What’s your number?”
“Okay, it’s 867-5309.”
“Thanks, Jenny. I’ll call you soon.”

Done. Easy.

“Hey, it was great to meet you. Do you want to go out some time?”
“Um, yeah, for sure.”
“Ok. Do you like to hike? Or we can get coffee. Do you drink coffee? Or you can come over to my place and watch a movie. Do you like romantic comedies?”
“Whoa, weird and creepy. Umm, haha, just kidding…I’m actually not interested. Bye.”
“Wait! Here, can you take my flask for a second? I’ve gotta get my phone out of my pocket so I can get your number.”
“Eww, loser! Go away!”

Not as easy.

Obviously that’s an exaggeration, and I find that explaining my situation usually goes a long way in setting the record straight. However, it has become apparent to me that there’s a certain type of woman who wants money to be spent on her. This is the kind of woman who is okay with and actually encourages the social concept of legalized prostitution.

Then there is the kind of woman who gets it, and doesn’t feel like her self-worth is validated by how much her man spends on her. At the beginning of NMHD, I actually gave a damn about what the women in the former group thought about me. These days? I’m getting more ok with not being “in their league,” and while that does admittedly weigh on my mind, I I’ve consciously added “frugality” to my mostly subconscious list of traits I want in a girl I’m dating.

Before NMHD, I was okay with dating high-maintenance materialistic women. I didn’t seek them out, but if I ended up dating one, then I ended up dating one, and I could generally afford it. These days, I simply can’t, so I don’t. And in the long run, I’m probably much, much better off because of it. Unfortunately, it appears that the former group is much larger than the latter, so I while I’m dating about as much as I did pre-NMHD, I don’t know if that’s actually sustainable. Maybe instead of casually dating like I am now, I should date to marry so I don’t run out of frugal girls!

(To qualify the statement about dating casually, I plan on dating more seriously once the debt is paid off. 50% of all marriages these days end in divorce, and mostly for financial reasons. I’ll be doing future relationships a huge solid by not bringing my burdensome loans into them.)

While there is a significant difference in the girls I date, there’s also been a difference in the guy I am when I date. To get really candid here for a minute, I feel that prior to NMHD I wasn’t as concerned with having a great personality and being a super nice guy. Don’t get me wrong–it’s not like I was a huge jerk–but there was definitely an air of “My house…my toys…great dinner…$130 tab we just drank…aren’t you having so much fun?”

But when I stopped throwing money around and stripped away all of those meaningless distractions and it became just two people walking together in the forest or sitting on a couch in Starbucks sipping on coffee, then stuff started to get real. Personality became key, and I realized I had to be fun by just being me, and I couldn’t use money as a crutch. Throughout the past four months, I’ve become a better listener, and I’ve also become more sincere, genuine, open, and humble. I think it has all made for a better connection.

To sum up how dating has changed with NMHD, I’d say I’m doing as much of it, I’m not spending nearly as much on it, the women I date these days are less shallow, and so am I.

Day 121 | $57,116 paid | $33,601 till freedom

I discovered Mr. Money Mustache’s blog a few weeks ago and I’ve read just about every post since then. MMM is written by a very frugal father and husband who retired at age 32 and has something like $800k+ in the bank that he earned by being frugal in his life and successful in his short career. The interest from his savings provides him with $50k or so a year in income that, when coupled with his frugality, allows him to get by without a regular 9-to-5 job.

When I first started reading MMM’s blog, I thought he was a complete nutjob, but after some reflection, my initial disdain for him has evolved into great respect. On the whole, I think MMM is a very high-quality and worthwhile read–it’s been a real wake-up call. It’s the kind of reading that I found so freakishly enlightening that it made me question just about everything I’ve ever done with money during my entire life. It’s the kind of reading that, after consuming the first few posts, forced me to take a couple weeks’ break from it just to get my head around the general concepts and to steel myself for more criticism of the recklessness of my past spending habits.

Truth be told, it was his blog that inspired my post about hedonistic adaptation and early retirement.

Can I emulate Mr. Money Mustache? I’m not so sure I can. The man is married and he has a kid, so he and I are in different worlds. I’m running around Austin, hanging out with my crew, dating, enjoying the last few years of Bachelor Land, and that takes money. MMM, of course, would probably argue that that’s all the more reason for me to be frugal–I have no responsibilities, no kid, no wife to buy things for, etc. etc., so I can be as frugal as the unabomber and bank all of my income. Fair enough; we’ll agree to disagree on that point.

Can I emulate Mr. Money Mustache? I’m not so sure I want to. I’m not yet completely sold on early retirement and all that is involved, such as the permanent frugality. Let’s just say that I’m still in the consideration phase.

That being said, here are my favorite posts from his blog along with excerpts that I felt were the most informational or enlightening. Each title is linked to the source and posts are listed in the chronological order they appeared on MMM.

I must warn you before going forward, though. If this is your first time being exposed to the school of thought that eschews consumerism, embraces frugality, and espouses stepping off the treadmill and retiring early, then get ready for your world to be thrown upside down. It can be pretty unsettling.

Meet Mr. Money Mustache
“I’m going to teach you a radical new way to think about and enjoy money that will get you off of your current debt-powered treadmill and into a lifestyle that is completely unimaginable to most people where I live, which happens to be in the United States, ground zero for self-imposed treadmills.

“Once you are off the mill, you’ll feel like Neo did when he unplugged the suction cups from his pale naked body in The Matrix and looked around at the other imprisoned humans. “Holy Shit!”, you will say. “I’ve been living in this ridiculous slave world and never noticed.. and everyone else still is! WAKE UP DRONE PEOPLE!!!“. You will suddenly be able to fly freely through the world, free from having to work for a living, able to start living life as you choose, doing exotic things like spending time raising your young children, taking a 3-week vacation each month, or just enjoying understated shows of leisure like sweeping your driveway in pajamas at 11am on a sunny Thursday morning.”

What Does “Early Retirement” Mean Anyway?
“The idea is that if you are earning quite a bit, but you trim your lifestyle down so you are only living on about 25% of that amount, then you are ready to retire when:

1. You’ve finished building your golden nest egg so you can give up the “75%” part of your salary you were saving.
2. Your savings (combined with some optional part-time work) will continue generate that other 25% for you reliably, forever.”

Unleash Your Inner Hasselhoff for Greater Riches
“Whenever I hear people explaining some of the biggest expenses of their lives, they are usually expressed in terms of emotions, hassle, and fear of the unknown. They are afraid of making changes in their lives because they are imagining a great tsunami of pain and inconvenience washing over them as soon as they try to change the status quo.

“Oh no! I can’t deal with the hassle! My life is already hard enough!

“But guess what? You’re already IN the tsunami, Sukka! How much hassle is it to get up uncomfortably early every morning, rush through breakfast, drive on a crowded and/or slushy road, stare out the office window as day after beautiful day slips by, and maybe miss out on bringing up your own children because you and your spouse both work full-time jobs?

“So you’re already an expert at dealing with hassle. You do it every day, and the reason you do it is for MONEY. If you have a job that you keep mostly because you need the money, you are a professional hassle-manager. Let’s invent a slick new word for it – you are a Hasselhoff.”

Living Well on the Trailing Edge of Luxury
“You see, we humans are actually not very good at noticing accelerating trends. Maybe because all of our evolutionary history was spent in times of very slow social change. So if you ask an average modern person about what things will be like 10 years in the future, they will look back 10 years in their life, estimate the amount of change that has happened in that time, and tack on that amount of change to the present world to guess what the future will be like. They will totally miss the exponential rate of change, which means the future will surprise them.

“Because of this exponential change, our world is awash in almost-new consumer products. The hottest ones are in the stores, and the hottest ones from just a few months ago are abandoned in people’s drawers and garages. You almost NEVER need to buy anything new, because you can have an almost-new item for 25-50% of the cost out of one of these drawers. People are so accustomed to buying new things, that they are willing to almost give away their used things even when they are barely used.”

Weekend Edition: Retire in Your Mind Even If You Love Your Job
“[Certain Individuals] have seen through the tricks of our consumer society for years, and as a result they live relatively efficient lives, and thus have no shortage of money. But they also are good at their jobs, and they enjoy them. Because of their financial independence, they have no fear of losing their jobs, and this actually makes them more valuable workers.”

Weekend Edition: What Would the Native Americans Do?
“The Natives knew how to have a rich and healthy life while buying Nothing for thousands of years. So while you and I are pretty much stuck buying things these days, we can still embrace our inner Badass Native Spirit when making decisions, and start to become a bit more Naked and Muscular about everything we do.”

What is the Real Cost of Raising Children?
“Kids need to really know their parents, and live in a warm and loving environment. And not just furnace-warm, I’m talking about skin, soil, and sunshine-warm. Kids will thrive when they live in a forest of the arms and legs of their parents and siblings, and when their most prized playthings include dirt, water, rocks, and plants. They grow when they learn by observing the laughs and singing and patiently resolved disputes of the family and friends around them.

“They will suck up the advanced knowledge of modern human civilization – things like literature, science, music, art, and math – if their parents live and share these principles as part of daily life right at home – in that chaotic forest of warm skin and human voices.”

Weekend Edition: Health = Wealth
“This week I accidentally got sucked into looking through one of those mindless ad-laden Forbes features on the world’s top billionaires…Despite their unimaginable heaps of wealth, as a group they look far from exceptional in the area of health.

“If you ask the typical person, even here in the United States: What would you rather have:

1. A gigantic amount of money, but be overweight and/or frail to the point of needing an elevator to get up to the sixth floor of a building, or
2. Just a comfortable amount of money and a gold-quality, healthy energetic mind and body that keeps you jumping around having fun with no health issues until you’re 100 years old…

“What do you think he or she would say?”

Equally Shared Parenting
“To sum it up, ESP is the opposite of the old 1950s “Executive Father” situation, where the Mum stays home with the children and does ALL of the work. She feeds and changes the babies, gets them to and from school, is the shoulder to cry on when they need help, and does all the housework and cooking. The father just comes home from work each night and says, “How are my little munchkins today!?”, gives them a goodnight kiss, and relaxes with his pipe and a Scotch and a newspaper or television for most of his evenings and weekends.

“From a Manly perspective, I must admit this sounds pretty nice on the surface. The only problem is he’s not really raising his kids. The Dad in this example is just a household appliance, who brings home a paycheck and does some superficial bonding with them. The Mom is the parent, and the one who has the real emotional connection with her children.”

Frugality as a Muscle
“The problem with the Big Income/Big Spender (BIBS) solution to riches is that it is a hollow victory. You are putting effort into earning ever-increasing amounts of income that could have been put into finding a meaningful life for yourself. You are buying shit that builds up in your closet (or in your arteries and your abdomen). You are channeling your precious mental energy into consumption rather than producing ideas and things of your own.

“BIBS believers imagine frugal people as tragic little beings, whining and suffering out in the street in their potato-sack clothing, as they harvest leaves and sticks from the gutters and try to pound them into pulp with rocks in order to make their own toilet paper so they can save 26 cents per week. And they extend this 26-cent mentality even into rather big expenditures, like $1000 per year on take-out coffee.

“There really is no suffering here, in this highly frugal life. Just a lot of rewarding work and effort and accomplishment.”

Why I Really Retired from Corporate Work
“So yeah, I would have to say that the dull and never-ending nature of big-company work is what did me in. It was definitely pleasant enough to endure for as long as I needed a paycheck. But after that point was passed, the gain was less than the pain so it became logical to leave.

“My self-employment gig, on the other hand, is worth doing regardless of monetary factors. That’s the kind of work that builds up energy rather than subtracting it, and sucks away abdominal fat and health problems rather than creating them. So I don’t plan to ever quit that one.”

Current Events in Stupidland
“The article tells us that most people in the US could not handle a $1000 emergency. Not only is their monthly budget tight enough that there isn’t $1000 of savings each month, which I would already find quite scary, but there isn’t even $1000 ANYWHERE in their lives to scrape together.”

Royal Wedding, Shloyal Fledding
“What I learned is that it is entirely common for you humans to spend months preparing for a wedding, including renting special buildings, hiring various contractors to provide exotic services, buying clothes that will only be used once, inviting guests that are not people you speak with every day or even every month, and even trying to create “appropriate” appearances to various branches of the extended family.”

Groupon? Never heard of it.
“See, while the deals presented on these sites are indeed good deals, the problem is that they are creating wants and perceived needs inside me, where only contentment existed before. Think for a moment about the quote from one of the nation’s Founding Mustachians, Henry David Thoreau: “A man is rich according to the number of things he can afford to let alone”. I believe one of my biggest advantages in the battle to maximize happiness while buying less stuff than most people, is not even knowing what stuff is available to buy.”

Book Review: “Enough.” by John C. Bogle
“So if you just want the executive summary, I would say it is this: Being a rich person doesn’t mean you have to be a big evil douche. But among the rich today, we do have a lot of this unfortunate breed. So we need to reward and encourage the good ones, even while carefully regulating a few walls around the worst offenders – otherwise get yourself ready for a never-ending series of 2008-style Great Financial Crashes where great profits are made in the booms, and the governments (i.e. you and I) are forced to foot the bill during the frequent crashes.”

What is Stoicism and How Can it Turn your Life to Solid Gold?
“The core of the philosophy [of Stoicism] seems to be this: To have a good and meaningful life, you need to overcome your insatiability. Most people, at best, spend their lives in a long pursuit of happiness. So today’s successful person writes out a list of desires, then starts chasing them down and satisfying the desires. The problem is that each desire, when satisfied, tends to be replaced by a new desire. So the person continues to chase. Yet after a lifetime of pursuit, the person ends up no more satisfied than he was at the beginning. Thus, he may end up wasting his life.

“The solution, the Stoics realized, is to learn to want the things you already have, rather than wanting other things. The most interesting technique that will help you achieve this is Negative Visualization.”

What is Hedonic Adaptation and How Can it Turn You into a Sukka?
“In less fancy terms, what this term means is that “no matter what happens to you in your life, you’ll very quickly get used to it”. Hedonic Adaptation is a feature built right into your Human DNA that allows you to function efficiently in a wide variety of environments, even very harsh ones.

“A most striking example of this was a 1978 psychological study that evaluated the happiness levels of recent lottery winners, and recently injured paraplegics relative to the general population. As you’d expect, the lottery winners were pretty upbeat immediately after their win, and the paraplegics were pretty pissed off. But within just two months, both groups had returned back to the average level of happiness.”

The Joy of Self-Employment
“At this point, I realized I would never go hungry. If I really want the amazing firehose of cash that full-time professional employment provides, I can go get one of those jobs. If I just want occasional boosts of cash and/or self-esteem, I can crank up or down the self-employment schedule as needed. Since I don’t have much need for regular income, the self-employment gig is really just a reassuring companion. Self-employment is a big muscular friend who follows you around and smiles a lot, but cracks his knuckles and lets out a very loud 30Hz growl if Life ever attempts to get up in your face.

“My amazement at getting paid for doing random fun projects around the town continues to this day. But yet I do not have any of the burdens of a real job. When I wake up every morning, my only obligation is to the coffee machine and the frying pan, to make the family a nice breakfast while they play in the living room or the garden. When it rains or snows, I laugh heartily and grab a good book or a vacuum cleaner and watch the storm through the comfort of double-pane windows. When the sun shines upon the Rocky Mountains the other 300 days of the year, I take great pleasure in mixing bicycle errands and completely random local work into my mostly full-time parenting schedule.”

Muscle Over Motor
“But when applied to most of your life, this whole idea of powering your own damned recreational activities (including lawn care) is a great one. It’s another form of Insourcing, but it applies to everyone, not just homeowners with chores. If you find yourself tempted to use a motor when a muscle will do just as well, you should imagine me hovering behind you and reminding you of the slogan every time you reach for a gas-powered lifestyle accessory.”

Day 119 | $57,116 paid | $33,601 till freedom

Today marks the end of fiscal December (Nov 25 – Dec 25). It’s Christmas morning, and I’m eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes in front of my computer as I count my money and my family celebrates Christmas 1,400 miles away.

Visions of Scrooge are dancing in my head right now. Bah, humbug!

Here’s how December played out:

•  Starting Cash: $3,500
• Starting Student Debt: $39,773
• Income: $8,784
• Expenses: $3,421
• Cash Paid to Debt: $6,363
• Accumulated Interest: $191
• Ending Debt: $33,601
• Ending Cash: $2,500
• Total Assets: $52,357
• Total Liabilities: $33,601
• Net Worth: $18,757 

 Predicted student debt at end of June: ($5,423)

In other words, I’ll have a surplus of $5k at the end of June at my current rate of paydown. In fact, according to the projections, I’ll be exiting May with my debt completely paid down and a surplus of $955. Anything can happen in six months, of course, so I’m not going to bank on any of these projections for now.

High-Level Analysis
The bad news first: I spent $922 over the budget. The good news: I brought in $1,734 more than the budget (due to selling the bicycle, receiving cash gifts for Christmas from my family, and being capped out on my Social Security contributions for the rest of the year), so I netted out at $812 positive. I can’t keep relying on unexpected revenue to compensate for my poor spending habits during the next six months, however, so like I promised in my November progress report, I need to get more disciplined with my spending.

Also, I’m exiting December with a $2,500 cash buffer instead of the $3,500 I exited Sep/Oct/Nov with. I guess I’m getting a little less risk-adverse on the downward slope of this mission.

Assessment of Cost and Revenue Initiatives
I want to take a moment to assess my spending habits on a line-item basis. Progress-to-date is detailed in the spreadsheet below. Click once to open and once to zoom.

Analysis: Expenses

• Insurance – $171 — Now that I’ve sold the second car and taken collision off of the S2000, my insurance will be $60 going forward. $171 insurance payments are a thing of the past.
• Internet — $50 — Fixed and within budget
• Cell phone – $112 — I budgeted for $85 since my typical bill has always been $85 for unlimited data and text and 450 minutes, and I used to go under 450 minutes every month. But now that I’ve been promoted to a new role, I find myself on my cell phone a lot more and actually exceeding my minutes at 40 cents a pop, so that explains the $112 bill. The company can give me a phone, but it’ll be a dumbphone and the extra complexity it’ll bring to my life isn’t worth it. I just need to keep a closer eye on my minutes.
• Mortgage — $1441 — Fixed and within budget
• Haircut – $17 — God bless twelve-dollar Tuesdays @ TGF. $12 + $5 tip = $17. I have a regular haircutter now, and I feel like I get extra attention from her thanks to the 40% tip. Totally worth it. Big spender!!!
• Energy — $37 — I budgeted for $100, so this is a huge win no matter how you look at it. The past few months starting in September the bill has been $124, $97, and $89. The AC hasn’t been on in weeks, and it’s finally being reflected in the bill. It would have probably been closer to $25 or $30 without the roommates, but $36 is still super-low.
• Water — $114 — I budgeted for $100 and I stopped watering my yard a month ago, so I’m really hoping this is just a lagging bill. I also had a toilet leak that I fixed, so that should help here going forward, too.
• Gas — $24 — Basically fixed with a $2-$4 variation. Roughly within budget.
• Entertainment — $252 — A loss relative to my budget of $50. Oops. This is basically all bar and restaurant activity. I think that I’m going to have to face reality one of these days and adjust my entertainment budget to $200, as I’ve spent an average of $200 during the past few months even though I tried so hard to keep spending to a minimum. But if I took the budget up to $200, would I start spending $400? (By the way, this is still far better than the $1,000 to $1,400 I was spending before NMHD.)
• Groceries — $310 — A loss relative to my $280 budget. I don’t even know what the heck drove this over-spend, as I was within budget for the first two months of NMHD without even trying. I do know that I bought a huge bottle of shampoo for $20 in December that I haven’t even opened yet, so that explains $20 of the $30 miss.
• Lunch at work — $26 — A loss relative to my $0 budget. What can I say? I needed to connect with friends.
• Fuel — $230 — A loss relative to my budget of $160. Unplanned trips to Dallas (~$50) and San Antonio (~$25) are to blame here.
• Drycleaning – $39 — A loss relative to my budget of $20. I probably need to face reality and take the budget up to $40 here, too. This is the second month in a row of spending $35+ on drycleaning.
• House — $28 — A loss relative to my budget of $0. This is the excess on the landscaping project here on my house that was not subsidized from the customer’s job Michael and I did this month.
• Car  – $280 — A loss relative t0 my budget of $0. My tires were completely bald and I needed to get new ones so I didn’t hydroplane myself into oblivion. The new tires grip like a beast in wet and dry conditions.
• Car – $193 – A loss relative to my budget of $0. This is for getting my car towed. You can read about how I was scammed here.
• Gifts — $96 — A loss relative to my budget of $0, but that was obviously an oversight on my part during budget planning. The gift for my mom is not included here since something happened with the transaction, so this should really be closer to $140. I’ll be buying the gift in the next fiscal month and the charge will show up there. $140 is a win relative to last year’s spend of $400.

My expenses for the past four months average $3,253 while my expenses during the 15 months prior to NMHD averaged $7,754.

Analysis: Revenue

• Salary — $6,517 for two pay checks – A win relative to my budget of $6,200.  I still have my 401k contribution set at 0% and each paycheck is still inflated by $160 since I hit the $107k social security contribution cap at the beginning of November.
• Roommates — $850 — Within budget
• Bicycle Sale — $900 – A win relative to my budget of $0.
• Christmas Gifts – $470 – A win relative to my budget of $0.
• USAA Dividend – $47 — A win relative to my budget of $0.

January Outlook
Cost Challenge: I already know I’ll be going over the $50 entertainment budget because the New Year’s party will be at least $60, which means I’ll be digging out of a hole for the rest of January.

Revenue Challenge: John is moving out in a week, and I really, really need to get a second roommate for January, otherwise I’ll have a $400 hole on my income statement. I’m interviewing a guy for the room tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well.

Final Thoughts
I’m here in Austin on Christmas Day because the $500 trip home wasn’t in the budget. I definitely miss my family, I’m definitely lonely, and this is definitely the worst Christmas ever.  The loneliness settled in yesterday when I arrived at church last night for 7 PM mass. As I approached the front doors, I saw all of these happy families and couples filing in, and the greeter seemed overly chipper (in my mind) as she welcomed everyone with a very enthusiastic ”Merry Christmas.” I slowed my stride a little as I took it all in, then did an about-face and headed back to my car and drove to the nearest RedBox to rent a couple of movies. As I loaded up the  first movie in my DVD player, my family was sitting down for our annual “Christmas stories and cookies” routine.

After I click “Publish,” I’m heading out for an 8-mile run around Town Lake to get out of this funk. It seems like July will never get here.

Here’s the ten-month outlook:

Day 117 | $50,944 paid | $39,773 till freedom

Sarah and John have gone home for the holidays, and I can hardly hear myself think–the speakers are  blaring and the monstrous subwoofer is shaking the walls and threatening to level my entire house. Life is good! Go Skrillex!

I cannot wait to be roommate-free. At the age of 28, I’m simply not cut out to live with complete strangers. The limitations on my freedom (like blasting my tunes) and the sharing of resources are hard to deal with. While I’ve gotten used to living cheaply, I haven’t gotten used to roommates. Every time I drive around the corner of my street on my way home and see their cars in front of the house, I grimace.

On the positive side, I might be looking at some incremental revenue from this landlord thing. John has bought a house here in Austin and is moving out at the end of the year. He was paying $400/month for his unfurnished room, and I’ve listed his room at $500. I’m starting high and seeing if I can find a tenant at that rate. I still have a week and a half week before I actually have to fill it, so I’ll drop the price as Jan 1st gets closer. One person has already called me about it and we’re going to have an interview on Monday, so my fingers are crossed.

Assuming that he gets the room, it’ll be awkward if he ever finds out  from Sarah that she’s paying $450/month for her fully furnished room.

No Bachelor Party
I’ve been invited to two weddings in April and I just got an invitation to an unrelated bachelor party in Vegas in February. Having to miss this one really bums me out because it’s the bachelor party for a former rowing teammate. We’ve never been very close on a personal level, but we did row together in the same boat for three out of the four years we were on the team. Furthermore, many of my former teammates will be in attendance. I saw all of the guys in October, so that’s how I’m going to justify missing it, but I’m still frustrated by the  circumstances.

Comrades-in-Arms
Last Saturday, I was at Kung Fu, a bar downtown, and I asked the bartender for a Sprite. I was packing vodka in my flask ($19 for 1.75ML of Svedka–great deal!). A guy came up next to me and ordered a Coke.

Guy: Are you the designated driver, too?
Me: Yeah, I’m driving this drunk guy around (pointing to my friend next to me who is ordering shots.)
Guy: Yeah, me too.
My friend hands me a shot. Awkward…
Me: Haha…no, just kidding. I’m packing a flask. (I flash the flask at him under the bar. After the first weekend of flasking, I’ve stopped considering the flask a social stigma, and have even had girls hold my drink while I pour alcohol into it. It usually gets a huge look of surprise followed by laughter. I think it’s hilarious. One girl made the comment, “So I guess this means you aren’t buying me a drink?”)
Guy: Haha, seriously? Me, too! (He pulls out his flask.)
Me: When did you start?
Guy: Back in 1997.
Guy’s friend walks over.
Guy: Hey, this guy is packing a flask!
Me: Hell yeah I am!
Guy’s friend: Hah! Me, too!

At this point, we’ve all moved away from the bar and are comparing our flasks and sharing best practices for discreet pouring methods.

Seekingarrangement.com
Do they have this for 20-something guys?

“Saddled with piles of student debt and a job-scarce, lackluster economy, current college students and recent graduates are selling themselves to pursue a diploma or pay down their loans. An increasing number, according to the owners of websites that broker such hook-ups, have taken to the web in search of online suitors or wealthy benefactors who, in exchange for sex, companionship, or both, might help with the bills.”

That’s right–the Huffington Post recently ran an article about websites that are designed for female (as far as I can tell) students or grads who are loaded with student loans and want to connect with rich men who will help pay down the loans in exchange for sexual favors.

This actually makes the debt-loaded chick who went on dates for free food seem relatively wholesome by comparison.

A Revised “About” Page
I gave the “About” page a makeover today. Most of the text has been changed and I posted a picture of my diploma and screenshots of my loan balances as they stood before I started paying them down. I think it does a decent job of summarizing my situation and setting the stage for the blog.

Facebook Account: Deactivated
Facebook Is Making Us Miserable is a noteworthy and even action-worthy blog post on Harvard Business Review. The author discusses “three new, distressing ways in which the social media giant is fundamentally altering our daily sense of well-being in both our personal and work lives.”

To paraphrase:

1. “Den of comparison”: our profile page is self-curated, so people see only the “good” things in our lives–new car, new house, promotion–and none of the bad things, like a divorce.
2. “Fragmenting our time”: we spend a ton of time on the site
3. “Decline of close relationships”: Facebook chat doesn’t connect people the same way a physical meet-up or phone call does

I read the article, reflected on it for about two minutes, then posted a status update on FB to the effect of “Just read this [linked] article. I’m deactivating my account in 24 hours. Here’s my cell and email if you want to get ahold of me. Let’s see how long I can last before I’m back for more crack-cocaine.” I deactivated two Tuesdays ago and have been Facebook-free (FF) for ten days and nine hours.

It’s weird–leaving Facebook made me uncomfortable at first and I felt completely disconnected and out of the loop, but I’ve since gotten used to it, and now it feels as good as getting rid of my second car did–it makes life less complex. I still get impulses to log on, probably like an amputee still senses his “invisible limb,” but I’ve held steady so far and I don’t plan on going back.

I left Facebook for all three reasons, but I think the first reason–the “den of comparison” is especially relevant for NMHD. My friend, Andy Lebron Chad, showed me his Facebook page after the Timeline rolled out, and he made a very insightful comment. “Facebook has become less about connecting people on a simple, straightforward level–as in ‘Here’s my phone number and email address. Let’s chat soon.’ Now, it’s more about letting the user develop their story and show the world what they do and what their interests are.” He pointed to the profile pic on his page. “Look. Even the profile pic is no longer the biggest picture on the page.”

So now our friends can see where we’ve traveled and what we’ve done and when. To Andy’s point, Facebook is no longer “Get in touch with me”; it’s more like, “This is what I’ve done.”

In my new frugal lifestyle, my timeline would suck compared to my friend who go on trips every weekend, or move into a penthouse in NYC, or buy an Aston Martin. But that’s nothing new because even when I was spending money, I wasn’t really one to Face-brag. I could have posted a picture of my house with the garage door up, both cars and the bike backed into it, but I never did. And the boastful pics and status updates by my friends never really bothered me–it was usually pretty easy to see through the insecurity and chalk it up accordingly, but at the same time, it’s sort of nice to no longer be force-fed that stuff, either.

I left Facebook because reasons two and three resonated with me, too. I feel like I have more time without Facebook. The site had become a huge part of my life–I was on it during work and after work, and I was spending a lot of time checking out my news feed, posting status updates, and uploading pictures several times a week.

I also felt artificially connected to childhood, college, and grad school friends because I could see what was going on in their lives, but were we really connected? I hadn’t talked to some of those people in years, so is that even a friendship? Probably superficial at best. Since being Facebook-free, I haven’t actually called anyone to get on a less superficial level with them, but that’ll probably change soon since I can no longer pull up a website to get their update.

Day 112 | $50,944 paid | $39,773 till freedom

When I started this challenge, I didn’t know what could happen, but I knew that no matter what did happen, I wanted to maintain two things: my health and my friendships.

I’ve been living a frugal lifestyle for almost four months now, and I’m still going downtown, spending time with my friends, even making new ones, and and I’m still working out five days a week. With the exception of my lack of dating–since I still haven’t gotten comfortable with dating cheaply–hedonistic adaptation is really starting to kick in. I don’t miss spending money and I don’t miss consumption. If anything, my life has gotten simpler.

If my bonus is what I think it will be in March, then I have line of sight to having my student loans paid off by the end of June and having critical living expenses down to about $30k/year.

Now here’s the kicker: I always thought that I would graduate with my MBA and work my way up to a high-level, $500k/year position at a company and retire when I’m 65. I’d live a life of luxury and have a powerful career. 

But after almost four months of living frugally, my mindset is beginning to change, and I can feel myself coming to a critical juncture in my life at the end of June. I realize, looking out over the next 20 to 40 years, that I don’t have to stay on this treadmill. I can turn it off and jump off. I can dare to be different.

• Option 1: If I just keep my current level of income constant and continue to live frugally, I can actually retire at age 44 and live off the interest of my savings.
• Option 2: I could take a lower-paying job doing something I really enjoy or something I think will make a meaningful contribution. Or I could start my own business. However, I’d potentially retire as late as age 65 or later.
• Option 3: Stay on the treadmill.

These are revolutionary thoughts, and it’s throwing me for a hell of a loop–I still haven’t gotten my head around it, and I really, really don’t know how to think about it yet.

Below are four dramatically different directions my life can go after I pay off my student loans, including their associated penalties, rewards, and risks. (Click to zoom.)

I’ve been building that flowchart in my head for the past week, and I finally put pen to paper today and formalized it. It’s quite broad and general, so I’m sure there will be many edits coming its way, as well as many future posts about it.

This post could quite easily go on for hours, but I’m going to cut it off here; I think there’s enough meat contained within these few paragraphs and this chart for folks to chew on for several days.

Day 105 | $50,944 paid | $39,773 till freedom

I think I figured out why I’ve been feeling like crap lately. And, by the way, big thanks for all of your comments –I really appreciate the encouragement and support. Anyway, looking back, I can point to the Monday morning after Thanksgiving when I started really feeling out of it. I had just paid $16k on my loans that was funded by the sale of my second car and motorcycle, and I had just written the post where I expressed some frustration over spending $50k on a piece of paper instead of on a sports car. I had just enjoyed a relaxing, fun-filled four-day weekend. And then there I was, back to another exhausting 55+ hour workweek. Now, 55 hours probably doesn’t sound like a lot, but when it’s filled with back-to-back meetings all day long, working through lunch and dinner, and receiving 150 emails a day and sending 100+, it can become a grind, no matter how exciting some of the stuff is that I get to work on.

Before NMHD, I had come to view work as a gas station. It’s where I get fuel–money–to fund my fun. Before NMHD, it was a place where I went to get more fuel for travel, nights out on the town, dates, a second car, my motorcycle, my road bike, my hobbies. I wouldn’t say that work is where I go for fulfillment, or where I go to make a difference in the world.

When I went back to work on Monday, I was going back to the gas station to work for more fuel. But for the past three months, that fuel has not been funding any fun, and that became painfully clear during the Thanksgiving weekend when I paid down $16k of my loans that was partially funded by the sale of one thing that provided me with a lot of fun–the motorcycle. And looking forward to the next seven months, my workdays will be providing me with only more fuel to pay down the rest of my student loans.

It’s a massive mentality shift. Work used to mean money for fun. Now work means money for loans. It’s completely demotivating, and that’s what has led to this malaise, this funk that I’ve been in.

But I think that identifying the source of the malaise is the most critical step in solving the problem. Now that I recognize the problem and its cause, I can start the work of shifting my mentality for the next seven months. No, I’m not getting the fuel I want right now, but I’m getting the fuel I need.

Now, of course, this whole discussion begs a much larger question: if–and that’s a major “if”–I can find a way to be happy with getting by on $40k/yr and the lifestyle associated with that level of spending, do I need a job that pays six figures? Maybe, maybe not. I do want a family at some point, after all–not now, and not in the short-term, but eventually, yes. And from what I hear, families are not cheap.

NYE Plans Established
Speaking of fuel for fun, it’s time to start planning New Year’s Eve. There’s no way I’m sitting this one out–I’m simply not. Not to save $65 to $85.

I’ve decided to go with three of my good buddies to a hotel party in town. It’s $45 to get in and it’s a cash bar. The fourth guy has a room at the hotel already with some other friends, so right now we remaining three are in the midst of debating whether or not to spring for a hotel room where we can crash afterwards. A room is $120, so split three ways, it’s $40/each. Alternatively, a cab back up north to where we live is $60, so that’s $20/each split three ways.

I’m actually in favor of getting the room because we can easily save that incremental $20 by putting a bottle in the room so we don’t have to pay for drinks at the party itself.  I’ll bring the flask, we  can order Cokes/Sprites at the bar, and just do flask refill runs throughout the night. Genius.

Instant Popularity
If you ever want to feel really, really popular, give something of value away for free on Craigslist. You guys all know about my distaste of selling things on Craigslist, so when I wanted to donate a shelf and floor lamp but couldn’t coordinate a pick-up with the local goodwill, I decided to just let it go for free on Craigslist instead of going through the pain of listing it and dealing with flakes and hagglers.

I posted the ad and included some pics and within ten minutes, I had seven text messages, five phone calls, and four emails, all from different people. Insane! The most popular man alive.

After the first person to claim them flaked out (seriously?!), I gave the items away to a nice couple who came  by within 30 minutes  of their initial text. It felt really, really good to give the stuff away. They were clearly appreciative. After I helped them disassemble the shelf to fit it in their car and they shook my hand in gratitude, I told them Merry Christmas–my first  Christmas wish of the season. It felt great. When I took the other stuff to Goodwill earlier this weekend, it felt okay, but definitely not as good as this experience.

Buffalo Exchange
Speaking about the other stuff that went to goodwill, I took Zeona up on her suggestion and tried to sell the jeans to Buffalo Exchangeinstead of taking them to goodwill. The six pairs of jeans were in great condition and name brand–Lucky, A&F, Gap. Buffalo Exchange was interested in only two of the six pairs, and they offered me $21 total. I was extremely disappointed–I had easily spent $150 between the two of them. I pushed aside my shock aside and agreed to it. The “buyer” told me to take the receipt to the cashier on the other side of the store. I turned around to see where she was pointing, and I saw a huge line with 20+ people in it. First they lowballed the hell out of me and then they expected me to spend 30 minutes of my Saturday to stand in line for 21 measly dollars? Pass. I told the buyer no thanks and got my jeans back and took them to goodwill along with all of the other stuff.

The garage is now clean, and my life is a little less cluttered. Feels good.

Christmas Shopping Complete
I hopped online today and knocked out my Christmas shopping for my parents and sister in about ten minutes. They had very easy lists–nothing obscure or hard to find. My parents read this blog, so I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but financially speaking, I spent $400 on my family last year for  Christmas and this year I spent $120. They’ll appreciate whatever I get them, and in this case, the items were directly from their lists, so I should be in pretty good shape. And like I said in an earlier point, I won’t be there to see any disappointed looks on their faces when they unwrap their gifts from me!

Actually, I take that back. My sister moved from Chicago to San Antonio for her job a month or so ago, and I’m driving down to check out the lights on the River Walk and bake cookies with her this weekend. I’ll be giving her gift to her then, too, so I might want to consider prepping myself for maybe one disappointed look.

$120 is $120 more than the budget allows for, but it really wasn’t painful to do the shopping. Again, I know they’re  going to appreciate their gifts.

That Is Low
Some chick has been using a dating service to get free meals. For shame. That’s messed up. Of all the things somebody could do to get a hand-out…

Another Wedding…Or Not
I got a Save the Date for a friend and former HBS classmate’s wedding in April. I cursed aloud when I opened it up and saw the wedding was before July (I wonder how many people curse when they get a Save the Date?), but I went to go put the date on my calendar, anyway, as I still haven’t made a decision on wedding attendance yet. It turned out that it falls on the same weekend as Luke and Faith’s wedding. Theirs is in Chicago and this one is in Dallas. So I guess that’s lucky? I’m not sure how many people are happy with conflicting weddings–I’m in such a weird spot right now!

USAA Gave Me Some Money
My dad was an officer in the Navy, so I get to use USAA for my auto insurance policy. They give a dividend to their members every year, and this year they gave me 47 bucks. Christmas come early!

For more than 89 years, USAA has been there for our members when they need us. This year, despite being the costliest catastrophe year in USAA’s history, we continued to maintain our financial strength. As a result, we are pleased to put money back in your pocket with this year’s auto dividend.

Work Update

Bonus: something given or paid over and above what is due (dictionary.com)
We’re covering a lot ground here, so I’ll sign off after this last topic. I can’t go into specifics, but during my eight or so weeks ramping up in my new role in business development, I’ve brought in enough money for the company that it could fund a Harvard MBA education for many, many people. I wouldn’t say it’s unprecedented but, well, maybe I would…

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that all of the hours at the office have not been spent in vain from a results standpoint–I’m definitely driving for results and making a substantial bottom-line impact. But the big question still remains: will this be reflected in my bonus? Again, I can’t go into specifics because this blog is barely anonymous and it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist (are you smarter than a fifth grader?) to figure out who I am and where I work  and I don’t want to be fired for critical remarks, but let’s just say that the bonus where I work is just that–a bonus. If I get one, then bonus! The bonus is always a gamble–pretty much by definition. Unfortunately, this gamble has a huge impact on my goal. I’m shooting for $12k pre-tax.

Day 98 | $50,944 paid | $39,773 till freedom

I stopped by Kasbah at 10:30 PM last night to see some friends, then my buddy drove us all downtown where we went to bars till 2 AM. I came back to the parking lot near Kasbah where I parked my car, and it was completely empty. That’s when I spied a No Parking sign on the side of a nearby building. I called the number listed for the towing company, and they confirmed that they had my car and I could get it out for $193.

When I do something wrong or make a mistake, I learn from it. I don’t beat myself up, and I don’t dwell on it. I admit fault, internalize it, learn from it, and move on. However, last night, when I found out my car had been towed, I had one of those very rare moments in my life when I was so frustrated that I just wanted to destroy something…anything.

Why? Because when I parked my car in the spot at 10:30 PM (yellow and black icon in image above) , a tow truck (black and blue icon–no pun intended…I think?) was idling directly in front of my car. After I parked my car and locked it, I walked over to the tow truck and had the following conversation with the two people sitting inside who had seen me park and lock my car.

Me: Hi, is my car going to get towed if I leave it here?

Passenger: No, you’re fine.

Me: Okay, but even after hours? Like, 2:30? You’re not going to tow it?

Driver: No, you can park there.

Passenger: Yeah, it’s okay.

Me: Okay, thanks a lot.

So when I parked there, I didn’t look around for a No Parking sign (red line in image above)–I went straight to the enforcers to ask, assuming (perhaps naively?) that they would be honest and forthright with me.

I reported this interaction to the towing company that took my car, but the woman at the front desk apologized and told me that those weren’t their people. To her credit, she seemed genuinely sorry, and I think she was actually right–I looked at the tow truck parked out front of the building, donned in the company’s regalia, and it looked nothing like the tow truck driven by the people who told me I could park there. The area where I parked does have lots of restricted lots, and I guess they’re all enforced by various towing companies.

That being said, this surely wasn’t the first night on the beat for the driver of tow truck that told me I could park there, and he almost definitely knew that I couldn’t leave my car there. Yet he let me park there anyway.

My frustration on this one knows no bounds. Is it too much to ask for honesty? Look, I get that people want to make money, but a tow truck driver intentionally misleading a victim so that their buddy benefits? I mean, does he get a kickback for that? There are a ton of illegal/dishonest/unethical/immoral things I could be doing to pay down my student debt right now, and I haven’t done a single one.

As I said earlier, I learn from my mistakes. Did I make a mistake, and if so, what lesson do I take away from this? Don’t trust people? Don’t trust tow truck drivers?

$200 down the drain. Unbelievable. I’m at a loss of words.

(Moment of reflection–I can’t believe I just wrote that entire piece without thoroughly lacing it with the string of violent profanity racing around inside my head right now. 12 hours later and I”m still furious.)

Another Satisfied Customer
Michael and I had another landscaping job on Saturday. It took about five hours. Everything turned out pretty well (before/after pics below), but the gravel bed around the garbage can ended up looking incomplete, even though it was done to the customers’ original specifications. Michael and I probably should have seen this coming and recommended he do a full build-out of the bed when we were still in the planning stages. Anyway, he’s having us come back out to extend the bed. We’ll get paid for that, and he’s going to have us do some other stuff, too. Continued business is a good thing.

The job will net us about $320 in profit or $32/labor hour, so not bad. Unfortunately, I won’t get the full $150 because 1) we bought $90 landscaping software to mock up “After” images, 2) Michael built the quote and I want to make sure he gets compensated for his time, and 3) I spent about $90 on landscaping materials for my own yard yesterday. I got bored last weekend and took out over 300 square feet of sod in my front yard that was patchy and weedy, and this past weekend, Michael and I covered it with mulch.

It was a $90, 6-hour project that didn’t have to be done, but it was completely worth it because it convinced me that I should rip up all of the sod in my yard and go to 100% xeriscape. I’m going to cap most of my sprinkler heads, and replace the sod with mulch and gravel and limestone rock borders. It’ll look good. I can then get rid of my lawn mower, weed whacker, fertilizer spreader, $150+ monthly water bills, and I can get back an hour+ of my time every weekend that would have otherwise been spent mowing my lawn.

This project will take probably 60+ hours for me to do on my own, which is fine, and I would have loved to do it over winter break when I have a week off of work and won’t be flying home. Unfortunately, the material will cost around $1k, so I’ll have to wait until I pay off off my debt to undertake this project. I’m looking forward to it.

General Malaise
What I thought was short-term post-holiday funk has lingered for longer than I thought it would. Looking in general at the past few weeks, I just feel…I don’t know…not good.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m in month #4 of living like a pauper, maybe it’s that cheap coffee dates at Starbucks suck, or maybe it’s that I’ve become jaded with society and money and material goods and wealth and status and climbing the ladder and social mobility and all that, or conversely that I sold my motorcycle, roadbike, and car.

Maybe it’s all of that.

I don’t know. All I know is that I’m feeling a bit…down.