How I Moved

By the time I made the decision to quit my job, I was already planning how I would move from the Big City to the countryside where I am now.  The most important factor for me was to make sure I did not waste resources.  First, this meant not wasting money with the process.  Second, and most importantly, it meant I should do everything possible to not let the things I had acquired end up in a landfill.  In the end I did a pretty good job.

I don't own a vehicle, so that added a small complication.  If I had a car I could have fit everything I have in it for my move (500+ miles).  I don't own many possessions, but I have enough to prevent me from just walking on a plane with my things or hitchhiking.  A rental car was an option.  Unfortunately, after some research it turns out rental car companies won't rent a car to someone without a credit card or a credit score (essentially, anyone who has their own money and doesn't need to borrow someone else's money).  That's okay, I don't like them anyways.

Then I looked into the normal option, which was a moving van/truck.  Those companies don't care about credit, but for some strange reason the trucks could only be rented for a minimum of four days.  It would have taken me one day.  I quickly did The Maths and it turns out the truck would have cost more than my possessions.  So that was out also.

The final (and overall best) option was public transportation.  As I mentioned the airlines were a no go. I could have taken my things, but the baggage surcharges would have been exorbitant.  A train was a pretty good option (lots of luggage allowed), but it was a bit difficult to get to the station.  And that left Greyhound.  I do not particularly like Greyhound (although I love buses), but the bus station was two blocks from my apartment in the Big City.  The baggage allowance was acceptable.  Greyhound it is.

I still had too much stuff though, so I had to sell everything that could be sold, give away what couldn't be sold, and recycle what couldn't be given to others.  And the poorest, saddest last things would need to be thrown away.  It was my goal to make sure that group would be very small (which is also an everyday goal).  I have never had luck with selling things on Craigslist, but this time I ended up making enough money to cover the cost of the bus ride and extra baggage fees.  I was able to give away a few things also.  It was surprising how many things I had to recycle by the end, but they made it happily back into the system also.

In preparation I also needed to make sure I didn't buy bottles (boxes/whatever) of anything bigger than I could use before leaving.  Not buying things is not a problem.  Through some sort of providence (great planning?) everything ran out right at the end or a bit before.  This was achieved in part by using similar things for similar purposes.  The philosophy being: soap, is soap, is soap.

Example: My dish soap officially sanctioned dual use as hand soap, so I used it for both purposes, but the rest I needed to take liberties with.  I ran out of laundry detergent two washes too soon.  I wasn't about to buy 50 washes worth of detergent that would then be wasted, so I improvised.  What I did was take the detergent bottle with essence of detergent and added some shampoo and body wash.  I used that in my next wash.  It turns out it makes a good detergent.  Just as good as the real stuff.  And my clothes where silky smooth to boot!

Finally, I didn't have enough luggage for my things.  I needed at least two large bags (checked) and two as carry on.  I only had one large bag though.  I wasn't about to buy another bag for just one move.  So I did what any wise man would do: improvise.  I just happened to be visiting my bike (sold) in the garage and noticed that there was one of those fancy roller bags in the trash room.  The problem was this bag was not large enough for my purposes.  However, I did have a large plastic container from my previous move.  I wasn't able to use it alone since it would be hard to drag a large, heavy plastic box at the same time as my other bags.  What I could do though, was create a Franken-container that would give me some leverage to drag my things up to the bus station.  Wisdom prevails.

Now I don't mind looking like a poor/homeless person, so I was okay with my contraption.  I did get some interesting comments on it though.  My final problem was that one of the wheels was broken on my improvised luggage, so I had to drag the 50+ pound bag for the two blocks.  The bag's handle made it easier to manage.  After all, if an ant can carry ten times its weight, I should be able to drag one times my weight.

Salvaged bag

Cut off the lid and sides and inserted plastic box.

Duct taped to bond and secure.  Rope for stabilization.

Journey completed! 

My Vacation From Unemployment

One week after I left my job I went on a week long family vacation to the Adirondack mountains.  I don't want to belittle my other experiences, but I think this was probably the most enjoyable thing I've done since leaving work.  I enjoy going there because you have time to relax and think about things.  There is nothing that needs to be done, but plenty of activities to do if you want.  It is a great time to do some reading.  Things are pretty much the same from year to year.

The cabin we visit is located on a medium size lake which is nestled among the mountain tops.  The area is the perfect location for all sorts of outdoor sports.  This year I went swimming, hiking, biking, kayaking, and sailing.  The weather is often cool during our summer visits, but this year it was pretty warm.  That made it a lot more tempting to get into the lake often.  Of course, it is nice to just sit on the deck and look out over the water.  At nighttime you can occasionally hear loons calling over the lake.  Nature is all around.  It's a nice place to just be.

Sun

Rain

Wake

Sail

Lily

Underwater camera test.  Thar be fishies!

Quack

Size of a small bird.

Perspective

Life After Work

I've been out of work for about one month now.  Some of you may be wondering what life is like without a job.  I was curious what it would feel like too after five steady years of work.  And here we are.

If you're still working, you may be happy to hear that it doesn't feel like anything special to not work.  When working, days off from work are great because you know you will go back to work at some point.  But when there is no work looming ahead, making you really savor the time, it's just a day.  I guess this is what days are supposed to feel like though.  No super high and no super low.  Um, I'd still rather be here though.  It's also worth noting that a little while ago I had a nightmare in which I had to wake up with an alarm clock (details are a bit fuzzy now).

I'm now living in the countryside as I make plans and preparations for my next move.  I'll admit I had this dream of riding my bike down the rural road to the farmer's market and picking up some cheap local produce.  Unfortunately, the farmer's market seems to not have any local produce?!  There was only a small selection of produce which looked like it was at least partially trucked in and it was more expensive than in the Big City!  Transportation is an issue.  Everything is far away, so I need to plan my outings to accomplish as many objectives as possible in one go (which is the way it should be).  I still miss being in the city though, with car-free access to people and resources.

Ironically, now that I have all this time, I feel guilty taking a nap during the day.  I get this feeling like I should be productive or something.  Conditioning I guess.  I've only had a nap on a very small handful of days.  I guess I might be sleeping more at night though, so maybe that's why naps don't reign supreme anymore.

Days pass much more slowly now.  With so much of the day available, one day can feel like one week has passed.  One week feels like two or more weeks.  It makes me feel like I'm moving slowly.

Completing tasks feels great.  I can't say I'm that diligent about rushing to complete everything I want to do, but I'm making progress and slowly checking things off my to-do list.  Here are some of the projects I've worked on:

• Scan documents so that I can still have access to them once I move again, but not have to carry them.
• Chop up a large tree for firewood.
• Landscape the backyard to convert runoff water into a water feature and pond.

I've met with friends and family.  This was one of my key goals for choosing to come here, so I would like to do more of this.  Even for someone like me who enjoys a lot of solitude, this is a great pleasure in life.

I feel like I'm supposed to be thinking about stuff, but I don't know what it is.  I have this problem when I change my environment.  I do have plans I need to make, since I won't be remaining here in the countryside for too long.  I have a lot of options and I'm not very good at making decisions.  It's nice when you can weigh one option against another to figure out which direction to go, but seeing the positive and negative in each variable things usually come out even.

With all this free time I even took a vacation.

The Epiphany

The Epiphany was partly that I was looking at the question from the wrong perspective.  It's not just how much you need to save, it's also how much you need to spend.  What are your needs?  Reflecting on my earlier life I knew my needs weren't many.

Through the help of the Early Retirement Extreme blog I was able to get a better perspective on some of the financial issues I was considering.  I read through the blog and comments, applying what I could to my situation.  As you will recall, I had been putting the majority of my investments in retirement accounts, which normally can't be withdrawn without penalty or taxes.  So I needed to figure out how to get at that money.

In some ways I wish I had discovered this information earlier.  I could have made a better go at it and avoided some unprofitable actions.  In other ways I think it is better that I didn't know.  It might have made it more difficult to work and I might have left without having as much savings.  I probably left too early as it is.

The Epiphany comes in two parts.  I'll throw in a preliminary bonus point also.

Bonus Point: Maximize Savings Through Reduced Spending
The premise of maximizing savings is that it is much easier to decrease spending than to increase income.  This was certainly true for me.  The more you save means:

• Obviously, you will have more money to live on.
• Because you will need less to live on, your savings will go farther.
• You will get to financial independence quicker.

Epiphany Part 1: The Number
Something that I was trying to figure out as I was planning my long term financial security was how much money I needed.  The problem is that almost all financial advice available is so random as to be useless.  The advice usually says you need some percentage of your income (ex. 80% of your salary) in retirement.  The ERE blog introduces several equations that are useful in determining The Number.  However, I think the most important point is the change of perspective to what you need (as opposed to want).  The less you need, the lower The Number.  Once you figure out what you really need then you will have the basis for The Number.

• Figure out how little you need to live on.  Really challenge your assumptions.  Even if you don't change anything based on the discovery it will give you better perspective on how you live.
• Historical research has shown that you can live reasonably safely off your investments forever by withdrawing only 3 or 4% of your assets.
• That means you should have savings worth 25 or 33 times your annual expenses in order to stop working.

Epiphany Part 2: Give Me Back My Money
The other revolutionary idea that came to me was that the money I was hiding away in my tax sheltered retirement accounts could potentially be withdrawn now without penalty or taxes.  Yay!  I did extensive research and it should work.  At least until the tax laws are changed.

• Investment profits in retirement accounts aren't taxed until you take them out as ordinary income.
• Just like with earned income, the amount below the combined federal personal exemption and standard deduction isn't taxed at the federal level (you would still need to pay sales tax if you bought things and state tax depending on your state).  
• If you can plan ahead or wait five years before using your money, you can get it without penalty also.  You would need to convert a portion of your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA each year.  Then you can withdraw the amount you need to live on from the Roth IRA. (Read the tax laws, it's complicated.)

These two discoveries together opened a new avenue for me.