Lifestyle Level-up! New house

Guess what, we bought a house! A real, full sized house. After four and a half years in our 90m2 two-bedroom courtyard home we've decided to stretch out into a three-bedroom, two bathroom monster.

The shitty state of housing options, and the joy of deceased estates

On one hand, the new place is bigger than we really wanted or needed. On the other hand, we'd been looking for over a year and we'd come to the conclusion that there were two options out there: nice, new shoeboxes with no backyard and tiny rooms or places built in the 1960s that needed thousands of dollars work... or a bulldozer. After a year of looking we were starting to think that the perfect place didn't exist. We were even thinking that a 'tolerable not great' place wouldn't be happening. It seemed an impossible dream to find something we liked, and were willing to pay for.

Enter our flashy new place. Built in 2007 it wasn't an off-the-plan home. The original owners had tweaked and pushed, and built a beautiful three bedroom home with space. So much space - the smallest bedroom is 3m x 4m.

However, they also neglected the property for 12 years. They didn't damage the property, but they also didn't upgrade or maintain anything. The front room was painted a horrible plum colour - but lazily badly done with splashes of paint across the power points and window frames. The skirting boards were cracked and the walls were all scratched.

Then the owner passed away and the estate was being managed by relatives out of state. They didn't polish up the property for sale, and didn't maintain it for the three months it was on market.

The end results of this laziness? We purchased the property for $67,000 less than the original asking price. After a coat of paint we both agreed that the property now looks like it's worth what they were asking for it.

This is the second property we've purchased from a deceased estate, and I have to say it's so very worth it. My original property was the last item to be wrapped up in a deceased estate - eight years after the owners passed away. The place we just purchased was also a deceased estate, and the executors of the will lived interstate. In both cases they were keen to unload the property and accepted lower offers for a quick sale.

The awesome parts of the new place

Before I get into the costs (because there are costs) let me gush about how great this new place is...

We are now the overwhelmingly happy owners of:

• Three bedrooms! (or specifically, two bedrooms and a project room)
• 40m2 of living room, PLUS 24m2 of dining room
• A double garage (hello space to put the car away, and all the bikes, AND have a gym.
• 80m2 of GRASS! Well, actually, three corner jacks at the moment, but soon to be grass
• A spa in the en suite bathroom!
• Solar panels
• A dishwasher
• A kitchen big enough to to bulk cook, or to host a dinner party.

At the moment, we've sacrificed half the backyard to the chickens and entrusted them with killing off all the weeds in that area. They now have 10m2 each - the RSPCA recommendation is 1m2 each. They are having a great time and eating much less food. Win-win for everyone!

The only resident not thrilled with the move is poor FIRE-cat. While I thought she'd love having all the extra space, she hasn't settled in yet and is constantly pacing. Fingers crossed she settles in soon. Our first non-essential home upgrade will be putting together a catio so she can roam outside without escaping our yard and killing the wildlife.

Okay, but what does it cost?

Here we go, the thrilling numerical analysis!

Firstly, ownership and the deposit. While I have said 'we' through this whole post, it's important to clarify that I didn't buy this property - it's entirely in Mr. FIRE's name. This has been the plan for a while because I bought the last place entirely in my name. We like to keep our finances separate, so having one person as the property owner, and one as a 'tenant' works really well for us.

In terms of the deposit, this part is shared. We took out a mortgage ($90k) against the equity in my property, and combined it with Mr. FIRE's savings ($30k). Mr. FIRE will be working to pay off this loan first so we can untangle our finances entirely.

Secondly, my old house. I purchased it in late 2014 for $340k, and it's currently valued at $410k. Not only that, but the rental estimate is $350 per week, more than my mortgage repayments. The property isn't anything special, but it's neat, in a nice neighbourhood, and less than half an hour from the CBD (by car, bus or bike). I've been busily getting it ready to rent, and at this stage all that's left is painting, landscaping (bark out the front, grass out the back) and a quick pre-rent scrub.

Prep-costs

I didn't pay for the move - Mr. FIRE hired the truck, and we had a friend come and help. We did shell out a lot more in the last two weeks on junk food because we didn't have the kitchen to cook with, and for a couple of days didn't even have the microwave available.

However I have prep costs before I can rent out my place:

• Front of house landscaping: $200 (bark purchase), lots of weeding (about an hours effort)
• Back of house landscaping: Levelling the ground (2hours digging), purchasing lawn $100-$120, laying and watering it down (another 2-3hours)
• Inside house : 2-4 hours worth of packing and cleaning left
• Painting: $2,400
• Deep carpet clean: under $100 (I need this done properly, cat fur is everywhere)
• Possible professional clean: $600 (If I get this done, it will be in place of the carpet clean. If paying cleaners gets tenants into the house 2-weeks earlier, than it's worth doing.)

In total, I'll need to spend $2,800 - $3,320 to have the house ready to rent out.

Ongoing costs

Once I've got tenants into my old property and settled in, I'll be earning and spending more money. I'm estimating that all utilities costs will not change - while we have solar panels on the new property, we also have a bigger space to heat and cool. The new house has a better air conditioner, so I suspect the utilities will be lower, however I can't confirm and I don't plan to estimate based on that.

Costs for the old house:

• Mortgage: P&I payments of $1,000 a month. Interest costs are only $700 per month.
• Council rates: $93 p/month
• Water Fees: $60 p/month
• Emergency Services Levy: $10p/month
• Insurance: $30 p/month

Total outgoings: $893p/month (or $1193 including principle repayments)

Income from the old house:

• Base Rent: $335 per week or $1450p/month - this is lower than the appraised rent, I'm being conservative :) 
• Subtract fees and charges, estimate 10% - leaves $1305 in my pocket
• Vacancies, estimate one month a year as a worst case, subtract a month of income.

Total income: $1196p/month

'Rent' at the new house:

Since Mr. FIRE owns the house and is fully responsible for the mortgages, I pay him rent. This is what we did when I owned the house and it works really well

• Rent: $350p/fortnight, or $758p/month (26 fortnights in a year)

Things I don't pay at the new house:

This is important, because I'm 'renting' I won't be paying the following things for the new house, they will be entirely Mr. FIREs costs.

• Council rates: $93 p/month
• Emergency Services Levy: $10p/month
• Home insurance (I still pay contents): $15p/month

Since I'm not paying for them, living in the new house will be 'cheaper'. It's all funny money, but arguably I save $118 per month by not paying these.

Total cashflow: $1,196 rent in, $758 rent out, $893 costs out, $118 reduced costs = -$337 per month

In a nutshell...

So what does this mean in a nutshell? It means I now own 2 rental properties, the original which is negatively geared, and the new which is positively geared. At the end of a year they should roughly zero out, and as I pay down the mortgages I'll start seeing positive cash flow. It also means that all my home loans are now tax deductible.

I'm 'renting' a lovely 3 bedroom house for $350 a fortnight. This is roughly the same amount I was paying in interest on my old house. Plus I'm saving on the costs of council rates, emergency services and insurance.

The above is a worst case scenario though. I've dropped the estimated rent by 10%, and then put in a full month of vacancy over a year. If the property is not vacant, and receives the estimated rent I'll only be paying an extra $170 a month to live in a new house that is literally double the size.

Mr. FIRE and I are currently discussing whether or not we get a house mate - we have the space for it, and if we have a third person living in the house we could (hypothetically) reduce my fortnightly rent to $200, as well as charging the other person $200. Or even charge that person more, $100 a week is cheap-cheap! I've looked into housing an international student - which pays the princely sum of $280 a week, however we need to feed them and cover their utilities 

I am keen to do a three- six- and twelve-month review on what this move actually costs, versus what I have estimated it to cost. Even if my estimates are out, we are stoked with the move and the space. Importantly we're one step closer to starting a family.... by which we mean get a dog. Or three.

Skip boring side hustles and monetise your hobbies

Side Hustles have become all the rage in the last few years. Whether it's caused by stagnating wages, lack of attachment to our careers, a desire to earn more, or dipping the toe into self-employment, the rates of side hustles are rising. To go with it are rising stress levels are we find ourselves working eight hours a day at our regular job, and another 2-3 hours on our side hustles.

For many people side hustles equal burnout. It means less time on our hobbies, less time with our friends and family, and less time recharging doing nothing.

Still keen to side hustle? The trick is in your choices.

Everyday I'm hustlin'

I have a crazy idea. I think that every single person reading this is already doing something they can make money from. That something might not be the next Google (heck, it probably isn't) but it is worth $20 a month, you just need to slap a price tag on it and do some quick advertising. 

If you want it to be the next Google, then you're going to have to put in some serious effort and thinking about what your market niche is, how to price it, and how to advertise it. 

However, if you want to start today, all you need is a lick of courage and a dash of inspiration.

Okay, sales pitch aside - I'm not going to sell you anything - here's a list of ways that I could be making money from things I already do. 

Hustle life

The Great Outdoors

Do you like hiking? Do you like dogs? I love both of these things. There are people out there who have built businesses out of taking peoples dogs on hikes! This isn't your regular boring 20 minute jaunt around the neighbourhood. We're talking adventure!

You can make a few dollars walking dogs around your neighbourhood if that's your jam, but you can do even better with adventures. Tom and his dog Captain do adventures for $29 an hour per dog, and take up to six dogs on each adventure. That's $174 per trip! In his case, the dogs are collected in the van, then taken walking (off-lead!) through national parks, playing in fields, and jumping in lakes.

You could get started with minimal outlay, get some seat covers for the car, a bag full of treats, some collapsible water bowls and you're set. The dog owner can supply leashes, and any walking harness their dog might use.

Maybe you aren't comfortable taking that risk with other peoples dogs - you could be a tour guide instead! Finding dog friendly spaces can be difficult, so people will be willing to pay for you to lead a hike through dog friendly places, especially if you can show them your favourite watering holes.

Don't like dogs? Do it without them. National Parks run their own hiking tours, but there is nothing stopping you advertising yourself as a guide and making some new friends along the way - just make sure you aren't misleading people about your qualifications.

Of course, not everyone likes other people. If exploring the great outdoors is your alone time, and you don't want to interrupt that, maybe you could capture it instead. Videography and Photography aren't easy, and they definitely won't give you the same cash-in-hand experience, but it's an avenue you can explore.

Create It, Sell It

If you're already creating things, odds are you could sell those things. I don't just mean bead bracelets on etsy (although that can be lucrative if that's your jam). There are many many forms of creating, and many different ways of doing it.

If you like drawing, you don't need to draw photo-realistic art on commission to make money from it. Perhaps you like doing goofy, snarky cartoons? You could list those on RedBubble, offer it up as a sticker, on a mug, or a t-shirt.

If you love photography, it's not all wedding photography and maternity shoots. You can list your snaps on Shutterstock, Alamy or iStock. While you'll get paid more to go to an event, or do a specific shoot, you can generate passive income through sales - just list it and wait for the royalties to roll in.

I won't pretend selling art is easy, but if you already create these things just for fun, there are ways you can sell them. 

Growing a money tree

The obvious one here is to grow and sell fruits and vegetables. However since that's obvious, let's skip to some other ideas.

If you have half a green thumb, you can propagate plants and sell the sprouts. Let me open by saying I am terrible at gardening. I cannot grow anything from seed, ever. My chickens are better at growing seeds than I am (in fact, half my plants come from the seeds they didn't eat that have sprouted).

However, even I and my lack of seed raising skill can propagate plants. If you have a tomato plant, you can cut off all the sucker shoots when their 10-15cm, stick them in a pot of dirt and have another plant in a couple of weeks. The same trick works for most perennials herbs, raspberries and other vine plants. If you're growing strawberries you can split out the runners. 

Anything that you can propagate, you can sell and since it didn't cost you anything, it's all profit.

Of course, if you're terrible at plants you can still turn a profit from and empty patch of dirt. Chickens are wonderfully easy to raise and lay an egg a day. You can cut down the feed costs by collecting kitchen scraps, or even collecting scraps from your local cafe. At the moment four chickens cost me less than $15 a month to feed, and lay over 80 eggs a month. If I sold all the eggs I could turn a $20 profit each month, but I like eggs and I tend to eat them myself.

If you're really truly terrible in the garden and don't want to raise animals, you could still make money from compost. Simply mound up your kitchen scraps and throw your shredded newspapers and bills on top. Flip it over once a month, and when it's nice and crumbly throw it in a bag.

Okay, admittedly that last one won't make you much money. But this isn't a list of the Most Profitable Side Hustles. This is a list of all the ways you could make a bit of money from things you're already doing. If you're already gardening, there are ways you could be making some money from that. If you hate gardening... don't pick this.

Video Games

Lastly, just to prove there is potential money in everything, you could be making money from playing video games! With either YouTube or Twitch you can stream yourself playing video games for the whole world to see, and to pay you for! In terms or start up costs, all you need is a microphone and (optionally) a webcam. As an easier option, you can just buy a gaming headset, or use one you already have. All the software you need is available free online to set up, stream and edit videos.

While you're starting out you won't see much success, but even small youtube channels can make $5-$10 for a 20 minute video with minimal editing. You can have a look at the (estimated) numbers here: https://influencermarketinghub.com/youtube-money-calculator/

Hustlin' smarter, not harder

Maybe some of these things resonate with you, maybe they don't. The point is that to launch a side hustle you don't need to fire up Google and search for a listicle of the 'highest paying side hustles', or '20 coolest side hustles'. Your time is valuable, and rather than trading time for money, I encourage you to find a way to make money with the things you're doing for free.

Admittedly you can make more money with a dedicated side hustle. But you could also fail and flop terribly at a side hustle that cost you money to set up and you didn't enjoy.

Worst case? You don't make any money. When you were already knitting, playing video games, hiking, drawing, snapping photos... what have you lost?

Life updates and new goals: Eggs, AI and being a Proper Adult

Life has been wonderfully hectic for the last few of months, and everything has been coming together in July. It's time to set some new goals, and give an update on how life has been.

The best news? I FINALLY signed the paperwork on a new role. Which not only means a payrise, but means a massive career jump and a huge improvement in my day-to-day live.

New Goals

The Year of Investing was great idea, my finances really spiked and it was great to see my investments running up and up.

The Year of Investing showed a very sharp spike in my funds invested

However to do so I dipped into my emergency / opportunity fund to do so, and I would like to rebuild that fund.

Not only that, but I have lived in my house for 4 years now. When I moved in I noticed that the toilet seat was damaged, and the toilet itself had a very slight leak that splashes two or three drops of clean water when you flush. That was four years ago. I still have a very damaged toilet. I haven't fixed it.

The main reason that I haven't fixed this is because I struggle with big expenses. I don't like spending huge amounts, even when it makes sense to do so. In the next six months I will be saving to spend i.e. putting bits of money aside to pay for the jobs that need doing. And to buy a Playstation 4 so I can play Kingdom Hearts 3 - it's six months of mostly adulting.

And finally, taking inspiration from The Three Year Experiment, I want to fix up some habits. I'm 27 and I'm tired of struggling to cook because my eggflip is dirty again. Or spending 10 minutes digging through my cupboards to find the right pair of pants. So each month I'll be tackling one habit, which will include thrilling things like 'stop leaving clothes lying around the house' and 'wash the dirty dishes while you cook, instead of scrolling Facebook'. It's some pretty monumentally exciting stuff happening here.

Throughout this all I'll continue adding to my Raiz, RateSetter and Vanguard investment accounts as in the Year of Investing, but I won't actively report on these. Each month $2,200 will be added to these accounts. I mention this so that it makes sense why my savings targets seem so low - it's because I'm still investing in the background.

Each month I will aim to add $1,000 to my emergency/opportunity fund and record $250 of planned spending. I'm also going to target these 'adult' behaviours:

July: Stop pressing snooze
I've been working on this for a couple of weeks and it's amazing. I have so much more energy in the morning.
August: Have a clean kitchen 3 nights a week. 
I don't have a dishwasher, and having the dishes pile up is a pain.
September:  Get rid of the floor-drobe! 
There will always be clothes that have been worn once and aren't ready for the wash yet, but a knee deep pile is ridiculous.
October:  Make the bed every day. 
I've heard good things about this. Apparently it makes you feel accomplished and starts the day right.
November:  Alphabetise Everything!
I need more storage. Mr. FIRE and I moved in with 3 mismatching bookshelves that aren't big enough for all our books, DVDs and board games. Time to get something properly organised.
December:  Pre-Bed Yoga (or other body maintenance)
In December roller derby takes a break. Which means it's time to get into the habit of taking care of my body.

Life Update

For the last nine months I've had a new boss - I guess that means he's not new anymore. In this time I've learned how very important it is to have mutual respect with your boss, and the have similar ideas about how the team should achieve their goals. Unfortunately I haven't learned this because we've been working in a wonderful utopia - I've learned this because I've been without this respect and shared goals.

As of a couple of days ago I've signed the paperwork for a new role. I have a start date, a new title and all the agreements in place. I feel like the weight of a planet has been taken off my shoulders. I'm not going to rant about my current situation anymore, because I have a light at the end of the tunnel and I'm excited to start.

Another weight off my shoulders has happened in Roller Derby. Every year new people join the team, and there is a teething phase of working out how we fit together. It's my sixth year and it's the first time I've solidly butted heads with someone. It was draining on me to have my hobby become a place I didn't enjoy going.

Thankfully, the person in question decided that derby wasn't for them and hung up their skates. It's not an ideal outcome, but it's meant a huge reduction in my stress levels. While I know it's unfair, I made the choice to lay all of my derby-related stress at their feet and told myself it was all over when they left. I may not be perfect, but doing this has meant I have the patience for all the other niggles now, and I can work through them as they deserve.

And lastly, I've mentioned a few times that my long-term life goal is to have a homestead. Mr. FIRE and I are looking into new houses with a bit more space so we can have a doggo, and a workshop but we keep finding that nothing meets our wants right now. Either the price isn't right, or the location is no good, or property has too much house and not enough backyard. Plus with all the uncertainty around the Royal Commission into Banking in Australia, there is far too much speculation about price drops for me to be comfortable buying.

Cute little birds, with cute TINY eggs

So with this in mind it looks like we aren't moving any time soon, but I still want to take a step towards my homesteading dreams. In March last year I posted about my eggscellent pet chickens. In October I mentioned that I'd been dreaming of quail, but instead I started growing mealworms as a high protein poultry snack. After sitting on my hands for almost a full year I finally pulled the trigger and got quail back at the end of May. Oh, and I doubled my number of chickens at the same time... because reasons.

I need to write a detailed post about the entire experience, but it has been interesting. I reached out to a local cafe and arranged to take away a bag full of food scraps each day so that I can offset the feed costs. I've found a regular buyer for chicken eggs. I thought I bought 4 female quail, but have ended up with three stinky squabbling boys, and one lovely egg laying lady. I initially bought a small $30 cage and have since spent $150 to build a large split level enclosure. And, because this is a finance blog, I've crunched the numbers and determined that (if I can find a market) I should be able to bring in $40-$50 a month selling eggs and birds, as well as offsetting my own grocery costs. All of which requires much more space to talk about than one paragraph! 

So that's a quick wrap up of where I've been, and my next six months financial goals. There's been some good, and a fair bit of bad. It very much looks like there is plenty of good things on the horizon. And hopefully I'll have the time to write about all of it.

Can you get filthy rich by spending more money every year?

I want to retire early and take back my free time. I'm willing to forgo expensive luxuries to get there earlier, but I don't want to retire to a life of poverty and pauperism.

However, if I have a couple of years of ridiculously lean living at the start of my journey, it could supercharge my retirement accounts.

So I feel like I'm presented with two choices. I could live the life I want now - knowing it will take longer to get to FIRE, or I could live like a monk for a couple of years to supercharge my investment accounts, then ease into a slightly spendier, but still frugal existence that I could maintain for many years of retired bliss.
 
Let's investigate this idea with our case study participants, John and Cindy.

John, 25, fresh out of University, ready to take on the world!

 

This is John. He's just finished studying a Bachelors degree in DefinitelyGettingAJob. A couple of months later he scores a job as a RegularWorkingDude for SomeWellKnownCompany. John's starting salary is $35,000 a year and he's pretty pleased with himself.

Cindy, 25, fresh out of University, ready to take on the world!

 

This is Cindy. She's just finished studying a Bachelors degree in DefinitelyGettingAJob. A couple of months later she scores a job as a RegularWorkingLady for SomeWellKnownCompany. Cindy's starting salary is $35,000 a year and she's pretty pleased with herself.

Fresh out of university: the winner is?

Well, right now our two contenders are identical. That is the point. Let's see how they do.

No longer a poor student, John is okay with things the way they are

 

John likes his life the way it is, his couch might be falling to pieces, but it's comfortable. He hangs out with friends, goes hiking and plays video games, just like he did when he was a student. He lives in a run down apartment with a couple of flatmates he's known since the start of university. 

He's happy to keep living like this for a while, but he finds all this money is piling up in his account, so he opens a Vanguard investment account and starts putting away $20,000 a year and earning 7% returns. He's used to living on the cheap as a student, so the $15,000 a year he has left is still pretty nice.

Living the high life, Cindy is splashing out!

 

Cindy is thrilled to be earning some real money at last! She gets her hair and nails done, buys all new furniture and goes out for fancy brunch every weekend. She rents a comfortable apartment, takes vacations, visits the spa and never misses a happy hour. 

Cindy is living it up! However she wants to plan for the future so she finds $5,000 a year and opens a Vanguard investment account with 7% returns.

Year One: our winner is..?

Financially, it's John - after all he has $20,000 in his account. Although I'm a little worried for his health because he's still eating ramen noodles for dinner every other night and the old couch has a funny stain on it.

Cindy's account balance doesn't look so great, but she's thrilled with her lifestyle. She has everything she wants and lives like a queen. She'd be happy to live like this forever.

Dog years, John goes to the office every day

Five years have passed and John still works for SomeWellKnownCompany. He's gotten itchy feet a few times and has been promoted up the chain, but not very far. He's gotten an average 2% pay rise each year and he spends it all. He's left his share house behind, got some nicer digs, he eats better and he's started taking local vacations.

He's not quite as spendy as Cindy, but having lived like a poor student for so long each little bit extra feels special. Back when he started at SomeWellKnownCompany he set up automatic payments into his Vanguard account and he hasn't touched them since. He checks the numbers one day and is pretty pleased to see he has $143,000 to his name.

Dog years part two, Cindy works in the same office

Cindy also still works for SomeWellKnownCompany and has gotten the same payrises. She's not enjoying work that much though and every time she gets a payrise she increases her investments. She's gotten comfortable in her nice life and expects the fine things. She still has regular brunches with the girls and is always beautifully presented. If there is a new fashion trend coming, Cindy is there leading the way.

On one of her many trips she met a ridiculously fun guy and married him. She's looking to the future of kids and free time to travel more, so checks her investment account one day to find she has $47,500 to her name.

Five years down, our winner is..?

Cindy is still pretty pumped with her life. She's been living on $30,000 a year for the last few years and knows how to stay on top of her finances. She's got a laundry list of places she's visited and wants to visit, although after that big trip to Europe she got a little tight on some bills. Still, she likes her life, and she's investing each year so she's happy with the way things are.

John has started eating home cooked meals with more than one food group and has bought a new-to-him couch. Most of his furniture is a little rough around the edges, but each year he finds himself with more money in his pocket. He's learned the value of making things last though so he doesn't buy anything without thinking it through first. He has a high quality mattress (because he loves a good snooze) but never bothered to upgrade the dining room table - it's big enough for his friends and no one minds the scuff marks.

Ten years on - John feels richer than ever 

John still works for SomeWellKnownCompany and the 2% a year payrises are still rolling in. Sure they aren't much but John feels like a king, constantly getting more money and having the freedom to spend it. He's settled down with a lovely Lady who shares his values and they are over the moon in love. John and Lady start talking about puppies and easing up on work. John peeks at his investments and is surprised to find he has over $275,000 invested.

Ten years on - Cindy is getting tired

Cindy is still spending her $30,000 a year on her lifestyle, but what once felt lavish and luxurious now feels tedious. She goes to brunch each weekend at the same cafe, orders the same meal and shares the same gossip. She wants to travel but feels like she's seen it all, and without spending a whole lot more she doesn't know what to do. She still works for SomeWellKnownCompany and is still pushing the 2% annual pay rises into her investments, but somehow she only has $130,000 to her name.

Ten year check in

John is leaping ahead in so many ways. His finances are more than double Cindy's despite having the same income and spending more each year. He's constantly thrilled with his life as each year he moves from spending like a poor student to a comfortable adult. He no longer worries about the bills, and eats well on delicious home cooked food with his Lady wife.

Cindy feels stuck, like no matter what she does she isn't moving forward. She wants to change up her life but isn't sure how. All her favourite restaurants serve the same meals every day, and she's tried all the hobbies she can think of. She isn't willing to increase her spending, but doesn't want to cut back either. She's restless with her life and looking to make a change.

Twenty years on - John is on his way up and out!

John and Lady are ready to hit the road! John looked at his bank account and realised he had enough money to never work again! When his boss asked him to work the weekend he politely told him where he could put that overtime and rode off into the sunset!

After 20 years of slowly increasing his expenses John now spends $30,000 a year, and lives like a king. Those early years of scrimping and saving have taught him valuable skills, and he can't imagine what he would do if he had more money.

The $20,000 a year he's been putting aside has turned into $820,000. John knows he can comfortably pull $32,800 a year from his investments, so he retires to a simple life of playing with his pups, taking long walks on the beach, chasing a good stick and sniffing the bushes

Twenty years on - Cindy is stuck and looking for the light at the end of the tunnel

It's been a long road for Cindy. She's spent the last ten years reinventing herself, and now she's pretty happy with her life. She's tossed aside brunches and hair appointments for play dates with the pups and couch parties with her friends. She's learned to cook at home so she can spend more on the things that matter to her like travelling. Cindy feels richer then before - even though she still spends $30,000 a year because she spends less on the little things and saves for the things that matter to her. 

After twenty years at SomeWellKnownCompany Cindy wants to move on. She checks her investments to find she has $438,000. She's disappointed because she really wanted to move away from the corporate world, but she knows the money won't last forever. She works out that she needs to spend another 5 years working and investing before she can step away from her desk forever.

And the winner is? Lifestyle inflation! And puppies!

John is a very good boy. After twenty years of continuously improving his life and relaxing the financials reins he finds himself flush with cash and ready to retire. Cindy on the other hand set herself some very solid spending rules and refused to deviate from them, even when she wasn't happy with her life, yet she has only half of the retirement nest egg that John has.

The oft quoted rule of early retirement is to not let your expenses grow as your income does. We argue endlessly that you can be happy without spending much, and that's true. To an extent.

As young health teenagers John and I ate nothing but junk food, slept on the floor without a mattress and worked 16 hour days without any ill effects. As we got older (I say, at the queenly age of 26) we can't do those things anymore. We like things a little nicer, like a well cooked steak, we get hangry if we skip meals, and we hate spending more than 9 hours at the office.

John and I don't need a yacht to be happy, but we want some slightly nicer things as we age.

By following in John's paw prints, you can let your lifestyle grow with your income and still save a giant nest egg. By starting small you can retire early, retire rich, and retire really really happy.

The earlier you start, the easier it is.

What is your rubbish worth?

Thursday night is bins night in my neighborhood, but for the third or fourth time in a row, we aren't putting our bins out. Mostly we're forgetful and lazy, but more importantly we can get away with it because we generate minimal trash.

I'd love to say that we are super conscious of the rubbish we generate, but in reality we're just really good at turning trash into things we need.

I should start by saying that we don't dumpster dive in the FIRE household. I would love to give it a crack, but A. I'm the kind of person that needs to follow a recipe so random foods aren't going to get used, and B. Mr FIRE wouldn't stand for it. I'm restricted to stealing hard rubbish and bringing it home.

Side note - did you know that taking hard rubbish can actually be charged as theft? How ridiculous, these are items that people no longer want being taken to landfill and they've slapped criminal charges on helping yourself.

Moving on though, there are so very many things that we throw away each day that can easily be reused to replace things that we normally buy, here's a quick brain dump of Trash that replaces Purchases in my house.

Foodstuffs

Let's start with the easy stuff. So many of the food scraps that we throw away are edible. Ignoring for a moment that Australians throw away 20% of the food we buy because we forgot to eat it and let it get sad and moldy, we also throw away piles of perfectly good food because we just don't know what to do with them!

Step one - everything is food to someone. Food stuffs should never grace your garbage bin. Food has a hierarchy in my house, first Mr. FIRE and I eat the good stuff. Anything that we can't or won't eat is offered up to our cat (whenever we clean meat, she gets the scraps. She won't touch cheesy pasta scraps but is pretty keen on tomato soup). Anything that the humans or cat refuse (or would get sick from) is thrown to the hens for them to turn into eggs in a wonderful cycle. If it's not safe for them, then in goes in the compost bin.

However, some special foods get to escape this process. For example, the ends of spring onion and leek would go to the hens since no one else eats them. Except right now they are sitting in glasses of water in the window sill. I've never had any success with Leeks, but spring onions can regrow over and over again (until you forget to water them... oops)

Better than this though - food scraps can be immediately turned into food! Meat scraps and bones go in the slow cooker, covered in water for 12 hours (aka a work day) and magically become stock. Vegetables can do the same thing. The last time I cooked Silverside I pulled the meat out of the cooking water, threw in some potatoes and tomatoes and turned it into ah-mazing tomato soup.

500ml of stock costs $3, or you can make it for free with what you were planning on throwing in the rubbish bin. On days when the hens eat food scraps they eat significantly less of the proper fancy stuff I paid for. Our cat gets a day or two of 'free' food from the scraps that we don't throw away.

Never buy Tupperware again

I have to admit, the idea of having a cupboard full of gorgeous, tidy, matched food containers like these gives me a little happy shiver. I save so much money from taking lunches to work that having a tidy set of containers in all the shapes and sizes I need seems like the best idea in the world. But I don't want to pay for it. 

With all the butter, jam, flour and honey marching through my house I am inundated with plastic tubs and glass jars. I currently have 15 butter tubs, 20+ jam jars and an assorted mix of honey tubs. Or, seen another way, I have 15 lunch containers, 20+ single-serve soup containers, and an assorted mix of stock buckets, double serve soup containers and pasta sauce storage.

A 60 piece set of containers might only be worth $36, but taking a few seconds to wash out a jam jar is free. And I'm less upset when I lose the lids.

Paper and cardboard - probably the biggest saving

In our lovely modern world we go through a lot of paper. Bills still arrive in paper form in paper envelopes. Toilet paper rolls collect up quickly. Paper towels have the same cardboard center. In my neighbourhood we get a free community newsletter every fortnight. It piles up really quickly.

Thankfully we inherited a super powered shredder when we moved out. We shred all our bills, envelopes, old notes, toilet paper rolls, cardboard boxes... everything we can shove in the shredder gets shredded. My only downfall is glossy brochures. They can go in the recycling bin, but I can't use them because of that glossy coating. For everyone out there who prints flyers - I'm throwing them out without reading them, stop it with the gloss.

So what do I do with this mound of shredded paper? I use it to line the chicken pen and garden beds. The backyard garden beds where no one can see, I think the neighbours would be offended if my front garden was overflowing with paper. But by using all this shredded paper I save $14 a fortnight on buying straw to mulch the gardens and the chicken pen. If you have cage pets like rats, rabbits or guinea pigs you can substitute shredded paper for wood chips and save a crazy amount.

The end result?

We put out our bins once a month. Maybe. If we remember. Most Friday mornings I peek in the bin, decide it's too much effort to haul it to the street for the one tiny bag of trash in the bottom. When we do put the bins out they're maybe halfway full. We have never put out the green waste bin because we have nothing to put in it. The only things in the recycling bin are packing boxes and magazines with glossy print. 

Everything else cycles though our house until it falls apart. Every scrap of food is eaten by someone (even if it's the worms, it fertilizes the veggie garden), every sturdy container is saved, and every scrap of paper is put to use. 

I'd estimate we save a few hundred a year simply by not wasting what comes into our hands. We might not be as impressive as the Zero Waste Movement, but we're saving our budget and doing our bit for the environment at the same time. 

Eggscellent pets: Frugal and flavourful!

Check out these beautiful ladies. Tempest, Ethyl and their (unpictured) sister Wookie have been keeping me rolling in eggs for almost three years now. I've owned chicken since late high-school and they are some of the greatest animals in the world. On top of producing eggs daily, they dispose of any food scrap you can think of (except onions and citrus fruits) are solely responsible for the eggscellent soil in my veggie path, and are just so darn adorable.
Chickens make brilliant additions to a frugal backyard because on top of actually making you breakfast (well, you still need to cook) they can be the most self-reliant pets you forgot you had, or they can be lap chickens up for a snuggle.

Getting started - the expensive bit

To get started with chickens you don't need much space, but you do need security. Chickens are silly little featherheads that will fly over a fence and parade in front of a doberman if they see something snacky. Or if they're startled by a falling leaf. Or if the sun is the wrong shade of red. Honestly if they can jump a fence and find something dangerous they probably will. Your first month with hens will be coming home to find poop across the back porch and a thirsty, hungry bird will run up to you begging to be saved. They won't run close enough to easily be picked up and popped back in the pen, but they will come running nonetheless.

Coops, roosting and nesting

Thankfully, hens aren't that big or strong, so once you get some decent fencing in place, you'll have them safely contained. First you need a coop. That's the indoors bit with solid walls. Sometimes.

You definitely don't need to be this fancy, but it looks great!

There's a variety of wisdom about the benefits of four solid walls (for warmth) versus three walls and an open side (for ventilation) or some combination of the two. Personally I have three full walls with a small gap along the top, and a half wall with a small gap at the top, and a chicken-height gap at the bottom. I also leave the door open at all times because I'm in a built-up, suburban, fox-free area (fingers crossed, touch wood!). If you live in a rural area, or near a nature reserve you'll either need to close up the coop at night, or ensure the run is fox-proof.

Firstly, the interior of the coop. Each hen needs a minimum of 40cm perch space. But since hens constantly squabble with one another, I recommend 1 perch for a pair, 2 perches for 3-6 hens, and 3 perches if you have more, with enough length for an extra bird (i.e. for 3 hens, you would need 2 perches and 160cm of space). Make sure the perches are more than pecking distance apart or you will have two grouchy birds taking over all the perches, and the rest sleeping on the floor in their own poop. Yuck.

Chickens are also ground birds, their feet are more suited to walking than gripping branches, so use wide flat perches. Roosts are for sleeping, so you want your birds as comfortable as possible.

DIY coops can be gorgeous! Pro-tip, you don't need to be this good.
The hens won't know it's ugly! Source

Next, you need a nest box, that's where the eggs go (hopefully). Nest boxes are tricky to plan. You want them at least the width of your hen so she can fit comfortably, but not so big she feels like she's out in the open. We have 2 boxes side by side that are 45cm cubed (roughly). You should always have at least two nest boxes, with roughly one box for every 4-5 hens. But they will inevitably choose their favourite one or two and always lay there, hens have been known to line up!

Runs, for diggin' scratchin' and good times!

This bit is easier - hens need at least one square metre of space each. Obviously that is a really really tiny space, so you're flock should get 2-3 square metres to start with, plus their one each, plus the space inside the coop. Anything less and you will end up with fat, grumpy hens who will constantly squabble. If you have a small yard, build a moveable run, then you can pick two plots of land and alternate them between chicken yard and pre-fertilised veggie garden!

If you have dogs, or live in an area with foxes use hardware mesh (not chicken wire) to build your fence, and bury it at least 50cm deep. If like me, you're in a 'safe' area (touch wood again!) you can use bird netting strung between garden stakes and weighed down at the bottom,

So what does it cost?

Well, if you're in a hurry, you can buy this bad boy for $195. Mr. FIRE and I were in a rush, so this is what our ladies live in. The floor has rusted through, the door fell off and I've had to cover the sides and put an extra perch up. It was a terrible purchase, but our old coop was falling down. Plus it is FAR too small for even two hens to live in full-time. It's an acceptable overnighter if your hens will be free ranging, but if not you need to build a run.

For a frugal solution, keep an eye on hard rubbish, Gumtree and listen in on your friends getting rid of scrap wood! You can pull together something much more effective (and cheaper!) for a third of the price with some basic woodworking skills. Mr. FIRE and I will be replacing our coop in the coming year and plan to build it from scratch.

Our run is currently made from a length of bird netting ($20) and garden stakes and old bricks we had lying around. Our ladies live under an apple tree, so they're protected from the elements and I think they ate more apples this year than we did!

And finally, you have to buy then hens themselves, unless you're lucky enough to find one walking down the road. That's how Wookie came into our lives. You can order a half dozen day-old fresh out of the shell hens for around $2-3 each if you find a nearby farmer. Commercial stores will sell them for more, but that's convenience for you! Day old hens require heat, special food, carefully stocked water and a whole lot of other trickiness. However you can buy fully fledged hens (ready for the great outdoors) from $6 - $25. The younger they are, the cheaper, however you have to shell out for food until the freeloaders hit laying age around 18weeks. 

Life with chickens 

Okay, now that we've gone through all the drama of set up and your hens have arrived (and you've chased them back into the pen a hundred times and plugged all the holes in the fence) you can settle down and enjoy them. Hens are generally quiet unless they've laid an egg and want to brag about it. The worst I've had was fifteen minutes of the 'egg song' at around 8am. More often than not, your neighbours will be surprised to find out you have hens, they're so quiet.

If you want to handle your hens, they will do anything for food. Start as soon as they come home, and hand feed them kitchen scraps, budgie seeds, weeds you pulled from the footpath. Soon they will know you've got the good stuff and come running when they see you.

In terms of food and water - make a top fill dispenser to ensure they always have pellets available (our pellets cost about $35 for 2 and a bit months) and fresh water at all times. The more kitchen scraps they eat, the less pellets you'll use. You can build brilliant DIY feeders with a few lengths of PVC pipe - simply grab a 180degree elbow, about a metre of pipe about 20cm diameter and a cap and glue the lot together. For the food pipe, leave the cap loose so you can fill from the top. For the water, glue the cap on, then fill by flipping upside down. Water will flow down until the level sits higher than the bend and will sit there like a vacuum seal, similar to putting your finger over the end of a straw.

Finally, start collecting junk mail (without any plastic gloss) old newspapers and bills. You don't need to buy straw to line the nest boxes, simple fill with shredded paperwork and change every week or two. 

And you're done! Enjoy free eggs for the rest of your life! You can up the care quality by regularly providing treats (watching hens fight over spaghetti is amazing) and checking for mites and bugs, but with access to a good amount of fresh dirt, hens are largely self-sufficient.

Notice I've been saying hens this whole time? Because roosters are LOUD! Technically they are great for flock dynamics and will keep the ladies in line, protect them from cats and announce the good food. But they are so so very loud, from the first tiny glimmers of sunshine two hours BEFORE dawn to that last breath of sunset they don't stop. It's not just the crowing, but the incessant chatter. Unless you are rural and want the baby chooks or perhaps to make Coq au Vin, steer clear of roosters, no matter how pretty. 

Makin' a little on the side

So far our hypothetical hens have cost us about $250 in housing, and $18 a month in food. But they give back an average egg every 2 days. In summer they'll lay daily, and in winter when the days are shorter they'll slow down and take a break. My three hens are eating $18 worth of food a month, and giving back almost five dozen eggs! To buy five dozen cheap, ethically questionable eggs would cost me $21, to buy free-range eggs would be $31.50! 

There are so many eggs I can't find enough ways to use them all. I have zuchinni slice, cake, banana bread, eggs and rice, bacon and eggs, quiche and yet somehow I still have dozens of eggs left over! Thankfully my area has a thriving trade culture and I've swapped a dozen eggs for close to $10 worth of produce (hello Kale!) as well as being able to sell a dozen eggs for $3 or $4. I'm not sure if I'll make back the cost of the expensive but cheaply made coop I bought online, but as far as cashflow goes, the hens sit in the plus column!

Except that time they escaped and ate all my peas... right down to the ground.

Tell me about your pets! What do they cost in dollars? What do they add to your life that makes them completely worth it? Bonus points for photos!