My Early Retirement Journey

Wednesday Weekly: August 8, 2018

Most popular post on My Early Retirement Journey this week:
A Bajillion Tiny Little Indisputable Facts About Life In Your 30s

Wednesday Weekly is a round up of what I stumbled upon this week on the world wide web because sharing resources and information is what the internet is all about.

WHAT I STUMBLED UPON THIS WEEK

The most important study of the Mediterranean diet has been retracted (Quartz)

How to Avoid a Life of Regret (Life Hacker)

How to eat like a chef for less than £20 a week (The Guardian)

WOMEN ON THE WEB

Why You Need a Writing Retreat and How to Make the Most of It (HuffPost)

THIS BLOGGING BUSINESS

18 Gmail settings that will change how you think about your inbox (Fast Company)

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My Early Retirement Journey - how to be single in your 30s and retire early in your 30s

Sabbatical in 5 years or FIRE in 10? A Guest Post on Scotch Street

After my recent Q2 financial update, I found myself wondering if I should take a sabbatical in five years or stick it out and FIRE for good in ten years. Check out my ruminations on this topic here - my guest post on Scotch Street.

3 Quick Facts about Stock Street (the actual name of the blog):

Financial advisor turned personal finance blogger.
Recently featured on Rockstar Finance.
Runs a fun Hemingway-inspired features section called "Scotch Street" that as you guessed it runs stream-of-consciousness articles about money while drinking scotch (or your drink of choice).
Check out My Early Retirement Journey's Scotch Street feature!

Review | 5 Reasons Sling Was Stupid and 1 Reason It Wasn't

My Early Retirement Journey's review of Sling TV

Back to school stuff is already out in stores, but for me back to school season means Fall Shows! That's what I'm excited about. The past 2 years since I started working, I've signed up for cable at a whopping $90/mon incl taxes and fees. However when summer rolls around, the TV show offerings leave a lot to be desired. And while this still doesn't motivate me enough to frolic outdoors, I don't seem to have as much focus on my television watching. So for Summer 2016, I opted for a seasonal hiatus for about 2 months. Then in Summer 2017, I did a seasonal hiatus for 3 months. For Summer 2018, I actually started my hiatus in Feb 2018 because my side hustle did not allow for much free time to watch TV. For the spring of 2018, I relied on access to my brother's Netflix subscription (via app on free-ish iPad) and free CBS app. Every now and then, I sprinkled in a few 1 week trials (e.g. Hulu, CBS All Access) to catch up on some shows. The seasonal hiatus is a good way to justify the expense the other parts of the year. Right?

Anyway in my intermittent pursuit to cut cable costs, in May I had reason to try streaming TV via my (now) beloved Roku (no affiliate).

Related Content: My Week Ending May 11, 2018: Duty Free, Tampa, Roku

I tried Sling TV. While it met my basic needs, Sling was a stupid choice for a single 30-something.

What you get
If you prepay 2 months ($20/mon for basic package), you get a free Roku device.
You get about 20 something random "lifestyle channels."
You think you might get into these channels, but you don't. The good channels are extra. And to add extras, that's at least 5 more dollars.
7-day free trials available (try that first).

Sling was stupid, here's why:

You need an antenna to get basic channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc).
Of the 20+ a la carte channels, most of them were news and sports. Lame.
Between watching TBS and HGTV, I chose to watch the wall. I knew the channels beforehand, but I love TV so much I thought any channel would be better than nothing. It wasn’t.
When you do succumb and watch HGTV, all the shows glitch at the end.
Sound quality on the Lifetime on-demand shows was diseased. Watch the shows on volume = 82, commercials on volume = 12. Annoying.
3 desirable channels aren’t worth $20/mon.
The app crashes if you watch too long. With 'too long' being various amounts of time.

Final thoughts
Granted it was gotten in an un-researched attempt to get quick access to TV for my elderly relative, as the rich people say, I've had better. I would probably go back to cable before I paid for Sling again. Thanks for the Roku!

Oh! The one positive...
I was able to watch the Royal Wedding live and that was really nice!

Related Content:

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A Bajillion Tiny Little Indisputable Facts About Life In Your 30s

Turning thirty was no surprise to many, but some of us still struggle. I got you. Here are a bajillion tiny little facts no one tells you about turning thirty. Share, comment, add your own.

A Bajillion Tiny Little Indisputable Facts About Life In Your 30s

1. You ain’t got no friends.

1. You go to the bathroom. Shower. You have to go to the bathroom again.

1. Your "monthly gift" is heavier and crampier. It’s as if your body is cursing you for not being pregos.

1. Every one has a baby. (See #3)

1. Everyone has a husband.

1. You know what pet day care is.

1. You have pet insurance.

1. As it turns out, you didn’t change the world nor are you the change you want to see in the world. Yes, your college essay was a lie.

1. Work is a time-suck. Joie de vivre… Whathat?

1. Everything aches. Something new each week.
2. Sometimes when you sneeze or cough it ends up being a kegel exercise.

1. You stop losing weight without trying.

1. No more birthday parties.

1. Your family/life/friends/ the humans require a lot more effort to tolerate.

1. You comparison shop for car insurance.
2. You know what escrow is.

1. You pay people to do things you used to do for free:
  1. Pet care
2. 1. Child care
3. 1. Hair care
  2. Waxing
  3. Nails
  4. Food delivery (e.g. groceries and take-out)
  5. Car care

1. You know what matcha is.

1. You’ve been a victim of petty larceny (e.g. stolen phone, credit card theft, hidden fees, unbundled cable, lunch from work fridge).
2. You’ve worked 2 jobs and at one point called it a side hustle, passion project, or moonlighting.

1. You know at least 2 people in your peer group that have married and are now divorced.

1. You have more than 1 bank or financial institution.
2. You’ve been hacked (e.g. email, Facebook, some online account).
3. You don’t have a landline and haven’t for at least 15 years.

1. You haven’t written a check in at least 6 months.

1. You’ve made the life-changing decision to become something called a cord-cutter.
2. You’ve used the phrase food-porn. (That’s not a thing.)

1. You’ve professed your love to coffee. And tried to quit cold turkey.
2. You’ve used some sort of digestive aid in the last year.
3. You refuse to admit you’ve signed up for at least 2 dating apps.
4. You’ve quit at least one job because of a co-worker.
5. You moved away for a new adventure only to move back to be closer to home.

1. After your friend did it, you went ahead and got Lasik too.

1. You’re on your second car.

1. For vanity’s sake, you eat ice cream in a cup instead of a cone.

1. You’ve paid $6 for a cupcake or doughnut and swore it was worth it! (Lies.)

1. Your trendy friend tried to live abroad but soon returned to the luxuriously convenient life that is #America.
2. Someone in your friend group (see #37) has traveled to Chiang Mai or Reykjavik.
3. Last year, you went on a family cruise with your parents.

1. You’ve been to a chiropractor.
2. You watched Meg Jay's Ted Talk "Why 30 is not the new 20" and were inspired for like a minute. Then you went back to your regularly scheduled binge watch du jour.
3. You can no longer eat cookies before bed or eat tomato sauce 3 days in a row or have some other odd food restriction.
4. You now get carsick, airsick, or seasick when you didn't before.
5. You require some sort of accommodation at work just to do your job (e.g. wrist guard, back rest, butt cushion, insoles, sit-to-stand desk, back brace, aspirin).

You’ve imagined your life after leaving the workforce and it’s likely something you’ll be too old and haggard to do. (Hint: Follow/ Like/ Subscribe to My Early Retirement Journey to get tips and support on how to not make this your life.) Share your This is 30s moment!

Scrapbook | Jul 2018 - Summer So Far

Welcome back to My Early Retirement Journey. I'm glad you're here! I appear to be on some sort of overshare binge. This is why all this back pain scares me. It seems like that's how most addiction starts. You have some sort of a pain, and your prescribed narcotic turns into a life of regret. Anyway, I digress. I'm not super active on social media as I am 1.5 years without a smartphone and counting...

But I what I enjoy about blogging is reading other people's stories and getting to know the nitty gritty details of their lives, not just 1,000 ways to clean your sofa for 3 cents. I like stories. So here's a snapshot of my life this past month with some nifty captions. Enjoy! If you like it,
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My Early Retirement Journey - soda graveyard

The strawberry soda grave yard. I like the idea of soda, but after a few delicious cold refreshing sips, I lose interest and I get bloated. I pretend to save them to drink later, but by the time I want another one, the last can has gone flat. I even tried smaller cans...

My Early Retirement Journey - moscato spritzer

I submitted a feature for Scotch Street. Posting pending. Drank a few sips of this moscato spritzer as well. Didn't taste as good as I remembered.

My Early Retirement Journey - firetrucks

My Early Retirement Journey - fire truck

There was a fire in my apartment building. Hallway now smells like roasted carpet. What would you save in a house fire?

Nutritious, well-balanced meals have fallen low on the priority scale for this single 30-something. This slim meal of hot dog and rice made an appearance more than once this July. Maybe there will be a revival of healthier meals this fall. Stay tuned...

Lastly, I'm in the market for a new mattress (possible a new life). After a searing night of back pain, I came home one day and dragged my mattress to the floor and took the wooden slats off my bedframe to force myself to get a better mattress with traditional support. Coming soon...

So, how was your summer been so far?! Any slice of life images to share?

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