Early retirement? New Year's Resolutions?

Well, my post-Christmas holiday is coming to an end. It's been a lovely, lazy, thinking-ful 10 days, but... back to work tomorrow.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

A couple of good blogs I found yesterday/today:

Simple Living in Suffolk (UK)

Mr. Money Mustache (Lives in US but is from Canada)

Lots in the news about the economy, how in Canada there is an increase in "Employment Insurance" starting this month and talk of pension increases/opt-out employer policies, and lots and lots of people complaining they don't have anything left over at the end of the month.

One blog has a guy living on about $7000 (US) per year. Apparently the average wage here in Canada is $30k. Taking off the complicated list of taxes and compulsory deductions (different for each province), that would give an annual income of... $22000 or so here in Ontario. Or about $1800 per month (at current exchange rates, that would be about 1100 GBP per month).

The last two months have been expensive, relatively, with Christmas and a few expensive purchases. Excluding all that, I reckon the two of us - living in a rented 1 bedroom flat - spend about $1500 a month (950 GBP).

Yes yes, we are DINKYs (dual income, no kids yet). And yes, I earn a bit more than average, though I am freelance and only working 3 days a week at the moment.

It's a slippery slope, I guess. Once you've got your house, and it was at the upper end of your affordability to begin with, you're kinda stuck. Then along comes a child, or two, and, and, and...

It's nice reading the blogs I linked - reminds me I'm not crazy, alone in thinking this stuff. I WANT TO RETIRE! Yes, and I'm only 31. Can I do it - save hard for 2-3 years, pay off everything, and just... stop working? Of course it wouldn't be "the end" - I want to grow most of our food. I want to have solar panels providing some of our energy needs, and have a wood lot providing the rest.

Then all I need is enough money to pay for property tax.

Is it that simple? Doubtful!

During the war...

Austerity.

Pretty common word, this last year. But what does it mean?

Bleakness, saving, rationing... in Britain during and after the second world war there was a sweet ration - all the way to 1953, believe it or not. There was a limit to the number of buttons a piece of clothing could have.

Of course, this was all implemented by the government, and now there is a lot more free market capitalism in play. While here in Canada there is a lot of country-patriotism, it feels like the amount of belief people have in the political class is about as limited as in the UK.

As far as I am aware, nothing is truly rationed. Milk is just over a dollar per litre (more like $2.50 if you buy organic, but that's another story); petrol is only slightly more than that - currently $1.20 or there abouts.

Minimum wage is about $11, and about £6 in the UK. I can buy enough food for a week for 3 hours work, say. Cabbage, yes; pasta on special, or 5kg potatoes for $3.

Austerity? One less flat screen TV? We don't know the meaning of the word.