It’s been quiet on the blog for more than 3 months now. Which means I’ve missed a couple of monthly updates. I’ve stopped following my visitor numbers long time ago, so I don’t actually know if you guys are still here? Anyway, writers drought seems to happen to the most of us eventually. I think the monthly updates have run their course, and I no longer have the desire to do them. Nor have I had the time these past couple of months. I still feel like I owe you guys an update on the project though. The current project being: Our house renovation. The FIRE project is currently on hold (still), a ..read more

Fall has arrived, people! You know what this means, right? Winter is coming! Yes…But also: here is this months (long overdue) update from August! The Update I feel like the days are running at 2x speed lately. We have made 0 progress in the “new house project”. We’re just…living. I’ve struggled to remember any major events that happened in our lives in August… I should maybe start writing small notes whenever something major happens so I don’t forget them Then again, if I forget them in 2 weeks, then they might not have been that major after all, right? Life is what happens when you’re ..read more

Hello people! It’s time for another riveting update from yours truly. As is the norm these days, there has been a development that has flipped everything upside down. The Update On July 31st we handed over the keys to our old home to its new owners. We’re now officially living IN the new house. We were supposed to be living IN the temporary “trailer” home in the back yard – but we’re not… It all began on July 28. It was a Friday, and we had been looking forward to get our new temporary home installed – and to get settled in. We were handing over the keys to our old house on Monday 31st, so we ..read more

It’s JULY already! In the words of my 8-yo daugther: OMG! Time is flying by and I really try to not let it get to me, but summer is rapidly coming to an end before it even really began! We are busy in the new house, and haven’t even started packing down our old house yet! My wife JUST started packing a few boxes last night, and we have begun selling some of our furniture that we will not bring to the new home (simply because it’s a lot smaller than our current one). The update During this manic two-household phase I’ve had to slim down the update format so as to not spend too much time on it ..read more

Hello everyone! It is now June already! – This means that I’ve yet again fallen behind (as usual) with the monthly update. Last month the sale of our current primary home went through – and so did the purchase of our new future home. Our new home is a renovation project, and thus we won’t know for sure when we will be able to move in. However, we know that we will be moving OUT of our current home by the end of July. Luckily, we’ve already got the keys to our renovation project (it was vacant). So we will have a place to stay when we move out – this place just won’t have a kitchen…or a bathroo ..read more

Alcohol is an embedded part of the western culture – especially in the Nordics. Whenever we go to social outings you can be 100% sure that there will be alcohol on the table. Dinner at grandmas, dinner with the in-laws, at birthdays, funerals, weddings, a quick visit to the neighbors – there’s alcohol. Being a person of self-chosen abstinence, I sometimes find it a bit difficult to “fit in”. I’ve never really been interested in alcohol (not for any religious reasons or anything, I just never really enjoyed the taste of beer or wine). Luckily though, people always include me in their parties or ..read more

It’s Easter already! Once again I’m a little late with my monthly update, but better late than never, right?! I feel like that’s my life’s story lately; I’m always a little late to the party My stocks & ETFs portfolio currently constitute about 15% of our Total Balance, and yet this 15% is what’s currently giving me the most grief! For a while I’ve been questioning my own choices (if I’m being honest), and this month we took another big hit… The month in review – But first to some good news! I managed to tuck away a cool €2,266 this month. It has been a while since I managed to save this ..read more

Hello dear readers and good folk. Here we are – yet again – as it’s time for another riveting update from yours truly. As is the norm these days, this one is a bit delayed, as we’ve been on a getaway to “the promised land”. We didn’t quite get what we were promised though – but we did get some sun and some nice needed rest AND a break from the Danish winter-weather. I also managed to read 3 books in 1 week. I love reading, but for some reason I can only really “concentrate” on doing it when I’m on vacation… The month in review Since we left Denmark at the end of February, I did not get the cha ..read more

Sorry to have to be the one to tell you this; but if you have embarked on the journey to FIRE – it’s going to be a bumpy road. I know that all the Youtube/Instragram finfluencers have promised us something else; a straight line to freedom. But in most cases this is not going to happen. For the majority of us, the journey will be long. It will be hard at times, and some times (most of the time, really) it will seem like an impossible endeavor. Expectations vs. Reality You will undoubtedly have seen one or two finfluencers (or many!) at one point map their journey to freedom, in a graph that loo ..read more

2023 is off to a flying start! By the end of 2022 everyone was screaming about a looming recession (even myself). So far it’s no-where to be seen, and the “experts” have now pushed it to arrive in the 2nd half of 2023 (instead of the 1st half). Nobody knows what’s going to happen, so all we can do is smile and keep going, right? January 2023 in the Total Balance household was filled with both smiles and laughter, but also tears and sadness, as we attended a(nother) funeral… The month in review When you live long enough, funerals are inevitably part of life. I’ve said goodbye to 3 grandparents ..read more