Browse Month: November 2017

When Is Enough, Enough?

Financial IndependenceBased on its title, you may be surprised to learn this post isn’t going to be about figuring out how much money you might need to achieve financial independence.

We’ve already written about the 4% rule, and we’ve also outlined our financial goals as we track our progress towards FIRE.

Looking solely at the numbers, I know our family is over 75% of the way to our definition of financial independence, and that if nothing significant changes in our lives, we are likely to reach our target in less than four years.

Today, when I ask when is enough, enough, I am being more philosophical.

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Solar Energy Update: Another Tiny Electric Bill!

Home SolarWith October now in the books, we have another month of data on our electric bill following our installation of solar panels in June.

The great news is that for a fourth consecutive month, our electric bill was as low as possible. We generated enough energy that all we had to pay for were the daily cost to connect to the power grid, in addition to some mandatory fees. In our state, these expenses cannot be offset by solar energy credits.

That said, the year over year improvement in our electric bill was the smallest we have seen to date. After saving more than 90% on energy compared to last July, August, and September, our bill shrunk by just 84% in October.

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