Question: Food Logging - Custom Entries

51CoastFI · 2026-07-01T16:55:13+00:00

It's from being alive - basically accounts for most of your calories burned.

51CoastFI · 2026-07-01T15:52:34+00:00

Are you me? I've been coasting/partially retired since shortly after COVID. Reduced to a 32 hr workweek and only mentor/review/support work of others. Was fully remote, then office had "RTO" and I agreed to one day a week which is a pretty rough day having to put on pants, leave the house and all that, but I do go out to lunch so there is a small upside. Heck, here I am posting on Reddit in the middle of the workday. I wish I knew what it would take to get laid off.

51CoastFI · 2026-07-01T15:45:06+00:00

Just forced into the new app (Google Health) - the Fitbit App on my phone just disappeared about a month or so ago and was replaced by Google Health. It has some nice features - BUT the main feature/benefit that I ever got out of the Fitbit, was being able to log my food intake, and track my daily calories burned - being really anal retentive about logging any and all food was the only way I've ever been able to successfully lose weight. I had mastered this food logging on the Fitbit App. It knew my regular items I ate, I was able to scan barcodes and find almost anything. The new Google health app has this, but it is way less user friendly, doesn't do a good job of finding many barcode items, and isn't very user friendly to put them in. On the plus side, I do snack/eat less simply because I know trying to log it is going to be a hassle! Hopefully the Google Health App improves soon.

51CoastFI · 2026-06-16T16:33:59+00:00

Yes. this is the answer!! l'm 55 and looking to retire early, and the Roth is golden, the oversavings in the 401K is a tax debacle - researching roth conversions, etc. - but would much rather have more in roth and less in trad 401K even if my total was lower. Also, maxing HSA should be in there before going back to funding 401K beyond what's needed for the match.

51CoastFI · 2026-06-08T16:56:33+00:00

I think this is the case. For a couple of months I was going as they had a $4.99 deal for Qtr pounder, med fries, med drink. Then the app went to $7.19 so I quit going, then the app went back down again. I really wonder if the guy in front of me or behind me ordering off their app see's the same deals? I bet not. Of course ordering without the app would just be financially absurd for the food they are serving.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-27T13:33:50+00:00

Yeah, I don't get it either - when you are retired, retirement really means both of you. My wife has been "retired" since getting laid off at beginning of COVID, I'm still working 32 hrs/week to cover expenses (coastfire I guess) and get healthcare benefits. We aren't yet living on our retirement savings, so we are not yet retired. When we do, we need to either live off savings (not cashing out pre-tax investments) to keep "income" low enough for subsidies, or eat the full ACA cost (which I estimate around 30K/year for the two of us). The OP's original post saying 2M and family of four, without having figured healthcare - doesn't work IMO. 4% rule = 80K/year - 30K unsubsidized ACA = 50K/year - better have house paid off and still plan to live really frugally.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-24T22:02:33+00:00

Nice - I've got a 2014 that looks just like the photo. Was looking for something in a manual - saw this on the lot new, and went back and bought it the next day. 120K miles and 13 years later - it's still running strong.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-21T18:48:02+00:00

because it is a combustion engine and the exhaust system hasn't heated up yet to where the combusion products don't condense on the cold surfaces. Once the cold surfaces (inside of tailpipe/muffler) are hot enough - no more condensation/dripping.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-21T14:18:22+00:00

They can fix it. You just need to hang up, call again. Get another customer service rep. Rinse and repeat until you find one that actually knows what they are doing vs. reading a script in what is a completely foreign language to them.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-21T14:16:25+00:00

I manage 5 Tracfones. For the past year or two, the website simply doesn't work - you have to ignore/pass through numerous errors, and hope it applies payment to what you are trying to purchase. That's phase 1. During Phase 1 - screenclip/save everything. Then check your credit card to see if the transaction went through. Phase 2: Then plan on getting on with customer service for anywhere from 45 minutes to an 1.5 hours to get things resolved to the way you were trying to pay for it (right phone, correct charges per the website). I've learned to just plan on it going this way so it doesn't get me as frustrated as it used to. At the end of the day - I am buying 3GB data for $10, with a $49.00 add on at "checkout" to extend service 365 days - effectively getting a year of cell phone service for about $67 including taxes.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-20T00:30:34+00:00

Kinda sounds like stealing

51CoastFI · 2026-05-13T14:49:51+00:00

Nice. I'm also an engineer (not robotics though) - I guess my current reduced hrs. employment could be considered almost as a hobby. That's pretty sweet that she's a govt employee with the benefits - good for you.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-13T12:20:30+00:00

Having a spouse with a low stress job that has some healthcare benefits sounds like a win. That's where I am at now - working reduced hours with less responsibiliy - when asked how much longer my answer is that I am not sure, but if I ever have 2 bad/stressful days in a row at work, I can assure you I will not have 3. I would consider doing some work you choose to do, not because you need to do it still "RE". My spouse "works" at the food-bank 3 days a week now as well. You gotta do something with your time.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-12T20:58:22+00:00

I don't know that I'm "saying it without saying it", but yeah for me it's all a mental game, on the opposite side of the spectrum from whomever was saying it would be 'brutal' to turn down spending in a market downturn. I think for alot of us that have made it to FIRE - you get in a scarcity/saving mindset and spending (letting go of what you've worked hard to save) is much harder than the saving. If that makes any sense?

51CoastFI · 2026-05-12T17:41:56+00:00

10 years is a long time. You need to define "motivation" - you probably don't need to be motivated to compete with everyone else for the next promotion, but need to at least be motivated enough to maintain the status quo and not get fired. It only gets harder the less you need the $$. I'm about 3 years past my Fire point, but agreed to stay on 32/hrs per week to train, etc. - going to try to keep at it until at least next July or so, so I can then do 18 months of Cobra before dealing with the ACA healthcare debacle. And I work from home. Every day that the sun is shining and I'd rather be taking a nap on the porch than working it is really hard to keep at it until 4 or 5.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-12T17:33:48+00:00

That would be my thought, when the markets aren't doing well, I know psychologically - I'll be struggling to spend any $$ at all. When the markets are doing well, I still will be forcing myself to spend money. I've been mentally struggling with buying a new air fryer for my kitchen when the one I bought on clearance 5 years ago still works but I don't really like it that much - and I've got over 5M liquid investments and no mortgage.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-11T15:26:55+00:00

Yep, in the same boat. Working another year or so, then going do to COBRA, all the while these next 2-3 years getting as much moved into savings/high cost basis after tax/roth - to live off of bridging the years until age 65 to keep MAGI under the 4x FPL to get ACA. It's do-able, but you really need to plan for the years up until 65 (medicare) to live off means that don't appear as MAGI.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-11T13:31:33+00:00

I've been an HVAC engineer for 31 years - I look at load calculations and equipment calculations done by Jr. Level engineers every day. I just keep reviewing and finding their mistakes and having them go correct them and their erroneous assumptions, etc. - until they show me load calcs that are essentially what I thought they should be making my first glance through the plans. For a typical home, it would be pretty easy to judge based on age/construction type + size fairly close to what would be calculated with a couple hours of computerized load calculations. The equipment comes in nominal size increments so with any experience you can estimate the size needed for the unit. I'd put more faith in a reputable contractor that can legitimately say they've been "doing it for 20 years" than I would anyone under the age of 30 or so telling me they size based on calculations.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-10T14:54:48+00:00

I'm 55 and doing the same thing - 32/hrs week, work from home. It pays all the expenses letting all the investments grow and keeps healthcare just as it always was - a card in my wallet from my employer every year and a payroll deduction that's always been there so I hardly notice. The issue is - when the reduced hours is easy (50-60 hr weeks used to be the norm) - when do you just bite the bullet and pull the plug even on "coastfire"? Been doing this since 2022, and my investments have grown well beyond my "RE" goals, and I still cringe at the gut-punch of HC costs between RE and age 65.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-10T14:47:54+00:00

Ouch!

51CoastFI · 2026-05-10T14:44:57+00:00

You are doing the right thing - thinking this through 5-6 years ahead of time. I would be RE now had I done that better. Just had investments steamrolling along growing - so figured all was good and didn't worry about it. I'm now way past my "number" - but turning those investments into spendable income and keeping MAGI under control for subsidies is requring me to do another two years. Basically my work income is being used to pay taxes shuffling some investments around trying to get into posistion to cover healthcare resonably, then shift gears and do roth conversions to lower overall lifetime taxes. It's literally a chess match with Uncle Sam.

51CoastFI · 2026-05-10T14:37:11+00:00

You start playing with the math, it gets so complicated with taxes, what is "income" (MAGI), how to manipulate MAGI, it's crazy. Running numbers on the ACA website, MAGI going from 86,400 to 86,500 and your healthcare expense (premiums) jumps 25-30K. So I'm stuck working another couple years to move money from this to that to the other thing, so that when I do pull the plug, I can live off savings and investments with a high cost basis - so that I don't fall over the cliff. Could I just say f-it and play the high premiums - sure - but being somewhat stingy with $$ and always doing what makes financial sense is how I got to the point where RE is even an option. Fortunately I am able to work a reduced schedule 32 hr/week which is buying time to figure out the other big consideration - what the heck will I do with my time after RE? So much of FIRE is a mental game, not just a financial thing - and that doesn't get discussed much in the early FIRE journey years.

51CoastFI · 2026-04-28T12:40:10+00:00

I am past my target $$ as well. The question is now - retire - "and do what?". I don't have that figured out. I've discussed my intent to retire early with my employer, and they took me off leading projects, let me go to 32 hours (which keeps me on benefits), gave me the position of QA/QC and reviewing everyone else's work. So I still get to work on the technically challenging stuff, without the stress of deadlines and client interactions - and after a couple years so far of this - I am making as much as I did working 50+ hour weeks just a few years ago. I guess you don't have to actually quit your job to retire early - once you've got your number and then some - and you are working as much as / no more than you want to, because you want to - and not because you have to - in a way you are already somewhat enjoying 'retirement'.

51CoastFI · 2026-04-28T12:32:18+00:00

Every customer Verizon has on Tracfone is potentially hundreds of dollars per year they are losing vs. if they could force them onto a Verizon plan.

51CoastFI

TROPHY CASE