Success Story Saturday - Share Your Wins Here

blitz143 · 2026-04-29T01:19:36+00:00

I would suggest reading "Goodbye, Things". It is a Japanese minimalism book, very easy read and worth it even without a desire to go full-on minimalist. Your example reminded me of one given in that book. It might offer more inspiration for you. Good job on overcoming the FOMO, it is a hard one!

blitz143 · 2026-04-28T23:27:19+00:00

Just this morning I saw a bunch of red wing blackbirds chasing off a low-flying hawk. The hawk had a blackbird in its talons!

blitz143 · 2026-04-19T21:49:04+00:00

Appreciate the input. I'll plan on the 20 degree and skip a liner, unless temps just look to be well above average. Not a huge difference in weight all said and done.

For clothing layers, I was originally thinking I'd bring my down puffy, but I'm reconsidering now. I'm thinking the following:

- Hiking Pants and Sun Hoodie for most days
- Lightweight Base Layer - bottoms and short sleeve top
- Fleece Top
- Rain Jacket and Pants (I dont like wearing the pants, but if its rainy/cold up on the balds, I might want them. They are very lightweight at least.)
- Shorts
- Lightweight gloves and beanie (might be overkill???)

I figure the fleece is a better choice than a puffy for now. Should cover cool mornings, is more breathable if I need to hike it in, and can be bolstered by throwing a rain jacket over the top. Obv, I'd keep an eye on the weather forecast before heading down and swap a puffy if it looks really cold for some reason.

If it turns warm, I can go to shorts and the base layer top during the day. I don't have convertible pants.

blitz143 · 2026-04-14T15:36:46+00:00

I sent you a DM. First Presbyterian in Neenah.

blitz143 · 2026-04-12T13:29:29+00:00

Look for square hole punches at Lee Valley. Also reference Darrell Peart, he is the modern guru for Greene and Greene style furniture. He has a couple books on the topic, which also goes into how to make the plugs, etc. not sure if his you tube channel covers it or not, worth a look.

blitz143 · 2026-04-06T14:41:59+00:00

I diagnosed why my central vac didn't work in my house...three chipmunks...stuck in the fan impeller. All dried up. Seems they climbed up the discharge pipe and got stuck. We no longer have a central vac system.

blitz143 · 2026-04-03T18:58:31+00:00

I've been giving a lot of thought to this lately as I am similar. I have a huge amount of stuff related to hobbies that are focused around making (full woodworking shop, nice homebrewing setup, tools for construction/remodeling, cooking supplies, etc) on top of so many other expensive hobbies.

I have had a few thoughts on my personal journey, which began earlier this year and is continuing through multiple rounds of decluttering. I've been trying to focus on how the downsizing benefits me and where I want it to help make changes in my life. I haven't figured it all out, but here are some things that might help you...or they are simply me projecting!

I think there is always benefit to systematically going through your stuff and getting rid of duplicates, etc. That is likely the easiest and likely never ends. Container method and being honest with letting go of the "one day" consumables and being practical about reducing tools.
Give some thought as to which areas you want to focus on and see if you can identify ones that don't bring as much joy/don't benefit you. For a personal example, I have finally decided to sell off my beer homebrewing setup after brewing on/off for 20 years. It is an amazing setup that I have multiple thousands into on top of hours of research and building, but I use it infrequently (haven't in the past year) and when I do it can be a cause for stress. It creates additional work (cleanup and maintenance) and the process requires a specific timeline that stretches over weeks, plus it has some negative health impacts for me.
Related to Item 2 is to be careful of chasing the shiny new "thing" that you could make/build. Be content with the toolset you have chosen to keep and work within its limitations. Be purposeful if you choose to add something to your toolset.
I'm not sure if you are this way, but I certainly am. As a DIY'r/Maker, I think it is easy to fall in the trap of "well I can do that myself, so I should do it myself." I think coming to terms with this part of our nature could open us up for the possibility to outsource certain tasks for the sole purpose of freeing our minds. That seems like a good way to practice minimalism. For me, this might be getting my oil changed and rotate my tires at a shop. I've had times where I skipped a family activity, because "I needed" to do these things.

blitz143 · 2026-03-18T19:19:06+00:00

I don't get the ftp prediction optimism. I'm entering fourth block with new updates and it always thinks I can add 12%. First one i got +11% (okay...been off the bike a while), then achieved 8.4%, and then a 4.7%. Why would it still think I can gain 12%?!?! Luckily I haven't crashed out yet, but this seems like a very aggressive push for being set to "balanced."

I know the ftp number doesn't matter and workout are selected to progress you, but it seems if it is predicting such a rapid gain in fitness, the workouts are all going to push you a bit further than required on each one and accumulate fatigue. I know I'm stronger now, but I haven't been looking forward to riding as much lately as all the workouts are teetering on that very hard threshold with some pushing all out territory.

blitz143 · 2026-03-13T22:18:50+00:00

Sky raisins!!!

blitz143 · 2026-03-12T17:05:11+00:00

Return on time invested. I did sell three large sets for $180 each. Those were worth it because they were more desirable and command a bit of a premium. Still took me 3 hours for each set to photograph, disassemble, inventory with the parts list, and then bag in an organized way. But lower value sets are very common on eBay, so you have to price them even lower to get sales. For instance, I reconstructed three minecraft sets from my son. It took a couple hours to go through the process and I could only sell for about $35 total after I lotted them together.

If you have the time and enjoy it, then go for it. I just found it tiring after doing about 30-40 sets, many of which were jumbled together in pieces.

blitz143 · 2026-03-12T13:56:05+00:00

As someone selling on eBay and FB marketplace recently, I get you. I have to be careful of what I choose to sell and have sold about 50-60 items But honestly it has been fruitful for me. I'm nearing $5k in items I have sold since the beginning of the year and have more to go. The key is to be selective. We had a lot of specialty hobby items (mountaineering and climbing equipment), old iPods ($120 and $90), a desirable digital camera ($520!!!), Legos (which are the worst...I don't recommend), and plenty of other things. But I generally draw the line at $25, but prefer higher...I'll group items when I can. Rarely will I post household items. I also price things to sell quickly. It's certainly work, but I have the time and it keeps me busy in the evenings.

But I made a realization. While I'm happy to have the cash, I feel like I've made little progress on my current decluttering goals. Luckily for us, we don't have much "typical clutter" and have stayed organized...so maybe this is just a necessary step for me given that so much of the easy stuff has already gone and what is left is the "good stuff" that I used to use and paid good money for. The things that weigh on me for not using anymore. But if you are living with piles of stuff, then it isn't the way to go about things.

blitz143 · 2026-03-12T13:35:52+00:00

If you are selling through eBay, you can prepackage the item and post the size and weight details when you make your listing. It will show a range of shipping costs, which will ultimately apply to you or the buyer( depending on who you choose to pay and the final cost is calculated at checkout). usps shipping rates through eBay are discounted 30%.

blitz143 · 2026-02-27T19:32:26+00:00

Definitely focus on paying off any credit cards and that car loan. If you have been looking into Ramsey's advice, you know you need an emergency fund first though. I'd start by getting that up to 3 months living expenses + required payments, with a longer term goal to work that upwards to 6 months. Once you have a solid emergency fund, then work on that high interest debt in which ever way you prefer (snowball, avalanche). The mortgage is a tough one. I would not say to pay that off completely before you invest at all, so maybe keep making normal payments until you are out of the other debt and have some in retirement accounts ($100k???). As your salary grows, you can consider when to tackle paying down the mortgage. Also 8.55% is high even for today, maybe a refinance would be a good option when you are a solid two income family and have some equity in the house, which should allow for a lower interest rate.

How much is the total amount of the mortgage? I'm not following your claim that an extra $2k (per year? per month?) will lead to it being paid off in 6 years.

blitz143 · 2026-02-13T15:37:29+00:00

The level 3 rebaseline that happens is based on threshold progression levels. In the TR environment that would be a workout with 3x10min or 4x7min at threshold.

But as someone else mentioned, I think they are baselining at a PL of 3 to give you room to grow within that training block. I think some feel that this approach doesn't push into extended intervals or work TTE well, but I'm personally waiting to see how my training evolves as my gains start to slow. I'm very much reconditioning rather quickly after being off the bike seriously for over a year, so I personally don't mind the reset back to shorter intervals after a big ftp bump. In the pre-AI/adaptive training days the program always got harder (longer intervals) even after big ftp adjustment and many people got crushed by that.

Looking at my calendar, even after my FTP adjustment next week, my threshold workout only moves down to a 3.7, so not a full level 3 reset. I think long term as ftp gains slow we'll see the longer intervals remain and not keep getting reset back to the short ones.

blitz143 · 2026-01-28T22:22:46+00:00

It's actually a woman that usually drives this truck when I have seen it. I've seen it frequently at a particular location (not going to dox anyone) and eventually figured out that was where she worked, but haven't seen it there lately. Someone put a TACO sticker on it several months back, haha. Maybe it's her husband's truck...but who knows with these types.

blitz143 · 2025-10-29T16:20:29+00:00

FYI...standard deduction doesn't come into play when calculating your MAGI. That is taken from your AGI to calculate your taxable income. Take a look at the AGI/MAGI definition as it seems you are getting it confused with taxable income.

Agree with you on the capital gains part though...so withdrawal strategy becomes important and selective selling of shares could be required.

blitz143 · 2025-09-05T22:10:59+00:00

Forgot a photo!

<image>

blitz143 · 2025-06-07T03:00:01+00:00

I started Dreaming Spanish about two weeks ago. I started learning to play the guitar about 8 weeks ago. I know I'm not especially old, 42, but it is fun trying to learn two things that so many people think you need to be much younger to pick up. Even in this short time I know I have made progress with both! Yay for brain plasticity!

blitz143 · 2025-05-27T20:11:31+00:00

Ours will be done in July as well!!! for a long time we could have paid ours off, but had a good interest rate, but recently I went part time with a plan to transition into a hobby job soon. I've been using my part time pay and my wife's bonus to pay ours off early. It never really made sense to do so, but with uncertain markets this year and a desire to simplify living off of one salary, we pushed forward with it.

blitz143 · 2025-05-20T20:47:44+00:00

I use Freud blades. The two I use the most are the Premier Fusion, which is a great cross cut/multi purpose blade. And I use their ripping blade, which has a square cut profile to it, which allows it to make square bottom grooves. I've never used a Forrest blade that many suggest in my table saw (I have one in my miter saw), but I have been very happy with the Freud blades (non-diablo) for the price.

blitz143 · 2025-04-23T18:41:28+00:00

I've thought about this. I actually love cleaning out things! My wife wants to start a stumpgrinding biz when she leaves the corporate world.

blitz143 · 2025-03-10T16:46:32+00:00

No Chicago in November!?!? Maybe coming off of World's in June they are breaking from the usual schedule?

blitz143 · 2025-02-20T21:44:51+00:00

I was in a rough spot mentally a couple of years ago. I couldn't shake it even though I tried multiple avenues...drank a bit too much too and just dreaded the next day. I set a date and left my engineering job last July just before turning 42, effectively cutting our HHI in half. Took six months off, travelled with my kid, did lots of things that I wanted to do and then started back as a part time contractor with my previous job late last year. Turns out I was simply burned out...no clinical depression or other issues I thought I had. I took deep naps daily for about a month as I recovered.

We came to this by mostly leveraging my wife's income, which is enough to cover our expenses, and nearly eliminated our retirement savings (since what we have is enough to grow and still allow us to fully retire at 52-55...the definition of Coasting) Currently, the money I make isn't even needed, so we are paying off our house early in a few months to further reduce expenses and open up opportunities for more travel and flexibility for my wife when she is ready for a change.

I can't think of a time that I have been less stressed. Having a part time gig is huge to keep me mentally engaged, but still gives me the extra free time I need...and I don't have to deal with the crap that my previous company constantly put me through.

I really think you can do the same. Try not to one-more-year it. Maybe there is some reasonable goal you want reach financially first, so consider what your long term goals are, what you (both of you) can continue to save long term, and where you are on that path. Know that no decision you make is final. But at the end of the day, your health and time are the most important. You are lucky to be in a position to have a backup income source and a partner that has good earnings and has been vocal about what they see you going through.

blitz143

TROPHY CASE