Chicago Boyz: Toward Financial Independence

I published a post at Chicago Boyz on our move towards financial independence.  Check it out!

The Pursuit of Freedom

Greetings, all.

I've posted on Chicago Boyz and other blogs before, but it was a long time ago. Most of it was my work on the Clausewitz Roundtable. I've commented here and there, too. I'm happy to count Zen Pundit and Lexington Green as close blog-friends of many years.

I'm back. Some has changed, but not much. I'm still an active-duty US Marine Corps Officer. I'm a major now, not a captain. I've been to the sand box a few more times since I last posted an actual blog here. I've deployed more than most for my time in service, but less than some. I'm not complaining, just saying.

One thing did happen on my last deployment, in the end of 2014. Toward the end of deployments it's not uncommon for things to slow down--lots of waiting for things to happen. So you have time to think. In that thinking I started to really question what the hell it is that I'm doing. Why am I fighting? What is it for? I suppose it's connected to the fact that I was rounding out my fourth deployment to Afghanistan, and doing my small part to assist the Marine Corps with the turnover of Helmand Province to the Afghan National Army 215th Corps. I had deployed to Afghanistan in 2004, 2010, 2012-2013, and then 2014. Throw in an Iraq deployment, some time at sea with the Navy, and some other exercises, and you start to see the makings of a military career in early 21st century America. In any case, I was leading a unit and had a good amount of responsibility. But why? Why had the US come here, made the decisions it did, and why was it now trying to leave? And likewise, why was my Marine Corps doing the same thing? And me? Why was I a part of that?

I have no real regrets about the service rendered for my country. The cost has certainly been steep, personally, though. The family, with each deployment, goes through a great deal of stress, and after about three such deployments, they get harder, not easier, for the family and the soldier to handle. I've also lost more friends than I care to count (I can count them out for you, I just don't want to). There are other costs which are borne, too. But the remuneration has been decent, I suppose. We always managed to be somewhat comfortable. Maybe that was the problem...the comfort?

Part of the expression of gratitude the country has for its military is the pay. For an officer, especially, the pay is quite good. I'm not going to tell you the amount of pay and allowances--that's publicly available elsewhere. But suffice to say that the military has been quite shielded from the fears and losses of the great recession. Enlisted men and women do well, too, and can occasionally do very well when it comes times for reenlistment in specific occupational fields. Expenses have always been reasonably less than income, on average. There's been no pressure from the economic environment to really think about my family's financial situation today, let along 10 or 20 years from now. Yet something just wasn't right. I didn't feel out of control, but I didn't feel like I was in charge, either. I had a bit of a feeling of being adrift. The military side of things was very much in control of the situation--I always knew precisely how many people were under my charge, their individual strengths and weaknesses, their state of training and discipline, and their morale. I knew the capabilities of my equipment. I always strove to understand the mission, to lead with vigor, and to "own" my position. I was good at that. But personally and financially? I barely had a financial or a personal life. That had to change.

So I decided to get a handle on things. I started to track every penny--even the pennies I don't see because they're "pre-tax" and given to the government for safe keeping until I claim my share back at tax time. I located all of my accounts. I found all of the debts, the interest rates, the amount of interest I was paying. I started tracking expenses, and then cutting them. I'll be honest--the wife wasn't exactly thrilled by me looking at things with such magnification. I started to read up on personal finance, investing, and life-planning in general. I read blogs and books, listened to podcasts, and talked with others about how to really order finances these days. And I began to radically alter our financial course. We paid all our debts, we bought a house (so, in actuality, we have one mortgage now). We've rented out our basement to a tenant. And we now save about 40% of all our pre-tax income. We're not where I want to be yet, but we're getting there. I'm not leaving anything to chance any longer, unless it's a calculated chance intentionally taken. Every expense is now deliberately taken.

I also decided to look for some hobbies. Being a military man has a way of becoming an all-encompassing experience. Your friends are basically military colleagues. Your work is military work. Military people know about "mandatory fun"--those obligatory nights spent with comrades and often with superiors. Your wardrobe is decided for you. Where you live is decided. My task was to carve out a bit of this life and make it mine. I had to get new friends and do new things with different groups of people. That would add richness to my life. I've done that, and I'm still doing that.

I've been working on the above things--redirecting our financial life and reordering how I spend time--for a bit over a year now. The changes have been pretty dramatic. Looking back, I realize that up until I took command of my life I was living in a bit of a fog. With all of the turmoil of military life, the American people do much to make finances reasonably tranquil. This financial tranquility is both a blessing and a curse. You're never really forced to grapple with the default decisions the consumerist economy makes for you. Nor are you forced to grapple with the reality that politics is not really national. It's local. Your political power begins with you and those you immediately affect. You need to reclaim that power for yourself. Take charge of the fruits of your labor. Own your day to the extent you can. If you want to descend into the cesspool of national politics, fine--but do it intentionally. In fact, live your life intentionally. A life, intentionally lived, taken to the logical extreme, is the very definition of freedom. That is why I fight, happily, for my country.

I'll be blogging about my financial journey here, as well as on other things as I see fit.

Cross-posted at Chicago Boyz.  I also maintain a ham radio blog at the N0PCL Radio Site.

Fermenting Success!

So, I was wrong.

In my previous post I noted that my initial attempt at fermenting juice into alcohol goodness had been a failure.  It wasn't!  I succeeded.

I was originally moved to try this at one point by a post at Mr. Money Mustache detailing the simplicity of fermenting alcohol goodness.  I originally bookmarked that link about a year ago when I was doing my Mr. Money Mustache blog-reading binge, and it's sit on the back burner ever since.

Then I listened to one of Jack Spirko's podcasts where he again explained some of the alcohol goodness that can be fermented very simply, and I decided that the waiting would have to stop.  I was going to ferment alcohol.  And it would be good.

So I bought a carboy, a stopper, and airlock, and a bunch of yeast off of Amazon.  And I bought a gallon of 100% pure apple juice (no preservatives, as they inhibit fermentation by the yeast.)

The empty juice bottle (I used two of these).  And a packet of yeast from Amazon.  It's a Cuvee yeast.

I've read that you really only need a half teaspoon of this stuff.  I dumped in the whole thing.

Pasteurize the carboy by boiling some water and pouring it into the empty carboy.  Dump the water out.  Pour in the room temperature apple juice.  And pour in a yeast packet.


And now comes the hard part:  You wait.  Fermenting takes a couple weeks.  During the fermentation  you should see the airlock bubble as the fermentation releases the carbon dioxide.  After 10-14 days this should subside.  Sediments and the yeast should also be settling to the bottom of the carboy, too (this is called lees.)  Wait another couple days, when you can carefully pour the alcohol-apple goodness into some bottles and refrigerate it.  Try to pour slowly so the lees stays behind.  Others have success siphoning out the drink with a piece of plastic tubing in order to leave the lees behind.

It's important to keep the fermenting vessel at a comfortable room temperature.  I keep mine in the laundry room, which is slightly warmer than most areas of the house.

The color of the juice should lighten a bit.  Some people say it should clear up, but my juice remained fairly opaque, but was lighter.  Initially I thought my first fermentation had failed because of this opacity, but my wife said we should still try it.  So we did.  And it was tasty!


The alcohol content isn't terribly high--it's limited by the amount of sugar in the apple juice and/or by the fact that yeast naturally stop fermenting when the beverage becomes too alcoholic.  Since I was using just straight apple juice, it produced a drink with about 3-4% ABV.  Pretty weak, but a good start.


I have more apple juice to ferment, and soon I'll start experimenting with other juices.


I have since bought a couple more carboys and airlocks.  I'm fermenting some cider now that has been mixed with about 3/4 cup of brown sugar (in order to boost the alcohol content.)

More can be read about hard cider in America here and here.