@GM – Well, I can tell you what this blog is not. It’s not a pro-blog or a product, so it was never intended to maximize revenue and so it won’t contain broadly appealing posts. It was also never intended as a journal or a journey. 95-100% (depending on how you define it) of my journey towards FI was already over when I started blogging.

I think one reason that you’re not seeing any direction is that there never was any direction. At first I was blogging about things I knew already. Now I am blogging about things as I find them out.

I will not really bother to tell my readers that it’s tax time and by the way, or here are some good coupons or a good investment opprtunity; or repeat myself. Other blogs fill that niche already 😉 Also, I don’t make posts with links to other blogs/posts or roundup posts and similarly content free material just to keep the pressure on or maximize page views. Yes, I admit, I have done it on occasion but I suspect those posts are as boring to read as they are to write.

Hence, if there are no posts, it’s simply because I had nothing to say for the moment. Sometimes it’s more. Sometimes it’s less. I have considered using scheduling to make weekly or biweekly posts to regularize the flow. If people prefer to wait instead of having things published immediately, I can live with that. Long time readers probably remember that I have talked about turning ERE into a magazine outlay more than once since the content is not really optimal for a blog format. I am currently working on turning it into a book instead. ERE is probably much better thought of in those terms e.g. my research notes, say, than as a daily entertainment column.

I would say the blog is, and has always been, about ideas and changing your frame of mind in a direction that will allow you to retire early if that is what you desire. It should also give you some ideas to understand business, investments, or life in a broader sense. Most people only know one story or myth they live by (consumption and growth) and so they essentially do not know what their constraints are; like a frog that can not imagine straying away from the pond or a modern human that can not imagine not having a fridge (my food cannot leave the pond goes the thinking).

It is a big picture kind of blog with a fairly eclectic content that tells a different story: That personal growth is not about updating one’s wardrobe and achievement is not about which kind of house one live sin and maybe retirement goes beyond leaving one’s job. The “frugality” (a word I don’t think I use very much) in this blog manifests itself, not from making your own laundry detergent or baking your own bread, but by arranging your environment using systems thinking to make it more efficient e.g. by taking advantages of the inefficiencies of the system. For instance, was this post really about frogs?

I’m still a reader and supporter.
Frogs and all 🙂

I find your interests and the ability to explain them in straight forward manner, very interesting. Keep up the good work and thanks.

I kinda like that this blog is “different” than the rest. I like the mixture of eco-minded topics with a little PF mixed in. It’s pretty clear that Jacob is not writing for money in that we don’t have the stupid “weekly roundup” blog posts every other blog has just to fill a day and generate some back and forth traffic.

It’s fine to point out an interesting blog once in awhile, but trust me there aren’t that many to do 4-5 posts on a weekly basis.

I can see Jacob’s passion in what he writes and can tell he truly believes in it. That, to me, is good writing.

This is one of the best blogs I’ve found – and one of the few I regularly check for updates. I like that this blog doesn’t read like a billboard or a predictable sit-com. Instead, the majority of Jacob’s posts seem to be meant to challenge aspects of everyday life and stimulate new ways of thinking. In that respect, ERE is very enabling.

For example, the odds of me constructing a worm farm are slim, but it did make me think about how much landfill space (and energy spent hauling) I use by throwing away a lifetime’s worth of banana peels, apple cores, coffee grounds, etc. So now I use a garbage disposal and my home’s septic tank. The point is, it made me think.

One of my favorite posts was where DW offered her perspective. My girlfriend and I read that post and it really made us think about the pros and cons of our current lifestyle vs. the pros and cons of their lifestyle. We are both fairly young and have a number of important choices in front of us. Wisdom and multiple perspectives from others will only aid in our attempt to make informed decisions.

Anyway, I just wanted to express my support.

@Get Money…
First of all, I find it ironic that you think a blog labelled “extreme” is too extreme.
^_^

Secondly, Jacob has gone into *extensive* details about how the numbers of ERE all work out. Pumping out multiple blog posts a day means that not every single one will be about the mathematics behind early retirement! He’s gone over that already.
I encourage you to look through old posts, you’ll find tons of good stuff!!!

Finally, read Jacob’s manifesto (should be in popular posts) which outlines what this blog is about. That being said, a blog isn’t necessarily as organized as, say, a syndicated magazine in print. Who cares if he offers insight on bicycle competitions one time??? It’s all part of the ERE lifestyle to which Jacob is offering us an insight.
I’d rather learn about bicycle competitions from Jacob’s ERE perspective than Lance Armstrong’s blog, because I can relate to Jacob.

For me, this blog is the only one I consistently check, and look forward to reading everyday! He has tips on frugality, random stories about how forests parody today’s economics, lots of mathematics behind financial concepts, and everything in between.

I *do* hope you find what you’re looking for in a blog…I know we pay big bucks to have access to their wonderful content!

Jacob,

I happen to love how you meander from one topic to the next, with a bit of philosophy mixed in.

Good stuff, please do keep it up.

If we compare modern man to the past where we adapted so much better to the environment, why was life expectancy more in the range of 45 or 50 years of age back then?

Aren’t clothes just a more personal form of a ‘bubble’ though?

If it weren’t for pesky legal issues, I would consider walking around (almost) bare and adapt to the world around me!

For now…shorts & tee shirts & feet.

@Get Money – I strongly disagree about lack of direction or purpose. I’m sure you’ve read the posts where some of the ideals and values that motivate material minimalism are discussed. Something about sustainability and not cluttering up this beautiful planet. There’s even a comment where he explains how that isn’t necessarily such a popular message, but the idea of financial independence resonates more widely (and is important also). I’m fully on board with both of these motivations. I’m trying to to flame too much about this but it is a lot deeper than just cash flow. Aesthetics and ethics are involved. They just happen to apply to many things (practically everything) in ways that pretty neatly coincide with radical frugality and self reliance.

@Jacob, re: Frogs; precisely. I wish I had the courage to publish stuff like that! Can’t wait to get my own F* money.(‘independence’, I swear!)

I’d add that another feature of a frog is it slippery and squishy. People who lack independence are more likely to compromise ethically than people who have it. A frog definitely lacks the sort of independence that most mammals take for granted! Really, it is worthwhile to think deeply the differences between a frog and … a cat or a dog, for example.