the money tools you need to be set free
I cringe every time someone says, “I am not a math person.” You are many things, and one of them is a math person. You are an artistic person, a creative person, a dancing person, because you are human. The surest way to hamstring your growth as a human being is to peg yourself into […]
The journey to FIRE– financial independence, retiring early– looks like a lot of things to a lot of different people. Some people retire to the countryside. Others retire to travel the world. Still others ‘retire’ to run their own business. No matter what the path, all the journeys have five things in common, and along […]
The average American woman spends $44 on a haircut. Add 20% tip, the total rises to $53. If she goes to a salon the recommended 4-8 times a year, she pays $212-$424 per year on haircuts. The average American man will spend $28 on a haircut. Add 20% tip, he will pay $34 every visit. […]
Four steps helped us set some goals, benchmark our spending, and make meal-planning happen.
A travel bug scuttled around the house as I grew up, buzzing through hallways lined with photographs of faraway places. My parents met while on a three-day trek in New Zealand, so I guess it was inevitable that they would bring the bug home with them. I try to follow in their footsteps and travel […]
Back in elementary school they did a lot to scare us out of smoking. A huge poster of a woman dominated the nurse’s office, where you could see through half of her body as if with cartoon x-ray vision. You could see her rotting lungs, cavity-filled mouth, and other gross consequences from habitual smoking. Definitely […]
July was the month of beautiful sunsets. I had a couple of goals based off of last month’s spending, but since I don’t budget, I wasn’t sure how well I did until I wrote up this report.
I do things in bursts. I let messes accumulate until one day I decide that is enough and clean everything. I don’t like making calls so I will wait all year for a burst of energy one Thursday afternoon when I book a dentist, doctor, and car maintenance appointment one after another.
As I read more into personal finance, one thing kept popping up: the side-hustle. Ideally, this was something you could do in your spare time to earn a little supplemental income. While the idea seemed intriguing, I come home after work exhausted, barely able to conjure up the effort it takes to make dinner let alone […]
Cheapskate. Miser. Scrooge. These words describe people with an unhealthy relationship with money and often other people. Frugal people often walk this line– how can we be mindful money managers without being misers? The distinction got me thinking about the balancing act between the future and now, saving and spending, and the relationships we have […]