Has Having a Niece Changed My DINK Status?

A few weeks ago, we celebrated my niece’s first birthday! I can’t believe how fast this past year went. It has been such a joy to watch her grow into the smiley, social 1-year-old that she is.

I haven’t written much about the NK (no kids) portion of my DINK status recently. But as I head into my late 30s, it’s on my mind often. So, in honor of my niece’s first trip around the sun, I thought it would be nice to reflect on how I’ve been feeling about the “no kids” component of our DINK lifestyle.

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Experiment “Failure” Alert: We Sold Our Boat

Today I bring you another installment of my experiment series on the blog, where I chronicle my “experiences with experiments” (say that 5 times fast) on my slow FI journey! This will be the first of the series that is a not-so-successful story. Although I had been refusing to call them failures up until this point, because I believe that there is no such thing as failure when it comes to experimentation, I couldn’t think of a word I liked better. And “failuretunity” just didn’t quite have the ring to it I was looking for. Hence, I landed on simply putting “failure” in quotation marks. Read on to hear more!

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It’s Time To Rock The Boat

Alright, friends. It’s big announcement time! Long-time readers may know that, since starting this blog, my big financial goal has been to eventually go down to part-time work. Well, it’s finally official. It’s finally time for me to rock the boat of the traditional 40-hour, 9-5 work week. I’m now officially on an 80% work schedule at my job, with Fridays off!

Read on to hear all about how I made the decision, the process of making it happen at work, and what I’m thinking about the decision now.

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Finally Spending On Me For My Birthday

Hello, friends! Last week marked my 37th birthday. For the last several years now, since 2017 in fact, my birthday tradition has been to go camping. And camping is what I did again this year, but with a twist that I’m excited to share with my financially attuned readership! I hope you enjoy this short tale that feels like a huge step for me on my personal finance journey.

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Can Routine Fuel Creativity?

I think the jury is still out on this one. Part of me believes what author Elizabeth Gilbert writes in her book Big Magic, that we should strive to be as light and carefree as possible to maximize creativity. But as creatures of habit, where does routine fit in? Today I’m here to share some of my thoughts on this topic.

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Experiment in Progress Alert!

Hello, friends! I’m so sorry I’ve been away for so long. I have missed writing, and hearing from you, so much. But I’m here today to fill you in on what I’ve been up to in the month of April and to (hopefully) get back to posting a bit more regularly.

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DINKs on a Bus Turns Two!

I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I followed my heart and started this blog. What a journey it has been!

In honor of the 2-year blogiversary of Dinks on a Bus, please enjoy this short post today with some reflections.

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I’ve Reached Flamingo FI! Now What?

I can’t believe it, but it’s happened! My biggest financial independence (FI) goal since starting this blog, Flamingo FI (in other words, half of the traditional FI number, or one-half of 25x yearly expenses), has been achieved! Read on to hear more about what this means to me and what I’m planning to do now that I’ve unlocked this milestone.

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What We Spent On Our First Real Vacation

Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Dink and I have definitely taken “vacations” together. But this was the first one we did JUST for us. With no obligations to anyone else. A vacation where we made all the decisions ourselves about where to stay, what to eat, what to do, etc. As we’ve been together for almost 8 years, this felt like a big deal and a long time coming!

Read on to hear more about what we did, where we went, what this vacation meant to us, and how we handled our finances from the start of planning to when we arrived home.

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What If We All Tried To Rest More In 2024?

Hello, friends! Happy New Year! I know, I know, we’re in February now, but I had to say it since I haven’t said it to you yet 🙂

I apologize for being away from the blog for so long. I did not intend for it to be this long of a break, but I’m back from what I’m calling my holiday hibernation. I had the week off between Christmas and New Years for the first time since 2020, and I was really psyched about it. I had planned to be so super productive. To get way ahead on the blog.

But, would you guess what happened instead? My body told me it needed to rest, and I listened. I let go of the guilt of not being productive and not posting new content, and it was freeing and wonderful. It was just what I needed. And that vibe definitely spilled well into 2024…

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