Ah, January. A long month with 5 whole weekends in it. The month right after the holiday season. Some may think of it as a let-down month. Others may subscribe to the Blue Monday way of thinking (did anyone else not hear about Blue Monday until this year?). And even others yet may be so focused on their New Year’s Resolutions that they don’t have time to be down. For sure, January is one of the harder months for me, especially living up in cold, dark Vermont at this time of year. And although I’ve never gotten into setting resolutions, I do set yearly goals, and I just happen to do them in January or late December because that’s when I find I have the most time to reflect. With a busy holiday season, this year I got to setting my goals a bit late, and I was surprised by what I discovered.
Continue reading “This Year I’m Prioritizing Friends and Family”Category: Uncategorized
How Slow FI Has Influenced My Anxiety
I have wanted to write a post about my anxiety for awhile now, because it is such a big part of my life, but it felt vulnerable and never felt like the right time. Plus, as a personal finance blog, I didn’t want to write about something too non-personal-finance-related. However, if you’re a regular reader of the blog, you know my posts aren’t much about my numbers and are more about the lifestyle that the principles of slow FI (financial independence) allow. And so much of what slow FI is all about is more than just money. Then, I had a bit of an a-ha moment with my anxiety over the holidays that I felt was worth sharing. And I decided it was time. If you’re interested in hearing more about my journey with anxiety and how slow FI has influenced it, I hope you’ll read on.
Continue reading “How Slow FI Has Influenced My Anxiety”Money Goals With A Spouse
Well, in case you missed it folks, 2023 has arrived! Although I’m not a fan of New Years’ Resolutions, I am a big proponent of goal setting, and I happen to set my goals around the start of the New Year. Thanks to a busy holiday season, I’m just now starting the process of reflecting on 2022 and beginning to think about my goals for 2023. While there will be more to come on those details, today I’m starting with another goal-related post. I’m reflecting on how my goals have changed now that there’s another human being in my life: my spouse. I sometimes forget that it was just me and me alone for so long. I did some good work on myself before Mr. Dink came along, and it’s sometimes surreal to think about how different my goals would be if I was still single. Does anyone else feel this way?
Continue reading “Money Goals With A Spouse”Harness The Power Of Enough
Well, I had planned to post this last Friday, like I always do, but the Vermont winter weather had other plans. Although we only lost power twice for 30 minutes each (many of our friends and neighbors were without power until Christmas Day!), we did lose cable and internet, and hadn’t gotten it back by the time we left for a mini vacation to Portland, Maine. So, I’m posting this now with some free hotel Wi-Fi. Such is life, right? We roll with the punches.
When I had originally planned to post this, Christmas was arriving in two days (for those who celebrate), and the blanket term “holiday season” was officially upon us (doesn’t it seem to get longer and longer each year?!). I wanted to bring you this short post with some musings for you to ponder (or not, my feelings totally won’t be hurt) on what is “enough”. This holiday season, I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept, and how we can harness it on our FI (financial independence) journeys.
Continue reading “Harness The Power Of Enough”Is Slow FI The Ultimate Form Of Quitting?
Before recently, I had always felt one main emotion whenever the subject of quitting came up: shame. Growing up, my parents never wanted me to quit anything. Even though I did quit things, it was always such a big deal. They had to sit me down and ask me my reasons for quitting. Was this really what I wanted? If it was, well, then they were going to make it really hard for me to quit. They made sure I knew that they wouldn’t do it for me, I had to “let down” the person or thing I was quitting myself. Just their attitudes seemed to be saying that quitting was bad. Thus, enter shame. But I was listening to a podcast recently that turned all of this prior thinking on its head.
Continue reading “Is Slow FI The Ultimate Form Of Quitting?”My Yoga Hack (And Other Last Minute Frugal Holiday Gift Ideas)
If you can believe it, we’ve got just over 2 weeks until Christmas is here! The holiday really feels like it snuck up on me this year (but, let’s be real, I say that every year). I’ve been wanting to write about my yoga hack for awhile now, because I love it so gosh-darn much, and when I was thinking about how I would write this post one morning in the shower (where I do some of my best thinking), I realized with it being close to the holidays that it could also make for a great holiday gift. That led me to thinking about all the other ways I hack around the holidays (that has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?), and thus this post was born. I hope you enjoy it, especially you frugal, last-minute shoppers!
Continue reading “My Yoga Hack (And Other Last Minute Frugal Holiday Gift Ideas)”Dare To Say No
As we push past Thanksgiving (in the US) and go barreling into the Christmas season, many of us will be thrown into social obligations and situations with friends, family, and loved ones. Some events we look forward to, others we may not. It can be mentally and physically exhausting to do all the things, fulfill all the responsibilities, and still stay true to ourselves. When we got back from our time away last week for Thanksgiving, Mr. Dink told me it was his favorite one ever in his life. I told him that I wasn’t surprised. Because for the first time in our adult, married lives, we did exactly what we wanted to do for the holidays. And not only that, but we did it without any guilt. We said no to the things we didn’t want to do, and yes to the things that spoke to our hearts.
Continue reading “Dare To Say No”The Best Thing You Can Buy With Your Money
If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that I’m still working away in my 9-5, with plans to downshift to part-time work as I gain more financial freedom. Instead of the traditional path to financial independence (FI), where you hustle your way to more income and grind away in your day job until you have 25x your yearly expenses, I’m taking more of a slow FI path so that I can enjoy life along the way. I’ve designed my days in such a way that I really am enjoying the journey, but there’s still room for improvement. It’s still not perfect. The main thing I daydream about in my 9-5 is having more time. More time to do more of the things I love to do, that make me feel alive. Time, my friends, is the thing I’m saving up all my money for.
Continue reading “The Best Thing You Can Buy With Your Money”Everything Is Better At Home
Last week, I traveled via plane for the first time since COVID-19 hit our globe. It was time. I had avoided it for so long, mostly just because I didn’t want to deal with the extra hassle I assumed COVID had brought to travel. But I wanted to go to a work conference in Denver, and when my company supported it and said they would pay for me to go, I decided to go for it. I’m so glad that I went, but upon reflection after returning, I keep coming back to this whispering feeling: everything is better at home.
Continue reading “Everything Is Better At Home”Meal Planning, Grocery Shopping, and Hannaford Rewards, Oh My!
When friends and family find out that Mr. Dink and I cook 95% of our meals at home, we get a lot of wide-eyed stares. We LOVE to treat ourselves occasionally to a fancy dinner out, but eating out for us is rare and typically for a special occasion or celebrating small wins (and we like it that way).
Even though the numbers are down from pre-pandemic levels, a new survey shows that 7% of people eat out an average of 4 days per week, 16% 3 days per week, and 44% one day per week. No judgement at all, and by all means, if you have the money to afford this and eating out truly brings you joy, you do you. But if you’re looking to decrease your eating-out habits (whether for monetary, health, or other reasons), I’m hoping that sharing our process of how we plan and shop for meals with you today might give you a little inspiration!
Continue reading “Meal Planning, Grocery Shopping, and Hannaford Rewards, Oh My!”