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!”Warning: Your Community May Change Once You Embrace Slow FI
The other day, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Martinis and Your Money. It was the monthly happy hour episode, where the host, Shannon McLay, talks about a financial topic with a few of her friends. In this particular episode, they were talking about the importance of community. This got me thinking about my community. It made me reflect on how important community is to me, but it also made me realize how much my community has changed in the last few years. I started contemplating why this was so, and every reason kept circling back to when I started embracing slow financial independence (slow FI).
Continue reading “Warning: Your Community May Change Once You Embrace Slow FI”Is It Time To Get Rid Of Expectations?
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about expectations. How we all have them. How unhelpful they are. How Buddhist thought says they are a major cause of human suffering. How they relate to my financial independence journey. We are all littered with expectations every day. But how does that go for us? If expectations are met, we are left feeling happy and fulfilled. But if our expectations aren’t met, which so often is the case (because, let’s be honest, usually we have no control over this), we are left feeling at best empty and sad and at worst resentful or even depressed. So, what’s the point? Is it time to get rid of expectations for good?
Continue reading “Is It Time To Get Rid Of Expectations?”