Category: Frugality and Minimalism

How to Ruin a Good Debt Payoff Story in Seven Easy Steps

One of the core components of being a good financial blogger is having a great debt payoff story. In order to have a great debt payoff story, you first have to acquire a lot of debt. “I was $113 dollars in debt, but now I’m free.” Cool story, bro. Go away, you’re not a real financial blogger. “I was $113,000 dollars in debt and I’ll be free in 2047.” Now that’s an inspirational story! I will take your financial advice and subscribe to your blog.

Continue reading “How to Ruin a Good Debt Payoff Story in Seven Easy Steps”

Where Fi and Frugality Intersect

By now you’ve heard me rant about pursuing financial independence (having enough passive income to cover your expenses) and you’ve heard me rant about frugality (not buying dumb sh*t).  If you don’t give those ideas any context, they can each come across as pointless pursuits.

If you haven’t been slapped across the face with the ‘aha!’ moment, then I’m guessing you’ve felt something similar to this while reading my posts on financial independence:

“Oh, it must be nice for them to be able to pursue this rich person lifestyle of Financial Independence.”

Or this, when you’ve read my posts on frugality:

“Ha, what a weirdo.” Continue reading “Where Fi and Frugality Intersect”

No Social Media For A Month!! AAAHHHHHHH

I watched this video roughly three minutes ago and really dug it.  It’s about a couple who decided to not use the internet for a month.  In a bid to generally take action when I run across something cool, I decided to take action.  I’m going to take the rest of the month off of social media, and substantially limit my internet use.  I am well aware nobody else cares.  But, read this article and maybe you’ll follow me.

I’ve been kicking the idea around for a while because I hate how addicted I am to my phone.  I am cognizant of how silly we are just staring into our screens even though WE KNOW nothing we scroll through will increase our level of life satisfaction.  Almost none of it makes us any happier, even in the moment.

We’re always looking for that next unicorn post that’s going to make a tangible difference in our lives.  We hardly ever find it, but the allure of social media is so addicting that we’re constantly scrolling for it.  Doing this day after day is making us depressed.  Life is passing us by while we stare into our phones and we know it.   Continue reading “No Social Media For A Month!! AAAHHHHHHH”

If You Just Save a Little Bit, It’s Not Really Worth It. Ya Know?

“What? That doesn’t even make sense.  Who wrote that?  That’s not a real article title,” Mrs. Burrito Bowl.

“This is my article.  I’m reading you my article,”  Mr. Burrito Bowl.

“Oh…sounds great, honey.”

Such is life.

Listen, kids.  Saving money is hard no matter how you slice it.  I don’t really know what that saying is supposed to mean.  Sayings are weird.

It’s a mental drain to think of your hard earned dollars just being socked away for some day thirty years down the road. We live in a culture where we don’t even earn our paycheck before we spend it and we for sure don’t earn it and let it sit there for a few decades.

A few of us know that saving money is important, but it’s just so hard.  There’s a mental shift we need to make to motivate ourselves to save part of our paycheck.

Mrs. Burrito Bowl and I are about three years into this whole money saving cult of financial independence and there’s a counterintuitive idea that’s really helped us:  Saving half your paycheck is mentally easier than saving $100. Continue reading “If You Just Save a Little Bit, It’s Not Really Worth It. Ya Know?”

Life is Short- Spend for Today vs. Save for Tomorrow

Life is Short- Spend for Today vs. Save for Tomorrow

Can you believe how much of your life has already passed?  F-word, man. Summer has for sure faded and we’re smack dab in the middle of fall.  This time of year always gets me thinking, usually about random stuff like the eternal expanse of space or wondering what the ancient Egyptians were really like but sometimes I think about money questions.  Questions like should we be in camp spend for today or camp save for tomorrow?  Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and life passes us by at breakneck speeds, even if we are lucky enough to make it to this mythical tomorrow. Continue reading “Life is Short- Spend for Today vs. Save for Tomorrow”

Be Like Mrs. Wealthy Pants, Don’t Buy a Bunch of Dumb Shit

“Well, well, well…Would You Look at Mrs. Wealthy Pants…

…and her beat up car.  Some kind of ‘wealth’ she must have, hahaha!” said the consumeristic fool, Bill.  “Yeah,” responded the consumeristic fool’s bff, Will. “I bet Mrs. Wealthy Pants doesn’t even have a car payment.  La-Hu-zer!” Continue reading “Be Like Mrs. Wealthy Pants, Don’t Buy a Bunch of Dumb Shit”

The $2 Meal When I Don’t Pack a Lunch

We’ve all been there.  It’s lunchtime around the ol’ office and everyone is grabbing their coats and top hats, or whatever.  They’ve got to move quickly, like a herd of time-compressed sheep, because the lunch break is only so long.  They rush out into the cold world to give away much of their hard-earned profit for an overpriced lunch they’ll shove down their throats with hardly a second to taste.

Not you.  You’re on a different plan.  You want to be financially free, frolicking on a beach, while your coworkers are still grabbing their top hats for their daily mid-work food purchasing extravaganza.  Continue reading “The $2 Meal When I Don’t Pack a Lunch”

“Hell Yeah, Give me the Off Road Tires,”- Mr. Burrito Bowl Almost Buys a Truck

Earlier this year I almost bought a truck. Well, by almost I mean I went down the rabbit hole of looking at trucks on Craigslist and daydreaming about the inherent testosterone increase that lies therein.

It’s a dangerous hole to start looking in because there’s just so many fun options.  First, I decided it was a need not a want.  Very important to only buy needs when chasing financial independence.  I NEEDED a truck because I’ve been driving a Honda Fit to the various construction sites for the last couple of years and at a certain point it’s just un-American. Continue reading ““Hell Yeah, Give me the Off Road Tires,”- Mr. Burrito Bowl Almost Buys a Truck”

How Much are You Really Earning? Hourly Wage vs. Hourly Profit

How Much are You Really Earning Per Hour?

I think it’s valuable to spend some time thinking about life from a different angle than we’re used to. When deciding whether or not to buy something do you ever think about how many hours you’d have to work in order to pay for it? How would you even calculate this?  If you’re like me, you’d take the purchase price and divide it by your gross hourly wage, but this number is almost irrelevant.  Instead, we should be considering purchases based on our hourly profit.   Continue reading “How Much are You Really Earning? Hourly Wage vs. Hourly Profit”

What if Everyone Ate Rice and Beans?- The Hedonic Treadmill and Pursuing Happiness

"You know, if you could learn to cater to the king you wouldn't have to live on rice and beans.' To which the monk replies: 'If you could learn to live on rice and beans, you wouldn't have to cater to the king." - The Simple Path to Wealth

Woooo girl.  Rice and beans.  That little parable is straight fire, as the kids say.  Red, hot fire.  At least they used to say stuff was fire, until adults started to say it on their financial blogs.  Now kids no longer feel the need to say it.   If you’re wondering, yes, I did high-five myself when I read that story.  It’s called a clap, it’s trendy.

If you would only spend your days working your life away you wouldn’t have to live so frugally.

OR

If you would only learn to live more frugally you wouldn’t have to spend all your precious days working. Continue reading “What if Everyone Ate Rice and Beans?- The Hedonic Treadmill and Pursuing Happiness”