A couple of months ago I decided I wanted to stop using credit cards. I’d noticed my spending on them was a lot more than I’d prefer, and so I decided to go cold turkey and use only my debit card - immediate impact, and limits that, if reached, would actually penalize me (in overdraft [...]
I get paid every other Wednesday.
Before taxes my 401(a) gets funded by my contribution and the matching funds from my employer. I work at a university and they’re very generous with their match, it’s actually well beyond matching.
My check is deposited to my local checking account for a predetermined amount, based on a budget that [...]
Shane’s question about what percent I save each month made me realize that I hadn’t talked about how I set my own salary a few months ago.
I reviewed my monthly budget back in June, which is something I try to do every few months. I’ve always had an entry for “Savings” but I’ve never done [...]
I just read about trying a No Spend month, and while I’m completely blown away that 3 people got by on $250 to cover their food, gas, and entertainment costs, I think I might give myself $150 for August until I leave for Iceland on 29 August. I only have one event scheduled that month [...]
I’m going to try something out to cut back on another aspect of my life - I’m going to try to make it until the end of August without using my credit card. I’ve been lucky in my financial situation in that I’ve never carried a credit card balance over from month to month.
Still, I [...]
After nearly a year of being my primary grocery supplier, and 9 years in business, I received an email this afternoon that SimonDelivers is shutting down. They blame the situation on the current economic conditions, specifically food and fuel costs.
This is really disappointing to me, as SimonDelivers was a major factor in me realizing that I could live without [...]
Just read “Why Bother?”, an article from the NYT, and while it’s about making an effort to be green and being conscious of the environment and our impact on it, I think some of the ideas can be applied to living with less clutter as well.
Our culture has so many expectations for us, and it [...]
I just wanted to share these writings by Merlin Mann on 43Folders about cutting back on clutter. He has some very good advice in here. I’d elaborate, but I need to get some work done.
A few weeks ago my buddy Scott mentioned an approach to exercise he’d read about called Tabata. As he explained the basics to us, I saw a lot of things that appealed to me - speed, effectiveness, and minimalism. I’ll be explaining this as I understand it and practice it, though there are several possible [...]
I moved this past weekend, from Bloomington to Minneapolis. This looks to be a significant lifestyle change, as I expect that living without a car will be much more feasible now. There are two HourCars within two blocks and a few more within a twenty minute walk.
The biggest challenge of this move has been a significant [...]