Finally, a fun title, right? Labor day has just ended and I am writing this article, as I have recently updated my portfolio and just smiled at what has occurred. As the community may remember, I have been writing about my new strategies that I have put in place on my portfolio, and the results are quite pleasing. This article, I am hoping, will show you the actual impact on my portfolio from the actions I have taken and to also share my progress towards financial freedom. Remember – I am trying to keep as much money in our pocket from our income, to maximize the amount of assets we can buy, to decrease this thing called “time” that we are counting down towards financial freedom! Continue reading
Category Archives: Frugal Living
Make Saving Part of Your Routine
Since our wedding, my wife and I have been talking about how excited we are for things to settle down. She is also in grad school, which is occupying a lot of her time, but she is in the homestretch and final semester. Why do I bring this up? Because there are a lot of great saving habits or routine that take time. When you are working full-time, planning a wedding, and in grad school like she is, time is at a premium. However, despite the busy schedule, the two of us have committed to trying to making saving routine in one aspect…..grocery shopping. In this article, I will walk you through why we want to establish a routine for saving on groceries and how we have been practicing this routine over the last several weeks.
I Turned Off My Data for a Week & Lived to Tell About It
November 2012 marked a big change in my life . During that month, I lost my “dumb phone” on a flight to St. Louis (still haven’t figured out how I managed to do that) and upgraded to my first smartphone. For the longest time, I fought off the smartphone craze, saying things like “I don’t need it,” “I can live just fine without having the internet at my fingertips,” and “I don’t want to be one of those people addicted to their phones.” Well, after I left the airport and realized I didn’t have my phone in my pocket, that change I had been fighting for so long was forced upon me. Fast forward to summer 2016 and I was forced back into the “dark ages” for a week….I had to turn my data off! The good news here is that I am still alive to tell you all about it and I learned a lot about our addiction to data during these “troubling” times. I wanted to share this experience with you all, but please note the references to “struggling” or “tough times” or any other dramatic phrase have a major sarcastic undertone to it!
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5 Methods for Earning Income Online While Traveling
When I reviewed my goals after Q2, it struck me how far behind I was on my goal to earn over $1,000 in “Other Income” during the year. My goal review article talks about it at length, but what I realized is that the means in which I was trying to earn income were very time-consuming. It takes a while to buy video games, list them, ship them to the buyers, and so on. You get the drift. When you travel for work like we do (although my travel is way less than Lanny’s travel load), it is difficult to cram the necessary steps for many “other” activities in the weekend. Especially when you want to catch up on as much blogging as you can on your days off. For me to hit my goal, I am going to have to change my approach to earning other income from a labor intensive operation that requires a home base to a mobile operation that can be performed from anywhere. So here I am, in my hotel room, brainstorming 5 ways for earning income online. As you all know, we love Top 5 lists on this website!
Every Dollar Counts
Here I am sitting on a Sunday early afternoon, thinking of what post to write. I am currently updating my actual expenses for the month, after coming home from the Grocery store, where I spent $27.76. I looked at my portfolio, reviewed articles online, took a sip of my coffee and thought, what the heck am I doing? What is in my surrounding to inspire me to write a post that can attract readers, get people interested and showcase a passion of mine. I looked in the mirror as I was brushing my teeth and noticed the grey in my hair. Then.. it hit me.
My Monthly House Expenses – Mid-2016 Update
Hello everyone! I wanted to be able to update one of life’s biggest monthly costs that I am chewing on – and that is – the cost of living in my house each and every month. Surprisingly it has been over 2 years since I have written about my payments that go out each month, and to show the community whether that has changed for better or for worse, even though I internally review this each and every month. I find more data and time interesting, as it can really tell how well you manage and how consistent you are able to keep with your management & money. Without further-ado here is my 2016 update to my housing expenses!
When will Netflix monthly subscription be “Too High”?
I love Netflix (NFLX). I honestly do not know where I would be during busy season without the streaming subscription service and even on lazy Saturday or Sunday mornings with the lady binge watching a show with a cup of coffee. For us “cable cutters”, Netflix has been a wonderful supplement for our entertainment purposes. Back in 2014, Netflix rose their prices on new customers from $7.99 to $9.99, but didn’t touch us grandfathered customers. They didn’t touch us, until now. Our price will go up 25% from $7.99 to $9.99 or a “small” $2 more per month or $24/year (excluding taxes). Question is – when and at what price will Netflix be too much or too high?
