When we started out on our nomad life, I was a bit worried I’d miss my friends while on the road. I don’t make new connections that easily and when you are nomadic, it’s even harder to do. Most of my close friends I have known for a long time and even though we are spread over different parts of the world and don’t see […]
How to give a little extra by leveraging resources you may already use!
Frugality is not about skimping on everything, it is about aligning your spending with your values. Beyond covering the necessities like food and shelter, I spend money on what makes me happy. Supporting causes that are near and dear to me makes me happy and has always been a priority of mine. Much more than acquiring more stuff. So even with a high savings rate […]
How I downsized from a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom house into an RV!
Yeah, I know, if I were a great blogger or more organized (or both), that would say “In 5 easy steps, and I’ll teach you how!” and it would be a short and sweet post. But who I am kidding, downsizing is WORK! Especially when you downsize into less than 1/10th of the space without keeping another place where you can store stuff. That 4/3 […]
Becoming a US citizen and the modified oath
Last year I hit another important milestone on my journey to FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early). Not a financial one though: I became a US citizen. This was a big deal for me, as I have never felt as much at home as I do in my beloved Phoenix, so I did not want to risk being denied reentry after longer periods of absence, […]
Shopping with a Passion!
Shopping!!!!! Perfect topic for a frugality blog, right? Yes, Totally!! I HATE shopping, hate it with a passion! I do however LOVE shopping for causes that I am passionate about… not really the actual shopping itself, but the result of my shopping trips for sure. As I mentioned before, people have lots of prejudices when it comes to coupon shopping. However, just like any other […]
Chautauqua 2014 – Higher elevation and new insights
Recently, I travelled to San Pablo del Lago in Ecuador to seek some answers on a higher level….in about 9000 feet altitude to be specific. I attended the second Chautauqua organised by Cheryl Reed with Above the Clouds Retreats. The first event of this kind took place in 2013, only a few months after I had discovered both MMM’s and Jim Collin’s blogs. Blogs, that addressed the missing pieces […]
A Humanist??? How about that elevator pitch!
Ever since I started to identify as a humanist, I have encountered puzzled looks on people’s faces, followed by “What is a humanist?” from the more curious ones, who actually dared to ask. Within my group of local humanist friends we challenged each other to come up with so-called elevator speeches and share them with each other. This had been on my to-do list for a while […]