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 […]