If you don’t like the way some people live their lives, then make a decision not to follow in their footsteps. Look at your watch now. Watch how the seconds hand ticks, it moves clockwise and never anti-clockwise. Tick-tock-tick-tock, that’s the sound of our lives draining away. You’ll never get it back. The 5 seconds that you took to read the paragraph above? You’re not getting that back either. The fight for freedom has always Read more…
If your idea of a plumber is an uneducated, unkempt, overweight man with generous butt crack showing, you need to think again. They may have a poor reputation in pop culture, but plumbers truly help keep our nation’s infrastructure running. Without them, we’d literally be swimming in crap. Beyond the industry’s necessity, it can make a great career, even for the entrepreneurial type. I had the pleasure of talking with Steve Egner, owner of Steve’s Read more…
In our household, I manage most of the bills, financial accounts, and more. I know I’m not alone either – in most families, one person usually handles all of these things. I’ve been in charge of our important information for years, mainly because it’s just something I know I can do and we’ve fallen into a routine now after doing this for so long. Recently though, we realized that this could turn into a financial Read more…
I make it a point to immediately ‘freeze’ any extra liquid cash that I have by quickly adding to my dividend-growth portfolio. The reason is simple – any liquid cash lying around (or in a bank account) runs the risk of being spilled on the ground. Have you ever noticed that when you have a stack of cash in your wallet, you tend to feel an itch to spend it? Suddenly you’re in the mood Read more…
… In talking with people about money–something I get to do on a regular basis thanks to Frugalwoods–I find that just about everyone has, or had, a hang-up with regard to money. We spend and we save emotionally. For the most part, we don’t see money merely as numbers on a spreadsheet–we conflate it with our self-worth, our self-esteem, our happiness, and our very perception of ourselves. And indeed, money is pretty darn critical to Read more…
If you are a runner and have to pick one or the other, the swing might be a better choice. The above study observed that it has a greater “horizontal mechanical output” than the snatch. Here is why it matters. Russians measured the quad and hamstring strength of middle distance runners of different levels. They learned that while the hamstring strength keeps growing until the runner reaches the elite level, the quad strength grows until Read more…
We were experiencing “hedonic adaptation,” the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative changes. We had grown accustomed to less time spent on cleaning and organizing; other activities began to fill in the gaps—some productive and some not so much. After reading extensively about the joy that minimalism brings, we found this frustrating. We had seemingly arrived at our desired destination but didn’t Read more…
Knowledge isn’t only less important at this stage; it can actually be a hindrance. Stop going on Reddit and listening to arguments about whether or not blended or whole oats have superior glycemic indexes for muscle protein synthesis. Use that time to go mindfully lift some weights, prepare your meals for the next day, or sleep. All of those things would be a far better use of time for an intermediate trainee. The only knowledge Read more…
Let’s establish up front that goals are something more substantial than dreams or wishes. They can start with dreams or wishes, but they have an action plan behind them – something that spells out how we convert a desire into something real. That’s especially important when it comes to financial goals. Since they require regular investments of money and effort over a long period of time, you need to have workable plan to bring them to Read more…
This. Is. Awesome. Many people work in dissatisfying jobs — and most people’s stories end there. “We remained bored and listless for the next 20 years, counting down the days until traditional retirement age.” Not Diane and Neal. Instead, they saved two years’ of expenses and moved to France. Wowza. Let’s find out exactly how they did it — and what advice they’d offer along the way. Before we dive in, I’d like to offer a disclaimer: This Read more…