Category: Making Ends Meet

Not all lawyers make a lot of money. And even a high salary might not be enough to live a luxurious lifestyle and pay off debt. Sometimes you just have to go to basics in order to make ends meet – minimalism, frugality, budgeting. It’s being smart, and there’s no reason to feel embarrassed. Every dollar saved goes toward your future – whether in the law or in another profession. Every dollar goes toward your independence.

How I Do a Zero Waste Day

How I Do a Zero Waste Day

Every time I’ve seen a landfill, it’s been in a movie or in a foreign country. Though I’m surrounded by garbage cans in the U.S., I am insulated from the effects of all the trash that my affluent community regularly creates. But when I look...

recognize bad financial advice

What Schools Should Teach About Personal Finance

Recently, more states are adding financial education to their curricula. Some people cheer the change but I question the utility of it. When I was in school, we were taught how to write checks (oh I’m so old). But there are objectively wrong ways to...

bust your budget

5 Times It’s Ok to Bust your Budget

It always seems like budgets require perfection. If you bust your budget, it always seems like some sort of moral failing. There is always an assumption that everyone has the ability to meet their budget every month, and it’s not true. There are lots of...

female shopaholic with laptop shopping online in messy living room

Just Pay Someone Else to Do It!

I recently moved apartments and let me tell you: hiring movers is always a good idea. Isn’t it odd that for some services we can do on our own, it’s frowned upon to outsource (e.g. raising your children) whereas others nearly everyone uses a professional...

budget without embarrassment

Live on a Budget Without Embarrassment

An ex once told me that I was impossible to embarrass. He was exasperated by this, but I took it as a compliment. (I couldn’t fathom leaving the house if I were as easily embarrassed as him). This lack of embarrassment makes frugal living easy....

focused black woman with smartphone on lawn

Side Jobs for Lawyers – A Terrible Idea?

Not every legal job pays well and some pay so poorly that lawyers are forced into side hustles. As lawyers, though, side hustles come with a word of caution. Practicing law on the side has a slew of pitfalls that could imperil your job and...

cash coins money pattern

Cheap People Are the Worst

Personal finance is personal – one person can choose vacations over a nice house whereas another person would rather keep her creature comforts (and herself) at home. Both the people listed above are prioritizing what they want – which is good and not cheap. Cheap...

outdated money advice

5 Outdated Money Tips That Everyone Still Believes

Reading quick money tips is my junk food. But sometimes the tips are so outdated, they leave a bitter taste in my mouth. A lot of (lazy) personal finance writers would argue that their advice is timeless but that cannot be true. The world is...

be happy on a low income

How to Be Happy on a Low Income

It’s easy to think that the rich life is the happier life, but it’s sometimes easier to be happy on a low income. Fact of the matter is, opulence can be an impediment to happiness. For instance, my friends still talk about a certain buffet...