Everyone seems to be fasting these days – just on the internet, not in my real life. My real-life friends think this is weird. So here internet, this is my contribution – my three-day fast experience, what I learned. My History of Fasting After reading...
When I found out I was an ENFP, I felt understood. The positive characteristics completely resonated with me. Then I read about the bad things – like being bad with money. Me? Daughter of immigrants? On a sabbatical after quitting her job? Though I’m not...
With the murders of eight people in an Atlanta massage parlor taking up the entire news cycle (and, as I’m editing this, the mass shooting in Colorado), it’s been difficult for me to concentrate on personal finance. Many people assume I feel scared or angry...
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....
The word “diet” means the foods you eat regularly. So technically everybody is on a diet. And your diet may not work for me, and it might not even work for you. And telling everyone to diet or about your diet, well that’s annoying. The...
Recently, I celebrated the second anniversary of the day I left my law firm job. And while it’s been tremendous, and I have no regrets about leaving, it hasn’t been complete smooth sailing because of certain psychological problems with early retirement. Most people question the...
Too many people think talking about money is tacky. I’ll admit it’s uncomfortable and awkward, but anything worthwhile and unique has some built-in hurdles. Instead of talking money with friends, people turn to experts. Experts, however, don’t much care if you succeed or fail. They...
We often dismiss the effect of a single consumer’s actions. But our choices change us, and even changing one person’s world is very significant. And if you change enough of people’s worlds, you ultimately change everyone’s world. When we engage in values-based spending, we can...
It’s a surprisingly controversial statement – women should pay in relationships. The notion that the man should pay is engrained in our culture. People usually bring up reasons like the pay gap and tradition. The difference these days is that we can’t assume anymore that...
Often our goals are difficult because they require too many decisions to break out of our rut. But if we redesign our lives so that making good decisions is easier, we can become successful without any willpower. You don’t need self-control to brush your teeth,...