Category: Spending

4 Years Of Early Retirement: Finances, What’s Changed And What’s Next?

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Finance, Investing, Net Worth Update, Spending, Travel

How have I now been retired longer than I held my longest job? Longer than I was in college? Longer than any period in my life? Literally how 🙂 ? I have no idea, but it’s true. Time is flying and I’m celebrating completing Year 4 of my early retirement!

So to commemorate the end of my fourth retired year and get pumped for the 5th, I wanted to go over where I’ve been, what I’ve spent, any revelations I’ve had, and what’s next in retirement 🙂 . Let’s get into it!

Continue reading “4 Years Of Early Retirement: Finances, What’s Changed And What’s Next?” →

Celebrating 3 Years Of Running: My Progress and Revelations

by A Purple Life, posted in Fitness, Hobbies, Spending

In a surprise to everyone and me in particular, I’m still a runner and still loving it! I went from despising running more than anything, to finishing a couch to 5K program twice and now I have been running regularly for 3 years straight. Absolutely ridiculous 🙂 . Continue reading “Celebrating 3 Years Of Running: My Progress and Revelations” →

Slow Travel Review: San José, Costa Rica – The Land Of Pura Vida

by A Purple Life, posted in Budget Check-In, Finance, Food, Reviews, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews

So I mentioned in my monthly recaps while in Costa Rica all the reasons that I chose to move there for over 2 months, but one of those was because I was shocked at how affordable it was to get there.

I’ve worked out that my flights are usually $200 one-way anywhere in the US. I’m able to get those prices even for longer flights because I book early and I am able to plan my travels around when flight prices are lower. However, despite Costa Rica being way farther than any location in the US, it only cost me about $200 to get there.

Specifically I paid $201.78 on American Airlines to fly from Albany, NY to San José, Costa Rica and $232.34 to fly from San José to Austin, Texas on COPA Airlines to see the Solar Eclipse. Continue reading “Slow Travel Review: San José, Costa Rica – The Land Of Pura Vida” →

My Search For The Best Affordable Headphones Of 2024

by A Purple Life, posted in Hobbies, Reviews, Spending, Travel

Let me set the stage. Back when I was a woman in my 20s living in NYC who was basically throwing cash out the window, I owned a pair of Bose QuietComfort 15s.

After several years, they started to break down and the sound wasn’t fully working so I wanted to replace them, but this was after I was fully into financial independence and balked at the $300 USD price tag. I suspected that I could find similar features for much less money. Continue reading “My Search For The Best Affordable Headphones Of 2024” →

Lessons Learned After 3 Years Of Airbnb Nomad Life

by A Purple Life, posted in Finance, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews

It’s been 3 years since I sold everything I owned and started living in Airbnbs. Every year, my thoughts, revelations and strategies for being a full-time nomad seem to change, so I like to record them here for posterity and in case they can help anyone else take full advantage of the awesome-ness that is long term stays. So let’s get into it! Continue reading “Lessons Learned After 3 Years Of Airbnb Nomad Life” →

The Month Of San José: March 2024 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Budget Check-In, Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Investing, Keto, Net Worth Update, Spending, Travel

And with that, 1/4 of 2024 is complete. Wow. And I only got used to saying “2024” instead of “2023” recently. Oh well 🙂 . Anyway, let’s see what I got up to in March!

Continue reading “The Month Of San José: March 2024 Recap” →

The Month Of Costa Rica: February 2024 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Investing, Keto, Net Worth Update, Spending, Travel

What even is time 🙂 ? I feel like I just updated y’all about 2023 and here we are in the 3rd month of 2024. I keep waiting for time to make sense, but I think I’ve been having too much fun so it keeps flying by. I remember when months would drag on and feel like 100 years when I was working.

I guess I should just count my blessings instead of always being baffled by time passing so quickly these days. Lessons learned 🙂 . So let’s see what I got up to in February!

Continue reading “The Month Of Costa Rica: February 2024 Recap” →