I wrote this blog privately for three and a half years to catalog my journey to financial independence. Last year, one of my goals was to put myself out there more and stop being a lurker in the community, so I went to my second personal finance meet up ever. I had no idea that meet up would change my life. Continue reading “Review: Blogging Course By Gold City Ventures”
I am sitting on my couch with a book perched on my lap and a YNAB blanket wrapped around my legs (#swag). Every 15 minutes or so I look up and out my apartment windows to see what new wildlife I can spot.
The usual suspects include a cute green hummingbird (I’ve named him George), blue jays, black-capped chickadees, ravens and squirrels. The Space Needle and the Seattle skyline chill in the distance. I’ve been in this spot for six hours and it’s been absolutely glorious. Continue reading “Why I’m An Unproductivity Advocate”
When I started working in ad agencies right out of college, I believed that their goal was to help get the word out about awesome products. How adorable. How naive. After attending my first focus group and seeing the kind of psychological information our clients wanted to incorporate into our campaigns, I learned 2 hard lessons: 1. the products aren’t always awesome and 2. the goal is to SELL, SELL, SELL (despite point #1). Continue reading “How Blogging Helped Me Appreciate My Profession”
A common response when hearing my early retirement plans is to ask why I don’t just insert the life I want to lead in retirement into NOW. I’ve explored how that doesn’t work for me from a work perspective, but I’d like to explain how it doesn’t work at its core. Continue reading “Testing My Early Retirement Schedule”
There is an idea in The Matrix that I find almost as interesting as the film’s main premise. It’s the idea of a “Residual Self Image.” If you haven’t seen the film, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Please go watch it now. It’s one of my favorites and it forever changed my 9 year old heart. Go on – I’ll wait… Continue reading “What Does “A Purple Life” Mean?”
Despite being a client service person in the marketing industry, I hate any form of public speaking. Whether it’s a presentation to show new creative to a client, an internal meeting I’m leading with 10 people or even a call I’m wrangling, these events strike fear into my heart…This might be another reason why you shouldn’t choose a profession based on the dress code, but sadly that ship sailed 8 years ago. Continue reading “My First Podcast Interview: The FIRE Drill Podcast”
Of course I’m not being overdramatic – ME?! 😉 But yes – shock of shocks I’m still here!
According to a few often quoted statistics (that I can’t seem to source right now…) most blogs give up in the first 6 months. I was worried I’d be one of them. That’s one of the reasons I wrote privately for 3.5 years. I knew blogging was hard work, but I had no idea how hard until I went public.
In addition to actually writing, there seem to be a million things to learn, fix and do at all times and I’ve still only taken a small bite of my long to do list even though it’s been half a year. Phew! But I’ve made it! I kept to my posting schedule and posted every Tuesday without fail. I responded to every comment and email. I made it through what I’m told is the toughest stretch. Continue reading “How I Survived 6 Months Of Public Blogging”
After publishing my 2018 spending a few people have asked me what exactly I buy and eat to hit that spending level. Obviously groceries is only one part of the food equation with eating out on the other end, but I wanted to try to explain what it is I buy and eat in case it could help others decrease their grocery bill. Continue reading “How I Spend $125 A Month On Groceries”