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Like a lot of people out there, I have a handful of local businesses that I really love. There are a couple local microbreweries in central Iowa that make amazing stuff and currently have the doors closed on their restaurants and pubs. There’s a local pizza shop that my family and I sometimes order from as a treat that has this amazing crust. I frequently attended a weekly community game night hosted by a local tabletop gaming store that’s currently closed. There’s a nice little independent bookstore nearby that’s closed. My family’s favorite ice cream parlor, which we’d go to every once in a while as a treat, is at least partially closed (I’m not 100% sure what they’re doing, honestly).

In conversations with friends and family recently, one theme I’ve heard again and again is how struck people are by how dependent they are on the availability of so many services and products. Many of them simply needed to go to stores or other places simply because they simply didn’t have access to basic things otherwise.

This left me thinking about what moves I can make that reduce my reliance on external services while being financially sensible, not incredibly wasteful and not requiring a ton of additional time for upkeep. The goals are simple: I want to find ways that make me less reliant on services, have less need to leave home if there are reasons not to (like, say, social distancing), and manage to achieve both of those things in a way that keeps costs low and doesn’t require a lot of ongoing time investment.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Ceiling fan direction issues
2. Uninformed or focused?
3. Mail order seed recommendations
4. Will life insurance be viable?
5. Spring cleaning without yard sales?
6. Spending up during social distancing
7. Spending down during social distancing
8. Surviving unemployment, not thriving

The “Books with Impact” series takes a deeper look at specific books that have had a profound impact on my financial, professional, and personal growth by extracting specific points of advice from those books and looking at how I’ve applied them in my life with successful results. The previous entry in this series covered The More of Less by Joshua Becker.

Distraction is a constant challenge in the modern world, with smartphones constantly in our pocket dinging us with notifications and infinite entertainment options around us. Distraction has a serious cost for all of us, as it takes us out of the moment, keeps us from producing our best work, and can even disrupt our personal relationships and important life moments.