frugality

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker shared some thoughts on why many ultrarich people aren't satisfied with their wealth. There seem to be two reasons. First, people tend to ask themselves: Am I doing better than I was before? Do I have more today than I did yesterday? […]

Financial independence and early retirement continue to attract mainstream attention. This is a good thing. Check that, this is a great thing. Of course, with this attention there are more naysayers and critics than ever. One of the main criticisms of the FIRE movement — and of frugality, in general — is that those who seek FIRE are depriving themselves. Or leading lives of deprivation. […]

Over the last few years, I’ve really begun to appreciate a cup of coffee in the morning, particularly on days when I need to tackle a lot of tasks that require focus and ideas. […]

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln I love this quote from Abraham Lincoln. It’s such a clear analogy about the value of preparation. […]

At the start of last year, I decided to make a list of things I did on the weekends that didn’t cost me any money at all and then mark which ones I really enjoyed. […]

The partial government shutdown has had a serious impact on 800,000 federal employees, including those with “essential” jobs who are required to work without pay. […]

Max writes in with a great question that had an answer that was just a bit too long for the mailbag: Recently moved to and bought a house in a new town where I hope to stay for several years. There is a Costco and a Sam’s Club here. Never lived close enough to either or had the storage space to make it worthwhile so I’m considering joining one or the other. […]

Recently, I had a face-to-face conversation with a reader (yep, this happens every once in a while; I have a few readers in my local community that I’m not close friends with, but they recognize me and seem to always have some sort of question or topic to bring up in conversation) about the idea of having “everyday meals” for the family, something I mention often as a frugal strategy. For those un […]

Marilyn writes in: If I go home after work and cook dinner, I have to spend half an hour in the kitchen by myself cooking and fifteen minutes after the meal cleaning up. If I pick up food after work, I can eat immediately with my family and there’s no cleanup and then I get 45 minutes more time with my family. […]

One of the big tricks of frugal living is to know when it’s worthwhile to sweat the small stuff and when it’s better to just let it be. There are times when paying attention to a few cents can end up making a big difference, and there are times when paying attention to a few cents is a complete waste of your focus. […]

We’ve all been there at some time or another. You feel somewhat disengaged from a lot of the things in your life. Work, even if you enjoy it, seems like a burden. Maintaining relationships seems like a burden. You fall back to the most basic of your life routines. You feel tired and perhaps not all that optimistic about things. […]

A few weeks ago, I was invited to one of those meal preparation parties where you hang out with friends and combine ingredients for frozen meals. It seemed like a fun way to spend a weekday night, as well as a smart way to build up a stash of frozen dinners ahead of time. […]

I’ll be the first to admit that this time of the year leaves me feeling overwhelmed, and this year more than most. For starters, the holiday season is something that often leaves me with a sense of too much to do and a sense of relief when it’s over that overshadows the joy I feel during the season. […]

You’re probably reading this during the “calm before the storm.” There’s a good chance that sometime in the next several days, there’s at least one big holiday event that you’re just utterly unprepared for with seemingly 80 things left to do. You have to travel. You have to help prep a meal. You have to get a last-minute gift (or three). There’s probably a combination of things going on. […]

Snowstorms, ice storms, freezing rain, or even just 43-degrees-and-drizzling days in Seattle. Iced-up windshields, slick-as-tofu roadways, drafts that stubbornly resist whatever the furnace throws at them. […]

A few years ago, I wrote an article entitled Looking Down the Ladder: A Different Perspective on Spending. The article covered the idea of a spending ladder, and I’m going to quote the explanation of a spending ladder here: One idea that really stuck with me, though, was his idea that one’s preferred level of spending constitutes a rung on a ladder. […]

Yesterday, to start off the reader mailbag, I offered up this little riff: When I was younger, the idea of paying for a service to do an ordinary household task for you seemed silly. Why would I ever pay for someone to wash my laundry or do the dishes? […]

It’s early December, and that means my mailbox is full of requests from readers for frugal gift ideas for the holidays, both in terms of inexpensive gifts that will be appreciated and gifts to give a frugal person. I usually address this question in some form or another each holiday season, but I update the ideas each year because I discover new things and older ideas tend to fall out of date, tho […]

After each holiday season, it’s pretty easy for me to write an article about how much you can save by taking advantage of huge markdowns on items related to that holiday. […]

One money strategy I’ve used since the very first day of my financial turnaround is to carefully consider all of my purchases. […]