lifestyle

Will "forced frugality" last?

Lately I have been hearing about the concept of "forced frugality" from the media and my peers. Many colleagues and family members say that they feel a need to be frugal in this

Not driving your less-frugal friends crazy

A while back, I heard an interview with a guy who, troubled by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, decided the right response was to quit driving. The bit of the interview that stuck with

How to save BIG

A friend recently told me that someone she knows is so cheap that he would not let her use paper towels at his place. Yet at the same time he complains about not having enough mon

Lucky trade-offs

I view frugal living as essentially hedonistic: I don't deny myself things. Rather, I spend less on the things I don't care about in order to be able to spend more on the things

Time for some new retro

For some time now, we've had good success drawing on the decades from the 1950s through the 1990s for our retro. Some bolder types have even made some use of the 1890s and 1920s--

Is living on one income a status symbol?

Recently CNN published an article titled "No kids, no jobs for growing number of wives ". This article profiled two women who are stay at home wives with no kids. A quote from the

These DIY Magazines Can Help You Be Self-Reliant

Everyone’s looking to become less dependent on the traditional economy. As we wean ourselves from manufactured luxuries and discover ways to create for ourselves, it can be diffic

Biggest Money Saving Tip: Move Far Away from the Joneses

I have to admit that while many people in the U.S. talk about “Keeping up with the Joneses”, I spent the first 20 years of my life never knowing what that meant. My rural lifestyl

Are You a Yawn?

I am familiar with the meaning of hippies and yuppies, but today I heard a funny new word for a demographic of people - yawns. YAWN stands for Young and Wealthy but Normal. It i

It costs nothing to be nice.

I was in McDonald's this morning, returning a RedBox movie rental. I've seen a lot more of this place since I started using RedBox actually, and although I don't order

Designing your life

Key decisions that you make—especially when you're young, but also later—have implications that ripple through the whole rest of your life. People treat these early

Is Six Figures Really That Much?

Nowadays, six figures is still above average, but its buying power in terms of lifestyle may have eroded even more than the value of a dollar, as those of us within striking distan

Cheapskate on Board

Living on less can be funny, but it's not a joke. It's the only financial advice that will work for almost everyone, and it might

These Choos were made for walkin': an interview with a modern urban nomad

Ever feel stuck? In a rut? Running in place, but not getting much exercise? There's another way to live, you know; a way that bypasses, or at least delays, the mortgage, the co

Choosing Between Apples and Oranges

My family lives a fairly simple lifestyle. We live in a rural area, drive older cars, and rarely go out for dinner. But we also like to enjoy life. Given that we know approximat

The Millionaire Next Door: Riches De-mystified

You've seen them driving by you but you didn't even notice. They were in the checkout line at the grocery store but you didn't give them a second glance. They're ev

Have style, not a lifestyle

I briefly worked with a senior technical manager whose wife also worked for the same company, but at a different site. They'd bought a house about halfway in between, but they both