4 secrets to living in another country for a few months on the cheap
Traveling to another country for an extended amount of time is only for the filthy rich and privileged. You can’t possibly afford international travel to some other country! Let alone live there for months at a time! But traveling internationally on the cheap all comes down to a few simple tactics. Though they are not always that simple to implement…
Budget hacks for when you’re “broke as a joke”
I recently left a job that was making me miserable in favor of going to school to pursue my lifelong dream. The result has cut my family’s income by about 50%. With the life hacks we had in place, paired with new life hacks, we are keeping our heads above water and still keeping the smiles on our faces.
Keep your spare change in a pirate-y treasure chest
As someone who is always making that mad dash to the door, most days the whole lot of it was dumped unceremoniously on the floor to root through for precious bus fare, vending machine coinage, and the necessary float I was expected to bring to make change for my customers. So, the pirate chest became the ideal solution.
Spending for happy: What purchases give you most joy?
I’m usually so focussed on spending less money in general, that it’s actually really liberating to think about spending more money in some areas, and to make cutbacks in others without affecting my overall happiness. My question is, what purchases do other Homies consider to have the highest happy-for-money rating? What can we spend proportionately MORE on, to make sure our money’s working for us, and where can we cut back without noticing even a dint on our happy-ometer?
Meal Planning to save money, time, and cut back on take-out
My husband and I realized we had a bit of an addiction to convenience food and take-out, and it was costing us more than we were happy about. I did what any reasonable woman of the world with an internet connection would do and I went to Pinterest. After a couple different meal planning experiments, I’ve found a way to kick our take-out addiction!
One-lowsmanship, money anxieties, and being a work in progress
There is a great article that John Cheese wrote about what growing up poor does to your brain. It’s pretty dead-on. One of the things is that when you have extra money, the desire is to spend it RIGHT NOW before some disaster happens and you have to use it to take care of that instead. For years, that was me. And then, after lots of soul searching and hard lessons, I went so far the opposite direction that my cheapness probably qualifies as a mental illness.
How do I find a financial advisor for non-rich folks?
My brand new husband and I are muddling through figuring out our money and I thought that seeing a financial adviser would be a great idea. I started looking for fee-only financial advisers in Los Angeles and I found that by and large, these folks are for rich people. One even said they won’t talk to you if you make less than $200,000 per year. I feel like professional help is in order, but who do I get it from?
Should you talk about money with people who have different financial priorities?
I have a friend who often makes remarks about having no money. “We can’t afford to buy fruits and vegetables.” “I hope you’re not getting sick, because we can’t afford a visit to the doctor.” “We can’t make it to your place for game night because we can’t afford the gas.” It’s true that they don’t have much, raising a family of three on just a teacher’s salary. But it seems (to me) like the money they do have is spent frivolously or unnecessarily. I don’t have a problem with people indulging when they have the disposable income. But I’m getting more and more uncomfortable. Commenting about being poor followed by showing a link to a costume jacket that he hopes to purchase frustrates me. Should I speak up and say something, or just chalk it up to different priorities?