One might be curious about what there is to DO on a spending freeze. It's something Tory and I like to call, “living off the fat”. Which means that we are so surrounded by (and usually contributing to) surplus, waste, and abundance, that it’s easy to still live a luxurious life simply by living off the excess. I think I would have a...
What a breeeeeze! Spending freeze in October is much easier than spending freeze in January. And the exceptions we built into this one have made it much more of a sustainable concept than a struggle. Tory described it this way: Last time we were trying to prove how little we needed. This time we are acknowledging that we have needs (mostly food and...
Beauty is all around! I feel like I have been given so many blessings and I'm thankful for the time I do have to practice gratefulness. Most of the time I think gratefulness just means accepting the blessing and participating fully in the experience as it happens. When I look back at this time of life, I imagine that I will remember the...
We just finished our kitchen makeover - we ended up doing a makeover rather than a full gut and remodel and I love it! We came in under budget even for the makeover, but it still felt like a lot of spending added to the month - the fun but hardest part about the budget was that we ended up eating out at...
I took a facebook break inspired by a book, and then came back inspired by books - the viral top ten booklist that my friends were sharing, which came up in real life conversation. Facebook is a great tool and a great trap, and I did get the perspective I wanted by deactivating for a few weeks. But I still want to participate...
Some of you who know me know that I am a big fan of dystopian novels. Margaret Atwood is consistently my favorite author, followed closely by Dave Eggers, only heightened by his 2013 release, The Circle. So when I came across this article in The Atlantic that in other words talks about a guy "going transparent" just like the characters in The Circle,...
Now that we've crossed into the month of August, I figured it was a good time to re-establish or revisit my Spring/Summer goals and some other updates. Goal 1 - Conveniently successful due to our Farm Farm CSA and a warm and wet summer. It definitely takes more work to cook an abundance of fresh food but the results are worth it: ...
My plan this month is to make a sincere stab at simplicity and eliminate anything that is not either useful or beautiful. That leaves a lot of room for things we own and use so I'm not getting rid of things we'll need to replace later, but hopefully getting rid of the excess. Also, I plan to sell what I can. So far:...
You see, I want a lot. Perhaps I want everything the darkness that comes with every infinite fall and the shivering blaze of every step up. So many live on and want nothing And are raised to the rank of prince By the slippery ease of their light judgments But what you love to see are faces that do work and feel thirst....
A few weeks ago we had a friend-of-a-friend stay with us. It was a very enjoyable evening and I realized that even though I didn't know him, I treated him with the same respect and appreciation that I treat old friends with, because of his connection to someone we love and have known for so many years. He was grandfathered in. That night...
Our lovely snowman thanks to April's snowstorm Goals for this Spring and Summer Goal 1 - return to a well thought out diet - The Adapted local/vegan/veggie/freegan inspired Roff Diet “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” - Michael Pollan. - as a general grocery shopping rule, don't buy meat or cow's milk - get a farm share! - pick one...
I started a list one day of all of the things that popped into my head that I value so that I can continue to work towards having my life reflect my actual values. In no intentional order: my family my husband meaningful, thoughtful friendship stopping pain in the world north Minneapolis racial equality investing in kids / neighbors teenagers and self confidence/creative...
I constantly feel like our ideas and influences are converging around parallel ideas. Just like the telephone was invented by two people at the same time - there were influences at the time that made the telephone the next possible step. I think financial fluency and simplicity are two ideas that are becoming more and more relevant especially to young people trying to...
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Our last week of the spending freeze was predictably the most interesting. Our fridge is more empty every day and it is bringing me joy somehow. It’s simpler, it’s quite obvious what we’re able to make or not make, and ingredients still keep coming together for amazing meals. Less choice is easier and relaxing when other things seems so fast paced. January 25:...
January 15 - Halfway there! I made Indian coconut curry and we stayed in watched a movie and ate popcorn. I made sure we stocked up so much we wouldn't run out of popcorn! In other news, the Black Hearts Ball site launched today and I'm very excited! Get tickets if you want to come see what I've been working on for this Valentine's day...
Okay, beginning week two. Food is still abundant. Cars are at just over half tank of gas respectively. January 8 - I went climbing after work for a half hour of power as I like to call it and Elliot picked up Tory and met up with the guys for a longer climbing session later in the evening. We have been spending a...
An interesting thing about this experiment is that it's going to get harder as it progresses! After week one we are in high spirits and feel like it has mostly added positive changes to our lives. For example, when faced with the choice of preparing healthy homemade meals for lunch all week vs. preparing and therefore eating nothing, the obvious choice so far...
Another Christmas is come and gone and it's now 2014! As usual, we’ve been spoiled, by others and by ourselves over the holidays and the last year. All this luxury combined with the sizable dent the furnace replacement put in our plan to save money, along with other influences like our book club FREE: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most and a faithful following of...
