Before I dive into this post, I want to assure you that this is not a summary of existing opinions, nor a prediction of what life will be like in 100 years, nor (necessarily) a screed about how things ought to be. It is more an observation, paired with experience, and some things that mean […]
Collecting Kind of Sucks
Several years ago, I briefly began collecting hockey cards for the first time in almost 25 years. It was a flashback to middle school, to simpler times (but with a larger budget), and while it was a lot of fun and brought back some good memories, the fun faded pretty quickly, and I ultimately decided […]
Orthorexic World
Generally, the word “orthorexia” refers to a condition in which people become so obsessed with improving their health that their health actually suffers. I see this as a form of perfectionism that has leached into other areas of life, and I think we are absolutely surrounded by it. If I’m not mistaken, the late 1800s […]
Does Your Stuff Earn Its Keep?
A week later, I’m still swimming in an ocean of boxes. Naturally, I have thoughts. I’m honestly somewhat disappointed in myself. It’s not because I have a few shoeboxes of kitchen utensils, or because I have a few boxes of car parts that will some day go in the garage; these at least are understandable. […]
The Tyranny of Stuff: Part 2
Well, it’s moving time here soon, so I’ve been swimming in a pile of boxes, and nothing forces you to rethink your life quite like swimming in a pile of boxes. This whole financial journey I’ve been on was started with an admiration for and an aspiration to some form of minimalism. I’m proud to […]
The Paradox of Valuing Money
I was coming home from a short hike this past week when I swung by a large liquor store to find something new to try that evening. I settled upon two beers from a company I had tried before, but I was in the mood to treat myself and didn’t think too critically about the […]
The World Financial System is Not Your Savior
From a purely financial perspective, these years I’ve taken off work probably look like one of the stupidest decisions a person could make: take a sizeable nest egg in the low hundred thousands and quit your job for almost 4+ years, foregoing an almost six figure income the whole time, while studying for an industry […]
Retail Woes
I don’t go to Microcenter very often, but when I do, I dread the checkout process. I went a few days ago and had forgotten about this, though. Before I talk about that, though, I’ll first mention that it’s a very fun store to visit and their general return policy is great. I built a […]
Shallow News
This has been brewing in my mind for the past week and I really need to write about it. In the course of staying afloat on all of the insane new digital id laws happening across the world and the United States, I have found very little in-depth analysis. One thing particularly lacking has been […]
Failing to Spend Less on Groceries, Part 3: In Defense of Spending Less
It occurs to me that spending less on certain items, such as flour tortillas, seems asinine compared to the cost of many other things in life. Dropping the tortilla price from $0.25 to $0.08 each doesn’t sound like a very high ROI, so why would I focus on this sort of thing? This actually represents […]