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Archives for March 2015

Frugal Articles of the Week

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Reading Nook Photo

Every week I like to feature a few frugal articles that caught my eyes. Curl up in your favorite reading nook and enjoy. Hopefully these encourage you to live frugal lives!

The Benefits of Living Alone on a Mountain by Brian Bolster
Most of us are living lives like rats on a wheel, and it’s hard to find moments to stop and think. I, for one, could use that right about now. The following video comes from a mini-doc on a U.S. Forest Service fire patroller who scans the mountains for any signs of danger. He goes every fire season and finds it be one of the best times of the year. There’s downtime, reading, and an amazing connection to the world around him. Best part? He gets paid to do it!

Simple Living through Staying Single by a Redditor “Blue-Jasmine”
I’m not one for linking to Reddit posts in my weekly articles, but this one caught my eye. This woman talks about the process of breaking up with a boyfriend, joining dating sites, and then realizing an inner happiness and simpler life as a single person. Loved this little story!

The Most Underrated Sound in Our Society by Joshua Becker
This week, Joshua knocked it out of the park and focused on being mindful of sound; more importantly, appreciating silence. We live in a busy, fast-paced society that constantly demands for our attention. Silence is a rare commodity, and usually, doesn’t cost a thing. Beautiful reminder that we need to slow down enjoy all our senses.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: articles, Best, dating, Frugal, Minimalism, reddit, Silence, Simple Living, Video, week

Stopping Time Is Expensive, Isn’t It?

By Frugaling 20 Comments

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Buzzed Haircut

I started cutting my hair in the second year of college. Nascent tingles of frugality seemed to start that year, and I was looking for a way to save time and money. Buzzing my own hair solved both, as I probably saved $10-15 every time.

Going on my 7th year (and hundreds in savings), I can’t help but notice how many phases I’ve gone through. My hair’s been slicked back, spiked up, buzzed off, and everything in between. I’ve experimented and built up some skills over the years. Each style gives me a different drive.

Ostensibly, based on every kind word I’ve ever received, I look good when my hair is in between that spiky and slicked-back phase. It kind of has a natural tousle. I feel more confident “wearing” that haircut, too. If anything, this is the look I like when I’m dating.

But today, with buzzers in hand, I debate — once again — whether I should buzz it all off. It’s like hitting the reset button on my head — physically and emotionally. Instantaneously, I look like a Marine reporting for basic training. I don’t know that the style suits anyone, but it’s simple to maintain. Rinse off and you’re ready to go.

Each time I cut my hair, I’m forced in front of a mirror for long periods. I scan over every area of my scalp, and trim the sides by hand. It takes careful precision and patience. What starts out as necessary often becomes obsessive.

I start to see how I’ve changed and aged over the years. I didn’t look like this 7 years ago. I didn’t have fraying sides or a mysterious patch in the back when I first started. My hair was darker, too.

Stand in front of a mirror for any length of time, and my eyes begin to pour over every fault. The extraterrestrial divots of bad acne, the crease of a scar from childhood, and discoloration speck sit atop my face. History via epidermis.

I can’t help but notice, and wonder how to “fix” myself. My consciousness asks, “How can I improve this person in front of me?” Briefly, nearly every time, I think about who I want to be and how this physical presentation has aged in strange, foreign ways. Frankly, resisting it is what I’d like to do.

When I think about why I ask these questions and try to improve my physical features, I come back to the same conclusion: I want to be attractive. I want people to like me. I want to be able to date freely, and not have some strange physical feature that makes me stand out too much — that makes me “odd.”

As I probe my mind for why I think this way, I can’t help but reflect on a culture that encourages us to age slower, and if worst comes to worst, reverse it. We value youth and agelessness. Even more, we seem to be quick to ostracize those who are… different.

It’s in the resistance to aging that things seem to go awry. Suddenly, we spend countless dollars on creams, ointments, and cleansers to freshen our bodies. The average markup on cosmetics is about 78 percent. We’re desperate for something that once was us.

I hate to admit this, but I’ve already purchased many of said products before. There was a tanning cream when I was younger, with the hope of making me less pale and gaunt. All it did was make me look more like an oompa loompa. There were tens of creams and remedies and medicines for acne. They just made my skin red like a Skittles package. I went through expensive scar reduction bottles. And then those whitening strips that bleached my teeth to unnaturally white levels.

It went beyond youthfulness, as I wanted to be good enough — to be worthy of attention. The only way I knew how to make that happen was by spending money. There was one colossal problem: this was money I didn’t have, as I was using student, car, and credit loans to finance these adventures in attractiveness. My debt grew with this desire for outer worth.

$10, $20, $30, $40, and $50 at a time, the money drained out of my pockets and into the coffers of beauty and “hygiene” companies. I can’t imagine how much I spent on these products in total, and part of me is thankful to be without an amount. Just imagining how that money could help me and others causes my gut to wrench.

Most of us can logically say that change is inevitable, and resistance is futile. But that’s the tough part, beauty, attraction, and youthfulness are powerful, emotional drives. They push psychological buttons that aren’t rational. Before we know it, we can virtually or physically pull out our wallets and let corporations take us for all we’re worth. Stopping time is expensive, isn’t it?

I slap on a 2 clip and flip the switch. The gentle vibrations hum up my arm, and the sound of a little lawnmower ignites. Momentarily, I hold the buzzer up and wonder if I should do it. Do I really want it to be so short, simple, and plain?

It’s not till the first clump falls off my head and into the sink that I realize what motivates me to do this. I’m saying no to the system that says beauty looks one way. I’m saying no to products that would wash, condition, and spike my hair. I’m saying goodbye to resistance. I’m saying hello to fault, age, and the very probable/highly likely/I-don’t-know-how-it-won’t-happen chance that this hair won’t always be here.

It’s practice for the big day.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Age, Aging, Attraction, Beauty, Buzzers, Cosmetics, Creams, hair, haircut, health, money, Products, time

Ownership Isn’t Real, We Rent This Life

By Frugaling 41 Comments

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Manhattan Beach Ocean Photo

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
–Lao Tzu

There was a time when I could describe exactly what my life would look like in 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. It felt so grown up and reassuring. I was the man with the plan.

There was a time when I envisioned a beautiful home with a yard. It had windows overlooking an ocean. It’d be mine. I could wake up to it every day.

There was a time when I owned a car and wanted to buy an even nicer one. I held my smartphone, but wanted a newer one. I was obsessed with latest upgrades and features.

There was a time when I looked at my ratty spiral notebook and needed a chic Moleskine. Imagine what it would be like to write in those acid-free pages and flip open that iconic cover.

Largely, those days of desire without logical reason are dying out. I’m no longer urgently pursuing or planning for material possessions. Nowadays, the white picket fence isn’t for me, and I’ve finally realized why.

Life is exceptionally fragile and short. Think about it, our 70, 80, or 90 years represent but a fraction of the Earth’s existence. We are little blips on this planet, and unrecognizably small objects within this solar system, galaxy, and universe.

From the time we exit the womb, we are bombarded with messages that demand our attention. They don’t stop until we do. All five of our senses are put into warp drive, as they begin to process everything around us. Despite our relative insignificance, we cling to material goods and messages — buying whatever we can afford and socking away the rest for rainy days.

These messages beg us to consume, own, and carve out space. They tell us that, with maturity and income, you should own a residence. We are expected — from employers to families to spouses — to buy a car to get to work. But ownership is a figment of our capitalistic imaginations. In this economy, it’s easy to be pulled into a mental trap of expectations and hopes for a possessive future.

Each step countering the current culture of consumption is like running into a 50-mph headwind — you’re not moving fast. Bucking the status quo means isolating yourself from society’s expectations of amassing wealth. But the reality is we don’t own anything — ever. I mean it!

We are simply temporary custodians — holders — of physical objects that we lug around. We fill containers, storage warehouses, and entire homes with stuff. We bear witness to various forms of mass, but all fade — like us. Even the most prized possessions will transfer to someone else or perish. No matter how much home and life insurance we take out, we will eventually pass away.

Truthfully, we rent this life. It’s not solely ours to destroy, abuse, love, and cherish. We share this rental with everyone. Any rental necessitates respect. Destroy another’s property or object, and you’ll be on the hook to replace and/or fix it.

There’s more to life than amassing more than thy neighbor. Forego the mortgages, down payments, and constant maintenance. Choose a life that honors and recognizes everyone. When we rent this life, we recognize that we are just maintaining it for future generations.

Filed Under: Minimalism Tagged With: apartment, Capitalism, Consumerism, house, Life, minimal, Minimalism, ocean, rent, view

Frugal Articles of the Week

By Frugaling 3 Comments

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Reading Nook Photo

Every week I like to feature a few frugal articles that caught my eyes. Curl up in your favorite reading nook and enjoy. Hopefully these encourage you to live frugal lives!

Income Inequality vs. Wealth Inequality by Hamilton Nolan
After paying a $4,000+ tax bill this year and losing much of my net worth to self-employment taxes, it made me rethink the income versus wealth divide. Someone can make a lot of money one year, but have little in savings. Hamilton Nolan hit the nail on this article. He points out that the obsession with income inequality is nonsensical. Instead, we should be focusing on wealth inequality, and I tend to agree with him!

Minimalist Living: When a Lot Less Is More by Josh Sanburn
The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, are on a roll. Seriously, they’re getting published everywhere these days and their audience is growing rapidly. They were recently interviewed by Time Magazine regarding their success. The Minimalists mentioned that they had only 52 visitors the first month they started their site in December 2010. In 2014, they supposedly had 2 million! What an impressive duo and important issues. Keep up the great work, guys!

‘There are so many ways to live’: Meet the man who quit his job to make an $8,000 van home by Michelle Stoffel Huffman
This guy is a vandwelling inspiration. He quit his job, decided to travel through Europe, and the kicker, he’s doing it all out of a camper van! He retrofitted it with a bed, cooking area, and even a little shower.

What We Appreciate Appreciates by Cait Flanders
Cait’s been blogging about personal finance for years now. She recently wrote a guest post for Joshua Becker at Becoming Minimalist. This article is all about the confluence of personal finance, minimalism, and dealing with debt — topics true to my heart. Well done, Cait! This is an awesome article.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Income Inequality, Minimalism, minimalist, vandwelling, wealth inequality

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