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What I Love About Reading

By Frugaling 11 Comments

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Books

When I was younger, you couldn’t pay me to read a book. My parents read to me as a child, but in middle and high school, I was a Sparknotes reader; preferably, about 15-30 minutes before exams.

Homer’s Odyssey sat mostly unread. I was supposed to have spent the summer before my freshman year of high school analyzing the prose and coming up with something intelligent to say. Instead, I read the first 75 pages and called it good.

Reading wasn’t something I naturally enjoyed doing. It felt boring and stuffy. While I enjoyed the cover artwork, the text never enticed me to stay until the end. Ironically, I loved purchasing new — open it up, bend the spine, smell the glue and paper, and see those perfect 90-degree corners — books. But again, they sat mostly unfinished.

Something clicked in college. Suddenly, I enjoyed turning the pages of a good book of fiction. I wanted to read more. And for the last eight to nine years, I’ve become further engrossed and in love with the act of reading.

Now 27, I want to read even more. A lot more. And I’m not talking about finding a good book to read before bed or in between classes or to start my day. I’m talking about reading for entire days — hours upon hours!

I want to get swept away in a non-fiction subject or in fictional characters, plots, and narratives. I want to be amazed by others’ writing and ideas; most of all, I want to learn and hone my own writing abilities through reading. I learn through talented authors. They’re my role models.

The act has become this thing I lust after. Inside, I say to the world, “Get out of my way, leave me alone, stop talking to me. I need to read!” I read like there’s no tomorrow, because I’m not sure if there is. I read because there’s something I need to learn and would be remiss not to know it. More and more pages turned, pulled, flipped. Hours pass uninterrupted; frankly, I prefer it that way.

As I reflect on my habit, I realize what I love most about it. The classic book is a deep dive into a subject — whether fiction or not. Inside this world — and unlike the Internet — nothing pops up. Nothing pokes or aggravates. Nothing makes suggestions. There aren’t click-bait or artificial headlines. I don’t break from the reading to click and subscribe. I don’t scroll down to get back to the content. Ralph Nader says the only time to escape advertisements might be sleep, but books still provide an oasis.

Frugality is much easier with a good book. In fact, reading might be the lowest cost of entertainment on Earth. Consuming television and movies is cheaper than ever, but remains more expensive than going and getting a book.

For instance, a movie might have a 90-minute runtime and cost $10 to buy. That’s roughly a dollar for every 10 minutes. Meanwhile the purchase price of a book might be comparable — say $10 — but the runtime is magnificent. Pick up a lengthy tome like Stephen King’s 11/22/63 at 849 pages, and you’ll be reading for a 20-30 hours. It’s pennies to read every hour — enjoyment at a fraction of the price. And this doesn’t even account for public libraries!

Living simply and frugally is easier with a good book. These hours spent avoiding material consumption for knowledge, empathy, and understanding. And best of all, it won’t leave your wallet reeling.

So, what will you read this summer?

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Books, cost, Entertainment, Film, media, Movies, Read, Reading, Television

We’ve Outsourced Our Lives

By Frugaling 9 Comments

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Outsourced food preparation meals

Michael Pollan likes to talk about food. In fact, he’s written six books on the subject. Some of his highly reviewed books include Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Food Rules. Amazingly, Netflix caught on to Pollan’s popularity and turned his latest book — Cooked — into a series.

Cooked is about the transformation from raw to cooked foods. This simple difference is what Pollan thinks distinguishes man from the rest of the animal kingdom. He’s got a point: we love our cooked food. The flavors ignite. Further, when we cook food we chew less and do more than eat all day.

In the first episode of the Netflix series, Pollan explains how hunting, farming, and scavenging have all been outsourced. We’ve simplified the process of eating on every level. Corporate giants have vertically integrated food prep and delivery with surprising efficiency. From frozen meals to prepackaged sandwiches, everything has been prepared for us. For example, the turkey has been raised, fed, slaughtered, plucked, deboned, frozen, thawed, sliced, seasoned, and placed. We don’t see the life and death — we’ve outsourced everything.

The reasons for the decline in food production and cooking are multifaceted. It seems work and productivity have motivated us to pursue this path. Imagine the busy lawyer or medical doctor having a catered lunch because they are “too busy” to prepare and eat. We accept this in society — hell, we encourage it. We accept there’s a certain class of people who cannot “afford” to spend the time making food. And we accept that people should specialize until they merely focus on their vocational tasks.

As the episode unfolded, my appreciation of food outsourcing shifted more globally. I thought about what else gets outsourced. Our society has taken almost everything off of our plates so that we can focus more time on other activities. We continue to specialize well beyond food.

The decline of manufacturing in America can largely be seen as an effort to reduce costs, time, and environmental burden on the countries that now produce. We’ve outsourced the “negatives” and taken the cost savings. Comically, we criticize China for using so many coal-fired power plants and then click buy on our new computer, coffee maker, smartphone, etc. — all made in China.

We’ve outsourced reading longer books and research to journalists and even computer algorithms. Now, people read books for us and distill what we need to know — what’s most important. Consequently, this means we get a synthesized perspective of a book. It’s like playing the telephone game through articles, but most of the time we read that review to understand the book.

Even budgeting and financial management are thrown to others. We use Mint.com or other financial software to manage and update us about spending. There’s no need to balance a checkbook anymore — I’m not sure if I’d even know how. We trust financial advisers and/or digital facsimiles to manage everything for us. We’ve got better, more important things to focus on!

More and more, we watch sports and reality TV shows instead of playing outside and engaging in our own relationships. The drama of a royal, elite families and others’ lives encapsulates our attention, as those nearest us seem to wane. Many watch the throw, shot, or pass, but I’m not sure how many are making that throw, shot, or pass themselves anymore.

Even in academic circles, professors and graduate students are using other people to do their statistical analysis. Academics can even outsource their statistical analysis to India for further review and completion. Afterwards, with a nice, clean result in hand, researchers can write up the interpretations — or pay another person to do that part.

And as I type these words, they’re being stored in a cloud server for safekeeping, backup, and preparation for publication on my website. Both the cloud and website servers are miles and miles away from me. I’ll never see the computers, nor would I need to. I’ve outsourced these storage needs — someone else is handling them for me.

Again, I settle on this simple conclusion: we’ve embraced the streamlining of our lives for the purpose of efficiency. But what is this efficiency for? Is it so that we can focus on work more? Is it so that we can make more money? Is it so we can relax more?

Absent of answers, I wonder where we’ll be in a few decades. When asked questions about our personality and identities and hobbies, will we reply that we enjoy watching and reading others’ accounts of life? Will we effectively outsource our identities to the TV shows, movies, and reviews of reviews?

Filed Under: Social Justice Tagged With: Books, China, Cloud, Food, iCloud, Life, Meals, Michael Pollan, Netflix, outsource, outsourced, preparation, Reading, storage, Work

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!

Nine hard-won lessons about money and investing by Matt Cutts
Those of you in the personal finance, minimalism, and frugality worlds might not know his name, but Matt Cutts is a legend. He started working for Google in the early days, and became a master of spam — decimating it everywhere from email to search results. In his “spare time,” he manages a blog about various topics. In this article, Matt outlines a step-by-step action plan for saving and investing money. Rather than linking to affiliate companies and profiting off his suggestions, he gives honest advice.

Americans are having more trouble paying off their student debt than their houses by Danielle Paquette
The headline nearly says it all, but the statistics will surprise you. Student loan debt is surging, as many struggle to find good paying jobs in their field of study. Student loans are greater than credit debt and mortgages, too. It’s scary to be a student these days.

We are wealthy. And why it matters by Joshua Becker
Wealth is a funny concept. Hardly anyone thinks they’re rich, and few recognize the vast privileges they have already — regardless of comparisons to wealthy elite. Joshua beautifully captures the importance of keeping perspective in this article.

Alice Gregory on Finding a Uniform by Alice Gregory
This young writer talks about her journey to find a uniform of sorts. The big difference is that this isn’t about business; rather, it’s for comfort, style, and savings. Alice explains how her “uniform” works for nearly every occasion and rids her of unnecessary distraction throughout the day. Awesome article and idea!

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: articles, Clothes, Clothing, Frugal, investing, News, Reading, student debt, uniform, Wealth, week

Frugal Articles of the Week

By Frugaling 2 Comments

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Reading Nook Photo

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

7 Tips to Help Keep Your Resolution to Declutter by Joshua Becker
The new year is upon us! Lots of people create resolutions and goals, but few are followed. Joshua created a bulletproof list of 7 tips that’ll help you stay focused on decluttering and living with less.

Quit Whining About Your Sick Colleague by Daniel Engber
America has a productivity problem, and not because we aren’t working enough hours. The problem centers on overwork and overemphasis on the amount of hours put in at a desk. Engber skillfully takes the readers on a collision course with hand sanitizers and media hyperbole around the common cold, and then guides them to a treatise about work-life balance. Well worth a read!

How I Cut $10k in Spending in 2014 by Practical Cents
This month I’m going on a food diet. But in a different twist, I’m not watching calories — only my spending. In this article, Practical Cents breaks down how they cut $10k in costs over the past year. With an incredible table of savings and examples, P.C. makes it easier for readers to see how they too can save!

The Urge to Splurge by Sam (Yours Truly) Lustgarten
I won’t ruin the story, but I wrote about a recent date that was published on my favorite minimalism website, Becoming Minimalist. It centers on the external messages that we hear — both from individuals and advertisements. These messages can make us consume more than we would’ve otherwise. And can defeat our efforts at minimalism!

Breaking Broke by Stefanie O’Connell
Stefanie had a breakout 2014 and she’s looking to leave broke behind! In this stirring article, she talks about overcoming the stereotype of a broke, aspiring actor. She’s ready to take personal finance head-on and show readers how to make some incredible side income.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Article, Becoming Minimalist, Broke, Declutter, Frugal, minimal, Minimalism, Reading, saving money

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