Mindfully Spent is about managing finances, time, and more in pursuit of meaning. It chronicles my journey to use money and moments for things I truly love.
Save money. Pay off debt. Simplify. Do the unimaginable big things that you want with your life. Look back on your dollars and days and find they were Mindfully Spent.
Last time we talked student loans was just 4 weeks after we took our budget by the reigns and committed to making some big changes. We've done a work on our personal finances since then, and we found ourselves ready to step up our debt repayment game. This is the first of two posts on how we set a more powerful plan for repaying our student loans.
Money is much too important of a topic to be taught passively. It may not be able to buy us love, but it definitely impacts almost every other aspect of our lives. Allowance is one tool we have as parents for teaching our kids about finances and family values.
Each of us comes packaged with highly variable values and priorities. Just like there is no single standard of beauty, there are a multitude of ways to define what it means to live a good life. It's why we all want different things in romantic partners, household budgets, and political candidates. Building a meaningful life (much like setting big financial goals) requires a deeply moving "Why?" Also... a bit about the evils of external validation.
Setting up a successful budget has demanded time and again that we exercise an exceptional level of honesty and an unflinching ability to look truth in the eye. This post describes four ways that honesty was essential to aggressively paying down debt and finding a budget that works.
Hosting a yard sale can help us declutter and make some cash, but they actually make darn good business sense. Plus, a way for apartment dwellers to get in on the action.
In a throwaway culture, I want to be different. I want to care for my things, deliberately consider my choices, and make do when I can. I want to be the person driving the 10 year-old car.
Post-game analysis isn't just for sports. Coach Jim Valvano once said, “Failure and rejection are only the first steps to succeeding.” This is not just true in basketball. We can apply it just as rigorously to grocery budgets, time management, fitness, creative work, or professional goals.
As we looked for ways to save money around the house, one of the things we decided we had to do right away was to quit throwing our hard earned dollars into the trash. Literally. Some simple household goods helped us eliminate reoccurring expenses and conserve natural resources.
Extreme self-reliance is anything but strength. Revealing our true selves (not just the impressive self-reliant parts), increases the depths of our relationships and can make us a more effective workplace leader.
When we challenge the purchases that we make out of habit, we can find significant cost savings. You don't have to wear makeup to appreciate many of the lessons I learned as I took on reducing the cost of personal care and beauty supplies.
Money can't fill a hole. Neither can distractions. Building a fulfilling life requires us to tackle the hard stuff and seek out more than the quick thrill of shallow experiences. (Also, some crazy interesting stuff on Signalling Theory and how it impacts our shopping habits!)
So many experts have said, "To have a successful blog, focus first on writing good content." I took this advice to heart, and it lead to some surprising results.
Mindfully Spent is officially six months old this month. We want to celebrate by giving a gift to you!
Yes, our cars are paid in full! But we haven't stopped there. We set two new goals to keep our transportation costs low and our future debt in check.
We have taken many steps to reduce our expenses, yet we’ve been forking out a whole lotta money every month for a gym membership. Good health can be priceless, but this month we found a better solution.
Our worth is in no way determined by our past. Sometimes we have to rewrite our story and reimagine our place in the world in order to reach further and do more.
The fact that we could not afford any household emergencies used to be a source of overwhelming stress. Here's the savings plan that is giving us greater peace of mind. Plus, two tools you can use to create a customized home repair savings plan!
Now that we've made some great changes in our finances, we can no longer take our inspiration from sheer panic. We've turned the ship and righted the sails, and staying motivated to make smart decisions takes something different.
Our bellies and hearts were warmed by good company when we hosted a soup swap recently. Here's what it taught us about managing our grocery budget.
9 completely free tools that can help you spend less, better understand your finances, set meaningful priorities, and put a few bucks in your pocket.
