This quote, on a sign at Jimmy John’s, caught my eye recently. (I tried googling to see who came up with it, but I can’t find the answer. If you know, drop me a comment!) Of course, I immediately thought of how this relates to contentment. More does not fix the problem. I’ve often said […]
Use less self-control: Avoid spending triggers
I was listening to a How to Money podcast episode recently (while sanding Sonia and Zoe’s beds!) and they said something about spending triggers…which triggered some thinking for me. I’ve read in multiple books/posts/articles that we only have so much willpower to use over the course of a day. Because of this, it’s smart to […]
5 ways to make yourself miserable after a money mistake
Did you incur a late fee? Have you forgotten to pay a bill and been charged interest? Did you miss the return window on a purchase? Did cancelling that appointment slip your mind? The one where you have to pay the full amount? Maybe you broke something expensive or botched a repair. Maybe you left […]
My Un-Riveting Story
This post was originally published in 2009 and has been updated. As I’ve perused the personal finance blogosphere, I’ve noticed that a lot of bloggers used to be pretty bad with money and thus have some amazing come-back stories…things like, “I paid off $60,000 of debt in 8 months.” or, “We paid down 5 credit […]
The Power of Positive Peer Pressure
I promise I didn’t do all the alliteration on purpose. Peer pressure usually gets a bad rap(and it is true that hanging around spendy people can tempt you to spend), but I’ve noticed that the right sort can have a very positive impact on the way that I view my finances. Fresh Inspiration Back when […]
Progress is almost never dramatic.
Big wins, sudden breakthroughs, and “aha!” moments are what we’d all love to experience. But in my experience (ha), those happen really, really rarely. In pretty much every area of my life, progress has happened slowly over time. My piano skills are what they are because I’ve been playing for 35 years. My blog has […]
