The pay from the local Jackson-Hewitt Tax office in 2010 was only $7.50 an hour. Remote work wasn't even contemplated, so I was in a retail office for a few hours every weekend, which was really unpleasant.
Ready to take your life back from the 40-hours-a -week/40 years-till-freedom grind? Here we share the tips, hacks and resources for financial freedom through slow FIRE*: squeezing the most satisfaction out of every dollar spent. I started at 42 and retired twice, so I know you can too. Jump in - it's free to join and we are eager to hear your successes too! *FIRE - Financial. Independence. Retire. Early
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The Best Juicy Frugal Tips Starting with Coffee
Maybe it's because I live in Louisiana. This part of the country drips with warm weather, great food and drink, and a constant stream o...

Monday, March 14, 2022
Side Hustle Remote Work - Tax Prep JH Tax School
The pay from the local Jackson-Hewitt Tax office in 2010 was only $7.50 an hour. Remote work wasn't even contemplated, so I was in a retail office for a few hours every weekend, which was really unpleasant.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Should we worry about inflation? Not so much.
An Update on Financially Free - Can I Live on $3,000 per month Shows Us Why "No Worries"
Consciousness grows faster than inflation ... Once you are FI (financially independent), you'll have more time to learn. More time to DIY. More time to bond with others. More time to find just what you need for a fraction of the cost.
- Passively invested index stock funds (22% of my asset allocation). I can avoid touching these for 10 years or more.
- A social security start date well into the future. Social security is the only cost-of-living-adjusted (COLA) asset I have at this time.
- Strike-point grocery shopping - buying in quantity when items are on sale. (I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep up with good prices on 30 or so items we purchase a lot. A can of black beans or spicy diced tomatoes at less than $1.00? I'm stocking up!).
- Use grocery store apps to check prices and create my list before hitting the supermarket.
My net worth went up by 275% while my expenses only went up by 57% (and that includes fun money I didn't expect to spend).
Even though I was making a good salary, I kept my lifestyle simple. Even kept driving the same 2011 Honda Insight. So I saved a lot. The stock market did well. I also had a small inheritance from my Mom's estate, which I'm now sharing with my daughter. (Thank you, Mom and Dad!)
- Debt (non mortgage)
- 2015 - $0
- 2020 - $0
- Assets
- 2015 - Over $350,000 in retirement funds plus almost $80,000 in cash.
- 2022 - Over $750,000 in investable retirement funds plus $150,000 in cash. = $900,000.
2) Expenses up 57% including discretionary spending.
They could have stayed the same if I hadn't eased the spending reins for fun money.
- Monthly Overhead
- 2015 - $2,999 per month
- 2022 - $5,250 per month
The increase in monthly overhead is discretionary and aspirational type expenses. My basic needs can still be met at the $3,000 per month level. And that includes my "must-haves:"
- Housing - 25% higher
- 2015 - $600 per month for 280 square feet.
- 2022 - $800 per month for half ownership in 1700 square foot home
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Long Term Care - 0% higher
- 2015 - estimated I would spend $800 per month including a cobra policy.
- 2022 - about the same (Medical is $560, Dental is $35, LTC is $170)
- Utilities - 15% higher
- 2015 - $229 per month
- 2022 - $264 per month
I split some utilities with my partner, which helps. My share of energy and gas is $100 on average per month, $32.50 for water and sewer & garbage. I pay $37.50 for my cell service and $94 for high-speed internet, my partner picks up cable television, I still don't watch it very much.
- Food & entertainment - 86% higher
- 2015 - $430 per month, which included eating out at restaurants
- 2022 - $800 per month, also including eating out at restaurants.
- Transportation - 0% higher
- 2015 - $450 per month
- 2022 - $450 per month
- Gifts/charity/helping daughter with student loans - -64% (down)
- 2015 - $250 per month
- 2022 - $150 per month
- Clothing -
- 2015 - $ 65 per month
- 2022 - $200 per month
- Personal supplies, grooming, etc. - 33% higher
- 2015 - $75 per month
- 2022 - $100 per month
- Household supplies - 0%
- 2015 - $100 per month (Includes food and litter for cat, paper goods, cleaning)
- 2022 - $100 per month (Includes paper goods, cleaning and home office supplies)
- Taxes -- No change, still in the 22% tax bracket - boo! (Single - No dependents)
- Mr. Money Moustache posts his thoughts about inflation and why it isn't something to worry much about here.
- Your Personal CPI could be much lower than general CPI.
- Here is a fairly simple Personal Inflation Rate calculator based on your own expense estimates. It's important because the calculator weights inflation on what your consumption habits. If you don't purchase new cars, you probably don't care if new car prices are up, for example. If you drive an electric car, are you concerned about diesel gas prices busting your budget? NO.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Ireland Trip 2022 – The Fruits of Frugality
Library in Trinity College, Dublin
Can you live below your means while spending more on what
love? It is not only possible – it is the key to building wealth, financial
freedom, and staying there.
Why is it so important? Because we can never get enough of what doesn’t satisfy us. But if we take the time to discern what does fill up our lives and our souls? Then binging on shopping and food and what other things we go looking for to stuff inside our houses or our bodies – well, it just doesn’t happen. The craving for more is gone. We don’t even want it. Finding our spending satisfaction is one of the most important skills we can learn.
Today’s post is about one of my satisfiers -- spending wisely on travel with friends. It might be yours too? When I see new cultures, meet new people, visit far-flung family, create new memories with travel buddies, I’m happier and richer inside and out.
Is Travel Your Jam? Let’s Talk about How You Can Make the Trip of Your Dreams Happen
I am flying to Ireland with a friend to see a band play in concert. Yep. A bucket list event! A different friend inspired me when she described her travels to see a particular band several times a year. Her face and life seemed to come alive. The daily grind fell off her shoulders and her smile caught me in the enthusiasm. So, I bought two floor tickets to see Simply Red in Dublin, Ireland January 31st, (assuming COVID-19 doesn’t shut us down).
And I’m a lot like you. I’ve hit my number, but I’m living a middle-class lifestyle. There isn’t enough money for a Lamborghini in the driveway. I can only afford to do this because of all my frugalista smart habits. You can do it too!
Spend wildly on things you love while being super frugal on the things you don’t care about, is something even Mr. Money Guru Ramit Sethi writes about in his book “I Will Teach You to Be Rich.”
Below is a template you can use if a trip is in your dreams. I’m spending what I saved to go – about $3,000.
Since I splurged in so many cases, I added at least five ways on how you could do so much better by trying a few different approaches.
Essential Purchase |
Essential Purchase |
Splurges |
Total |
Notes |
Estimated Sat Score |
Airline Ticket Round Trip (United Mon-Mon) |
$749.95 |
Economy Seating Bundle $78 |
$827.95 |
Includes extra legroom and 1 free checked bag |
5 of 10 It’s a long flight |
Hotel,
Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice 4/5 stars |
$1,649 |
The
hotel is adjacent to the show, so no taxi, no walking the city streets at
night. 4.5 stars on TripAdvisor |
$1,649 |
$275
per night for 2 adults Breakfast
is included |
8 of 10 |
Transfers
from Airport to Hotel |
$180 |
|
$180 |
100%
splurge, we just didn’t want to worry about using public transport, missing
our plane. |
10 of 10 |
Tickets
to Simply Red Concert |
$78 |
Floor
Seats, Row K, Seat 45 |
$78 |
Floor
seats! Row K! |
10 of 10 |
Pub
Crawls and tours |
$81 |
|
$81 |
These
could be great, or a bust |
5 of 10 |
Euros
for meals and tips |
$368 |
|
$368 |
Exchange
rates are not good between Euros & Dollars |
3 of 10 |
TOTAL |
|
|
|
|
|
7 days, 6 nights |
|
|
|
|
|
- You could save a lot more by booking a different hotel using hotels.com or the like and splitting the cost with a roommate. I went through a travel agent because I wanted help during the time of travel with COVID-19. Otherwise, I could have saved about $500 by booking the Spencer hotel, a bit further away and just as nice. And even more splitting the cost with my friend.
- You could do even better using your Marriott Bonvoy Chase Rewards card and booking through that site. I pay $95 per year to use this card, but it gives me credit for at least one hotel room stay each year and I rack up points using it on other spending.
- Example: This adorable Marriott boutique in Dublin called The Moxy is only 100-150 Euros per night, half the cost of the Gibson. The Moxy hotel only costs 20,000 points per night for a twin room (2 beds) or 107 Euros, as of January 15, 2022.
- You could also do better by booking your own personal transfers from hotel using Viator. They have great deals for larger groups using vans, for example. Even Uber might be less expensive than our personal transport. Again, I booked through the travel agent because I wanted an iron-clad reservation. Our trip home requires a 5:30 a.m. pickup from the hotel and I just don’t want to worry about taxis not running that early in the morning.
- You could also do better on the airline fees if you use your frequent flyer miles, which I did for my first trip to Europe. It saved me $3,500 when I flew into Belgium and trained down to Italy for a week on my very first trip. I have both American Express Delta SkyMiles and now a United frequent flyer account.
- You can also exchange Marriott Bonvoy card points for points on American Express to purchase Delta airline tickets. My go-to airlines are Delta and United, no cancellations, nothing extreme, no weird seating situations. I hear from those who love Southwest Airlines, but I’ll stick to tried and true for airline ticket purchases.
- You could also better with flights using American Airlines. They had cheaper rates to Europe, but I’m not a fan of their cancellation policies, so I paid more for United.
Wrapping up – I saved for this trip for approximately one year, just $200 or so each month. So, everything is already paid for except meals.
Have you done some travel hacking lately that you’d like to share? Please let us know in the comments!
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