Assessing your vulnerability to risk is a relatively quick and simple process. Determining how to build resilience into your lifestyle so you can either reduce the risk or lessen its impact, is a little trickier. The topsy-turvy economy has got me thinking about the potential risks to my financial well-being. A lot. One of the key …
What is a simple life? Is a cabin in the woods (like Thoreau in Walden) necessary for you to live simply? Do you need to turn your back on all modern conveniences, worse yet, technology? Luckily, there are no hard and fast rules dictating what defines a simple life. Each of us comes to a …
Balancing your priorities can be a challenge. It’s one of modern life’s little jokes. You either have money or you have time, rarely, it seems do you simultaneously have an abundance of both. Invariably when I’ve had the cash flow to undertake new projects, I haven’t had the time to implement them. And, conversely, when …
Meal planning is one of the best ways to wrestle back control of your grocery spending and your eating habits. It’s a method of organization that few would argue is a waste of time. But, here’s my confession, I just can’t do it. It’s as though a meal plan, like a diet, is the signal …
Getting fit and staying fit can be a challenge for your willpower. But getting fit and staying fit on a budget takes imagination as well as willpower. As I talked about in a previous post, health and fitness has suddenly jumped to the top of my priority list. Finding ways of getting fit and …
Impulse spending is the biggest threat to maintaining a successful budget. In today’s world we’re surrounded by constant temptation. Everywhere you look there’s a bright shiny advertisement either playing on your fears or tapping into your deepest desires. Buy this and you’ll be more attractive or look successful or slimmer or… You get the picture. …
Saving money doesn’t have to be a painful process. All you need to do is be mindful of where your money is going and then make small changes on a consistent basis. Before you know it, your bank account will be growing and you’ll be developing new habits and a painlessly frugal lifestyle. Then, you’ll start actively …
I’m pretty focused on being frugal and saving money wherever (and whenever) I can, then I read 11 Outrageous Things People Did To Save Money and I decided I’m not THAT frugal after all! While I can understand putting your pee on the compost (it’s high in nitrogen), and I can understand buying your meat on …
Yes. It is possible to grow your own food even if you live in an apartment or a house with little to no garden. The key ingredient you need is: sunlight. As long as you can offer your plants at least a work day’s worth of sunshine (minimum 8 hours) you can grow your …
Welcome to Weekend Reading #8 We’re expecting an ‘Antarctic Vortex‘ to blow through for the next couple of days so we can look forward to unusually cool temperatures. However, the good news is that creates the perfect environment for spending some time in a warm kitchen, prepping meals for the week. And, just because I can, I’ve …
The written word has the power to change your mindset… and the world. If you’re lucky, certain books will appear in your life to inspire you and in some cases, affect you so deeply they force you to change your mindset. Here are five of the books that inspired me to view my life, and …
Bad news is the ultimate unwelcome house guest. Trouble is, we have no control over when it arrives or how long it stays and finding the silver lining in bad news can be a challenge. I mentioned in my post on Monday that my daughter’s dad just got some bad news about his health. Really bad news. …