Everything I spent on FI community events this year / Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s not my usual time or day to put out a post, but my family’s doing our Thanksgiving meal today before we go see Hamilton later tonight (!!!) because my mom and I are driving back up to DC tomorrow night so I can go to work on Friday. So why not a thankfulness/reflection post at an unusual time to go with our untraditional Thanksgiving this year? Continue reading “Everything I spent on FI community events this year / Happy Thanksgiving!”

How I’m starting off the year

Hello, and Happy New Year, friends! (Are you tired of hearing that yet?)

I thought about jumping into 2018 with my December spending report, but instead I’m going super-topical and talking about resolutions. Or, more specifically, a lack of them.

I’m doing something new and not setting resolutions this year. Sure, I’m setting money goals, and like I said in that post, I have personal goals I’d like to work on this year. But typically every year I’ve set resolutions, so this is a weird departure from the norm for me. Continue reading “How I’m starting off the year”

Holiday traditions, old and new

So writing wasn’t happening Monday night (let’s be honest, it wasn’t really happening last night either. Apologies for the resulting incoherence), so it’s a Wednesday/Friday post week because it’s my blog and I can make the rules! Also that works out just fine because I’m going to be at a holiday party for my side gig tonight so no writing’s happening. ANYWAY.

I’ve been listening to Christmas music since the properly-appointed time of after Thanksgiving and got into the decorating groove last weekend. This got me thinking about holiday traditions, and what’s new this year now that I’m on the FI path. Continue reading “Holiday traditions, old and new”

Lessons in gratitude learned while my sister was sleeping on my futon

Y’all, I am tired. It’s been a long couple of weeks. My sister was living with me for the past three weeks (she just moved out a few hours ago), sleeping on my futon and keeping her clothes etc in part of my room. That came with the awesome benefit of a $150 deduction on rent for both me and my roommate (yeah, I made my sister pay $100/week for rent. Life is expensive and also we only have one bathroom which gets crowded when three people are involved), but man am I tired. Continue reading “Lessons in gratitude learned while my sister was sleeping on my futon”

Wins this week

It’s late on Friday night, I just finished cooking for the next few days, doing all the dishes, and cleaning my perpetually-dirty kitchen counters, and I’m tired. I’m super busy this weekend and my last post was pretty serious so I figure I’ll just make a quick list of all the good things that happened this week since I don’t really have the time or energy for more. I’m actively trying to be more mindful and thankful for small things, so I might make this a recurring feature. But for this week: Continue reading “Wins this week”

My not-so-comfortable life?

So about that Washington Post article today that says you need $80,273 to live “comfortably” in DC…
1) Is that pre- or post-tax? These things matter.
2) Is this per household or average per person?
3) I guess things are looking up because last year the number was $108,092.
4) I started laughing and then I think I kept laughing to keep from crying. And then I shared the article with a coworker and we were both laughing to keep from crying.

Here’s the deal: at least as a single person, I find this ludicrous, even pre-tax. Continue reading “My not-so-comfortable life?”