We all know how much of a pain it is to pack up and move a truckload of stuff.
My strategy goes a little beyond simply getting rid of stuff: I ruthlessly limit the new things I buy to only things I’ll want to take with me. This generally leads to a lot less buying in general.
I like to think that I’ve become a bit of a pro at moving from apartment to apartment. I’m about to make my forth move in the last four years, and it’s gotten easier every time for me.
My next move …
Think you’re productive sitting at your desk? Try standing at it and see what you get done.
You don’t need to go out and spend a lot to make it happen. Setting up a DIY standing desk is quick and easy.
Some standing desk users point to the health risks of sitting to much. The research is pretty scary, especially when they mention that exercise won’t save you from sitting, either.
Personally, I’ve always felt like I sit to much. My job requires sitting just about all day. I have a comfy office chair, but my …
Since I first heard of the term “minimalist,” I’ve been intrigued by the idea and have at least loosely attempted to follow it in my own life. A true minimalist only owns few things (often less than 100 items). Minimalists have various reasons for doing so, but they often include their desire to simplify life or travel while carrying everything they own on their back.
While minimalism isn’t for everyone, there are a lot of lessons we can learn and apply to personal finance. Here are several minimalist-inspired ideas that I’ve applied to my own finances.
1. Use cash …
iTunes Match has now officially launched with the new version of iTunes. It’s a paid service, but it could be very helpful for Apple users. Here’s a quick rundown of this new offering from Apple.
$24.99 for a full year, which is pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. I spend way more than this on music every year. Right now I’m spending $10 a month for Spotify premium, although I don’t actually own any songs from subscribing to this service.
iTunes Match allows you to do several things. Here’s a quick …
Car free yet again!
Okay, so everything with my car didn’t go as I hoped it would. It came down with a litany of problems: the back brake was seized, causing the wheel to smoke and smell really, really, bad. Then, the starter completely gave out. Combine these two things, and you have a useless, immovable car that needs thousands in repairs. The problems were unexpected, although, with 191,000 miles on a car, I guess nothing is that unexpected.
Even though it wouldn’t start and the bake brake was seized up, I was able to sell it for $500, half …
As I typed away on my first blog posts in January, my (now-former) roommates sat out in the living room playing hours of video games. They had three game systems and about 40 games in our apartment, so they never seemed to get bored of their options. As I watched them sit and play night after night, I couldn’t help but think of the amount of money and time that is wasted by stuff like video games. These types of things not only suck up time, but you have to spend money to do them at the same time.
Video …
I’m not going to lie: I’ve always been opposed to iPhones in the past. My feelings even confuse me bit, as my tech-saviness is definitely above average (must be my “keep things simple” mentality kicking in). I’ve always been skeptical of the high cost and necessity of owning one.
iPhones are not cheap. The cost of owning an iPhone is around $85 per month. This is at least $35 more each month than what I’m currently paying. I’m certainly not alone in considering all the costs when switching phones.
Secondly, while I definitely feel there are a lot …
I own a crappy car that’s certainly not looking any nicer as I rack up the miles. In fact, I’m responsible for beating it up even more. Yesterday, I had a few issues on a road trip back from Massachusetts. First, I backed in a snowbank and scraped my bumper. Then, someone parked next to me swung their door open, hitting my car. To top it all off, a plastic piece under my engine came loose and started dragging on the road, forcing us to pull over on the highway to fix it. I could go on with the perpetual …
I few weeks ago, I moved to a new apartment. I’ve moved around a lot the last 5 years, living in 6 apartments with 12 different roommates. In another 4 months, I’ll be moving again! It’s always been a fairly big ordeal to move, and I definitely don’t look forward to the hassles.
I haven’t exactly been moving around with just the shirt of my back; almost all the moves have involved lots of boxes, some pieces of large furniture, and a U-Haul truck. Having shuttled around crazy amounts of stuff for years, I finally got sick of it. Which leads …
A cordless drill. A printer. A tennis racket.
These are all things hanging around in my room right now that I use once a month or less frequently. Why do I own them? Well, I’m not really sure anymore. I acquired them all at one time or another because I either needed them for a specific project (drill) or I thought it would be convenient to own (printer) or I used it much more frequently in a previous life of mine (tennis racket). They’re all relatively expensive items, and they’re most definitely worth something to someone. I just feel like …
