Time just seems to be flying by, now on my 5th weekend and 1 month birthday of this blog! Crazy! First of all, here are my recent posts from this week:
Income and Expense for July 2014
Valuing Your Time
Next week I plan to have my latest Net Worth update along with another post, hopefully on one of my recent frugality experiments. Throughout the week I tweet articles that I find interesting, but I like to highlight a few that I really enjoyed on the weekend. As always follow me on twitter or check out the blogroll if you are interested in reading more of what other bloggers have to say.
Are You Part of the 20%?
Brain @ Debt Discipline has an interesting factoid post and I think it is kind of sad to think that only 20% of Americans have no debt. I hope to join this 20% before my 40th Birthday, are you working to join the 20%?
That’s the Way I Want to Go
Retire before dad put out a post about two acquaintances he knew that recently passed. If you don’t realize why you need to achieve financial independence now, will you when you see others pass away during your life?
Truly Passive Income
If you are wondering what passive income is then check out this post from Ryan @ Impersonal Finance. The benefits of passive income are great and eventually your investments can pay for themselves just in the dividends they provide you over your lifetime!
Destination: Grand Rapids
I have to give a shout out to Jason @ Dividend Mantra for doing a blog post on the town I live nearby. If you are interested in what the city has to offer this is a great place to start.
Our “Throw it Away” Society and Owning More Stuff is Not the Answer
I felt that these two posts fit really nice together and I am a bit too tired and out of it to pick a winner between the two, so screw it, I am linking them both together. Andrew @ Living Cheaply talks about how we are to quickly discard items to upgrade and not repair the things we own. FI Pilgrim takes a bit of a different approach to perhaps the same outcome where he argues that owning more stuff is not a solution. So in essence, see if you can continue to make due with what you have BEFORE acquiring new (or used).
Have a great weekend everyone!
Kipp,
Thanks for the mention! I went to GR to see the Nutcracker many years ago. That was my only experience there. Seemed like a nice town.
-RBD
Hi RBD,
GR isn’t bad, I don’t live right inside the city (a little north), but I have lived in the West Michigan region basically my whole life, so kind of hard for me to give a good comparison :).
Kipp
Kipp,
Appreciate the inclusion!
Can’t say I’m part of the 20%, but I keep debt around as a mathematical decision, not because I can’t afford to pay it. Though, it’ll be nice to one day have it behind me.
Hope you’re having a great weekend.
Best wishes.
Hi Jason,
With student loans I think all of the default repayment plans are over 10 years. So for us we will knock those out before the end of 2023… Which seems so far away! But before we are 40 we will be part of the 20% if everything goes to plan.
Kipp
Thanks for the shout out Kipp! Hope you’re having an awesome weekend. And congrats on the 1 month anniversary!
Thank you Ryan! Actually I was a bit sick over the weekend and slept alot and started to pressure wash my deck to paint it. That is a bit more tedious than I was expecting… the deck has too many little rail guards in my opinion. Still need to finish that…
Happy one month anniversary. Hope you had a great weekend =)
Thanks Holly! The weekend was ok, I either slept, read, or pressure washed. Could have been worse I suppose!
Thanks for the shout-out, Kipp! I’m OK with being tied for the win.
Both articles were really good and seemed to approach the same problem with different methods, so I just went with including both!
Thanks for the mention and hope you had a great weekend. I’m also cool with a tie! I’m in good company and liked FI Pilgrim’s post as well. While I’d like to get rid of some stuff, our 600 sq foot apartment has limited our ability to accumulate TOO much stuff, which is a good thing I guess.
You are welcome Andrew! 600 sq ft is a good way to stay in check with minimalism (and keep utility bills down). I honestly thing my house is a bit big, about 1200sq foot upstairs and 1/2 finish basement. But I am sure the roominess will change when kids come around.