If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!This Saturday we almost bought an RV. We have been prospecting for the past few weeks and visiting various local RV dealers. At our third RV dealer, we got double teamed by a couple of manager+trainee (I believe). After [...]

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I just went over the budget again just to give you an idea of where we’re at. In 2007, we had a combined income of $87k, a 12% tax rate, and living costs of $24k leaving $52k for frivolous stock purchases, etc.
Being a few sigma off the mean (but I do know people — yeah, [...]

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According to wiki, a normal ten minute shower uses as much as 60 gallons of water. This means that the water tank of an boat or an RV(*) will be exhausted after a single shower. Therefore we’ll have to adopt to some kind of Navy shower.
The thing I don’t like about Navy showers is having [...]

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I have started using vinegar and baking soda for basic cleaning. Generally I spread baking soda of the grime and then soak a rag in vinegar. When the acid of the vinegar comes in contact with the baking soda a chemical reaction ensues which works very well for cleaning (for extra effect heat the vinegar).
I [...]

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From a minimalist/financial independence extremist perspective ordinary books on good housekeeping (in case you need to learn it from a book ) just won’t cut it. Actually when it comes to financial independence, information targeted at “normals” is frequently useless(*). Hence, one must look elsewhere. I get my inspiration, not from run of the [...]

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A reader asked me how I combine the warrior diet with extreme frugality. The simple answer is that I don’t. I don’t follow the warrior diet to the letter, nor am I nearly as frugal with the food budget as I used to be (less than $200 per month for two people in NorCal is [...]

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One measure of financial independence is not to have to worry about having money to pay for goods. This is usually accomplished by having lots of money, but with the internet a second method is emerging. I’m talking about swap sites, freebie sites, etc. where computers match up people who then trade their stuff for [...]

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As mentioned in last Saturday’s roundup, I had some ideas regarding the future last week, specifically how to spend retirement and how to live. I’m the type that sees life itself as an adventure. I left my home country almost 10 years to go to grad school in another country. When I finished, I left [...]

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I had today (Monday) off. Last week I noticed that Monday was marked as “spring holiday” on the calendar. It took me a few moments to figure out that this probably meant Easter. Ah, the separation of church and state when taken to the point of confusion.
Thus today was spent much like I imagine retirement [...]

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Recently Trent at The Simple Dollar posted his schedule. I think it’s quite interesting to see what goes on behind the curtains because even when everybody mostly live in the same types of houses, drive the same kinds of cars, buy the same stuff and have jobs, we are all quite different when it [...]

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