If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. Here's how I did it and how I how I enjoy a middle class lifestyle while only spending $7,000/year.
More importantly, here's more than a hundred online journals from other people, who are following the same strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, ...). They have increased their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income. Many accumulate six-figure net worths within a few years.
The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger on losing their jobs to the next wave of downsizing.
Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before delving into the forum journals and looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation.
The heating strategy we recently implemented decreased the utility bill by $30 compared to last month. This is promising. Not only did we not use this strategy for the full month. It has also been significantly colder this month outside – as well as inside
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I was half fearing that the space heater that DW is running in the “office” would eat up much of the savings on gas in electricity but the electricity bill is only up $0.22. Since the HVAC rarely engages anymore, most of the rest of the gas bill comes from cooking and hot water. The bad news is that we are running out of firewood.
In other news
This week I participated in the following carnivals:
Enjoy!