Morning!

Congrats on making it to Friday! :)

Here’s a bunch of my favorite things I caught from around the web, as well as the most popular articles on Budgets Are Sexy lately…

I know it’s scary out there but at least we have each other, right?! RIGHT???!

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Popular on the blog:

A friendly reminder… – YOU ARE INVESTED FOR THE LONG HAUL!

An Aspiring Goal to Shoot For – Spending more on *donations* than *wants* every month.

$$$ Jokes For Your Amusement — For anyone needing a smile :)

Some life updates — Including feelings about our minivan, our newish house, our dog (❤️🐶❤️🐶), my blog, my kids, as well as an update on my dear friend Agatha battling some stuff right now…

Joe’s $400k Net Worth + 5 Key Takeaways — “I like to track and look at our budget in terms of daily spending because it really lets you appreciate and understand what you need to do to achieve your long term goals.”

Wondering if YOU ever spend money inside video games? — “77% of respondents have spent money on Fortnite in-game purchases, which was up from 69% in 2018. The average amount spent was $102.42…”

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Favorite finds from around the web:

How to Create Gratitude via Raptitude — “This thing you have – this meal, this bed, these clothes, this friend – if it’s possible to have it, it’s possible not to have it. If you take a moment to imagine not having it, the good fortune of having it is no longer lost on you.”

National Parks In America Based On Their Worst Review (16 Pics) via Bored Panda — “I’m an illustrator and I have always had a personal goal to draw all 62 US National Parks, but I wanted to find a unique twist for the project. When I found that there are one-star reviews for every single park, the idea for Subpar Parks was born.”

Panera’s New $9/Month Coffee Subscription is  via LifeHacker — “If you’re always popping into the same coffee shop for a quick cup—and that coffee shop just happens to be Panera—you might want to get a subscription.”

J.Money: Budgets Are Sexy, Accidental Entrepreneur & The ‘Drama List’ via WealthFit — “In this amazing show, we talk about budgets and how they can be sexy. We talk about being an accidental entrepreneur, the drama list and why everybody needs the drama list. We talk about the ride of going from $50,000 in net worth all the way to $1 million and where you can see this each and every year undocumented. We also get into a $40 bottle of water and how that’s even possible.”

Now Is When We All Learn to Darn Our Socks Again via NY Times — “”Visible mending” has been taken up by those who want to protest fast fashion and disposable culture. It’s also thrifty.”

Twitch Streamers Make Thousands Literally by Just Sleeping via Wired — “Over the past few weeks, streamers have been training their cameras on their mattresses as they doze off. In the intervening hours, viewers use Twitch’s donation function to gift them small quantities of money—$2 dollars, $5 there. A couple of streamers cutely refer to them as “slumber parties.””

[How to Make Money in Your Sleep via NY Times – another good article on this]

This App Saves Money On Prescriptions via HuffPost — “We found that frequently the price of the same pills can be double or triple at one store what another store just miles away charges. In some cases, the highest price was more than six times the lowest price listed on GoodRx.”

And then my FAVORITE find this week – cute little fruit savers by Hutzler!

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Hang in there everyone! Life is still good despite the disruption!

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Morning!

Here’s a bunch of great reading material to feed your brain over the weekend :) Amazing what you can still learn about money and life even after being around for thousands of years…

Lemme know if you’ve read anything great lately!

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Most popular articles on Budgets Are Sexy:

What Haters Are Like — Tell me if you don’t know people like this…

Utterly Useless Facts About Money & Life — Picked up a fact book at my local thrift store and it did not disappoint ;) See if you can slip the facts on wombats or tampons into normal conversation today!

Something ALL stores should do! — Just found out that my favorite local bookstore will accept ANY gift card from ANY place in lieu of cash, so long as it’s active and they can verify how much is on it! How incredible is that??

A cool way to use your tax refunds — “I use that tax return to pay all my bills for a year. I multiply my cell, internet, Netflix, and car insurance by 13 months (I like an extra months padding), then take that amount and add the cost of my contacts and vision exam, dental costs, and life insurance. I then deposit that amount into a Capital One 360 account and pay my bills directly from it.”

New Book & Giveaway: “Don’t Fall For It: A Short History of Financial Scams” — The latest book from Ben Carlson of A Wealth of Common Sense blog fame… You have until Sunday night to enter for one of the 3 copies we have!

Are you cool with stores going cashless?! — Lots of talk lately about stores going cashless and wondering where you stand on all this? Are you a big cash and coin lover like me, or do you say good riddance to it all?!

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Favorite finds from around the web:

From Junkie to FIRE via Millennial Revolution — “The thing about being what we call a “hope to die dope fiend” is that you create wreckage in literally every dimension of your life. I had to rebuild everything. My credit, health, finances, living arrangements, familial relationships, and yes, my criminal history.”

12 Shocking Things I Learned by Working as a Butler at the Plaza Hotel via Pocket — “Serving the world’s rich and famous, it turns out, plumbs the depths of an alternative universe that readily embraces the absurd without even batting an eye. And that was only the beginning of what I learned.”

U.S. renters are richer, older, and have larger households via Curbed — “Perhaps the most significant change in the nation’s rental landscape is the shift in just who is renting today. The rental market has welcomed increasing numbers of high-income renters, with the percentage of renter households making $75,000 or more in 2019 hitting 22 percent, the highest level on record.”

Instant Blog Post Index in a Google Sheets Spreadsheet via Spreadsheet Man — “This spreadsheet – which you can see here and get your own copy (use the File / Make a Copy menu) has a simple formula that you don’t even have to change yourself – you can just enter the new blog RSS feed URL on the sheet and the formula will use that! The IMPORTFEED() function does have a limit of grabbing just 250 posts – but it’s still pretty powerful!”

If your cash gets damaged, this Treasury team will make sure it’s not a lost cause via The Washington Post — “Every week, the federal office in Southwest Washington receives hundreds of padded envelopes, boxes and even safes stuffed with cash ravaged by water, fire, shredding machines, insects or a canine’s teeth… Last year, the agency issued checks for more than $35 million to businesses and individuals who had submitted their battered money…”

Warren Buffett says Berkshire is ‘100% prepared’ for his death via Yahoo! Finance — “Today, my will specifically directs its executors — as well as the trustees who will succeed them in administering my estate after the will is closed — not to sell any Berkshire shares… The will goes on to instruct the executors – and, in time, the trustees – to each year convert a portion of my A shares into B shares and then distribute the Bs to various foundations… I estimate that it will take 12 to 15 years for the entirety of the Berkshire shares I hold at my death to move into the market.”

Every $1 You Invest Now Will Be Worth $7.61 in 30 Years via Four Pillar Freedom — “There is actually a name for this investment & lifestyle approach: Coast FIRE. The whole idea is to accumulate enough money at an early enough age that you no longer need to invest any more to achieve financial independence by age 65 (or whatever you define as a retirement age). Once you have enough money invested, you can simply “coast” your way to retirement.”

https://neal.fun/ – a randomly awesome site by Neal Agarwal… Here are a few of the simulations off it you might enjoy. Click to check ’em out!

(A showcase of things that have happened since you were born)

(A way to visualize rates from minimum wage to the national deficit)

(Where you have $90,000,000,000 to blow on whatever you like!)

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Happy spending :)

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Morning, y’all!

Before we get to it today, I just have to thank you all SO SO MUCH for helping raise over $3,100 for my friend Agatha last week!!

She just messaged me saying she had hit a pretty frustrating – and exhausting – wall in recovery, and then all of a sudden these donations came pouring in and it helped her to push through! So way to go, guys!! I know most of you don’t know her at all, but please know you made a difference in her life and I am beyond thankful for it. This stuff could happen to any of us, it’s so scary!

Now onto some more positive news… :)

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On Budgets Are Sexy this week:

Happy Library Lovers’ Day! — If you can’t stand Valentine’s Day, try out this little known holiday today instead ;) Not everyone receives flowers on V Day, but everyone is welcome at their library!

10 Ways to Woo on Budget 💙 — For those who love Valentine’s Day!

Side Hustle #79: Flipping Guitars! — Daniella from ILikeToDabble.com stops by the blog to share her experience (and profits!) helping her wife sell guitars online! Making $10,000 alone last year!

Some $$$ Jokes to Cheer Up Your Wallet — Some fun little ditties to help pick your wallet back up… Otherwise known as “Dad jokes”.

New Book & Giveaway: “How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?” — Todd Tresidder, aka The Financial Mentor, recently released the 2nd edition of his book and we’re giving away *3 copies* of it this week! Make sure to enter by Sunday!

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Favorite finds around the web this week!

101 Things to do at 5am! via 5am Joel — “I’ve tried almost all of these things over the past 3 years of getting up at 5am. These activities have kept me busy, creative, productive, and enjoying my mornings.”

The American Dream vs. The American Trap via Daily Collegian — “No experience has compared to my encounter with Maria. I will never meet her again, but I will also never forget her and what she taught me.”

Exposed! Mr. Money Mustache’s 2019 Bachelor Spending! via Mr. Money Mustache – “My expenses are really easy to track: I funnel all my spending through a rewards credit card, which saves me about $2000 each year… Meanwhile, I hook up a third party financial app to automatically monitor these transactions, alert me to any unusual activity, and – the best part – automatically categorize and add everything up for me.”

The Economics of Unused Gift Cards via The Hustle — “Every year, Americans spend billions of dollars on gift cards. But what happens to the money when the cards aren’t redeemed?

You Can Literally Sell Your Poop For Cash via Scary Mommy — “I know. I KNOW. Who on God’s green earth would want to donate their dung? Well, according to The New York Times, quite a few people would. And not only are these people making a pretty penny for handing over their chocolate lava, but they are helping to save lives in the process.”

The Shirley Temple King via @chezspence — “Just found this instagram account that’s a kid who calls himself the Shirley Temple King and goes to restaurants and gives brutally honest reviews of their shirley temples. It’s so pure and I love him so much.”

And then lastly, a tip from yours truly:

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Happy Friday, y’all! However you feel like celebrating! :)

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Morning!

So I don’t usually do this, but I have a friend who’s suffering from something pretty scary right now (“Complex Regional Pain Syndrome” aka “The Suicide Disease”) and if you wouldn’t mind sharing this or donating a few bucks to help her out I’d be SUPER appreciative:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-agatha-beat-crps

We raised some good money blogging about it last week, but would love to do one more final push for her to get her closer to her goal of $10k! So anything you could do would be awesome! (But no pressure!)

In other, not-nearly-as-important news, here were my favorite articles from around the web lately, as well as those I published on the blog…

I swear none of them are as sad as that link up there :)

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Popular Articles from the blog lately:

19 Things Future Multimillionaires Do… — Stumbled across this listicle and wondered if we’re on the right track or not :) How many of these can you confidently check off?

10 Ways to Get You Closer To Your Best Life — A handful of things you can do to be a better person to others, or yourself :) Both very important!

How Much Americans Have Saved For Retirement — If you’re a millennial and rank in any of these levels outside the first one, place your hand here as you’re already beating out a good portion of everyone else ;)

The Different Wealth Levels and How They Affect Your Decisions — If you’re wondering why you treat money differently now than you did back in the day, this is the article for you. Especially those who have gone UP the ladder over the years.

3 Tricks I Do That Helps Me Be More Charitable — You know what really impresses me? Unicorns. You know what impresses me 10x more? People who naturally think of others before themselves :) Unfortunately for me I’m closer to being a unicorn than I am someone who thinks of others first, but over the years I have learned that you can trick yourself into being a better person just by incorporating a few daily habits.

Saving up for something? Buy the stock first! — For instance, if you’re looking to buy the latest iPhone, buy Apple shares worth that phone and see if you still want to buy the phone… That way, you tend to reduce unnecessary expenses while building a decent portfolio to rely on.

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Articles from around the web I really liked this week:

How $39 Changed Our Mortgage Payoff Journey Forever via She Picks Up Pennies  — “On May 28, 2015, I made our first extra payment toward the principal. I paid $39.04. It almost seems cute, but that small amount was so powerful. In so many ways, it was the first domino that led us to exactly where we are now.”

A fun (and highly profitable) psychological trick to try on someone via Quora — “It’s called “The Five Dollar Auction.” You stand up in front of the group, and hold up a five dollar bill. You explain that you will auction this five dollar bill off, and the highest bidder gets it, even if the high bid only a dime. Bidding starts at 10 cents, and goes up in increments of 10 cents or more. There’s just one trick to this auction, and that is that when the auction ends, whoever has the second highest bid also has to pay, but doesn’t get anything.“

11 Reasons Not to Become Famous via Tim Ferriss — “13 years, 5 books, 1,000+ blog posts, and nearly 500M podcast downloads later, I’ve learned a few things about the promises and perils of seeking fame…. If you suddenly had 100,000 or 1,000,000 or 10,000,000 more followers, what might happen? I thought I knew, and I was naive.”

The American Dream vs. The American Trap via Daily Collegian — “I have had the pleasure of traveling to about twenty countries and meeting many young people along my travels. I learned a lot about these people through my experiences, but I have learned even more about myself and the country I call home. No experience has compared to my encounter with Maria. I will never meet her again, but I will also never forget her and what she taught me.”

Google Flights — “A super easy way to price flights with filtering for airlines, dates, times and class of service. You can even track flights, see how the cost compares to average, and receive email updates on prices.” – mentioned in 5 Strategies to Improve Your Cash Flow and Savings via XY Planning Network

The Difference Between Getting By and Getting Better via Raptitude — “I decided it was worth getting better at this one small corner of life. So I began to make a game out of having warmer and more deliberate checkout exchanges. I speak up, engage, smile. It amounts to a straightforward switching of intentions: each purchase is now a chance to become a slightly more personable customer (and person), rather than simply the final step of the shopping process.”

Obvious to you. Amazing to others. [VIDEO] by Derek Sivers — “Any creator of anything knows this feeling: You experience someone else’s innovative work. It’s beautiful, brilliant, breath-taking. You’re stunned. Their ideas are unexpected and surprising, but perfect. You think, “I never would have thought of that. How do they even come up with that? It’s genius!” Afterwards, you think, “My ideas are so obvious. I’ll never be as inventive as that.””

And lastly, this reminder to marinate on over the weekend…

Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. – Earl Nightingale

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Get that ball rolling :)

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Happy Friday!

Hope you ended the week richer and happier ;)

Lots of juicy stuff on the blog and around the web this week, so let’s get to it!

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Articles from the blog:

It’s official – I’m a Minivan Dad!! — And boy, do I feel like a dad haha… One of the first things I actually noticed, but it’s kinda cool… I AM a dad, and I’m proud to be one! :)

Did you know you have to pay taxes on all winnings?! — It’s true… Winnings are considered “income” and you can get in some serious doo-doo if you try to hide it and it’s not only applicable to things like winning the lottery or hitting it big on slots.

What are some of your controversial personal finance beliefs? — Here are three of mine: renting is better than owning for a lot of people, buying Starbucks is perfectly fine to do!, and I always tip 20% no matter the service I receive.

When does it make sense to spend more on your looks?! — “Last year I met up with a life insurance agent who cleared $300k last year and he was telling me how he bought these suits at $1k-$3k price points. I was shocked and told myself I would never. Clothes depreciate. What a waste. Then it struck me. He made almost 3x money as me last year! Maybe he understands something I do not.”

Side Hustle #78: Being a TV/Film Extra! [$200+/day] — Another addition to our Side Hustle Series! Peggy Bree stops by the blog to share her experience being in over 200 shows in 6 years, and what you can expect from it all.

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Articles from around the web I liked:

Treasure Fever via Hakai Magazine — “Nearly three million vessels lie wrecked on the Earth’s ocean floor — from old canoes to the Titanic — and likely less than one percent have been explored.”

How I Made $39,000 on Wheel of Fortune via Dads and Dollars — “Without going into too much detail, I will point out that the first round was what is called a “perfect round”. The wheel was very, very good to me in that round, and I never relinquished control. Oh, and it was a jackpot round, which I hit, and I got a half-car. And I had been worried I would fail epically on television.”

Taco Bell offers $100,000 salaries and paid sick time via NY Times — “In the increasingly tight U.S. labor market, the company is betting a higher salary will help it attract workers and keep them on the team.”

Lego sets its sights on a growing market: Stressed-out adults via The Washington Post — “The world’s largest toymaker is pitching its bricks as a form of mindfulness. Adults are happy to play along — as long as there are instructions.”

The Other Environmental Crisis via Raptitude — “Human interaction probably isn’t in danger of extinction, but it is quietly losing great swaths of its natural habitat. Technology is making real interaction less necessary at work, home, and everywhere in between, which must mean there’s simply less of it in the world than there was a decade ago.”

Apparel that shows your FIRE pride by Accidental FIRE — “You have it together, you’re investing wisely and getting closer to financial independence every day. Show the world that you’ve chosen to live differently, and on your own terms!”

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Thanks for reading :)

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