Morning!

Back from my summer break and ready to get the party started again! Y’all doing well and getting closer to those hopes and dreams??? Anything juicy happen while I was away?

You can see a little of what I’ve been up to here, but basically it was a lot of unplugging and a lot of living :) Mixed in with some ER visits and house repairs for good measure (hah).

I’ve got a lot of new ideas and mini-epiphanies to share with y’all over the coming weeks, as well as a pretty major announcement, but for now feast your eyes on a few recent thoughts I shared below on the blog, as well as a handful of my favorite reads from across the web last month.

Hope they help! And if you ever get tired of seeing these emails, just click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of them and they’ll stop coming ASAP.

Articles on Budgets Are Sexy this week:

• Goood morning!!! I’m back!
• Net Worth Update: $940,412.06 [+$20,873.72 or +2.27%]
• This summer’s favorite reads + FinCon Next Month!! 💰
• A silly little trick I started doing to make expenses feel better… ;)

Things I found interesting around the web:

Doors and Windows and What’s Real @ Sivers.org — ”Like everyone, I live in a little house with many doors and windows. One door goes out to my neighborhood… One window looks out at the nature around me… One door is just for my son… But one door is really no fun to open. Whenever I do, I’m horrified at all the shouting.”

Pareto Spring Cleaning @ The Rabbit Hole — “To be conducted every 6 months or so in order to help you lock in and remove unwanted distractions…”

Surreal photos of the beach that briefly existed west of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, in the early 80s @ UrbanFoxxxx “The site, created out of landfill material from the excavations to build the WTC, would later become Battery Park City… On the same site, in the summer of 1982, conceptual artist Agnes Denes planted and harvested two acres of wheat for her installation ‘Wheatfield’ – one of the most memorable images of Manhattan ever created.“

The Thrill of Uncertainty @ Collaborative Fund — “Variable interval rewards are why we compulsively check email. Some messages are really important, but you don’t know when the important ones will come, so you keep checking and checking. Same with checking Twitter and Facebook. Or watching cable news. Or waiting for a boring meeting to end. Find something that captures people’s attention and turns them into crazed animals and you will likely find a variable interval reward.”

This Post Will Change Your Life @ Raptitude — “Every single thing that happens to you—your career, your ideas, your friends, your living situation—emerged into reality from its many parent conditions just like that rainbow did. In fact, nothing happens any other way: conditions give rise to a thing that wasn’t there, it’s there for a while, and then it disappears back into the mist of causality. Appreciating all this helps us remember the abundance of possibility we’re always living in.”

Happy August!

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Blessed morning!

Here are my favorite articles from around the web this week, as well as those from yours truly :)

I’ll be taking a break from sending these over the next handful of weeks as we settle into our new home and lifestyle (want to be able to fully soak it in!), but we’ll be sure to continue the party upon my return and keep the good word spreading…

In the meantime, happy summer! And thanks for being with me all year! :)

Articles on Budgets Are Sexy this week:

• The average amount people spend on the lottery every year
• Updates and anniversaries of 12 major decisions of my life
• A new book that just dropped + a giveaway of it: “Clever Girl Finance”
• Advice for a reader who’s fallen for a “hyper-dedicated FIRE enthusiast!“
• A list of my favorite reads from the month this month 📚

Things I found interesting around the web:

This list of side hustles! –> 145 Side Hustle Ideas Ranked in a Free Google Spreadsheet // “The spreadsheet allows you to sort ideas by complexity, how realistic they are, monthly earning range, the average time to first $1000, and even introvert index.”

This article by David Cain –> Two Ways To Get Better At Something // “The gentle ramp demands things of you that the boot camp doesn’t. Staying on it requires you to develop certain aspects of character…The gentle ramp’s great lesson is that nothing really works but consistency over time, and that there’s no replacement for either.”

This penny lover –> Guy Sets New Penny Pyramid World Record // “Cory Nielsen aka the Penny Building Fool, has completed a record-breaking penny pyramid (the attempt is currently being reviewed by Guinness) by stacking 1,030,315 pennies over the course of 3 years.”

This comeback story –> The Man Who Brought Fila Back From Dead Is Worth $830 Million // “They’re the chunky, thick-soled throwbacks to the 1990s known as “dad shoes.” And they’re beloved by millennials, whose fascination with retro footwear has brought Fila back from the dead.”

This quote by Ryan Blair (so true!!):

“If it is important to you, you’ll find a way.

If not, you’ll find an excuse.”

And what a fire hydrant looks like out of ground, courtesy of my friend Nate :)

See ya back next month!

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Morning everyone!

Hope things are well! :)

Here are the latest articles on Budgets Are Sexy, as well as other fun nuggets from around the web this week.

This week on Budgets Are Sexy:

• My Original Millionaire “To-Do” List!
• The best FIRE gift I could have given my father
• Two good book tips…
• Do you pay attention to how much you *pay* for an investment?
• New Book & Giveaway: “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk”

Things I found interesting around the web:

This insight from Ryan Holiday –> 32 Thoughts From a 32-Year-Old

This “Little Free Library” with a twist! –> Little Free Pantries

This magazine completely dedicated to 401k’s (hah!) –> 401k Specialist

This side gig ;) –> Wanted: Someone to eat ribs and travel the country. Salary: $5,000 a week

This piece on how modern life is transforming the human skeleton –> “From the emergence of a spiky growth at the back of some people’s skulls to the enigmatic finding that our elbows are getting narrower, our bones are changing in surprising ways.” – BBC.com

This breakdown of our world –> “If 100 people lived on Earth, 56 would have no internet, 14 wouldn’t be able to read, 13 would have no clean water, and 1 would have 50% of the money” – If 100 People Lived on Earth… [2 min video]

And this quote from Marcus Aurelius (which you can also get on a coin!):

“Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying…or busy with other assignments.”

Be well,

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Morning!

Here are this week’s favorite finds and articles from around the web – starting with my own ;) Hope you find something good here!

Articles on Budgets Are Sexy:

• The Gateway Drug to Extreme Savings
• Interesting stuff people put in their safes
• The “Setback” Fund
• 5 random things I’ve learned
• A question to ask yourself: “Do I like who I am while I’m doing this?”

Things I found interesting around the web:

This app that helps you be more present –> ForestApp.cc

This history of the dollar symbol ($) –> Curious Origins of The Dollar Symbol

This list of the best biohacks and smart drugs –> https://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1128873611274723329

This car ;) –> World’s most famous Bond car from Goldfinger and Thunderball to sell for £4.7million – and it comes complete with machine guns, tyre slashers and bullet-proof glass

This stamping effort for those who can’t wait anymore –> Harriet Tubman is already appearing on $20 bills whether Trump officials like it or not

This guy who makes wedding rings out of trees! –> “Hyldahl has devised a method of tying half-knots into growing twigs on his trees. He wraps the twigs around a ring-sized form, then lets the tree grow. With a douse of his special frankincense oil, luck and a few years, the knotted ends of the twigs ultimately graft themselves into a seamless ring.” – Roanoke.com

And this reason you can’t see your own greatness –> “You are the wine inside the bottle. You know everything about your varietal, the alcohol content, the minerality, the residual sugar, the something something wine words, you get the idea. But there are things you can’t see. You can’t tell what your label looks like (only what the labels next to you look like). You can’t tell what part of the shelf you’re sitting on. You can’t tell whether you’re the cheapest thing at the convenience store or the highest-end bottle at the wine shop. THAT is why you need an outsider’s perspective. Someone to tell you what your label looks like, or whether you need to make a few adjustments so you can be on a different shelf.” – Kathleen Celmins

Many blessings,

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Morning!

Hope y’all’s month is off to a good start! Just packing up like a mad man over here and getting ready for our move at the end of the month… Always forget how much harder it is with kids ;)

Still blogging my heart out in the meantime though, and continue to find great gems around the web! Here’s a list of them for you this week… Hope there’s something there that improves your life/wallet!

Things we discussed on Budgets Are Sexy:

• Accidental frugality
• The worst lullaby songs ever…
• Going from a Monk to a Money manager!
• My latest net worth report: $883,910.63 (-$40k)
• And our giveaway of a SAFE with $100 cash! (Still open for entering!)

Things I found interesting around the web:

This Mini Museum! –> MiniMuseum.com

This talk on why the Mini Museum was created –>  Why I Created Mini Museum (4:53 mins) // “I just desperately want people to appreciate each other. And the world. And all the amazing fun things we can learn – together. And that, I feel that we can – ONLY – enjoy all of this world if we can enjoy each other.”

This tip on picking up your phone less –> “I put a book everywhere I tend to want to idly check my phone.” David Cain, per his latest experiment notes.

This family who found out their £5 chess piece could be worth £1 million –> “An Edinburgh family discovered that a chess piece, which had sat idly in their home, is part of the famous medieval Lewis Chessmen, and has been missing for almost 200 years. The 12th century Lewis Chessmen, which were discovered in 1831 on the island of Lewis, are usually on display at the British Museum and the National Museum of Scotland.”

This tip on decluttering –> How I Convinced Myself to Stop Buying Stuff

This tip on cleaning your credit cards! –> Clean Your Credit Card Because It’s One Dirty Little Thing

These gigs of the future –> 5 Future Jobs You’ve Never Heard of But That Your Kids Will Flock to

This insight by Austin Kleon – We are verbs, not nouns

That time Bill Gates and Warren Buffett worked at Diary Queen –> Grilling and chilling with Warren

And this reminder from @CollabFund:

“John D. Rockefeller was the richest man the world had ever seen. But for most of his adult life he didn’t have electric lights, AC, or sunglasses. He never had penicillin, sunscreen, or Advil. This is not ancient history: 1/30 Americans were born before Rockefeller died.”

Best time to be alive, folks!

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