Normally I spend my posts on this blog waxing poetically about intense topics like investing, saving, and other areas of immense importance (like food). Today, instead of doing another one of those super-serious blog posts, I decided to just go casual do more of a ‘life update’…
Read more
One of the more frequent criticisms I hear about early retirement is that, “I’d be bored if I retired and quit my job.” (As if an interesting life doesn’t really exist outside the confines of a job.)
Personally, I hate the term ‘retired’. It comes with too much emotional baggage to be a useful word. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t self-describe myself as ‘retired’ on this blog…
Read more
Questions. As a blogger, there’s always people asking questions about our story. Most of the time the questions are simply people doubting our story is real. Others simply jump to conclusions based upon what they see (or don’t see) in our monthly expense reports.
One question I’ve encountered multiple times is around the culture of gift giving…
Read more
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of my favorite movies from the 1980’s. On the surface, the move is about a trio of highschool kids who skip school to have a good time. But the movie is really about living, and experiencing life to its fullest. Carpe Diem.
At one point in the movie, Ferris quips, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” He couldn’t be more right…
Read more
Normally when electronic stuff breaks in our modern world, we simply throw it out and buy a new one. For most people, the idea of repairing electronics has gone the way of the dodo. Like the helpless consumers we are, we pony-up our money and buy new.
Electronics are cheap and plentiful (thanks to the China), and replacements are just a few clicks away. But I have one GIANT gripe with this situation — The quality of electronics goods has seriously declined over the past few decades, and most products are NOT repairable.
Read more
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, it’s no secret that I like to build stuff. I routinely write about things like tools, where to find free wood, and occasionally I show off a finished project. Well, today’s the day — I’m going to show off another finished project! My newly completed side table!
Read more
A couple weeks ago, I published a post that reviewed my first year of early retirement. Both the good and the bad parts of that first year. The article eventually got picked up by RockstarFinance (thanks J. Money!) and was my most popular post yet…
Read more
When writing a blog post, I don’t like to sugar coat the shit.
I prefer to display the honest reality of financial independence, including the all rough bits! Sure, I could probably have a bigger blog audience if I focused only on the roses. But that isn’t my goal.
I believe my readers want to hear the balanced story of early retirement…both the shit and the roses alike.
Read more
Mrs. Tako and I recently took a trip to our local Costco to stock up on household goods. We make a Costco run a couple times a month, depending upon what’s needed.
The store had Halloween costumes on display and decorations out for sale. Our kids (of course) are terribly interested in all this Halloween stuff…so I was practically required to pilot the shopping cart down the Halloween aisle for a look at all of it.
Read more