It’s that time of year again — when the world gives-in to unbridled commerce and irrational overspending. Yep, that’s our modern holiday season!
While many people enjoy the ease and convenience of buying Christmas gifts for friends and family, I’ve actually come to dislike the practice…
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While I’m not normally a nostalgic person, October marked something of a major milestone in the life of Mr. Tako. This was my fifth year of freedom from the corporate world!
Although my blog was started back in December of 2015, my last day of work at a “corporate” job was September 30th, 2015. It took me a few months of unemployment before I finally decided to start writing the blog you see here today.
It’s been an interesting 5-year journey to say the least. Filled with all the ups and downs, and strange fluids you might expect from raising two kids…
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Week 4 under lockdown is complete! Schools have been closed for only a month, but right now it feels like years. Can stay-at-home dads get PTSD?
If this pandemic has taught me anything (and it’s already taught me several things), it’s that I have the greatest respect in the world for teachers. People who willingly teach 20-30 rambunctious kids, day after day, year after year, without going insane are amazing people. They’re obviously saints or super-humans. Possibly both…
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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’…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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!
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