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Am I Crazy? What actually makes me feel happy

old t-shirt

What Makes Most People Happy Retail therapy. It’s called this for a reason-most people get a little bit of a rush or endorphin surge when they buy something that they want. Then, every time they put on that new shirt or drive that new car, they have this kind of happy feeling about it. While the effect does wear down over time, there is always more and more stuff to buy so you can live…

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Flight Tickets….at what point do you just need to stop?

This year, I decided to head back to the motherland (Canada) for Christmas to visit the family and I’ve been searching for a few weeks online for the cheapest ticket prices. There quite literally is nothing under about $1400, unless I want to linger in airports and on airplanes for 30 or 40 hours, which obviously I do not want to do when I could actually get to my hometown in about 15-16 hours on…

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Assumptions and why they’re not helpful

Everyone knows the old saying, “Assumptions make an ass out of you and me.” It’s kind of cheesy, but it’s definitely true in almost all areas of life, and especially with regard to personal finance. Just because someone doesn’t own a nice house and a fancy new car, doesn’t mean that they don’t have 200 000 or 500 000 or a million dollars in the bank. Maybe it’s that they choose to live a different…

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I have too much stuff

Back in another lifetime, I hiked (most of) the Appalachian Trail, which is a 4000km or so hike across the USA. I fell into the ultralight category, which was strongly influenced the Ray Jardine’s book, Beyond Backpacking. Essentially, it’s carrying as little as possible in order to move long-distances with as little effort as possible. And this has carried over into my “real-life” these days. I have a few comforts, but really am okay living…

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Frugal Living: Clothes

Clothes are definitely one of those things that you can spend hundreds of dollars every month on, or almost nothing. I definitely fall into the latter category, as my students and good friends I’m sure could tell you. I rotate among the same 3 sweaters, 4 pairs of dress pants, 8 or so shirts, and 2 pairs of shoes at work. And for casual wear, it’s much the same, but even less. Maybe 2 pairs…

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