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Posted on December 11, 2019December 11, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 3 Comments

Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: Week 64 Roundup

Welcome to another week of the Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays roundup. I started this series after months of debate because I wasn’t certain I wanted to up the ante and commit to publishing three posts a week. However, now that I’ve started sharing these posts, I’m so glad I started. There are so many fabulous…

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 15 Comments

Monthly Financial Update: November 2019

We had dinner last Wednesday night with our old neighbor's family while we were in Austin, and it turns out that his sister works in finance. We had some great conversations in general and I really liked her (and the kiddo had a great time with her two girls), but one comment really stuck with…

Posted on December 6, 2019December 6, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 13 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 48)

We landed back home from Austin early on Thanksgiving morning, so we had a good long weekend before heading back to work on Monday. As much as it might have been nice to stay in Texas a few extra days - and as painful as it was to say goodbye again to our friends -…

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 2 Comments

Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: Week 63 Roundup

Welcome to another week of the Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays roundup. I started this series after months of debate because I wasn’t certain I wanted to up the ante and commit to publishing three posts a week. However, now that I’ve started sharing these posts, I’m so glad I started. There are so many fabulous…

Posted on December 2, 2019December 2, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 20 Comments

My Non-Monentary Emergency Fund

While I will never argue with the importance of an emergency fund - preferably a decently sized one - I also find my non-monetary emergency fund to be huge in terms of my peace of mind when it comes to finances. This sort of "fund" will look different for everyone, but in some ways I…

Posted on November 29, 2019November 29, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 6 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (Austin Texas Edition)

Remember those wonderful neighbors of ours who moved down to Austin, Texas this past May? They had a baby this summer (the impetus for their move) and we managed to squeeze in a Thanksgiving week trip to head down for a visit and to meet the little guy. I had visited Austin five years ago…

Posted on November 27, 2019November 27, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 10 Comments

Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: Week 62 Roundup

Welcome to another week of the Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays roundup. I started this series after months of debate because I wasn’t certain I wanted to up the ante and commit to publishing three posts a week. However, now that I’ve started sharing these posts, I’m so glad I started. There are so many fabulous…

Posted on November 25, 2019November 25, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 10 Comments

The 12 Days of Women’s Personal Finance (Holiday Giveaway)

As many of you know, I run the Women's Personal Finance (Women on FIRE) group on Facebook. It initially grew out of my Meet The Women Of The Financial Independence Community post almost two years ago. After publishing that list, it was clear that beyond just sharing the women bloggers, podcasters, and authors writing about…

Posted on November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 15 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 46)

We headed down to Portland last weekend to visit with That Frugal Pharmacist and her family (namely, the kiddo and her son Uriah got to hang out). We hadn't gotten a chance to go south and see them since Uriah's birthday party in March, so we found time to squeeze in a short Saturday morning…

Posted on November 20, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 2 Comments

Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: Week 61 Roundup

Welcome to another week of the Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays roundup. I started this series after months of debate because I wasn’t certain I wanted to up the ante and commit to publishing three posts a week. However, now that I’ve started sharing these posts, I’m so glad I started. There are so many fabulous…

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I know I share a lot of photos of our backyard trails, but serious, how awesome is this view? Soggy run this afternoon, but a beautiful one.

And a run at 2:30PM on a weekday thanks to my 80% time schedule. #slowFI FTW.

Have you ever considered working less than full time? If you can swing it, I would highly recommend considering it. Love my job, but I also love my life balance that comes from working it less than full time.

#nofilter #debtfreecommunity #financialindependenceretireearly #financialfreedom #trailrunning #pnwtrails #pnw #washingtonstate #gooutside #lowimpactliving Fall is so lovely. And I can’t think of a better place for a run outdoors. Our home may be older, and smaller (by choice), but we live in such a wonderful place. These trails are no small part of that.

#debtfreecommunity #choosefi #pnwtrails #fallleaves #zerowasteliving #financialindependenceretireearly #gooutside I got close to plastic free on my most recent trip to the grocery store, but it was so hard. I had to go to two different grocery stores. With two kids in tow, I’m just lucky they are across the street from each other.

With kid foods, this is epically hard to do. And when you do it, it costs significantly more. And I still couldn’t find hot dogs or ketchup - though homemade / farmer’s market could make this happen in the future.

All of this takes time, and money, and patience. And an acceptance from your kids and family for choosing options that aren’t what they’re used to. The hurdles feel big and exhausting, and I have the mental bandwidth (and finances) to attempt this.

To guilt people about their waste, or how they feed their families is no good. Just choosing healthy, frugal options is hard. Throw in a challenge to no plastic? That’s ten times harder.

Why ultimately we need systemic change - we can’t rely on or expect enough consumers to change so significantly to change the whole system. That doesn’t mean we don’t do the best that we can, but that we need to also acknowledge how much is beyond the individual consumer.

#zerowaste #zerowasteliving #debtfreecommunity #financialindependenceretireearly #choosefi #plasticfree #nosingleuseplastic #noplastic #climatechangeisreal #fridaysforfuture Women’s Personal Finance meetup and clothing swap on Saturday was a success! Currently wearing some awesome new warm socks on this cold morning courtesy of one of the other ladies who attended. And then what didn’t get a new home from one of us went to the Women and Families Day Center (soon to be overnight shelter) that shares the basement with my church.

After the swap, we went for a cheap happy hour to talk finances and life, and I headed home with a full heart. Find your community. Share things. With your friends and with those you don’t know. Your life will be better for it, I promise.

#womenspersonalfinance #debtfreecommunity #financialindependenceretireearly #choosefi #zerowasteliving #clothingswap #sustainableliving #sustainablefashion #dfc #firecommunity #climatestrike #climatechangeisreal Remember those wonderful neighbors of ours who moved down to Austin, Texas this past May? They had a baby this summer (the impetus for their move) and we managed to squeeze in a Thanksgiving week trip to head down for a visit and to meet the little guy.

I had visited Austin five years ago on a work trip, but my husband and kiddo had never been before. Our old neighbor grew up in the city though, so we got more of a “locals” type of week there, though we still did hit up some of the bigger touristy attractions as well.

We flew down Friday and arrived late that evening and then traveled home early on Thanksgiving morning to be home for the holiday with our family. I had never traveled by plane on Thanksgiving Day before, and it was quite smooth (though we also took a very early flight). It was an absolutely wonderful week exploring Austin and just doing life together with some of our favorite people.

Link in bio to this past week’s Frugal Five all about our trip to Austin Texas.

#debtfreecommunity #fridaysfrugalfive #financialindependenceretireearly #austintexas #austin #iloveyousomuchaustin #iloveyousomuch #travelwithkids #tinyglobetrotter #frugaltravel #austinonbudget If you really don’t need anything today, it’s a great day to opt out of shopping. The crowds are bonkers, and so much of what’s for sale are things that we don’t need and get dumped into the landfill far too soon. The best deal is 100% off anyway - the thing you don’t buy.

That said, be mindful today that there are plenty of people who aren’t privileged enough to opt out of the madness. They’re working those retail jobs, or they make a low income where this is the one day a year where they can buy special toys for their kids - or stock up on necessities - and shopping on this day helps stretch those dollars.

That said, if you don’t need anything, don’t buy anything. Opt out. Go outside. Enjoy time with friends and family. Pay attention to your consumption and consider if you - or anyone you love - really needs any more “stuff.” Odds are, the answer is no.

#blackfriday #blackfriday2019 #optoutside #debtfreecommunity #financialindependenceretireearly #zerowasteliving #climatestrike #choosefi

Tread Lightly, Retire Early

Tread Lightly, Retire Early

Recent Posts

  • Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: Week 64 Roundup
  • Monthly Financial Update: November 2019
  • Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 48)
  • Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: Week 63 Roundup
  • My Non-Monentary Emergency Fund
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