DISQUS

When I was a teenager (around age 13 or so), I read a series of books that I thought was just fantastic called Bio of a Space Tyrant by Piers Anthony. I was a big Piers Anthony fan because of his Xanth series.

I've read most of the PF books on your list as well. The one I haven't read that I think I'm gonna pick up at the library is Think and Grow Rich. They actually have a pretty recent updated copy of it.

I thought this was a great post. Achieving this kind of freedom is one of my goal as well, although I haven't put the time and effort into it that it will require to achieve. At least not yet.

I also never include the value of my house in any of these kinds of calculations. If you are gong to live free, you need to calculate what you are willing to part with, and leveraging your home isn't the best way in my opinion.

Great job with the carnival and thanks for including our post!

I feel like I've become immune to advertising. I don't feel they have any real effect on me. My mind filters Google Ads (I don't even notice them when I search), and I recognize product placement for what it is. I've often wondered how advertising works because I don't seem to take much notice of it myself. I appreciate a clever ad, but it doesn't make me want their product any more. Is it just name recognition? I do recognize product names easily, but what does that have to do with purchasing? I know Dolce and Gabana, and I know enough to understand I will probably never buy anything they make unless it makes sense in my life.

I guess I see advertising as a convenient way to make some things less expensive. For instance, half my wardrobe is free t-shirts from companies with their logos. I would never buy most of the products on my shirts, but I wear them nonetheless. TV is "free" because of advertising. Coupons are another form of advertising, and we personally only use those only when it makes something we would have purchased even cheaper. Many websites are made available for free because they can make money off of the advertising.

I don't understand the point of advertising, but as long as it makes some things cheaper, I'm all for it.

I think I'll take Lazy Man's advice and call my mortgage "leverage". I also don't consider my mortgage "debt". Yes, by the literal definition it is, but I don't believe it makes sense to pay for a house outright when you can typically earn more in the stock market or other investments than you really have to pay in interest (after tax breaks and such). You're paying your own or someone else's mortgage.

Good list! We use all of these (and in our case, we also get discounted ESPP - another case of free money).

The only grocery store with a discount card program that is near us is by far the most overpriced store. We only use them for loss leaders and you have to have that card to get the best deal.

I consciously try to do most of these every day. Going to sleep early and waking up earlier are two things I am *very* happy I started doing. I feel better about my day, and I feel more productive during the day.

I might add a few of these to my regular list. I really like the idea of consciously thinking of and then writing down two things I am grateful for today. I might try that one tomorrow.

I'm not sure I'm willing to give up my coffee though.

Great post! We have radically changed our TV habits recently too. We used to have the TV on in the background just for noise most of the time, and it was just distracting. There is very little good on these days anyhow. We do record a few shows we want to watch with our TiVo, but we've cut our TV viewing time down to less than an hour a day. It's been great! We really appreciate having the TV off.

Excellent post! The one area where I believe in allowing myself to spend more than I earn is with the house. Saving up enough money to buy a house outright is an admirable goal, but one that I haven't been able to bring myself to do. Although I plan on taking a loan out to get our next house, I will be paying off more than just the mortgage amount in order to pay the house off more quickly, and hopefully avoid some of the nasty interest.

What I normally do is work from home for the day if I feel like I'm getting sick. I don't go into the office, but I don't take time off unless I feel I can't be productive working from home. Luckily, my team is pretty good about doing that as well, and we have the flexibility to work from home, so we can do our part not to spread disease!