Money is more about mind than it is about math

We all know we should spend less than we earn and save the rest. That is all there is to personal finance. But we still struggle to live within our means. Sometimes it is really due to income, but it also due to our mindset. Advertisers use behavioral finance to trick us into buy more. We can do things to trick ourselves into making the right choices too. How our brains behave and act to certain external stimuli allows us to tame and use our brains to our advantage. I’ll break down psychological research and case studies into simple, actionable steps that can help you improve your personal finance.

Adios California! Hello Washington! Why we are leaving California?

I just want to clarify something – this post reflect “our” reasoning for leaving California. I am not saying CA is not a great place to live. Based on our priorities/goals and the fact that we are location independent, it doesn’t make sense for “us” to continue living there with one income. Dear California, I [...]

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De-cluttering your house: How to let go of stuff?

I always attributed our cluttered house to our busy lifestyle. Every time I see the messy house, I would think – if only I had more time on my hands I would have a much more organized home. Only after I quit my job and did have time on my hands did I realize that [...]

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Companies, Cupid and Cost of being average

A bulk of my email every day is from PR agencies trying to market a new product, service or a book. Sometimes, I get emails quoting a survey statistic and an expert offering to comment on that (provided I let the expert advertise his product to you, my readers, in the byline). Normally, those emails [...]

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Is Costco membership worth it? A field trip report on buying in bulk

As part of my Save $1000 in 30 days challenge, I was going through all our subscriptions and memberships to see if they still make sense. One of the most expensive memberships we have is our Costco membership. We pay $110 every year for the privilege to shop at Costco (we have the Executive membership). [...]

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Luck and logic : How to make your own luck?

Do you believe in luck? Do you believe some people are luckier in whatever they do? I certainly did, but a recent conversation with one of my friends made me doubt my belief. What happened? She called me lucky! “You are very very lucky!” – my friend told me in a voice filled with envy. ”We [...]

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Make more money: 9 reasons why you are NOT earning more money

If only I could make more money, I would save more and everything will be great – I had this thought almost every week in 2008/2009 . It was not until 2010 that I actually thought about doing something about it instead of just whining. In 2011 my trials started bearing some fruit; I actually [...]

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Cheap eats : Save money eating out by reverse engineering restaurant menu psychology

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, our major budget buster is eating out. I love food. I love to try different cuisines. Yes, I can and I do cook at home. The major chunk of our eating out expense is due to 1-2 restaurant visits/week. I can cut that down, but I [...]

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Tip #9: Go cash only for the rest of the month

Do you spend more if you use credit cards vs cash? I cannot say with 100% certainty that I spend more one way or the other. I was all cash for a short amount of time a number of years ago. At that time, cash was like handling a magical object. I kept withdrawing and [...]

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Tip #8: Know where your money goes

This post is part of the Save $1000 in 30 days challenge. I used to diligently track our expenses and knew exactly where each dollar went. Tracking every penny was one of the crucial habits that turned our financial lives around. After a few months of tracking I set up a zero sum budgeting system [...]

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