Category Spending & frugality
Not wanting something is as good as having it
I’ve said before that there are two ways to improve your happiness. You can either get more or you can want less. Either way works. I’m not sure it matters which way is “best”. What I’m sure about is that wanting less is a whole lot cheaper than getting more. Consider the boundary case of […]
How to spot a conflict of interests (Part 1)
This post was first published in 2016 and updated in August 2020 Years ago, I was putting some clothes into the washing machine. I wondered: how much liquid washing powder I should use? So I looked at the instructions on the bottle which told me to put in 2 capfuls per load. I was running […]
Cash management in a crisis
I did a video with Alan and Simon from The PopUp Business School. It was designed to help self-employed people with cash management but its relevant to anyone interested in financial independence stability during these interesting times. Enjoy! The Escape Artist I send out occasional emails out with my thoughts on investing and news of what […]
What Gets Measured, Gets Managed
This article is about applying insights from one area of life (diet, nutrition) to another (spending and personal finance). In places, I will spell out the analogy….at other times I will leave you to join the dots. But trust me, the dots are always there… Winter is a dangerous time for comfort eating and I […]
Get Rich with…cooling off periods
Imagine a 5 year old in a toy shop. The 5 year old sees a magic frog or a lightsabre or a pink princess doll. They are hit as if by a lightning bolt and are instantly in love. THEY GOTTA HAVE THAT SHIT AND THEY GOTTA HAVE IT NOW!! The child senses that Mum […]
The Beauty of Minimalism
We are buying things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t even know The Minimalists At last! I finally got round to watching the film “Minimalism” on Netflix which features Josh and Ryan aka The Minimalists. I loved the film and I’m fascinated by the overlap between minimalism and […]
It’s Easier Without Children (Part 2)
In It’s Easier Without Children (Part 1), we talked about how not having a child could save you a million pounds. And that’s certainly possible. The decision of whether to have children is super-important and children can cost LOTS of money. But it doesn’t matter that modern life feels so expensive. Logic tells us that it must be possible to […]
Do you own your possessions or do they own you?
Meet Justin and Jessica. They’ve been together for just over a year. Justin is the one wearing the ill-fitting T shirt and cargo shorts. Jessica is the immaculately groomed one in metallic grey. Jessica is expensive to run and a little above Justin’s paygrade. Perhaps that’s why he’s so devoted to her? Justin thinks he’s got lucky but I’m not so sure about […]
The inestimable advantages of paying yourself first
Paying yourself first is something that I’ve mentioned before. But I haven’t yet fully explained it’s amazing power to accelerate your journey to financial freedom. Paying yourself first is what it says on the tin. You pay yourself before you pay Netflix, the supermarket, the bank, the utility companies, the breweries, cigarette companies, gift shops, Premier […]
Get Rich with Recycling
When my daughter turned 17, my parents very kindly gave her 2 things for her birthday: firstly, driving lessons and secondly their old banger car which they were replacing. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, although the 11 year old Ford Ka (street value ~£200) cost us nothing, we’ve temporarily become a […]
