Should we upgrade our timeshare?
BY Ms. Vine
Monday February 3, 2020 0 Comments Blog, Personal Finance, Travel, Uncategorized
Recently, Mr. Vine sat down and plotted out each of our “big” vacations from now until our expected Financial Independence Day. By “big” we mean trips of seven days or so that will require using vacation time from work. Part of the purpose behind this exercise was to decide how we wanted to use the... Read More
Holiday Airfare to Florida for $125!
BY Ms. Vine
Monday January 27, 2020 One Comment Blog, Travel, Uncategorized
We scored an amazingly low price on our flights to Florida over the Christmas holiday. We used a couple of hacks and some flexibility to do it, but ultimately we paid just $112.59 each for roundtrip travel from the midwest to Florida during what is the most expensive travel period. For reference at the time... Read More
Halfway to Financial Independence
BY Ms. Vine
Monday January 20, 2020 One Comment Blog, Lifestyle, Personal Finance, Uncategorized
During 2019, we crossed the halfway to financial independence milestone. On one hand, this feels like a huge deal. On the other, it feels like financial independence is just as far away as it ever was. It also feels strange because for most of our financial journey, we did not have a finish line in... Read More
December 2019 Progress Update
BY Ms. Vine
Monday January 13, 2020 0 Comments Blog, Progress Update
December was a strange month. I typically write these monthly updates in pieces. Once a week or so, I’ll edit the draft with an update on what we did over the past week. Some months, we have so much going on that I choose what to include. December felt slower, but it wasn’t. It helped... Read More
Planning for a South Florida Holiday
BY Ms. Vine
Monday January 6, 2020 0 Comments Blog, Travel, Uncategorized
Our South Florida vacation was about a year in the making. We prefer to use our timeshare when we travel over Christmas. Even though points are at a premium during this week, there is no cash outlay. We do pay our annual maintenance fees, which equate to a similar cost with a one week stay... Read More
Year in Review: 2019
BY Ms. Vine
Monday December 30, 2019 One Comment Blog, Lifestyle, Personal Finance, Progress Update, Uncategorized
We had a pretty great year in 2019 in many respects. The market gave us some nice boosts and we were able to maintain a higher savings rate. We achieved this primarily through decreased spending. We paid off our last car loan! It’s nice to know that’s something we’ll never need to have again. During... Read More
20 Goals for the 2020s
BY Ms. Vine
Monday December 16, 2019 0 Comments Blog, Lifestyle, Personal Finance, Travel, Uncategorized
I’ve never made “decade goals” before. But now that the 2010s are coming to an end, I realized how much we accomplished over the last 10 years. I thought it might be fun and useful to set some intentions for the decade to come. So by the time it’s the end of 2029, we hope... Read More
November 2019 Progress Update
BY Ms. Vine
Monday December 9, 2019 2 Comments Progress Update, Uncategorized
This month was a haze of career-related stress for me. We had a lot going on, both personally and professionally. Life was so busy, too busy, and I had a hard time finding enjoyment. For a short month, November seemed to hang on forever.  Mr. Vine started a new job this month, which threw our... Read More
Writer’s Block and Focus on Travel
BY Ms. Vine
Monday December 2, 2019 0 Comments Blog, Lifestyle, Travel
Lately, I’ve suffered from writer’s block. Since February 2019, I’ve done a great job of meeting my once per week posting goal. But this blog has had a bit of an existential crisis. What is its true niche? We are pursuing financial independence and early retirement (“FIRE”), but I often feel like we don’t have... Read More