Tag Archives: blogs

The Importance of Big Wins When Saving Money

airstream 2I regularly read and keep up with a handful of personal finance blogs. Maybe I’ve just had a bad attitude, but it seems that a few of them have taken a turn towards the self-righteous as of late. Of course, I’m not speaking about all personal finance blogs, Anna from And Then We Saved is my girl.

I write about saving money and living in an Airstream because I still want to live life. And to do so, I make priorities. Living in a big McMansion isn’t my priority. Hell, living in a real home isn’t even my priority. I save my money so I can travel, see the world and yes, actually live life because one day, I might not be able to do so. I don’t want to look back on my life and have any regrets. I don’t want to regret not seeing the world while I am young. I don’t want to regret not being able to dance the tango (or a really bad version of it) with my husband in Buenos Aires or climb the Great Wall of China.

Sure, I’ll budget for things, like my upcoming road trip, but I don’t budget for every little thing. It’s not sustainable. I pick my battles. I might employ a few weird ways to save money, but I don’t employ all of them. I can’t make everything my priority. I have a 9-5 (well, actually a 12-9), family obligations, I’d like to see my friends at some point and I try to make a little extra dough on the side.

None of us are perfect. Even those who give advice on personal finance. We all have those days where a $1.25 trip to the vending machine for peanut M&Ms is literally the only thing that saves our sanity. But what’s more important are your priorities. If I’ve learned anything on my personal finance journey, it’s that to save money, you need to focus on big wins. Living life in an Airstream is rent-free. And that’s my biggest win. It’s not taking Navy showers or turning all the lights out after 9pm. (I don’t do either of those, btw.)

Focusing on those big wins makes our life easier. It’s the big wins that really matter.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

love,
melanie

 

 

Unconventional Lifestyle Blogs

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

I get periodically obsessed with things. I’ll only want to eat mushrooms for two weeks or I’ll want to obsessively learn about making soap. Anyone else the same way? No? Ok. Just me, eating mushrooms and making soap for two weeks until I’m on the the next fascination.

Anyway, this past week or so, I’ve been doing a lot of personal research into alternative or unconventional ways of living. I hope it’s not just a passing phase because unconventional ways of living are fascinating– especially since I live pretty unconventionally, myself. It’s got me dreaming of becoming a full-time traveler or homesteader or a traveling homesteader. Can you be both?!

Here’s a few of my favorite resources I’ve found so far:

The Art of Nonconformity
On the Art of Nonconformity, Chris writes about about personal development and life planning, with the conviction that you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to;  entrepreneurship and other kinds of unconventional work, with the belief that the work we do should be both fun and meaningful; and  international travel, travel hacking in general, and his journeys to more than 25 countries every year.

The Modern Nomad
Gustav Andersson worked a 9-5 job for five years and realized that he was slowly stagnating into a comfortable routine — a personal nightmare of his. So he quit his job, sold his flat and walked away from the well-trodden streets of London to begin life as a modern-day nomad.

Nomadic Matt
Matt’s story is similar to most of our stories. We have the 9-5 with the 2 weeks of vacation per year. But a trip to Thailand on his measly 9-5 vacation changed him. He met five backpackers who showed him that he didn’t have to be tied down to a job and that he didn’t need to be rich to travel. After that trip, Matt went home, finished his MBA, quit his job, and set out on an adventure around the world. Matt is one of the foremost experts on travel hacking.

The Prairie Homestead
Jill ‘s journey with homesteading started with a compost pile. She currently lives on  67 acres of Wyoming prairie and blogs about returning to your roots of self-sufficiency and simple living, whether you live on a sprawling ranch or in a high-rise apartment.

Wayward Spark
Camille lives in Oregon with her husband and two little kids in an off-the-grid, tiny cabin. On her blog, she shares her honest experiences of modern day homesteading.

I’ll share some of my favorite Airstream travel blogs soon. I want to hear about your favorite unconventional lifestyle blogs in the comments!

Obsessively researching until then.
love,
melanie

 

Never Before Seen Wedding Photos!

935393_10100399054423936_1234811081_n

As you guys know, my wedding was featured on Junebug Weddings. While I was totally honored to be on the blog, they didn’t pick my favorite photos. Wedding blogs, in general, are really interested in the details of it all. But I really didn’t care too much about the little things. Yes, I made my bouquet, but I didn’t carry it. It felt unnatural. I carried a purse instead.

So I decided to share some of my personal favorite photos today!

942470_10100399052672446_1147552471_n 577642_10100399052328136_927283539_n 394540_10100399054518746_762294373_n 311539_10100399055861056_1341165238_nWeddings aren’t perfect. Life isn’t perfect. But it sure is amazing.

love,
melanie

What do YOU want from Love Library? A Reader’s Survey

Reporting to duty!

Your willing and able blog host reporting for duty!

 

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want to take this blog. And if I’m being honest, I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction of my life too. I’ve got some major life changes coming up– good ones I think– and I’ve had to put on my big girl pants more than once these past couple of weeks and woman up.

Which leads me to this question… What do you all want from this blog? I need sage advice from my loyal and beautiful readers. I’m by no means a professional blogger and some days I struggle with things like:

  • Topics – are there topics (specific or general) you’d like covered in the coming months?
  • Types of Posts – DIY, recipes, books, fashion, personal stuff…. have your say about what you like most/least
  • Posting Frequency – too many posts, not enough, just right?
  • Design – I am planning a blog redesign this summer – so your comments and ideas would be helpful at this point
  • Blog Features – what would make your reader experience better?
  • Community – Are there features that you’d like added to help connect more? Do you feel connected to me?
  • Services and Tools – what could I offer you to help you improve your life?
  • What Frustrates You about  Love Library? What is Best about it?
  • Other Ideas and Feedback – anything goes, big or little.

This list was heavily created from this post on Problogger.

Please leave your answers to one or all questions in the comments. I will leave the survey up indefinitely, but I will offer up the prize of a free book to one lucky, randomly selected commenter on Wednesday, May 1, 2013. The winner can be a previous winner and does not have to be a citizen of the U.S.A.

Please help me improve!

love always,
melanie

Our Wedding is on Photobug today!

Photo by Richard Israel

Photo by Richard Israel

Our wedding is over on Junebug Wedding’s photoblog, Photobug today. Check it out!

love,
melanie

Happy Birthday, love library!

Photo by heartlover1717 on Flickr

Photo by heartlover1717 on Flickr

One year ago today I started this little blog. It has gone through a lot of changes since the beginning. I wanted to write about weddings, but I quickly found out that I hated writing about weddings. I’ve tried things that have worked and didn’t work, and I appreciate anyone who has stuck around. I’ve got some fun things planned for this little blog and I hope ya’ll stick around for another year!

love,
melanie