The Friday Feast ~ 20th February

I love learning. Always have. So when I find a blog or writer that interests me I devour everything I can find. Every day I move countless amazing articles from an array of  frugal, simple living, FI-minded writers into my Amazing Reads folder to be read at my leisure. These articles inspire me and the Mr. to think about things in different ways, to keep open minds and to constantly keep learning so we can be the best possible us.

In this episode of Friday Feast: Zen Habits, FrugalWoods, Dividend Mantra, Even Steven Money, Budgets Are Sexy, 20 Something Finance, Gen Y Finance Guy, and The Art of Simple

Here are my picks for this week's Feast. I hope they inspire you to set financial goals and take control over your heart, mind and - yes, your pocketbook.  There is a fire lit within each and every one of us, and the sooner we find that flame, the quicker we can use it for the energy we need to master our own happiness.

How do/should I define myself and how we define our own success:

We wondered what to say when asked "What do you do?".

While Zen Habits asked us to think about how we answer “Who am I?” and the Frugalwoods took an honest look at privilege and how it's played in their FI journey.

Meanwhile, Dividend Mantra delved into how even the FI among us can be caught in the "keeping up with the Jones" trap of measuring our success by those around us.

Number Fun:

Even Steven Money laid out his Early Retirement Blueprint. It looks pretty similar to our own and explains his reasoning.

Meanwhile Budgets are Sexy sat down and created a few more FI spreadsheets. I'm a spreadsheet fiend so I can't wait to see how they compare to our own.

20 Something Finance laid out how much that daily coffee or cable tv is actually costing you (both short term and long term). Love this! It really makes you stop and think about whether that thing you want is really worth it!

And lastly, Gen Y Finance Guy answered a couple questions by laying out some numbers that help to prove the virtues of paying down that damn mortgage as fast as you can, even if that means a reduction in long term savings.

Slowing it Down:

Lastly, The Art of Simple got me thinking about mindfulness and decision making. Part of trying to live a simple and happy life is enjoying the present moment even while we plan for our exciting FI lives in the near future. While somethings need to be planned now, not everything does or should be. We'll be changing and growing over the course of this journey and we (especially me, being the crazy spreadsheet planner) need to take some decisions slowly and enjoy the process. The hubby seconds this one!

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Did you read something inspiring this week? If so let us know in the comments below!

They have been at a great feast of learning, and stolen the scraps.
- William Shakespeare