The most unpredictable year ever is finally over… Happy New Year! Although 2020 was strange and mostly unpleasant, I hope that you and your loved ones remained healthy and were able to find some silver linings. If you stayed invested in the stock market throughout the year, you likely at least have a fatter portfolio…
We’re two years into remodeling our fixer upper! If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to check out Part 1 of this series, We bought a fixer upper! Here’s how it’s going, for an update of what we’ve accomplished to date, along with a detailed look at the renovation budget, and things to consider…
Nearly two years ago, we took a risk and purchased a complete fixer upper! After moving across the country for Mr. RFL’s work, we realized the housing market in our new location was more expensive. So when we found a great deal on a fixer-upper in our desired neighborhood that had an open floor plan,…
Happy holidays! I hope you and your loved ones had a happy and healthy November. Our November was filled with gratitude and the shock of an unexpectedly optimistic stock market. We also managed to squeeze in a mortgage refinance and some pandemic stockpiling this month. What happened this month… The US stock market had a…
Let’s start with the fact that this post, as I had envisioned it, was supposed to be a 6-month update… That’s just one of the many things I had pictured for my first few months of early retirement which have not gone as planned. Then again, I don’t think this year has gone as anyone…
This post will cover why we’ve refinanced so many times, how we paid $0 for the first two through a no cost refinance, and how much we expect to save with our latest. Refinancing your mortgage (the traditional viewpoint) How often is too often to refinance your mortgage? Well, since we just finished our…
What do you mean secondhand clothes were never cool?! While that explains a lot about my childhood, it seems that younger Millennials and Gen Z shoppers are changing the trend. It’s no longer “uncool” to sport clothes that were purchased secondhand. In fact, it can provide a sense of pride, as younger generations realize that…
Is it bad when wine represents 19% of your monthly budget? Oh, it is? Thought so. As you can tell from the caption of this post, our spending this month included A LOT of wine (and a few other October expenses). The good news is that we don’t spend this much on alcohol every month…
While I generally favor credit cards with no annual fee, occasionally cards with fees can provide benefits that more than compensate for the annual fee. Whether or not such a card is right for you will depend on your personal spending habits. Your circumstances will also determine if that card continues to be worth it…
Tired of paying too much for internet and TV? We were, too. While we’ve saved thousands by cutting the cable cord, we still have to deal with the internet companies. Saving money on internet and TV is actually a lot easier than you might think. In this post we’ll share how we reduced our internet…
Hi! I'm Mrs. RFL. We're a family of 3 trying to live a rich frugal life on our way to financial independence and early retirement ("FIRE"). I retired in early 2020, at age 38, to help our family achieve the balance we desperately needed. Even though we hadn't reached our end goal, making this change allowed us to take advantage of the financial freedom we'd already earned to begin building a happier, healthier and more meaningful life. This decision didn't slow down our journey as much as expected. We reached financial independence in January 2022! Rich Frugal Life follows our FIRE journey and shares everything we learn (or screw up) along the way.
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