Traveling Wallet

03Aug 2015 by The Roamer No Comments

Weekly Pain & Gain: Crazy crane lady

That was almost me the crazy crane lady. Pain Last Monday I shared with you the unexpected turn of events with my Craigslist ad. People wanted to put in orders. Well that wasn't exactly what I had planned but I decided that yes I would venture into this world of pre-order items. It was for a wedding and I decided I would not gouge them for using the "W" word. But the Short lead time could not be ignored. Not only that there were lots of special requests and no time. After hearing the order request I ran a few number and determined that yes I could do that, but it would be tight. I was being optimistic. However, after 17 messages back and forth and still no solid commitment…

31Jul 2015 by The Roamer 4 Comments

A Loan on Life: Helping someone out

Counter Culture, Finance, Freestyle

How helping someone can go completely against good financial advice. And how it can change lives. I had messed up. I hadn't done my best. I hadn't tried my hardest. Maybe I hadn't taken it seriously from the get go. But there I was needing to take more classes and having just lost a big financial aid scholarship. $12,600 if I remember correctly. The scholarship was only good for the standard time to complete the degree. Me, I had just failed to do that. Why did I even go to college? You see my parents didn't go to college right after high school in fact my dad never even graduated. My mom finish high school and was shipped off to American from her central American home. My dad dropped out…

27Jul 2015 by The Roamer 4 Comments

Weekly Pain & Gain: Family and a Finger

Weekly Pain & Gain

Another weeks come and gone. Let's see what happened over at the Roamer household. Pain This pain is brought to you by none other then my life oppressing job. I was suffering from pangs of anxiety for sure. You see I had a meeting with a client towards the end of the week, and to say that I wasn't fully prepared would be an understatement. Usually the team puts everything together by Monday but this was my 1st time and I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Not only that other departments hadn't prepared early either but I got focused and found the people to tap to get my answers . Could I have prepared sooner and avoided all the stress? Maybe. But that's not…

24Jul 2015 by The Roamer 2 Comments

Money Cycle: Spend, Worry, Earn

Freestyle, Saving

Spending money before its in your pocket. You know this is a frequent topic when it comes to money and often its used to illustrate poor financial habits. Some guy buying a big screen TV in anticipation of a big bonus. Or some girl eyeing some strappy sandals and a nice paring bag. Because she deserves it. Honestly I've never suffered from wanting to buy stuff before even having the money in my hand. Actually I'm a really bad shopper period. Even when I see something I want and think about it I regularly convince myself out of the purchase. And even to this day there are things I still want after years and years of thinking about it. (Like the signature little black dress, and a nice blazer). Have…

20Jul 2015 by The Roamer No Comments

Weekly Pain & Gain: Money and the Capsule

Earning, Weekly Pain & Gain

Weekly columns are a nice quick way to give you all some updates on whats happening here at the Traveling Wallet HQ. This is specially useful if I can't seem to get a full post out on specific idea topic. I have seen lots of bloggers take part in a weekly update sort of post so I am going to give it a shot myself. I actually have been wanting to do one since tax season where I was going to talk about the awesome refund and whine about an unexpected charge but that one never made out into the public. I want to end on the happy note so I will discuss our pains and then our gains. Also since I am currently in the midst of a 3…

12Jul 2015 by The Roamer 6 Comments

capsule wardrobe challenge

Continuous improvement, Monthly Challenge

Challenges really seem to put a smile on my face and I'm excited to try something new, taking a 3 month capsule wardrobe challenge but blending multiple ideas and inspirations. In case you don't know a capsule wardrobe is a limited number of items that you mix and match to make multiple outfits. How to Start the Process for a Capsule Wardrobe So clearly we are going to need to pick our items, but it isn't as simple as picking some items out of our closets. Most of us have items in multiple places and maybe even in storage(bins). Well at least I did. So I used some of my knowledge of 5S principles to get me started. The first step is... Take all the clothes out of everywhere you store…

21Jun 2015 by The Roamer 5 Comments

When Life happens TO You

Counter Culture, Freestyle

You know when life happens to you.... When you wake up one morning and you can't believe you are in a certain situation... How did this happen?... How is it that I am still stuck in this dead end job. Or what happen to my dream of roughing it abroad... Life happens when you let go of the wheel .... When you stop being intentional and just go with the flow.. Going with the flow can be fine if that's truly who you are . but if you wake up one day and you don't know how you got to that point, then it means you flowed to much off track... I keep hearing this term thrown around and with out any follow up research I can say I'm probably…

11Jun 2015 by The Roamer 6 Comments

5S : Continuously Improving your living space

Continuous improvement, Counter Culture, Minimalism

Maybe you're new here. Maybe I just haven't talked much about work. ( why would I? after all I am here to try and escape it) yet with my avid distaste for corporate schedules and time restrictions even I have to admit I've learned quite a bit. Welcome to Lean. My trade for most of my working career was in Lean Manufacturing, also known as Industrial Engineering, or Continuous Improvement. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. In a nutshell my job was to analyze processes and remove waste. Removing waste is very important in a business. Its what keeps you profitable. Yet what really amazed me as I learned more was how these philosophies and their application were so widely applicable. Even at home. I've read finance blogs…

07Jun 2015 by The Roamer 3 Comments

2nd Go at the mins game

Minimalism, Monthly Challenge

At the beginning of May Mr. Roamer and I decided to give the #minsgame another try. I am more and more drawn to minimalism and the idea of simplified living. [caption id="attachment_1213" align="alignright" width="169"] Round 2 of the Minsgame[/caption] We didn't make it to the end like last time. Actually comparatively we did a lot worse (as you can see in the picture). However, I am still happy with the results as the changes still yield compound benefits. In the sense of now I have less to clean up and I'm never going to have to organize that item(s) ever again. When I'm purging sometimes its very difficult. I can easily convince myself to keep stuff. I think someday I'll use it. But I have a secret weapon.... When I…

28May 2015 by The Roamer 3 Comments

Quarter 1 review of goals

Earning, Family, Finance, Saving, Travel

Actually I guess its not a quarterly review as much as a trimester review. Jan- April. So part of making goals public is that they help you with accountability right? Well things have not been going well on all fronts. I am just going to hit these all fast and hard... Is what I was going to say, but who am I kidding :) Starting from the top and working my way down. [caption id="attachment_1136" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Picture of the goals I carry around in my planner. The one in my planner is actually all marked up.[/caption] Spiritual Awareness Let see what we have on here?.. Attend 4 churches in a year( attend 4 times a month ) 1 2 3 4 Write in Journal, reflect 15 min what…

15May 2015 by The Roamer 6 Comments

Family Travel: Colorado 2015

Family, Savvy Spending, Travel

The months are flying by and I am keenly aware of the fact that summer will be upon us. Summer is usually filled with lots of travel and high sticker prices to match. We enjoy travel ourselves but this year our trips were schedule outside the summer window. We took a trip to Colorado and we plan to take a trip to Michigan in winter this year as well. Traveling efficiently is something I am becoming more keen on. It wasn't something I use to worry much about. I could sleep in the car, travel in a bus or drive all night when I was younger but as I am now in the trenches of parenthood and marriage my trips require I take other certain things into consideration. Still I…

05May 2015 by The Roamer 2 Comments

Blog Birthday

Finance, Yearly Review Series

Can you believe its been a whole year since The Roamer emerged on the blogger scene and started talking about the journey through parenthood, early retirement and travel here at travelingwallet? No!? Neither can I. But it has indeed been a year. I know because I got the renewal charge on my credit card. Realizing its been a whole year calls for some introspection which I want to share with you. I want to talk about a few things. My favorite posts What I learned My birthday wish request Blogs I'm hooked on What is coming up this year My advice to new bloggers Its a nice round set of topics from a year in this new world. The personal finance world. So let's get started. My Favorite Posts I…

15Apr 2015 by The Roamer 4 Comments

Biking with Kids: Our 1st Trip to School

Counter Culture, Family, Parenthood

We are on our way to Badassity. Monday we move on to a new challenge. Biking long distances with kids on a time constraint schedule with only one parent! The time part and the 1 parent here is the new piece. We spent time preparing for this trip by talking about it for a few weeks before hand and getting some of the logistical information. Like is there even a bike rack at the school?Answer. YES. [caption id="attachment_1050" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Minnie Roamer letting me know she is ready to ride her own bike.[/caption] So we woke up early got ready and set out. We rode the route we usually drive since it has a bike lane in some areas. The only adjustment we made was taking some different streets so…

31Mar 2015 by The Roamer 3 Comments

One More Year Syndrome

Earning, Family, Finance

I have given up writing beautiful prose.(don't laugh) Instead of just not ever publishing because of limited time I think I'm just going to start publishing my thoughts as they come. Some I think would be useful to my readers and other well they might just be good practice for me. (Besides it's not like I can't go back and delete the really bad ones) So here goes you have all been warned. Actually what I should have is a weekly wrap up like so many other bloggers have. But again then I wait because it's unfinished and never end up publishing because the moment has passed. So let's get started. I'm suffering from the one more year syndrome. But first let's take a step back. Life changes so fast.…

18Mar 2015 by The Roamer 4 Comments

Raw and unfiltered: I want more

Counter Culture, Parenthood

It's the year of more says Ramit Do you want more? I do want more. More me time, more free time, more travel, more calm, more balance. But I don't want more jewelry, more clothes, more bills, more clutter, more dinners out , more Jones' or fake friends. I do want more snuggling, more sleeping, more kids time, more roaming, more wandering, more adventure. I don't want more nail polish, or more make up, more stress, more demanding people. I could use more money, more freedom, more passive income. I don't need more stereotypes, more restrictions, I don't need more problems or why it won't work. I do want more solutions, more innovation, more education , more reading. I don't want more late nights at work…

25Feb 2015 by The Roamer 8 Comments

31 Day Challenge Update

Minimalism, Monthly Challenge

Ahh, its about time I pump out this update. Before the new year started I decided that I was going to participate in the minimalists' game. The challenge was set to start on January 1st, and go until the 31st. The idea? To eliminate 1 item the first day, 2 items the second day and so on. To my surprise but joy, Mr. Roamer decided he would participate too. In essence doubling the amount of items we would have to purge. Before the Challenge [caption id="attachment_734" align="alignleft" width="169"] Our closet. Looking exceptionally unkept.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_913" align="alignleft" width="300"] A side of our room, boxes abound[/caption] Per our pictures you can see some of the stuff that has accumulated in our apartment. I'm kind of bummed. I really wish that I would have gotten…

07Feb 2015 by The Roamer 5 Comments

Weekend Wanderings #3: Breaking Down Barriers

Counter Culture, Travel, Weekend Wanderings

New Readers Note: My Weekend Wandering series is a time I take to wander off the main focus of this blog and discuss any other topic. Usually including videos that I found inspirational, informative or controversial. But if you'd like to talk about money read about how we obliterated debt in just 3 years. Work has gotten crazy busy in the new year and if you read my first Weekend Wandering post then you know that Fridays is the day I set aside some time to be inspired and engaged. With the crazyness at work I had no time. Until last Friday! The videos I watched did not disappoint. Not me at least. The first video that caught my eye had the words tolerance and tourism in the title. hmm…

30Jan 2015 by The Roamer No Comments

Do you put your money where your mouth is?

Counter Culture, Finance, Maximizing money, Savvy Spending

I made a lot of changes last year. Honestly though, they were easy changes to make. Math, I trust it. And it showed me it would be no problem to reach my goals. Today I'm going to make a big change. I am so scared. That is so depressing in itself, when did I become so complacent. I have been with my company since 2008. The last 2 years I have suffered through it. I wasn't proactive enough, maybe. Truth is it doesn't matter, I just never did much about my situation. I see now that I've stayed because it was safe. I've been saying, "I am ready for a change," but I haven't done anything really. Just last year I changed positions but I'm still with the same company.…

28Jan 2015 by The Roamer 14 Comments

2014 Financial Goals Reviewed and Net Worth Revealed

401K, Finance, Saving, Yearly Review Series

Time to review our Financials. We were on track to reach our 3 financial goals. Pay off all Student loans by July Open MMA Celebrate with a splurge activity for the family As you can tell these are some measly goals. Is one of them really open up a new account ,in other word break up with my bank and take my funds earning less then .01% to a better place(Hey breaking up is hard, right?). So at the start of 2014 we had over 35K of Debt. Some of that was student loan debt. Student debt Mr. Had finished paying off his the year before and so we had a talk to discuss what we would do with the newly available funds. We deferred them to my student loans.…

23Jan 2015 by The Roamer 5 Comments

2014 travel wrap up

Savvy Spending, Travel, Yearly Review Series

Guess what? For calling myself the Roamer and this site Traveling Wallet, In 2014 I had made no written goals that we were going to travel. It wasn't that we weren't planning to. We have a standing trip to the In-laws at least once a year. It just wasn't something I was going to focus my attention on. My baby hadn't even turned a year old so travel was not even on my mind. I mean how do you travel when you have what I would consider a newborn. (Less then a year is a newborn baby to me). So other then the trip home to Michigan which was required, specially because we had said baby, we had no other travel plans. Yet even like that, in 2014 we all…

15Jan 2015 by The Roamer 8 Comments

Starting on 2015 goals, Tackling Blog Monetization

Finance

Time to test the waters! As my 2015 goal state I want to make my blog able to sustain itself. I think it would be great if I can get it to pay for itself. In that respect I'm finally jumping into the world of AdSense. As some of you may have noticed I have an ad on my side bar. I'm excited! I've always wanted to start my own business but I've never really made the time to cultivate a passion. Starting this blog has been a nice jolt in waking up my brain and I've been learning so much. Monetizing is just another step on the ladder. Recently I just signed up for an AdSense account and now I need to figure out how all that works. You'll…

08Jan 2015 by The Roamer 8 Comments

2014 Family Relationships Reviewed

Finance, Parenthood, Yearly Review Series

2014 Relationship Goals [caption id="attachment_784" align="aligncenter" width="340"] 2014 goals[/caption] Focus on the Marriage [caption id="attachment_785" align="aligncenter" width="196"] Alone time with the husband. Big Goal for 2014! Picture in Frugalwood's headless style.[/caption] In 2013 I ran across a great idea on Pinterest. A great little present where I had pre planned and partially paid for dates. I don't want to get into to much detail about the gift but it was a fun and effective way to ensure Mr. Roamer and I were going to be spending some alone time. In my household growing up I don't have any memories about my parents dating. Yet so much of what I read now about healthy relationships highlights the importance of cultivating the spousal relationship. WHY?! because the kids will leave in 18…

02Jan 2015 by The Roamer 6 Comments

2014 Goals Reviewed

Finance, Parenthood, Reading, Yearly Review Series

How did I do with my 2014 goals? [caption id="attachment_740" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Goals Before 2014 Started[/caption] [caption id="attachment_741" align="aligncenter" width="225"] paper reminder barely surviving a year of annotations[/caption] I am going to break them down. But the 3 major ones I am going to post on individually. Which ones are the 3 major ones? Well the ones that pertain to this site more specifically. Relationships (Parenthood and family time), Travel, and Finances. I want to go into more detail for these 3 areas so I will post on them individually. My Finances will reveal our net worth for the first time(WHAT?) So stay tuned. Now lets cover all my other goals. Spiritual FAIL! yes I did not really make an effort to get these done. That is why you see…

30Dec 2014 by The Roamer 7 Comments

Will you take the 31 day Challenge?

Counter Culture, Minimalism, Monthly Challenge

I don't really write about minimalism but it is implied... oh wait I haven't implied it either. Well then ok... As an aspirational traveler but also a parent stuff can easily become burdensome. I've been working on trimming down on my possessions because they really have become more trouble then they are worth. To help keep me motivated and also spurn me into action. Aggressive action! I am going to do the challenge posed by The minimalists( you can read more about it here). I will be starting January first. I will try to follow the rules but I am making one alteration. I know how difficult it can be to resell stuff so I am giving myself 30 days to sell the stuff that I think I can sell.…

24Dec 2014 by The Roamer 9 Comments

2015 This year make Goals not Resolutions

Finance

I am pretty obsessed with goal setting. I know a lot of people who make fun of New Years resolution. It's become the running joke to fail. Frequently hearing people boast in February or in March well there goes that New Year's resolution. I've even seen on my Facebook people complain because the gym is so packed in January wishing for all the newbies to fail. Stuff like I want to lose weight or I want to exercise more will fill our Facebook feeds in January. Some people do try admirable resolutions like I want to be a better person or I want to spend more time with my kids. But then what happens? how many months go by? how many changes have been made? If you listen to them…

22Dec 2014 by The Roamer 6 Comments

Tis the season of Hit and Runs

Finance

Ah life just when you feel its going so well something happens to bring you back down to earth. This happened on Saturday evening. Mr. Roamer had ran out to get us a late night snack.* I remember thinking he was taking too long. Just imagine you are busy typing away on your computer. When you hear that your husband(wife) was just in a car accident. This is what happened to me. It had happened right around the corner. I literally ran out the door heart racing... Is he alive? While simultaneously calling his phone. I turned the corner multiple cop cars there,I was searching for his car, searching for him. I was still running when I finally saw him. I ran until I reached him, We met with a…

20Dec 2014 by The Roamer 4 Comments

Weekend Wanderings #2: The Easy Life

Counter Culture, Parenthood, Reading, Weekend Wanderings

Welcome to my weekend wanderings. I'm the Roamer here at Traveling Wallet. I hope you enjoy these videos. I know when you make big goals you often need inspiration and motivation and that's what I hope you'll get here in these segments. Do you feel like life is hard? Are you running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to climb some corporate ladder? So much to do so little time. I often like to ponder such questions. Sometimes I don't have all the words, or know all the right things to say. In these times I'm happy to defer to the experts. In my head I made it a goal to include at least 3 videos for all my weekend wanderings but today's video is so powerful and…

15Dec 2014 by The Roamer No Comments

Wanderings and a Welcome

Finance

This weekend the Traveling Wallet has journeyed over to the wonderful blog 1500 days and was feature in the long running 10 questions and a pizza place. So head over there first to check it out. 10 Questions and a Pizza Place with The Roamer at The Traveling Wallet Welcome Are you new? If you are new here I'd like to welcome you to my humble abode here in internet land. I'm your host the Roamer here at the Traveling Wallet. I have had a crazy year slaying the debt monster and other such discoveries. I think you'll find the following articles a nice sampling of me and what I'm about. This is my most popular post. Where I tell you about how our family paid off the mighty sum of over 100k…

11Dec 2014 by The Roamer 16 Comments

Over 100K paid off in 3.5 years

Debt Destruction, Finance, Saving

When I started this blog, Traveling Wallet, I wasn't in the death grip of debt. Actually I was about to make my escape. I have written a few posts about my debt and my repayment journey. But I really wanted to take the time and give you the whole big picture. When I look at the numbers it just really amazes me. And I think its inspirational. That is why I am sharing. Like I've said before when I graduated I had a ball and chain of student debt attached to me to the tune of $46,695. With $10k of it at a horrendous rate of 10.75%. Can you say Wow! But that wasn't all. I had a car and no mechanical experience. To translate I knew nothing about this…

08Dec 2014 by The Roamer 4 Comments

401K I like you more then Presents

401K, Counter Culture, Finance

A bit a ago I wrote this article about the 401k and how we would use it. I think it wasn't super clear so let me paraphrase. I talked about how I had an ah ha moment, that I didn't have to wait until next year to max out my 401k, that I could do it now. For this year! Well at the end I said I would make the changes which I made. Well Mr. Roamer then asked, I thought we were already maxing them out. No sorry honey, like I mentioned in the previous post I had done the math for 12 months of contributions. Or I guess a rolling 12 months. But that's not how taxes work so if we want to max it out for this…