Dip up, Don't Dip Down

Unexpected Expenses 

Emergencies happen. Unexpected car or house repairs, job loss, medical expenses can all lead to spending more than what you initially planned. Funerals, weddings, unexpected pregnancies. There are lots of events that can lead to needing to spend more. The question is whether you need to dip up into savings and investments or dip down into debt. If you have a budget you should be saving some amount of money whether it be in a savings account (emergency fund) or investment account. If you are living paycheck to paycheck you are going to have no choice but to dip down into debt. Throw the extra expenses on a credit card, line of credit, payday loan store or maybe even the bank of mom and dad. 

Ikea Cupboards TV Stand with Shiplap Fireplace

Sometimes you run out of projects so you put in Ikea Kitchen cabinets for the TV stand and a fireplace. Costing around $3,500, it was quite expensive but it was a lot of fun and brought me joy. The fireplace is great since the basement can be cold and a fireplace looks a lot better than a space heater. I didn't want the TV above the fireplace since the ceiling is under 8 feet tall and it would raise the TV quite a bit. I hadn't seen many entertainment walls with the 2/3, 1/3 split so I thought it looks unique.  Hopefully this will inspire someone to do their own entertainment wall. 

Baby Steps, not Giant Leaps

Budgeting and Dieting

Budgeting is similar to dieting in that many people believe they will suddenly have large amounts of motivation they've never shown before. It’s easy to think that change will happen overnight—maybe at the strike of midnight on New Year’s Eve. However, sudden, drastic changes often lead to burnout. Going from never working out to working out daily is a huge shift, requiring time you’ve already spent elsewhere. Going from eating cheeseburgers and pizza to 800 calories a day of salads is extreme and a recipe for failure. When the novelty and motivation wear off, it's easy to say, "I missed my workout today, so why bother with the rest of the week?" Similarly, you may think, "I ate fried chicken—my diet's ruined," and end up bingeing on pizza. It's the same when it comes to budgeting. If you aim too high too fast, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Built-in Garage Shelving

Garage Storage

You can never have too much storage in a house, and garages are ideal for storing extra items. However, much of the garage's square footage is occupied by vehicles, making wall space valuable. If you have a smaller garage like I do, placing storage along the walls can make it tricky to get in and out of your car. But there's one often overlooked area for storage—the ceiling.

Now I have never built shelves before but it was pretty straight forward. Just bought some 2x4s and started securing. Now you will need some basic tools and minimal supplies but this is a simple DIY. 

A Look at Wealth Inequality Through the Lens of Time

Imagine a world where money doesn't exist, and instead, time is the currency. The 2011 movie In Time gave us just that—a society where the rich live forever and the poor are literally dying as they struggle to earn more time. While our world doesn’t operate this way, there’s a striking similarity: the wealthy do seem to have more time. Not because their days are longer, but because they have more free time. And just like in In Time, the poor are constantly hustling, trading away their most valuable asset—time—for money.