Category Archives: Happiness

Narcissistic navel-gazing on how to make myself happy and how I’ve succeeded and where I’m struggling.

On empathy

By | August 30, 2016

A list I’ve been cultivating recently is my list of reasons why I think empathy is a good thing. I know; you wouldn’t think I’d need a list for this, but it’s one of my personal duh realizations I have to keep relearning. I’m the center of my own universe and the protagonist in my story. The space… Read More »

On Depression

By | July 28, 2016

This revelation may surprise you. Based on my emails and comments, I get the impression that you all think of me as a cheery, breezy, funny, high-spirited, thrifty, gal who you are secretly (and not so secretly) falling in love with and, while I’m loathe to dispel that myth, I have to dispel that myth. A… Read More »

Bucket List Item Complete! – Be on TV Once

By | July 19, 2016

Oh, hey, I was on TV! http://wgntv.com/2016/07/19/retire-in-your-30s-a-former-chicago-based-lawyer-did-just-that-and-says-you-can-too/ I can’t bear to watch this, but I did throw my hands up in the air after I crossed the item off my bucket list. By my estimation, I’m at about minute 13 of my 15 minutes of fame. Wheeee! Life is so awesome, no? The best part… Read More »

How to travel thriftily

By | July 18, 2016

I don’t know if I’ve told you this already, but I kind of like to travel. In fact, travel is the budget hole where the vast majority of my expenses wanders into. I think. I don’t actually track my spending, so I don’t know for sure. I don’t have a really great system on finding deals,… Read More »

The Imposter Syndrome and how to beat it

By | July 11, 2016

Some intrepid reporters interviewed me last week and, in turn, my babbling appeared in different locations around the internet. As a result, my stats are booming. The Twitter thing keeps chirping at me. I fear that my email inbox is now insurmountable with too many messages I would like to reply to, but only 24 precious… Read More »

Thriftygal’s Guide to Garage Sales

By | June 27, 2016

I love the house where I grew up and where my parents still hang out, but there’s one area that I’ve long-despised. My parent’s basement: the birthplace of generations of spiders and my hatred of junk. Dad thinks every piece of paper deserves consideration. Mom used to work in retail and couldn’t resist a deal. My… Read More »

Systems and goals

By | June 6, 2016

This may or may not be the last time I mention this book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams, but he has a chapter that I’m pretty sure he wrote just for me. He’s all like, Thriftygal, …goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they… Read More »

Happiness Cliff Notes

By | May 30, 2016

It’s my duty to be happy. I can’t be the first one to think that. This is why I spend so much time gazing at my navel, contemplating how to make it so. There’s a lot of research out there, but here’s my takeaway so far: Thriftygal’s Cliff Notes on Happiness I. Necessary, but not sufficient: A… Read More »

On Chicago

By | May 23, 2016

I know I’m always yapping to you about how close friendships are important to happiness, but research shows that my yapping is vital. Life is better when you have pleasant interactions with people on a regular basis. That’s one of my “duh” realizations. I’ve been shoddy with my posting schedule this past week because I’ve been hanging… Read More »