Do you need to be rich to be a minimalist?

So, this post is inspired by two things. First, this article from the New York Times.

And then, this response to it on Tumblr.

Read them both. Or if, you just have a little bit of time, just read the second one. Or, if you really seriously don't have much time, read this:

Extreme savings: how to save money like a crash dieter

Warning: these tips are not to be used for long-term planning.
Also warning: I have no credentials at all to offer financial advice.

So, saving money and being good at finance is kinda like eating well and being healthy, right? We all know what we're supposed to do for both:

To eat well/be healthy: cut out processed foods, eat more vegetables, exercise more, etc.

To save money/be good at finances: stop buying things you don't need, stop using your credit until it's paid off, etc.

But sometimes you just need to lose 10 lbs to fit into a dress for a wedding, and sometimes you need to save money really quickly for a trip or something. So here are some tips for CRASH MONEY SAVING which are not sustainable in the long term, but will help you reach a short-term goal.

Don't let the cold weather cramp your style

Hey guys! So where I live, it's -42 with the wind chill. Interestingly, that's the same number (pretty much) in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Wherever you are, it's TOO COLD TO LIVE.

Shirley T here is on a soundstage, because that hat is
not warming anybody's head when it's 40 below.

That being said, just because it's too cold for polar bears doesn't mean there aren't ways to look your best!

Get out of the cold, get into food delivery. And don't forget your mittens.

ERMAGERD I FORGOT MY PANTS.

True story: I left for work today in a hurry and only realized once I was outside that I'd forgotten to bring gloves or mittens. "Hey, this will be OK," I thought to myself, shrinking my hands up into my coat sleeves.

But it quickly became apparent that this will not work, seeing as I live in Canada in winter and it's -30 with the windchill today (to Americans, that's like... -22, apparently). Long story short: I went to buy a pair of socks on my lunch break (because there isn't a clothes store nearby my work, but there is a grocery store and I figured they'd have socks I could use as mittens) but it turns out in their children's section, they had thermal gloves for little boys! And so my hands did not fall off.

What does this have to do with ordering food? Well...

Does responsible spending mean the same thing in other countries?

So here's the thing: I don't know anything about money or finances. It gets even more confusing when I read various websites because everything has a different name (and works differently) between Canada (where I live) and exotic places such as the US and the UK.

I assume that Americans reading Gail Vaz-Oxlade are like "RRSP what?" the same way that Canadians read Suze Orman and are like "401(K) huh?"

Basically, wherever you live, it's never not a good idea to stow some savings away for retirement. Maybe somewhere like Sweden or Iceland, where I have the vague idea they give you like 5 years paid maternity leave and free university, it's not an issue. But in Canada, the US and the UK it's kind of a big deal.

So! How to be a responsible frugal-style person in every country? Here's what I can figure out (get ready for a looot of acronyms):

The yachting look for less

Brigitte Bardot serves up equal amounts of nautical stripes and sex kitten

So, you know how stores divide their year into seasons? It goes from spring clothes (in the winter) to summer clothes (in the spring) to back-to-school (WHICH I LOVE!!) in the summer... etc.  Basically, they're always bringing in new stock a few months before you actually want to wear the stuff.

And then, at the end of the season where you will be wearing these clothes, they all go on sale to make room for the next season. This means you can get good deals on winter clothes in the late winter/early spring, good deals on summer clothes in the early fall, and on and on it goes.

New Year's Resolutions 2013

Hey, y'all! I've been watching a lot of Storage Wars: Texas marathons, which makes my inner voice talk like a Southerner named Bubba. I'm OK with this if y'alls are.

So, after a bit of a hiatus, New Year's seems like a good time to get going with this blog business again. In 2011, I made a lengthy list of resolutions. Which I didn't exactly do... at all. And then I made a shorter list of resolutions for 2012. Which... anyway.

This year, I'm filled with the usual optimism and complete amnesia of how hard it is to stop spending money.