The Full English – Sparking joy

What am I blathering on about this week?

We’ve been watching a lot of Marie Kondo on Netflix in our house. If you’ve not seen it, it’s a bit of a weird sell. A tiny japanese woman with a penchant for organising sorts out hoarders houses. Here she is (1):

Now she’s made a profession (and massive cash) out of perfecting tidying up. She’s sold millions of books, and sparked plenty of knock-offs (2). Her key points are fairly simple, and revolve around attacking things in a certain order, with a future goal in mind, and only keeping items which ‘spark joy’ (3). There’s no point having 20 photo albums you never look at. Keep one or two collated versions somewhere you can see them regularly, etc…

This floats pretty close to minimalism for me. It’s an easy to digest, more accessible, less elite version (4). After all, minimalism aims to:

• Eliminate our discontent
• Reclaim our time
• Live in the moment
• Pursue our passions
• Discover our missions
• Experience real freedom
• Create more, consume less
• Focus on our health
• Grow as individuals
• Contribute beyond ourselves
• Rid ourselves of excess stuff
• Discover purpose in our lives (5)

It’s a counter-cultural push against the consumerism of general life (6). And as such it sits well with the FI community, in the general ‘buy less shit’ stakes. I’ve always liked the idea of minimalism. It fits a Manhattan loft/ bourbon and grubby nightclubs life-direction which is never likely to be achieved. I’m just fairly shit at it. I own a lot of stuff. Much of the stuff is fairly tatty. We’ve lived like students for 10 years and many items have been bought as ‘do-fers’; they’ll do for now. 5-10 years on they’re still doing. I’ve been de-cluttering over the last six months, but I’m still left with a sense that a lot of stuff with remain. I will never be minimalist. Marie Kondo tells me it’s okay if my stuff sparks joy. So my garage full of tools which spark joy when I have the right tool for the job is okay. The ‘do-fers’ don’t spark joy, so they’ll be replaced with items which do. Ultimately I think that boils down to an intentionalism approach to items, as we try to be more intentional with the choices we make in our lives. Why fill your life with shit that makes you miserable.

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” -Epictetus

Have a great week,

The Shrink

Other News

• Youtuber buys expensive BMW on finance. Youtuber modifies it. Youtuber is surprised BMW are pissed (7) – “But it’s muh carrr”
• Brexit is looking b-e-a-u-tiful for business (8)
• And because of it we’re bussing in Russians, Ukrainians and Moldovans to work on our farms (9)
• In one of the oddest pieces this week, suggestions to bury people under motorways to reduce pressure on graveyards (10)
• Oh look, another person whinging about taking stupid car finance and not being able to pay it (11) – See as my last fuck disappears over the horizon
• Foreign investment is leaving the UK (12)
• HL removes Nick Trains funds due to conflict of interest (13)
• Freetrade smashes their new funding round (14)

Opinion/ blogs:

• Monevator updates their fund of funds list (15)
• There’s a nice piece on DB to DC transfers (16)
• And an update for the slow and steady portfolio (17)
• UKVI has some lessons learned from Vodafone (18)
• And mid-year valuations for the FTSE 100 and 250 (19)
• TEA has this to say on the benefits of capitalism (20)
• ERN has this awesome guest post from Dr David Graham on whether a 4% SWR survives a 60 year retirement (21)
• CFC on buying a property with student loan debt (22)
• Tuppenny has a long how-to post about radically cutting your expenses (23)
• DIY Investor UK adds Aquila European Renewables Trust (24)
• And has a half-year portfolio update (25)
• Indeedably contemplates an independent London (26)
• His own blog-state (27)
• And… like me… conscious choices (28)
• Firevlondon appears a little overwhelmed by the power of compounding (29)
• Even as his portfolio does quite well, thank you very much (30)
• Weenie does pretty nicely in June too (31)
• The Caveman on why starting off on the FI journey is best in your 30s or 40s (32)
• FI UK Money has a good June (33)
• The Saving Ninja also has a June report… 12 months in (34)
• As does A Way to Less (35)
• MsZiYou has been busy with a relationship (36)
• GFF saves money on his car insurance (37)
• Chows down on some wild strawberries (38)
• And has June’s accounts (39)
• The eagle covers his portfolios progress (40)
• Finance Your Fire provides his portfolio update (41)
• And some proper deep-tech crypto (42)
• ERG updates for summer 2019 (43) – Six months since last post!
• I Retired Young has his early retirement June costs (44)
• A simple life with Sam has their June review (45)
• And 1500 days visits the UK (46)

The kitchen garden:

• Sharpen your spades has a July allotment list (47)

What I’m reading (affiliate links):

Food Of The Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs and Human Evolution – Terence McKenna – An ethnobotanist explores humanitys’ fascination with hallucinogenics, and the role of altered states of consciousness on the development of human society.

 

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Kondo
2. https://konmari.com/
3. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/organizing/a25846191/what-is-the-konmari-method/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalism
5. https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/
6. https://www.becomingminimalist.com/what-is-minimalism/
7. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-7140919/Can-modify-car-finance-dangers.html
8. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/26/uk-economy-cliff-edge
9. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48820573
10. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/05/bury-bodies-along-uks-motorway-to-ease-burial-crisis-expert-suggests
11. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-your-money-48776454
12. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48776125
13. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/hargreaves-lansdown-just-removed-nick-085637525.html
14. https://www.cityam.com/freetrade-to-close-7m-in-second-crowdfunding-round/
15. https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/
16. https://monevator.com/defined-benefit-to-defined-contribution-pension-transfers/
17. https://monevator.com/the-slow-and-steady-passive-portfolio-update-q2-2019/
18. https://www.ukvalueinvestor.com/2019/07/selling-vodafone-lessons-learned-from-one-of-my-first-defensive-value-investments.html/
19. https://www.ukvalueinvestor.com/2019/06/ftse-100-ftse-250-valuations.html/
20. https://theescapeartist.me/2019/06/25/why-capitalism-is-better-for-your-pet-dog-than-communism/
21. https://earlyretirementnow.com/2019/06/26/does-a-4-percent-withdrawal-rate-survive-a-60-year-retirement/
22. https://cashflowcop.com/when-to-buy-a-house-if-you-have-student-loans-debt/
23. https://tuppennysfireplace.com/how-to-drastically-cut-expenses/
24. http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2019/06/aquila-european-renewables-trust-new.html
25. http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2019/07/half-year-portfolio-update.html
26. https://indeedably.com/independence/
27. https://indeedably.com/indeedably-meta-redux/
28. https://indeedably.com/inflection-point/
29. https://firevlondon.com/2019/07/01/doubling-party/
30. https://firevlondon.com/2019/07/03/june-2019-q2-review/
31. http://quietlysaving.co.uk/2019/07/07/june-2019-other-updates/
32. https://ditchthecave.com/30s-and-40s-financial-independence/
33. http://fiukmoney.co.uk/june-19-net-worth-and-monthly-update-11-514218-9687/
34. https://thesavingninja.com/twelve-months-later-savings-report-12/
35. https://www.msziyou.com/true-love-never-smooth/
36. https://awaytoless.com/monthly-spending-june-2019/
37. https://gentlemansfamilyfinances.wordpress.com/2019/07/05/cashback-success-saving-30-100-on-car-insurance/
38. https://gentlemansfamilyfinances.wordpress.com/2019/07/04/wild-strawberries-and-wild-gardens/
39. https://gentlemansfamilyfinances.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/month-end-accounts-june-2019/
40. http://eaglesfeartoperch.blogspot.com/2019/07/investment-review-june-2019.html
41. https://financeyourfire.com/2019/07/02/portfolio-update-june-2019/
42. https://financeyourfire.com/2019/06/28/adventures-in-cryptospace/
43. https://www.earlyretirementguy.com/summer-2019-networth-update/
44. https://www.iretiredyoung.net/single-post/2019/07/05/Early-retirement-costs-targets—June-2019
45. https://asimplelifewithsam.com/2019/07/02/june-review-and-spending/
46. https://www.1500days.com/uk-chautauqua-fi-peeps-scarce-sleep-and-lots-of-sheep
47. https://sharpenyourspades.com/2019/07/07/allotment-jobs-for-july/