When I first began exploring frugal living and minimalism back in 2008, I followed a number of blogs. Some of these blogs appeared to be quite popular. They had tens of thousands (or millions) of readers, thousands of comments, and sites that were designed to look like Apple had created them. On their homepages, the…
Author: Steve Ainslie
Delete Daily Disappointments
Some of the greatest satisfaction I get is when I fix something that bothers me – a little – everyday. Often I’ll live with with these tiny problems for months on end before finally doing something about it because after all, it’s just a little niggling thing and I often forget about it until I…
365 Days Date Free
It’s been about a year since I did my online dating experiment. I’m happy to report that I am extremely satisfied with my status as a non-dating single man. Having some time and distance has enabled me to look at my dating experiences in a new light. First, and somewhat surprisingly, I have a warm…
A Ladder Fell And Caused A Panic
There was panic at the local mall this weekend when shoppers thought they heard a loud bang near the foodcourt. According to a witness, people scattered immediately – running for exits, diving into stores to hide and leaving cell phones, bags, food behind. People were screaming and crying in fear. A ladder had fallen down…
Shaking It Up
An unexpected result of my bathroom painting project has been making small changes to some of the routines I’ve developed over the past 4 years. None of these routines were bad. They were efficient, habitual ways I’ve been completing everyday tasks. But, during the project, some of these had to be adjusted to accommodate for…
Get Comfortable With Being Poor
One of the essays in Jerry Saltz’s book, “How to Be An Artist” is titled, “Accept That You Will Likely Be Poor”. In it, he writes that only “1% of 1% of 1% of artists become rich“. He writes that most artists value time to make art over money. He tells the story of how…
A Prediction On How We’ll Solve Mass Shootings
I recently finished Dan Carlin’s book, “The End Is Always Near”, in which he writes about civilizations and societies from the Bronze Ages through present day and how they ended. He presents known facts, theories and disputed historical arguments. Having read several books about the fall of the Roman Empire, my understanding is that the…
Just A Little Paint-ience
I spent the past week painting. It started out simple enough. All I planned to do was repainting the ceiling in my upstairs bathroom which had been stained during a roof leak. First, the roof was repaired and then I repainted the ceiling. I was surpassed by how nice the bathroom looked after the second…
Removing Labels
Labels used to be very important to me. They were how I defined who and what I was. Labels were a (the?) core part of my identity. After my wife died, I struggled with Labels. Without her, what was I? Suddenly, I had lost a core part of my being. If I wasn’t a Husband,…
Don’t Call 911
My 86 year old girlfriend baked a batch of homemade cookies and texted me to stop by to pick up some for Valentine’s Day. When I did, she invited me to sit and visit with her for a while, as usual. We talked about about a bunch of stuff – families, raising kids, money and…