Blogging about personal growth in financial independence, health, and happiness
Happy Thanksgiving! I love this holiday so much because it emphasizes reflection on what we’re thankful for, and it’s the perfect start to the holiday season. The air has started to get crisp, and my whole neighborhood smells like woodsmoke from people starting to use their fireplaces. It’s all very hygge. But it’s also a time to think about your charitable giving. Continue reading “Charitable Giving in My Budget”
Woohoo! Owning the Stars has been live for a year! This anniversary doesn’t feel like a huge deal because I know that I wasn’t posting very frequently at all in the beginning, but I am proud of what I’ve started here, and I love having this creative outlet.
With this milestone, I’ve started thinking about where I want this blog to go. I’ve mentioned my Etsy shop before, and I’d like to build this blog into something that might provide a modest side hustle income. That being said, it is so so important to me to stay true to the blog’s purpose and mission. It’s also important that I stay true to myself as well.
It’s so appropriate that this post goes out today because it’s finally snowing for the first time in the Washington, DC area. Something about this weather makes me want to slow down and appreciate the small things. In other words, I’m ready to get hygge.
I’ve had a lot of fun over the last year going through my family’s genealogy. Digging into rumors and fact, old documents and family stories (Spoiler alert: I was lied to as a child, and we are not, alas, illicit descendants of Queen Victoria). And as I’ve done that and have seen some of the struggles that my ancestors overcame, I’m struck by how much my financial heritage—my financial DNA, so to speak—influences my life now.
I come from a farming family. In fact, my family’s farm has been around for close to 150 years. I didn’t grow up on the farm, but that heritage is vitally important to me, and I have a lot of respect for what farmers do. It also means that I get a little testy when activist groups try to vilify certain farmers for not meeting their (often unreasonable) “health” demands. This is especially true with organic products (and non-GMO labels, but I’m not even going to touch that can of worms today). But with that background, and having a deep personal connection to agriculture–one that is supported with plenty of my own research–I don’t buy organic. Continue reading “Why I Don’t Buy Organic”