What a month! Welcome to my diary of may 2021. The weather did not improve yet, I was ill for too long, I could not finish a single book and the garden, well the weeds grow better than the vegetable garden unfortunately. In the last weekend I could be found in the countryside for a few days. I also participated in a clean-up campaign to clear up cigarette butts. I also followed an online visibility training. I got a lot of inspiration there about how to present yourself online. Now I have facebook and instagram. Zarayda, who gave the training, also encourages to do more with video, but that’s scary!
Books
In terms of books, I had started the Donut Economy by Kate Raworth. To be honest, I couldn’t get through this. I understand that there is a very good philosophy behind this. Fortunately, I was also able to find the book as an audiobook in the library’s app. I bet I’m going to listen to this book. That will be vastly better.
Now I started in Think and Get Rich of Napoleon Hill. A true classic. Not finished yet so stay tuned for that…
Audiobooks
Audiobooks went better. This month I listened to Normal People by Salley Rooney. A compelling story about two teenagers who have nothing in common, but who nevertheless develop a very strong bond. About how they influence each other. A book in which nothing happened, but you still want to keep listening for everything to happen. Highly recommended if you like novels.
Miljonair met een gewone baan (Million with a regular job) is a Dutch classic by Oeds-Jan Postma and cannot be missed from the list. Actually, this is exactly what I’m preaching here on my blog. I am going to buy the paper version of this. I can draw inspiration from that to write articles about for a long time to come. Because of the power of repetition, it never gets old to talk about these topics. I myself need a continuous flow of encouragement not to buy new things, for example, but to keep myself under control. That’s why I listen to podcasts from The Minimalists and read blogs about minimalism. Same goed for keeping your finances in check. Keep reading about the same topics for encouragement.
And then…
I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Make Over. What a mess is that book. Talking about the 7 steps to getting out of debt but the first half of the book was a sales pitch about how many lives it changed and how great the program was. It took a long time before he came to the actual steps. I’ll spare you the trouble and time and summarize them:
1. Save 1000 euros
2. Pay Off Debt on Your Mortgage Already
3. Save 3-6 months of expenses in an emergency fund
4. Set aside 15% for your pension
5. Save for your children’s studies
6. Pay off your mortgage faster
7. Build wealth and give to charities
So. Now you know what Dave Ramsey thinks about building wealth.
Documentaries
In addition, I watched Explained Money on Netflix. There are five episodes of 22 minutes each. Unfortunately, there are three episodes about the system in America. Interesting to see how things like student loans, pensions and credit cards are arranged there. That made it clear to me why it is so difficult in the US to get rid of your credit card debt or your student loan. An example was given of someone who had 80,000 in student debt. After paying off 120,000, there was still 78,000 left. The rest was spent on interest. Such a battle cannot be won, it’s rediculous. This situation does explain why it is so important not to get into debt. The compound interest then works in the opposite direction. Sometimes as much as 25% rent is paid per loan!
I also listened to Peter de Ruiter’s audio documentary about investing in bitcoins. He gives a performance in the world of cryptocurrency, various companies and individuals investing in cryptos. Because so much is happening in the world of cryptocurrencies, it is already an outdated documentary. Still, it gives a good explanation of what it is and what you can do with it.
Expenses
May was just like April a great month! A weekend away and some presents were just about the expenses in addition to the fixed costs of the house, car and groceries. And strepsils, lots and lots of strepsils. A very short summary but there is really not much more to say about it. For entertainment, a gamenight is priceless.
The garden
Okay garden then. As I wrote in the introduction, the weeds are in their heyday, but the vegetable garden is left behind. June will be better for the greens I hope.
What have you been up to?
Until next time,
Elske
