I hope you enjoy this week’s Five Friday Favorites. Click here to see previous editions!
- Favorite personal finance article/post. I love to see personal finance bloggers work through the numbers of a particular scenario, so I particularly enjoyed Mr. Money Mustache’s article this week about renting vs. buying a home. In it, he highlights one of the great paradoxes of home ownership, which is that despite people thinking buying a home is the best investment you could possibly make, sometimes it is a downright awful investment. In the scenario Mr. Money Mustache works through, renting turns out to be far cheaper, and arguably provides a better quality of life.
- Favorite non-personal finance article/post. I think I have a tendency to complain a lot. Many of us do. So often, it is a conversation starter, which is really too bad. We should find more positive ways to communicate. I stumbled across this read about how to complain less from Becoming Minimalist and found it really useful. I especially like the third point, about understanding the difference between helpful criticism and complaint. I like to be productive and constructive, but complaining usually is the opposite.
- Favorite thing I did this week. On Monday, BF and I finally returned from the great European adventure. After 8 weeks away, it felt good to be home. Because we sublet our apartment while we were away, we’re staying with my parents for a little while until the subletters move out. It feels nice to be home, to see my family, and of course to see our puppy! Look at that face!
The cutest puppy I ever did see (I swear I’m not biased)
- Favorite recipe. This week I don’t just have one favorite recipe, but a whole roundup! I just got a slow cooker last year and I’ve really enjoyed experimenting with it. Somehow slow cooker always signals winter to me, but this list of 15 slow cooker recipes to beat the summer heat from Crockpot Gourmet looks awesome! Tacos, buffalo chicken, mac and cheese – my mouth is watering already!
- Favorite quote. Coming home from Paris, I was confronted again by how much stuff I have. I have way too much stuff. I gotta look into this minimalism thing. In any case, this reminded me of a great quote from a beautiful book, The History of Love.
What are some of your favorite things from this week?
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Anything You Want - A Personal Finance Blog 
I also really loved that article about complaining from the minimalists. It gets too easy to get caught up in that complain cycle so awareness is key and stopping yourself before you get on a roll.
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You’re completely right – it is a cycle and just being aware of it is so helpful in putting an end to it!
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I love Mr. Money Mustache’s blog and thought it was a good post as well.
(although the same 2 bedroom / 2 baths apartment with all brand new amenities that he describes in Manhattan would be more like $4,500 – $7,000 per month!) so I think it really depends when one lives…
I think the favorite part of my week is my boss being away today 😉 It was such a busy week for me at work that I really appreciate that today is not just a bit more relaxing but I can also catch up on a few long term projects I have been working on.
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Yes, it absolutely does depend on where you live. In my area, it happens that my mortgage is much less than rent on a comparable apartment.
It is nice to have a day when you can catch up on things without getting constantly pulled into new things! A vacation for your boss is like a vacation for you!
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Thanks for pointing out that complaining article (not complaining?). Right now, I’m really working on cultivating gratitude and being a life giver rather than a life sucker, so the article really resonated w/ me.
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That is a great way of thinking about it – I love the idea of being a life giver!
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I hope you enjoyed your trip to Europe. The Favorite Quote resonates with me because I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo a couple weekends ago. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend it. It’s a quick read.
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I did read that and thought it was very interesting! I love the idea of surrounding yourself only with things that “spark joy.”
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The ‘Crockpot Spicy Lime Chicken’ definitely looks like the something the wife and I would try … and enjoy. A nice share!
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Yes that one does look amazing! My mouth was watering reading all of the recipes!
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Oh wow, I can’t even imagine an 8 week vacation! It would be a lot of fun, but I think I would miss my dogs too much! I never think to crock pot in the summer, I don’t know why I associate it with fall and winter, ha!
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I never thought I would take an 8 week vacation, but it turned out to be a great experience! And I’m in the same place with the crock pot but these recipes have inspired me to change my thinking!
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Ironically I just tweeted today one of my old posts “how complaining saved me thousands of dollars.” I think there is productive complaining and unproductive complaining. I probably do a little too much of the unproductive complaining and I come off as ungrateful at times. My favorite thing this week was only working a 3-day week!
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Haha what a coincidence! I’ll have to read it. I can see how complaining to the right people could save you money. I think that complaining is less useful in general conversation with friends and family.
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First, that recipe sounds amazing. I may have to steal it from you or find a close comparison. This is the my first time visiting and I like the format and diversify away from one style of article or favorite for the week. I am about to start diving into the complaining article, so thanks for bringing that to my attention!
Have a great weekend and thanks for the great reads.
Bert, One of the Dividend Diplomats
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Glad you enjoyed my post! I hope you’ll come back to see more!
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