10 Questions With Burrito Bowl Diaries

This week, I’m at a blogger conference where I’ll be schmoozing, presenting, meeting, greeting and beering. Very busy. While I’m away, I thought it would be fun to support some other bloggers. Today, please enjoy Burrito Bowl Diaries.

Hi, friends.

My name is David, AKA Mr. Burrito Bowl. There’s been a huge lack of demand for me to do Mr. 1500’s famous 10 Questions guest post. I hate to disappoint so I reluctantly offered my services. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. 1500 for the opportunity!

Why should we read your blog?

I feel I have a humorous take on financial matters. A good example of this is my article The 4% Rule-How to Know When You’re Financially Independent. Yup, just getting right into the link sharing. Buckle up. Just about every financial blogger has shared a 4% rule post. My goal is to make my posts humorous enough that people want to read them, even if they normally don’t read financial articles.

Why did you start a blog?

I started a blog to practice my writing skills and to spread the FI message. I feel like my wife and I actually have a great shot at reaching financial independence. I didn’t want people around me to ask why I never spilled the beans that FI was possible.

Mostly though, I want to get better at writing. I enjoy seeing people laugh when they read what I’ve written. I never know if what I’ve written is good until someone else reads it. If I can get Mrs. Burrito Bowl to cover her face in embarrassment it means I wrote something worth reading.

Sometimes I laugh at stuff I’ve written but it turns out I was just being polite because what I’d written wasn’t really all that funny. I wrote a satirical romance novel that ended up being absolute trash but I’m really proud of myself for finishing it. I’m just being humble, it’s actually really good. Shhhhh it’s good.

I just deleted an entire paragraph about how much my family likes the book but it just sounded too…what’s the word? I don’t know, I’ve never been good with words. My family liked the book though. They laughed a lot. The editor said it was missing a plot, and central focus, but other than that she said it was pretty good.

As far as blogging goes I know all this information has been said over and over but I feel like I’ve been given this freedom through pursuing FI and I really want to share that message. My brain works half a click off so I think I can get people in the door to read my blog because they think it will be funny. When they least suspect it I throw in a fact about Roth vs. Traditional IRAs.

What part of your blog do you wish you could do better?

I wish I could do better at the going viral portion of blogging. I think I would be a really good viral blogger. Actually, I would get myself in trouble pretty quick if I was a viral blogger. I think referring to people as, “bags of dicks” might backfire if read by the general masses. Also, just the money aspect of blogging. It seems like some people have really figured out how to make some good money with affiliate links, online courses, and ads.

I would sell out though, if given the chance. I’m about the message of FI but if someone approached me and offered me a bunch of money to blog about how saving money is for virgins and redheads I’d do it. I’d blog the shit out it. I’m no white knight. Highest bidder, where you at?

Where do you live?

I live in Portland Oregon with my wife, Mrs. Burrito Bowl. Starting in December, Mrs. Burrito Bowl is going to have…leftovers? I’m not sure the analogy holds up but she’s pregnant. We’re having a Baby Burrito Bowl in December. I only mention that for the onslaught of congrats and high fives and the hope that people fill up our Amazon registry with baby girl paraphernalia. Saving money on baby stuff would be cool but mostly I just want to stop going on field trips to random Craigslist people’s houses so we can look at their toddler’s used baby bibs. We’re really excited!

Rent or own?

We rent a one-bedroom apartment above a garage. It’s about half the price of other rentals in the Portland area and we love it. We don’t get access to the garage. Not supposed to go in there. Off limits and what not. It’s not at all the set up to a Stephen King novel. We’re happy here. I’d like to stress that we literally live above a garage that we aren’t supposed to enter. I’m sure we’ll be fine.

We aren’t against buying a home but we’ll wait until we move back to Montana to do that. Housing in Portland is really expensive and we are a humble people.

What do you do?

I am a project manager for a construction company and my wife is a nurse. It’s my job to schedule the building of a house and check to make sure it’s built properly. Fun Fact: I have no idea how to build a house. I lucked into my job. My wife actually went to school and knows what she’s doing. She’s a real nurse. I just happen to be employed by a company that builds houses.

How old are you?

We’re both 32 years old, we moisturize though.

What do you drive?

We get around by driving a 2009 Honda Fit with a reconstructed title that we paid $5,000 cash for. It’s awesome. The key stopped going in and out of the ignition so now I just leave the key in. I’ll park downtown Portland and just leave it unlocked with the key in it because, well what can you do? Might be a real learning experience for me. I find it funny that if someone does steal it they’ll get home and remove the key and not be able to put it back in. I don’t know if that would make it all worth it, but I’m willing to find out.

How do you stay fit?

Fitness is huge with us. We try to make exercise and overall health a big part of our lives. I tend to lean more towards exercise and Mrs. Burrito Bowl makes sure we eat a healthy diet. She exercises too. I guess what I mean is I don’t eat as healthy as she does.

I have a 4-Day gym Rotation that I do that’s been pretty great. I’ve got an article coming out soon about it. You’ll have to subscribe to the blog though to read it. This secret program keeps me motivated to go to the gym because it’s not an overwhelming amount of exercise I need to do each day.

For days I don’t go to the gym I have a full body 10-Minute Workout for Humans Who Read Blogs About 10-Minute Workouts that I like to do. I don’t know if you could tell but I snuck my workout blog title seamlessly into that sentence. If I’m really pushed for time I do a quick 5-minute workout. Full disclosure: I don’t do that 5-minute workout. It’s not a thing that I do. It would be a good way to start exercising though, if you don’t already. I think it’s a good workout. You know, forget I said that last bit.

I really should link my best work. These articles for sure aren’t my best but we’re talking about exercise. It would be hard to just throw in a link about The Hedonic Treadmill or Our Trip to Walmart. It would seem forced. I don’t want to do that.

Is your goal financial independence?

Yes! Our goal is to be financially independent. I would do music gigs, learn to bartend, plan a bank heist, blog more, all sorts of stuff. I’ve never had one of those, “Oh I think I’ll choose to stay even though I don’t need the money,” type of jobs. I’ve always had the “Get me the f*ck out of here I don’t care if it’s Wednesday at 9am I need a drink Jesus God,” type of jobs. Before I was a project manager I sold shoes. Nobody sells shoes to old women with bunions because they just want to get out of the house.

How far along the journey are you?

As of today we’re a little over 1/3 of the way there. We read that it takes the same amount of time to go from $0-$300,000 as it does to go from $300,000-$1,000,000 so we’re hopeful we’re at the halfway mark.

Do you tell others about your FIRE journey?

For the most part, yes. Our families know. I don’t know if they think we will be successful or not. I think they are waiting for us to have kids before they take our money saving abilities seriously. At work people just know I’m the frugal weirdo who drives around in a Honda Fit instead of a more traditional huge lifted truck.

What did your parents do to raise you to be financially smart?

My parents were pretty frugal. My dad taught my brother and I the value of hard work and also the value of forced child labor. Early 90s, man, hell of a time. Here’s a shameless plug for my A Penny Per Rock post detailing such times.

How will the world be better because you lived?

I hope there’s more laughter because I lived. There’s too many people though. God needs to go through the camera roll and delete like half of us. If I don’t make the cut, so be it. I’m funny enough that I hope God keeps me around but I’m not sure He gets my sense of humor.

The world will laugh more because I lived. Also the world will experience a shortage of imitation crab during my lifetime but the numbers should even out once I’m gone.

What do I believe that most others do not?

I believe that even if I died before I reached financial independence all my frugality would still be worth it. The journey that my wife and I are on has been life changing. The lack of stress about money is worth far more than any splurges we could have made. Even if we never get to actually spend any of this hard earned money we’ve had a better life because of our frugality. The knowledge that we don’t need material goods to be happy is priceless and something I try to put into words in the hopes that others can feel that relief too.

Also I believe the earth is a big science experiment done by a much more advanced life form and God is a 12-year-old kid with a flat top mullet. Would explain a lot.

Best friend gets a raise and wants to buy a new car?

• Me: Eric, you idiot. Stop that! *Slaps Eric’s hand, Eric’s snocone slushes to the floor*
• Eric: Dude, what the hell.
• Me: Just…warning you. About that new car. No.
• Eric: What the shit are you talking about?
• Me: I just had a daydream that you got a raise and squandered it on a new car.
• Eric: I have not gotten a raise. I will run it by you before getting a new car.
• Me: My work here is done.

So…I feel like I’ve got that situation covered.

Favorite Beer?

Give me a dark imperial stout. No particular brand. Just make it heavy. WOOOOOooooo girl. The darker the better. Make it a double imperial shut-your-mouth stout. God I miss winter beer. You can’t drink that kind of beer in the summer.

I’ve been drinking a lot less beer lately. I drink mostly whiskey now. Less calories. I drank Kirkland Light for a while and that got me to stop drinking beer. I need to go get an imperial stout.

Thanks for all the questions. I had a lot of fun answering them. I don’t know why people say that. I just try to fit in. If you want to follow along on our journey here’s where you can find us.

• Blog: https://burritobowldiaries.com
• Twitter: @MrBurritoBowl
• Instagram: BurritoBowlDiaries
• Facebook: Facebook.com/burritobowldiaries

If you happen to see an old beat up periwinkle-colored Honda Fit parked around Portland, please don’t steal it.

Thanks.