1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

10 Questions with Simple Cheap Mom

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Today is the 2nd edition of our new periodic guest post series called 10 Questions. We have a list of 17 NEW questions we pose to fellow financial bloggers, and they are free to pick and choose 10 or answer all of them. Let us know if you would like to be featured in a future edition of 10 Questions. (If you have already answered the first set of 10 questions, please feel free to answer these new ones.)

Today’s answers come from Emily over at Simple Cheap Mom. She and her husband live off half of his salary, while she stays home with their Little Miss, hoping to be mortgage free by their mid-30s.

SCM

Tell us about your blog

Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.
Simple Cheap Mom follows my family as we live off one half of our single income to be mortgage free by our mid thirties.  It’s got lots of motivation to focus on what is important to you, to stay on your budget and to reach your financial goals.  We even include our actual budget to put our spending into perspective.

Tell me how you’re going to change the world with your blog (dream big or don’t dream at all!).
The world will be a better place because of Simple Cheap Mom.  People will learn the power and freedom of living well within your means.

Tell us about you

1500 Days is about early retirement.  Do you have early retirement dreams?  At what age do you think you will retire?
In my mid twenties I left my 9-5 job to start my own business.  I got a fancy pen as a parting gift, so it pretty much felt like I retired then.  When we became parents I closed my business to be a stay at home mom at 28.  I don’t really have plans to go back to work at this point, so I may never get the chance to officially retire early.  Our plan is to pay off the mortgage, become financially independent, then consider the early retirement question for Simple Cheap Dad.

When you are 90 and look back on your life, what do you hope you have accomplished?
I hope that when I’m 90 I can look back on my life and be proud that I let the people who were important to me know it, that I wasn’t afraid to take on new challenges, and that I valued money as a tool and not for its own sake.

Money, money, money

What is the best money management or investment tool you have come across?
We’ve started to use GNUCash this year and I’m pretty excited about it.  But, anything that gets people tracking their spending is good in my books.

How do you handle people with different views on money, ie spendy people?
We all have our own goals and priorities.  Who’s to say which camp will be happier when we look back on our lives?  But, if people’s spendy ways aren’t actually in line with their goals and priorities, then I’ll probably introduce them to budgeting.  Sweet budgeting.

Did your parents teach you about money as a kid?  How so?
My parents opened a bank account for me when I was pretty little for my small savings.  I remember being 5 or 6 and going to the ATM to update my bank book to see how much interest I’d earned for the month.  So they did foster an early appreciation for savings.

Random silliness

What is your favorite style or beer – and what is your favorite beer in that style?
Vodka.  Simple Cheap Dad likes wheat beers.  Specifically Hacker-Pschorr.

We notice a lot of frugal people into board games – what is your favorite?
As a child I really liked Monopoly, but no one ever wanted to sit through a full game.  These days my favorite is probably Settlers of Catan.  The bartering can get intense!

What do you do for exercise?
I do laps inside my house with our Little Miss chasing me.  It’s been a while since I’ve done any regular, organized exercise.  I think I’ll get to the point where I’d like to get in better shape, but I’m not there yet.  I can only care about so much at once!

Thanks so much for participating in our 10 Questions series, Emily. Follow her adventures on her site, or keep up with her on Twitter or facebook, or check out what she is pinning on Pinterest.

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