Mike Donghia

In my never-ending quest to study the past and apply all the good lessons I can, I’ve recently found myself interested in all sorts of self-improvement advice from previous generations. While it might seem…

One thing I wasn’t expecting was how living frugally not only changes your finances, but it can actually change your view of the world. Like most people, I used to daydream about how much…

I didn’t set out with the plan to increase my confidence when we made the decision to live frugally as a family. But it turns out that acting with high agency and making good…

I can usually tell by the type of clutter around me which parts of my life are out of balance. If I’m taking on too many projects at once, it’s often because I’m seeking…

One of my former worst habits was throwing in the towel when I got off to a bad start. Maybe I set a New Year’s resolution and then started stumbling in mid-February. Old me…

I am not by nature a highly disciplined person. I’m more the kind who works in large energetic fits and starts. But over time, I’ve come to see that discipline isn’t just something you’re…

I’ve written before about having my own definition of success. And while I still stand by this idea, more than ever in fact, I think it’s missing a key component. Most of us don’t…

I feel like I’m always defending the old-fashioned ways, and I’m not sure why. When it comes to frugal living, the generations before us had far more tricks up their sleeve, probably because many…

I’m all for an occasional whole-house declutter session, but in our busy family life, that’s just not something we can do very often. Maybe a few times a year if we’re being honest. Instead,…

I think a lot of people have this idea that living frugally is about deprivation, but for me, it hasn’t felt that way at all. The reason we choose to live with less than…

Often I find the best way to learn if something works for you is to try it for yourself. There’s only so much that theorizing and endlessly debating the pros and cons in your…

I proudly live my life in opposition to any of society’s values that I see competing with the good life I seek. It’s not that I’m confident I’m smarter than everyone else, I’m simply…