A practical post about simple house matters

I think and write a lot about non-material things, but surely it goes without saying that one also has to manage life day in and day out. I wanted to share really quickly a couple of ways I'm going about the simple matters of house lately that I thought might also be valuable to anyone who reads this.

A savings account with high interest

First, I've come upon a savings account with a decent interest rate. There are no minimum balance or deposit requirements and right now I believe the starting rate is 4.3%. If you use my referral link though, you will receive an extra 1% on top of that (and I receive an additional 3 months of the extra percent every time someone opens a new account using my link; don't worry- I don't see who opens an account, only that I have an additional 3 months of increased percentage). So, with the annual percentage yield of 5.3% right now, let's say you put $30,000 into this savings account, then you would earn over $1,500 extra dollars each year by doing nothing! This interest gets paid out in increments each month and automatically deposits into the account. It's one little way to hedge against inflation.

Switching cell phone providers

Have you heard of Mint Mobile? They are a cell phone service provider with really cheap plans. They can afford to do this because they have no physical stores. Currently, they're running a deal of $15/month for an unlimited plan. The signup process is easy, so is switching over from your current provider, and if you're paying, let's say $70/month currently, then you can save over $500 each year by switching (and if you invest that amount into the S&P 500 each year, in 20 years it'll be over $21,000, at a 6.35% return rate). Every little bit adds up.

Food from local landscape

For me, what's really important for sustenance is that it: 

1. be from my local landscape as much as possible
2. be wild as much as possible
3. be harvested in-season and either eaten or preserved then
4. be varied to ensure all nutrient needs are getting filled
5. and be very ethically handled throughout the course of its (plant or animal) life, doing as little harm as possible.

We're able to collect a lot of food each year from our local landscape, and I bet you can too. Despite not currently having a farm or garden, so far this year we've been able to accrue:

• 4 gallons of huckleberries (harvested in the wild, free of charge)
• 20 pounds of cherries
• 20 pounds of apricots (both of which I go pick from the orchard to save money)
• 2 gallons of fireweed tea (harvested in the wild, free of charge, then wilted/rolled/fermented/dried into a lovely tea which we've become very fond of)
• 60 ears of organic non-gmo "Okanogan Gold" corn from a local farmer
• at least 20 meals of trout that Eric harvests from our local lakes (and more to come)
• while we do plan to deer hunt this year, last year we were fortunate to procure well over a hundred pounds of meat from just-killed deer on the roadside (I just had this venison for dinner last night actually, and it's still tasting delicious);  (I'm not talking about rigor mortis deer laying bloated on the side of the road, I'm talking about one deer who had just been hit and we happened to pass by and, fortunate for the poor thing, put it out of its misery, and then cleanly butcher it) don't let it gross you out, it's probably the most ethical meat possible and in no way disgusting, just have to get used to doing it, like anything

Monthly protein budget

While not from our local landscape, I did sign up with Wild Pastures this summer and now we get a monthly box of meat from them which we ration to last us the whole month. We live in a remote area and access to good quality meat is quite rare unfortunately, so getting our chicken, beef, and pork for the month delivered to us, all of it pasture-raised / grass-fed and finished, is wonderful! I also add on some wild caught salmon fillets and a couple of pounds of beef liver, so this also ensures we're getting a variety of nutrient-dense meat each month. Something else I love about our subscription with Wild Pastures is that they work with regenerative farmers who sequester carbon back into the soil. So all of these benefits combined made this a wonderful option for us to fulfill our basic meat needs each month and to keep track of spending.

This amount gives us about 20 meat-containing meals each month, and it's very easy to substitute the remaining 10 with venison, trout, and my vegetarian "Ayurvedic plates."

If you have tips or routines of your own to share, please feel free.

“I tell my wife, as I shave in the morning, I say, ‘Either $2.61, $2.95 or $3.17.’ [depending on which Mc Donalds breakfast item he picked] And she puts that amount in the little cup by me here [in the car]. When I’m not feeling quite so prosperous, I might go with the $2.61,... the market’s down this morning, so I’ll pass up the $3.17 and go with the $2.95.”

-- Warren Buffett