Hobbies can range from the very frugal, to the very expensive. Yet even hobbies which might seem frugal at first can quickly turn expensive if we’re not careful. Somewhat ironically, it’s often when we decide we want to make money from our passion or passions that they suck us dry.
Why is this? – And how can we avoid it happening to us?
Continue reading “How can I profit from my passion?”Last time on Enrichmentality, we examined the equation ethical = expensive, and found that, in most cases, we can’t trust this assumption. Sometimes, clothing is cheap and nasty. But it can be expensive and nasty, too. In fact, some of the most expensive brands had the very worst environmental and social records according to the Ethical Fashion Report. But I came across something important when I was analysing the data included in the report. And that was the fact that most of the brands surveyed that sold exclusively or primarily children’s clothing scored abysmally.
Continue reading “Did a child make your child’s clothes?”Cheap fashion, we are told, is to blame for the appalling standards of workers in factories, and for environmental devastation. This is a story we are told over and over again – with the implication that we should be paying more for our clothes, and perhaps if we were all prepared to pay just a bit more, this problem would simply go away.
I decided to put this theory to the test: Are cheaper clothes necessarily less ethical? And are more ethical clothes necessarily more expensive?
Continue reading “Does ethical fashion = expensive?”Corporations may not have a legal obligation to maximise shareholder profits. But the belief that they must do everything (within the law) to make money is certainly widespread. Of the ‘Big Five’ publishers, four are public companies. Regardless of their legal obligations, they must keep their shareholders happy. And shareholders are usually made happy through a) increased share price, b) fat dividends or c) a combination of the above.
Smart investors, of course, are those who are in it for the long-term. Who want any increase in share price to be one which reflects an increase in the value of the underlying company. Who want any increase in dividends to reflect an increase in the company’s profits.
‘Surely, increased share prices are good?’ I hear you say. Or, ‘Who wouldn’t want to receive a nice big dividend?’
Continue reading “Why does garbage get published?”One of the things I love about Europe vs Australia is how much cheaper it is to buy relatively healthy drinks. Flavoured water or milk, for example, compared to soft drinks. It might only cost you a handful of cents for a bottle of water. Yet it’s important to remember it might cost you as much – if not more – going out as going in.
Over the last three years, we’ve visited more than fifty countries throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
And one of the cultural differences that never ceases to astound – and alarm – me is that of toilets.
Language helps us to reflect upon the past. And ever since we’ve been able to do so, it seems, we’ve been comparing it unfavorably to the present.
In 500 BC, the Ancient Greeks lamented the passing of the supposed ‘Golden Age’. Back then, ‘men lived like Gods’. And every generation since the year dot seems to think that the next generation is screwing everything up. But should we be taking a conservative view and looking towards the past? Or taking a progressive view and looking toward the future?
Continue reading “Were things better in the ‘good old days’?”Last year, I took a long break from posting, in part because I was working on other projects (finishing off my first novel manuscript, yay!). But it was also in part because I felt sick of talking.
Specifically, I was sick of talking about money to people who don’t want to listen.
If you have someone in your life who doesn’t want to hear it when it comes to money (or if you yourself don’t!) read on!
Continue reading “How can I talk about money to people who don’t want to listen?”For me, it started with the purchase of a new journal.
I begin every year with a new little notebook to keep track of goals (financial as well as health, writing, blogging, and so on), and to make notes, in a very loose ‘bullet journal’ style.
But I always um and ah over which to buy, and then, the price involved.
This year I had my eye on a very nice-looking tropical leaf themed journal with plain lined pages. But I wasn’t sure if it was really ‘the one’. And then, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend – wait for it – gasp – $8 on it.
Then, I received a very nice sticker set for Christmas. 300 stickers, specifically for planners, vision boards and so on. (Shockingly, these stickers cost – wait for it – even bigger gasp – $10! That’s a whole $2 more than the journal itself!)
So far, I’ve managed to open the packages… but no action.
Now should be the time of year that I set up my journal. That I think carefully about my goals for the new year (and indeed, the coming three and five years), and get them down on paper. (Rather than throwing something quickly together on the morning of January first!)
But I’ve always been hesitant to start new notebooks. Especially pretty ones. (Memo to self: perhaps try an ugly notebook next year?)
I may be crazy, but I’m sure I can’t be the only one who feels like this.
Continue reading “How can I turn over a new leaf in the New Year?”
