When people talk about saving money, DIY is one of the first things that comes to mind.

• Learn how to fix things around the house!
• Change the oil in your Prius!
• Make your own cleaning supplies!

Do all of this (and more) and you could save hundreds of dollars a year.

And that’s great. I know lots of folks that enjoy growing a lush garden resulting in delicious produce (that can be canned or frozen) in due season. There are people in my life that find doing laundry calming, and others that will happily take on any domestic project that comes their way. Personally, I enjoy doing the dishes. Continue reading...

It's that time of year again. After several weeks of over-indulgence, people are coming to their senses and realizing it's time to make changes for the better. Some -- like me -- have decided to improve their relationships with food and exercise. They've resolved to eat well, drink less, and move more. Others have decided that 2017 is the year they'll take charge of their finances.

If you are one of those determined to make this the year you become the boss of your own life (or if you've been on that path for a while and simply need a shot in the arm), here's an overview of seven smart strategies to improve your financial position.

These aren't just arbitrary suggestions. I've been reading and writing about money for more than a decade now. Based on my experience -- and based on thousands of conversations with other people -- these are seven specific strategies that work.

My mission at Get Rich Slowly is to help readers achieve personal and financial freedom. I want to help you master your money and your life.

Generally speaking, we focus almost exclusively on the financial side of the things. This week, I'm going to shift gears and share some of the things I've learned about overcoming fear, finding happiness, and achieving personal freedom. (Don't worry. We'll get back to the hard-core financial talk very soon.)

In December's discussion of wealth habits, I talked about what T. Harv Eker calls "financial blueprints". Actually, I talk about them all of the time. Understanding your money blueprint is a vital part of changing your relationship with money.

It's been a crazy couple of months for me. Since April, most of my time has been dedicated to selling our condo and buying a new home. Now, at last, the turbulent times are almost over. Kim and I closed on the condo last week, and we'll close on the "country cottage" next Monday. On July 1st, we'll move to the new place and a new chapter of our lives will begin.

As some semblance of normalcy returns to my world, I've been sorting through my Money Boss inbox. I love reading what you folks write to me (even if I don't always respond!), especially when you share your goals and dreams for the future.

Debt is Slavery

For instance, here's part of a message from a woman we'll call Irene. Irene recently experienced an epiphany:

Today is the second anniversary of Get Rich Slowly. In celebration, I'm reprinting this revised version of the article that started it all, a l-o-n-g post from my personal blog dated 26 April 2005. One year later — on 15 April 2006 — this site was born.

Today's entry is long and boring — it's all about the keys to wealth, prosperity, and happiness. Over the past few months, I've read over a dozen books on personal finance. Recurring themes have become evident. I want to share them with you.

These books often have embarrassingly bad titles, seemingly designed to appeal to the get-rich-quick crowd:

I've been blogging since before "blog" was even a word. (I wrote my first blog post twenty-one years ago last Thursday!) I've had a financial blog for a dozen years now. In that time, things have changed in a variety of ways. For instance:

• Blogging has become more business-like and less personal. A decade ago, most blogs -- even money blogs -- were rooted in the author's individual experience. Nowadays, most big financial blogs have a minimal editorial voice. They're much like money magazines used to be.
• Audience interaction is limited. In the mid-2000s, it wasn't unusual for blog articles to get dozens (or hundreds) of comments. This site has old articles with over 1000 comments. Nowadays, many blogs have removed reader comments...because they receive so few reader comments. And when blogs do allow comments (as here at GRS), they're scarcer than they used to be.
• Today, most bloggers want to make money. In fact, that's their primary goal. When I started blogging in 1997, there was no way to make money from it. When I launched this site in 2006, my primary goal was to get out of debt. My secondary goal was to help others get out of debt. Yes, I wanted to make money -- but that was only my third aim. It was almost an after-thought. (This was, in part, because it was more difficult to make money blogging in 2006.)

Most of the changes in the world of blogging are neutral. They're neither good nor bad. They just are. But I think the move to a more money-centric approach often does a disservice to readers -- to people like you.

How I Became a Blogging Cynic

Twelve years ago, if I read something on a financial blog, I generally accepted it at face value. If somebody recommended a book, I trusted their sincerity. If they wrote about the best bank accounts, I believed they were telling me about the best bank accounts. If they raved about a company or service they liked, I had no reason to doubt them.

Overcoming fear is one part of living life without regret. You do that by being open to new people and new experiences, and by acting even when you're afraid. Another aspect of a rewarding life is learning to find happiness in your daily existence — and building upon that happiness to construct a meaningful life.

Today, in the second part of this limited series on mastering your life, I want to share what I've learned about how to be happy.

More than two thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, "All knowledge and every pursuit aims at...the highest of all good achievable by action." And what is that good? "Both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness, and identify living well with being happy." Continue reading...

J.D. is on vacation in Alaska. This article was written by Dustin Riechmann. Dustin created Engaged Marriage to help others achieve the extraordinary in marriage and in life. Together, his family paid off $54,500 in debt to simplify their lives and achieve financial freedom in their household.

Financial freedom is clearly a desirable goal, and we read about the associated benefits every day here at Get Rich Slowly. It seems like everyone should be paying off their debts, growing their savings accounts and investing to build wealth. So, what's the problem?

Surely, there are many reasons why folks fail to create a plan and (especially) follow it: laziness, lack of knowledge, apathy and disorganization to name a few. However, there's one major reason that may not immediately come to mind.

This article written by Cody is part of the "money stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success -- or failure. These stories feature folks from all stages of financial maturity.

In January, I attended Camp FI in Florida. While most of the attendees were thirty- or forty-somethings pursuing early retirement, one young man stood out. We were all amazed at the presence of Cody Berman, a 21-year-old hustler who defies the Millennial stereotype. Cody works hard, saves tons, and has a vision for his future. I asked if he'd be willing to share his story with GRS readers. Here it is.

From a young age, my parents instilled the value of saving into me. Throughout my early childhood, my father would match my contributions to my savings account dollar for dollar. This made me excited to save birthday money and miscellaneous earnings because the money would double. (Thanks, Dad!)

As I resume writing at Get Rich Slowly, one of my goals is to share a unified theory of money. This is a big change from when I started the site in April 2006.

You see, 11-1/2 years ago, I didn't have a coherent financial philosophy. Not even close. Because of this, I was deep in debt and struggling to make ends meet on an average American income. I was lost in the woods. The only thing I knew was that all of the books I read seemed to say the same thing: "There's no reliable way to get rich quickly; however, there's a time-tested path to get rich slowly." That's why I started this website.

Back then, I was fishing around for anything that would work. I'd try any tip or technique that sounded plausible -- and even some that didn't. Here are a few examples: