Lol I seem to go thru consumerist swings too but the pendulum eventually swings back to frugal or at least not ridiculous eventually!
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I can’t believe it’s gone this many posts without someone revealing our poorly kept secret that this is actually a pet, food, and gardening forum where we occasionally discuss money.
And welcome, @madgeylou!
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Oh yes I also talk about my pets and my yard. How could I have forgotten?
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Welcome! I think we were FB friends for a spell- we might still be and I’m not sure haha. Welcome welcome!
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Hi, Everyone!
My name is Shelby. I live in Texas with my wonderful partner and the sweetest 11 year-old dog. My professional field is in Art Museum Education and my partner is a librarian. We are both service-minded.
I make art and music and enjoy books, films, and television. My hobby is starting new hobbies. (Archery, metal detecting, tarot, juggling, etc…)
I started my personal finance journey in September 2018 thanks in major part to the OMD podcast. Since then I’ve paid off loads of debt (still a little more to go) and saved for retirement. My goal is financial independence so I can be more intentional with my own time.
Thanks for providing this wonderful community! I’m excited to be a part of it.
Cheers!
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Hello hello and welcome! 
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Also your hobbies sound FUN.
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Thanks! I don’t sit still very well.
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Howdy from a fellow hobby collector! Glad to have you around
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Ohhh hello we’ll get along great.
Welcome to the forums! Would you like a location flare badge? We have them by country or north american region (midwest, pacific northeast, living on a mountain, etc) Texas has its own because it is almost a country.
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Thank you!
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Welcome!
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Welcome! I’m looking forward to hearing about your many hobbies.
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What kind of location flare do you have for the northeast?
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Is there one for the southeast? I don’t think I have one.
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I see what you did there. 
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Hello, Fauxpas here, reverting to an old old forum name that many here will recognize from other forums.
I am weirdly focused on money and always have been. It crosses the line of a healthy focus. I like to pile it up and count the piles. It represented FREEDOM to me, those piles.
But I am old now and retired many years, and I certainly have been spending it and enjoying it in recent times. Even in Covid time.
I accumulated assets on a modest public servant’s salary because I am old and many of the now-standard-to-life luxuries did not exist back when I started to a grow a stash.
I enjoyed the things in life that were free.
I never budgeted, never had a budget. I did however examine with scrutiny every tiny purchase I made, every dime I spent.I never tracked my spending but I always thought that would’ve been a useful exercise for me because I had the mindset for it.
A major thing that allowed me to be financially successful was this: I never had any debt. I didn’t have student loans. I had an old, reliable car that was paid for, so when I started my young adult life working for a low salary in the poorest state in the United States, I had enough money for a nice lifestyle. None of it went to pay interest.
And that is one of my obsessions about money —interest is The Enemy. I almost visualize interest in my mind as an entity that is out to harm me. Weird.
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Interest is a leech that drains financial health. Unless you’re wielding it, then it’s a magical power that makes money grow.
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Yes! I was gonna say. Most powerful force in the universe. And it can be working for, or against you. Like money itself- neutral, powerful, and easily assigned morality.
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