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Freedom Is Groovy celebrated another birthday this past weekend. Mr. Groovy published his very first post three years ago. While it feels like we began this blog yesterday, it also feels like we’ve known so many of you for our entire lives. We’re very grateful to you—our readers, and our friends in the community. Before I share a few highlights from the past three years and update you on Groovy Ranch, though, I have a favor to ask.
I Need a Few Good Men and Women
I need your help. I’m forming a small launch team to get Mr. Groovy’s book, The Groovy Guide to Financial Independence (aka his “opus”) off the ground. It goes on sale next month on Amazon, and as the Groovy Marketing Director, I’m not ashamed to admit that I need assistance.
I know you’ve got lives, jobs, children, hobbies, etc., and I realize time is a valuable resource. So I don’t want to take up too much of it. But there are small ways you can help to make a huge difference. Such as…
Right Now
- Share this link to our subscriber form.
- Help with proofreading. Did I mention I’m also the Groovy Editor of the opus? If you have time to read a chapter and check for errors, please let me know. MarciaB who blogs over at baggypop.com has already reached out to us with errors in chapter one. Thank you, MarciaB!
After the Book Publishes (Target Date, September 10th)
- Share a link to the book through your social media channels and subscriber list.
- Write a review of the book on your blog.
- Purchase the book for .99 cents and leave a review on Amazon. The sale price will remain at .99 cents for at least two weeks and early reviews are important to the success of the book—especially verified reviews written by readers who have purchased it.
- Recommend Mr. Groovy as a guest on podcasts.
I’ll come up with more ideas of ways in which you can help as we get closer to the publishing date. No effort or gesture is too small, and it won’t go unnoticed. We appreciate all the help we can get.
Please leave a comment here or email me directly at [email protected] if you can help. And thank you in advance, from both me and Mr. Groovy. Your support means the world to us.
Now, on to Groovy Ranch!
This Week at Groovy Ranch
The siding is going up. Below you can see that Groovy Ranch is currently yellow. That’s because Hardie plank siding is yellow by default. The house and garage will be painted white later on.
We met with Terry’s son Jeremy last week. Jeremy’s handling our cabinetry and his work is solid. During our due diligence phase, we saw his cabinets in another house Terry was building. Like his brother Cameron, Jeremy’s a great guy.
Jeremy put markings on the floor of the house weeks ago to delineate where appliances, cabinetry, kitchen island, vanities, toilets, and sinks go. We did a walk through with Jeremy to get a sense of cabinet configurations—we need to consider drawers, pull cabinets, pull-out trash bin, and making use of the island.
We took the next step this week and paid a visit to a kitchen and bath counter top showroom Jeremy works with. We picked out several options for pricing counter tops and sinks. Kim, the woman who helped us, was very knowledgeable about surfaces, edges, sinks, and combining colors. She gave us samples to take with us when we reconvene with Jeremy this week to finalize cabinet decisions. We don’t need to decide on the counter tops just yet—Kim wants us to go to the showroom’s nearby quarry and see the actual slabs.
Now, onto the blog!
Blogiversary Milestones
Building Groovy Ranch Series
Counting this post we’ve published 30 updates about our house build in Louisburg, NC. We hope we’ve inspired those of you who are considering building a home. Before we began the build we found very few first hand accounts from people who have been through the process—we hope we’ve shed some light on what’s involved.
RockStar Finance Featured Posts
RockStar Finance has featured more than fifteen of our posts—mostly written by Mr. Groovy, but I’ve penned a few. Here are several we’re very proud of:
- Hannibal Lechter Guide to Personal Finance
- FI Gothic
- Ten Unusual Signs You’re Kicking Butt Financially
- Six Ways to Become an Opportunity Slut
- The 10 Things You Need to Do Daily to Become Financially Independent
- I’m So Boring, Drying Paint would Yawn at Me
Our Favorite Posts
In addition to the above, out of nearly 300 published posts, the following stand out:
- Egotrage: Taking a Step Back Socially to Advance Two Steps Financially
- How Saving for Retirement Is Like Removing Dingleberries from Your Ass
- The Groovy Guide to Having a Great Marriage
- Six Horrifying Truths No one Tells You about Retirement
- A Sweet Transvestite’s Guide to Personal Finance
- Geoarbitrage and Financial Independence
- How to Become a Financial Stud Overnight
Podcast Appearances
Mr. Groovy’s had a seat at the round table on Stacking Benjamins—and he’s scheduled for a visit to the basement to discuss his book. He’s also been on Radical Personal Finance, Choose FI, Chain of Wealth, and Countdown to FI—twice. I joined him for his second appearance with Mr. and Mrs. CTF, along with the Wows, and My Son’s Father and Mother. That’s one for the books.
Etsy Store
Mr. Groovy has a knack for coming up with sayings, titles, and concepts. So we thought we’d capitalize on his flair for the written word and open the Freedom Is Groovy Shop on Etsy. It features T-shirts and coffee mugs emblazoned with his infamous lines. Thank you to all four (hey, it’s a start!) of our purchasers—Claudia Pennington, Ty Roberts, Mr. SSC, and someone else who may not wish to be named. The bar to entry is very low for selling on Etsy. We hope to expand on our efforts in the future when we can focus on selling more.
Talking Trash with Mr. Groovy
Mr. Groovy has had loads of fun with his Talking Trash series on our YouTube channel. If you’ve been following our blog you know I’ve joined him in several of the talks. We’ve also had guest appearances from other bloggers such as Fritz from The Retirement Manifesto, Jillian from Montana Money Adventures, JW from The Green Swan blog, Claudia and Garrett from Two Cup House, Mr. and Mrs. Wow from Waffles on Wednesday—the first and only remote trash talkers (thanks to Mr. Wow’s skills and teaching ability)—and we’ve even featured my brother.
Final Thoughts
Mr. Groovy started Freedom Is Groovy a year before we retired. I’ll never forget the day he told me he wanted to buy the domain name and start a website. He was expecting push back but I was like—have at it! He always enjoyed writing and I wanted to let him do his thing. Then I became intrigued and next thing we know, we’re working on the blog together. We thought we’d enjoy sharing a hobby that would carry us right on through to retirement. And here we are, done with “mandatory toil” (sucky jobs) for almost two years, and blogging for three years. Being part of the personal finance community has made us feel useful and young. Mr. Groovy and I thank each one of you for joining us on our Groovy Ride. It’s been a blast.
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