Also had the experience of a PhD that did very little to contribute to salary increase but was incredibly stressful for many years. Finally got my huge student debt forgiven with PSLF but it definitely was not worth it.

I’m here wondering the same. I hope everything is ok!

I love these suggestions so much!

My comment would be for Michael and Brian to be realistic about what their personal, regular expenses are. This is a very basic example: Michael needs new, good quality running shoes every 12 months. You can then split the estimated cost of these over the year. Once you do this with all regular costs, you can get a good handle on:
1. What you really value; and
2. What your real costs are.
I found this approach very helpful and apply it to be household costs and my own personal, more “discretionary” costs which give me joy. It will help with the feast/ famine mentality too.

I cannot believe how negative comments on the “hire me” function are. It seems incredibly entitled and frankly unpleasant that readers who have been getting heaps of free content for years would write these comments. There is a human making this blog who will read these comments! The Frugalwoods blog and Liz’s book have been both a delight to read as well as made a real difference to my financial situation. And all I paid was for the book! Which you could have got from a library if you wanted… It’s an absolute bargain and kudos to Liz for marketing her services whilst maintaining free content which she has absolutely no obligation to do. Keep up the good work Liz and thank you!

Also, the new website is much easier to format on my phone so that is helpful.

Agree, I say with love and good intentions that this is not good placement from a marketing perspective.