Week in Review – December 30, 2017

This week has been filled with a lot of snow out here in Salt Lake City. We’ve been enjoying the snow and our first ever white Christmas. With this week off, I’ve been busy skiing, writing, fixing bugs on Minafi and enjoying a more relaxed pace.

Celebrating Christmas

Mrs. Minafi came home from a work trip and we promptly celebrated with some Hot Toddies – my new favorite winter drink. Making them is easy too: tea, lemon, honey, spices, and bourbon.

At 11:30 pm on Christmas Eve it started snowing! We weren’t holding out for a White Christmas, but one fell into our laps. We go our ski gear on and went exploring out in the snow with our dog.

We weren’t sure how she would handle the cold, but she ended up loving it! We walked over a mile, and aside from a few patches of snow stuck to her fur, it went great.

There are dozens of ski slopes within a half hour of our apartment. Unfortunately, some require chains or 4-wheel drive to access. Lucky for me there is a ski bus that goes straight to the slopes!

If you’re imagining that I’m a good skier, please drastically lower your expectations. I bought a pass on the beginner-only lift, which was extremely well-organized mountain offering more than a dozen different paths down with varying difficulties.

Just check out the map of the Majestic Lift at the Brighton Ski Resort to see what I mean. The lift wasn’t the fastest, but I was able to get in a bunch of runs. Being a single rider helps skip the line and jump straight to the front.

Favorite Blog Posts

Don’t compare your middle to someone else’s beginning – I Dream of FIRE

The idea of beginners mindset is something that’s essential for empathizing with others at different points of their journey. This is a good reminder to flip the script and not assume what works for you now will work for someone else just getting started.

Prioritize Financial Success in 2018: Concluding Thoughts on 12 Days of Personal Finance – The Mastermind Within

Erik has been posting some crazy long, fun articles in the past month. His 100 Personal Finance Bloggers list has a massive amount of information, and that’s just one of 12 posts in his 12 days of Personal Finance series. If you missed a part of it, it’s worth checking out.

How Can I Make This Feel Amazing? – Alexandra Franzen

This story by Alex about an obstacle turned into an advantage is an inspirational reminder of how to solve problems creatively. Sometimes the best solution to a problem isn’t a logical one but an emotional solution.

Donating a Year’s Salary to Our Donor-Advised Fund – Fetching Financial Freedom

I’ve been thinking about opening up a Donor-Advised Fund recently as a place to donate some of my recent unexpected Bitcoin earnings. This article by Felicity helped answer some of the questions I had about the process – including just how tied I would be to the name I choose. I’ll be looking more into this in 2018 and likely opening up a DAF after talking more with my CPA.

The Best Money I’ve Ever Spent – The Luxe Strategist

When writing about financial independence with options, I mentioned some very costly additions to my (optional) budget. Luxe mentions some of her best spent money. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent has been in similar areas.

What were the most memorable things you read this week?