Your environment matters.  My wife keeps using the word aesthetics at me.  It feels like an aggressive term to me requiring changes and costs, since I prefer the efficiency of space.

How do you think about your home environment?

I like to have my stuff organized (and not moved around) so I can find the items I need later.  I don’t get any anxiety about my stuff.  I know the stuff I have/keep is there for a reason.  This may come down to the fact that I spend so much time thinking about a purchase before I make it.  Rarely do I just buy something significant instantaneously.  I’ve always lived a conscientious, deferred gratification structure.

My wife first taught me to use shelving.  Then it was storage bins, then it was stuff behind cabinet doors.  Apparently, I took that too far and have these great 72” wire shelves with perfectly sized storage bins holding much of my life/interests.  I’m perfectly happy…but not so much with my better half.

My wife told me about an article where women tend to fix their “nest” at home.  That didn’t make sense to me unless I related it to a man’s cave.  The comparison between a cave and a nest is quite shocking.  I would definitely prefer a walled/protected cave over some twigs in a tree.

While I was traveling in Bali, I found it strange how the beds had canopies/curtains.  I figured it made sense for bugs, but it still seemed strange sleeping in safari-like bedding in a hotel.

This fancy bedding made me think of Kathy’s “nesting” perspective.  Then I thought about how I was on this trip and living my FI life.  I combined my FI lifestyle and my sleeping environment into FI-Nest.

When thinking about my FI-Nest each day, I realized that I was truly living my amazing FI life.  A wonderfully privileged life that took years and decades to prepare for. 

This FINest life was not a yearly vacation charged to a credit card (though these Hyatt rooms were paid for with credit card points) with balances left unpaid while accruing interest, but rather long set aside funds that grew to allow this FINest travel.

I urge you to set up and realize your FI-Nest life.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.