Living Rich—Saving More, Spending Less

I know, I know. It doesn't sound fun. AT ALL. Save more?! Spend Less? What is she talking about? Well, by doing just that, my husband and I paid down $17,000 in less than 18 months on his student loans. So, we don't have those to worry about any more. And the following week after becoming "student debt free", guess what we did? We started saving for a house. And seven months later, we had saved $16,000 for a down payment on our first home.

Gary Turk inspired me to permanently delete my Facebook. I did, and I haven't looked back since. And then I saw his other video: Live Rich (below).

Seek Respect, Not Attention. It Lasts Longer.

Photo credit | Kush and Wizdom

For some reason, when I read the quote above, it made me think of Facebook. My husband recently deactivated his account. I haven't been shy about the fact that I also permanently deleted my account in late August 2014. Why? Because I was tired of updating everyone on the really not important things in my life. Like what I was eating. Or what I thought of the latest movie I had seen or vegan dish I had eaten. People were probably tired of hearing about my veganism (that was so 2012, Kelsey!) and I was sick of crafting carefully worded status updates.

I also spent a significant amount of time scrolling. I swear my right thumb was probably tired of the upward flicking motion I was make as I scrolled through hours worth of news feed. And why? I had pared down my "friends" list to only 96 people, which only included close family members, a handful of coworkers, and a dozen or so close friends. That's still a lot of people to impress daily. Hell, some people even update a few times a day.

So what were they posting? About their kids, what they ate for dinner, or the random, "Oh. My. God! I can't believe that just happened," without further detailing what the hell just happened! This will cause a cascade of "OMG, what happened? Text me!" responses. Attention. Pure attention. It's what we all crave, right? I decided to hop off the attention bandwagon and pay attention to the latest development in my life: baby Eleanor Jane, who I had conceived over the past summer.

I had just shared the news of my big announcement maybe two weeks prior on Facebook. But, guess what? Half already knew because I told friends and family in person or on the phone as soon as we found out we were pregnant. And what did I learn since cutting myself off from the digital world? That I only really need to pay attention to the important things in my life, like say, my pregnancy, my husband, and my career. It was time to stop looking for attention and start earning the respect that I strived for.

Just because I think it's that important, I'm going to share the original video that inspired me to disconnect, along with the instructions for how to free yourself from the never-ending and unsatisfying cycle that seeking attention will cause.

So, I ask: When will you begin to look up?

Have you been thinking about permanently deleting your Facebook? Here how:
1. Download a copy of your photos, videos, and more before switching off.
2. Disconnect all third-party apps so you won't be auto-logged and therefore null and void your deactivation. Note: Be sure to manually click the "x" to the right of each app to remove your data.
3. Permanently delete.

The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Kolaches (Dough + Filling) Recipes

I had been begging my mother for two and a half years to make me some vegan kolaches. My family heritage is Czech, and I grew up watching my grandmother and now my own mother bake large batches of kolaches in the kitchen. I'm Texan and this is a big deal down where I'm from. I finally planned a full day to attempt a batch of vegan kolaches, and these have been given the stamp of approval by my Czech grandmother (who still speaks Czech!). She gobbled them up and when I said they were vegan, all she said was, "Ain't it?"

Special thanks goes out to Helen Pitlik of Vegtastic.net for giving me permission to share her own dough recipe that I slightly modified. Thanks again for a wonderful recipe!

Vegan Kolache Dough
yields 4 dozen small kolaches

Ingredients
2 cups lukewarm non-dairy milk
2/3 cup sugar
2 packages dry yeast
1/3 cup oil
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
6 cups flour, divided
4 Tbsp. vegan butter

Directions
1. Add sugar to lukewarm milk and stir in yeast in a large bowl. Let sit for a few minutes until foamy.
2. Stir in oil, 3 cups flour, and salt and mix until combined. Stir in remaining 3 cups of flour.
3. Shape into ping pong–sized balls and place on a greased baking pan about 1 inch apart. Let rise until more or less doubled in size (about two hours).
4. Press down centers on "wet" side that was facing down on your pan with your thumb and fill with desired filling.
5. Let rise again for another hour.
6. Brush the tops with melted vegan butter and bake at 350° for 15–18 minutes.

Filling options
1 can poppyseed filling
1 package Beyond Meat Grilled Chick'n
1 package Tofurkey Roast Beef
1 package Daiya Cheddar or Swiss cheese
Cream cheese with popsika (instructions below)
1/2 can cherry pie filling

Cream Cheese Filling
yields filling for 20 kolaches

Ingredients
1 package Tofutti Better Than Cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Directions
1. Soften cream cheese in microwave for 30 seconds.
2. Blend together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.
3. After following steps 1–3 for the kolache dough, press down centers of the risen dough with a spoon to create a small "bowl".
4. Add filling mixture and top with popsika (directions below).

Now onto the topping for the fruit kolaches. This was always something my grandmother let me do, and I honestly have no idea what popsika even translates to. My cousin calls it "The Crumble", so whatever works!

Popsika (The "Crumble") for Fruit-Filled Kolaches
yields topping for 3 dozen fruit kolaches

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/8 cup sugar
1/8 cup flour

Directions
1. Blend ingredients together with a fork until it begins to crumble. Continue to add equal amount of sugar and flour until crumble is achieved
2. Sprinkle over the top of the fruit-filled kolaches.