We just finished remodeling the bathroom of our 70 year old home. We replaced everything but the tub. All-in-all, we spent about $2300 (+ a lot of sweat) which included hiring a tile guy to replace the subfloor and lay tile over it. One thing that struck me during the project was how it temporarily [...]
We have debt, and we are whittling it down at a nice pace. I write that and it’s true, all things considered. But sometimes I just want it to go faster. And I am tired of thinking that way. A guy down the street from me just passed away. He was 91 years old. I [...]
I’ve recently taken a different approach to writing about my experiences with finance recently. With my recent posts how to payoff your credit card debt and how to save money on food I wrote down what I consider to be the bare bones framework that I used. Although there are a number of comparison sites, [...]
Speaking of kids activities, walking is a good one. And it’s free. Not only can it be done for free with your kids, it can be done as a family, with your spouse, by yourself. For example, I just went for a solo half hour walk starting at 6:15 am. It was a tremendouse experience. [...]
We have two boys who are growing fast. One is 8 years old and the other is 5. When it comes to activities, we do a lot together as a family. And in doing this, we naturally impose on them the requirement to roll with the punches. If we are doing something they don’t necessarily [...]
At least on some key things. While reading the Q+A from the Secret History Of The Credit Card I came upon the following question posed to Elizabeth Warren. Isn’t it really simplistic to say that credit cards, … if you will, … [are] pushing the bankruptcy rate higher and higher? Isn’t it America’s lifestyle? Isn’t [...]
I created this blog as a place to share the credit card calculator tool that I made almost a year ago. And to date, the original post featuring the calculator has received a whopping 2,109 unique visitors who spent an average of 2 and a half minutes on the page. I am proud of this [...]
Many of us go to the store to buy something on a regular basis. It might be food, clothes, diapers, cigarettes, boos, gas, random things at Target or Walmart. Stores typically have three things in common: they have cash registers, they have product, and they have product crowding the cash registers. This crowded product is [...]
If you found a hundred dollar bill, what would you do with it? Would you spend it differently if you received it as a tip, a bonus, or a gift? Would you spend it wisely or frivolously? If you were given ten one hundred dollar bills, would you follow a similar spending/saving pattern with it? [...]
I have spent tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars of cash over the years. The first couple of years I worked full-time, I used to cash my paycheck. No deposit. Just plain cash. Walked out of the bank with a nice fat envelope. I don’t have a heck of a lot to show [...]