Earn, Save, and Live Joyfully.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, most financial decisions are not made in a vacuum. It would certainly be nice to believe that we put our ‘thinking caps’ on before making every financial decision. That we save more often that we spend and that every decision results in the accumulation of … Read more
My husband went shopping for valentine’s gifts with a coworker. When they ended up at the makeup counter of a local department store, my husband decided not to buy the perfume the clerks were pedaling. My wonderful and ever so sweet husband didn’t buy me candy or a card. He didn’t show up with flowers … Read more
So my husband and I decided to buy my grandmother’s car after all. Despite the fact that we don’t need the car just yet, we decided the deal was just to good to pass up. For $6300 we purchased a 1999 Toyota Camry with a little over 50,000 miles. In a comment, DM suggested we … Read more
This afternoon my husband and I purchased a 40 inch LCD TV. After a couple of rebates, the cost of the TV, installation, and mounting devices came to a little over $2000. My husband and I delivered the TV to my grandmother who was as giddy as a school girl. In thirty years, I’m not … Read more
The following is a list of financial questions that my husband and I regularly discuss. These questions help us focus on our goals and ensure that we are both on the same financial page. What is our monthly take home income? This can differ for my husband who gets paid by the hour. How much … Read more
A friend of mine seems to keep the whole city employed. On a weekly basis she pays for a dog walker, a housekeeper and a personal trainer. Not to mention the financial advisor and accountant who she pays on a semi-annual or annual basis. She and her husband have recently purchased new cars and made … Read more
In the last two posts I wrote about how financial decisions often involve more than just money. This post is all about those financial decisions I’ve made that were almost entirely about money. Attending a State College I majored in English. I had no reason for majoring in that subject except that it was the … Read more
My husband writes software for a living and I consider him to be a real nerd, but not in the traditional, anti-social, awkward way. Actually, he’s a friendly guy with a warm heart and contagious personality, something fairly rare in the world of software developers. But working in software has kept money in my husband’s … Read more
Here is the list of items I purchased for Christmas so far this year. I have yet to enter a shopping mall. Hooray! Dad — Season Basketball TicketsMom — Supersoft Robe (from Overstock.com)Brother — Season Basketball TicketsSister-in-law — Bracelet (from RedEnvelope.com)Niece — $500 savings bond (she’ll only get a bond this big the first year)Nephew … Read more
I came across the website surprise.com eons ago. I’m not sure how I found it, but I have been using it ever since. Surprise.com enables you to search for gift ideas based on various criteria. It provides standard searches like searching by occasion (birthdays, baptisms, holidays, weddings, retirements) or by recipient (brother, father, teacher, new … Read more