Earn, Save, and Live Joyfully.
Any American who wants to retire young will inevitably face the question of medical insurance. Where will I acquire it and how much will it cost me? When my husband owned his own business we paid $1200 per month for insurance premiums alone. In a good year everyone stayed healthy and we only visited the … Read more
It’s been a long two months with my mom in the hospital. The drive back and forth to see her is long and I’m both physically and mentally exhausted. We are told that life is short, but throughout our day to day lives we tend to forget that fact. Rather than embracing the hours ahead … Read more
Last weekend my husband and I sold our twenty-year old Jeep. I placed an ad on Craigslist and the very first buyer fell in love with that old hunk of metal. A day later I received an envelope full of cash in exchange for the title and a set of keys. I was sad to … Read more
I’ve spent the last four weeks watching my mom suffer. She’s been laying in a hospital bed since mid-March. A sudden and unexpected intestinal perforation has shut down her entire digestive system. She is unable to eat or drink. A nasogastric tube is the only thing preventing her from aspirating. No one could have predicted … Read more
They say there are only two certainties in life – death and taxes. So it seems particularly fitting that a money nerd like me would face a near death experience on tax day. The exact date: April 15th of 2005. I knew something wasn’t right long before that day. I’d felt sick for weeks. Unable to get … Read more
Last summer I went in for a typical dental cleaning and asked the hygienist about an area where my gum is receding. Many moons ago the dentist nicked it while filling a cavity. I was told the gum would repair itself, but low and behold time has only made matters worse not better. The hygienist … Read more
A wave of anxiety washed over me as I walked into the examination room. I wasn’t sure what was wrong but I knew something just didn’t feel right. For days I had an overwhelming desire to just stay in bed. I lost the energy to leave the house or even move around inside of it. … Read more
For the past four and a half years I haven’t taken the greatest care of myself. Instead I have poured every ounce of my being into raising my children. Now everyone on earth has told me that this is not healthy, but for some reason I failed to heed that message. After waiting over thirty … Read more
My first delivery was much harder than my second. The contractions were stronger, I pushed longer and ultimately spent forty-five minutes after delivery watching the doctor stitch me up. I winced in pain as I felt each stitch tear through my skin. I imagined holding my baby for hours after delivery, not laying spread eagle … Read more