While I’m studying diligently and calmly cramming in the exact fashion I tell my students not to for my National Board certification test tomorrow, I have a fun guest post from Giles Kirkland. Giles is a professional mechanic and dedicated money saver. Take it away, Giles! For many people in today’s world, a car is a … [Read more…]
Over the past week, there’s been a lot of celebrating going on in my world: a milestone birthday followed by Mother’s Day celebrations with my mom and again with my mother-in-law. There have been laughter and sweets, photos and games. And yes, there have even been gifts. One thing I’ve noticed post-celebration–even more than the … [Read more…]
Two weeks ago, our neighbors announced they were moving and proceeded to list a leather couch, some knickknacks, and their adult cat on our neighborhood social networking site. They wanted money for the furniture. The cat? They’d give that away for free. In the fourteen days that have passed, they’ve everything is taken…except the twelve-year-old … [Read more…]
Earlier in the year, I set the goal of opening a taxable investment account by my birthday. I was spending a lot of time researching Betterment and Wealthfront. It seemed like robo-investors were a pretty painless way to up my fairly pathetic investment game. Now that thirty has come and gone, here’s where things stand … [Read more…]
Today marks the last day of my twenty-ninth year. Rather than spending my final weeks planning a skydiving adventure or jetting off to a tropical locale, I decided to see if I could make my idea of ordinary into something extraordinary. Every night before I went to bed, I chronicled some small moment that left … [Read more…]
With Teacher Appreciation Week and the end of the school year fast approaching, some people might be considering giving gifts to their children’s teachers. In fact, Pinterest is burgeoning with creative teacher gifts, many of which fail to take into consideration the cost and talent it might take to design the crafts. When it comes … [Read more…]
No, this list isn’t an attack on expensive wines, an admonishment of carry-out lunches, or a dismissal of brand-name products in favor of store brands. Nor is it an opportunity to remind you that Amazon sells a banana slicer. Okay, it’s kind of that. Instead, this is a list of four things that have come … [Read more…]
Sometimes, I wonder if I was happier before I fell into the world of personal finance. My life is more fulfilled now. My priorities are more concrete. But there is something to be said about blissful ignorance. Yes, it’s ephemeral. It was only a matter of time before that bliss came crashing down quite literally. … [Read more…]
I am not a quitter. At least, I wasn’t. Not until about two weeks ago. A combination of factors collided in such a way that I realized walking away from $400 a month was the smartest decision I could make. So I quit my highest paying tutoring gig. As a tutor, I deal primarily with … [Read more…]
In our budget, we currently set aside between 42%-48% of our after-tax income. It is also worth pointing out that 10% of both our salaries is taken out pre-tax and put into our pension funds. So on the surface, it looks like were are living on a fairly small portion of our income. But just … [Read more…]