One Facebook friend shopped for eight hours on Black Friday last year. Another took three friends and filled one shopping cart a piece. I looked at photo after photo as they flooded social media. There were a lot–and I mean A LOT–of shopping hashtags and not a single #OptOutside on my Facebook feed. The Black … [Read more…]
Thanksgiving is almost upon us. While the average American gets ready to spend just under $187 on Thanksgiving this year, I knew the personal finance community would have something to say about that. Namely, there are all sorts of ways to make your own Thanksgiving money wins. Maybe you’re hosting, maybe you’re traveling, or maybe … [Read more…]
In what can only be described as a Herculean effort fool’s errand, I announced to my family that I wanted to finish Christmas shopping this year by the end of November. The fallout was mighty. However, the most unexpected consequence of my hubris came from my mom. Namely, she met my request with one of … [Read more…]
You probably thought the definition of insanity was doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. That is…until you read the title of this post. Then, maybe you reworked your definition, huh? But we actually purposefully make the choice to take our toddler grocery shopping. Every. Single. Week. And we like the results! In … [Read more…]
Confession time, fam. I keep busting our budget. The whole thing doesn’t go up in flames, but category after category, month after month, I keep going over budget. So as I scrolled through the spreadsheet last month, I found myself wondering if this is lifestyle inflation at its undiagnosed finest…or do I need to adjust … [Read more…]
For some of us, Veterans Day means a day off from work or school. For most of us, it also means a bombardment of sales, specials, and limited time only deals. I certainly don’t begrudge retailers offering perks to veterans or service people, but I do think that the rest of us can do much … [Read more…]
“No one has time any more for anyone else.” The words sat there, just a few pages into our novel study of Fahrenheit 451. My breath caught in my throat. I’ve read those very words over a dozen times, but this year, they read differently. In 1953, Bradbury predicted many things. From screens that interact … [Read more…]
Senior year of high school, one of my friends convinced me to watch House of 1,000 Corpses. No one could believe I hadn’t seen it in theaters (for the three whole days it was there?), so we rented it. From Blockbuster. I had long survived The Blair Witch Project and The Ring. Recently, I had … [Read more…]
The average American intends to spend $162 on Halloween, according to a LendEDU 2019 survey. While we tend to think of most any holiday as costly, there are still plenty of ways to score money wins this Hallow’s Eve. I’m definitely not here to tell you how to spend your money, but I do think … [Read more…]
A few weeks ago, an Internet friend reached out about a guest post. It was a story she had already written, and she wanted it to live somewhere outside her hard drive, outside her heart. For weeks, I’ve struggled with how to frame this story. How to present it. How to care for the incredibly … [Read more…]