More Odds and Ends

More odds and ends… The cold weather, school closings and delayed openings have kept me out of stores the past few weeks. This is a win-win in my book. The less often I find myself in a store the less often I find myself craving something I really don’t need. I’m a little torn about … Read more

Odds and Ends

Random financial thoughts cause I can’t seem to concentrate on any of the posts I planned. The original quote for basement remodeling was $25,700. So far, the total now stands at $46,000. We made a few drastic changes to our original plans, which added $9,300 worth of contracting work. The rest came from a combination … Read more

Would You Feel Guilty Profiting From Hand-Me-Downs?

The other day I wrote about my trip to the local consignment shop. In that post I mentioned consigning a few articles of clothing that were given to me by a former coworker. In response I received the following comment: Just curious but do you feel guilty for taking something someone gave you for free … Read more

My New Year’s Resolution: Focusing on Happiness

For the past two years I’ve maintained one and only one resolution: to accept the things I cannot change. It is easy to hold this resolve in good times and much more difficult to press on in times of distress. When a dose of antibiotics unexpectedly induced neuropathy I had a hard time accepting the … Read more

thoughtless gift giving

Thoughtless Gifts: Disappointed by Cheap Gifts

How do you respond to thoughtless gift giving? I spend a lot of time choosing gifts for others, but I feel like one particular person spends little to no time choosing gifts for me. Should I continue searching for the perfect gifts or resort to buying thoughtless gifts as they do for me? Thoughtless Gift … Read more

Thank You Gifts: When Do You Give Them?

Once or twice a year my dad invites a few of his friends down south to spend five or six days at our beach house. My parents always arrange the date around a convenient time for us. In essence, they make certain that we won’t have a need or desire to stay at our house … Read more

A Little of This A Little of That

My finances have been all over the board lately. On the good side of things: My husband never watches television and I typically only watched Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen once every couple of days so I downgraded our package and requested a monthly discount. Yearly savings: $324. We increased the deductible on our insurance policy … Read more

The Moments That Defined Our Financial Future

The other night I took my husband out to celebrate his thirty-eighth birthday. Over wings and beer we began discussing the current state of our bank accounts and the events that helped define our finances. Here are the details in no particular order: Our parents paid for our college education leaving us completely debt free after … Read more

My Advice: Unequal Financial Gifts for Grown Children

A few days ago I posted a reader’s question about unequal financial gifts for his children. I thought I’d follow up with my advice. Here is the email I sent in response: —- I have not experienced financially inequality from my own parents, but I have witnessed it many times via extended family members. Here … Read more

Reader Advice: Unequal Financial Gifts for Grown Children

Over the years I’ve written a lot about unequal financial gifts for children. In response I’ve received many personal emails asking for advice. Up until this week all of those posts came from grown children in these situations, but a few days ago I received this comment from a concerned parent. I thought I would … Read more