Archive for the ‘Finances’ Category

7 Simple Ways to Recycle Gray Water and Save Money

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

Right about now it seems we’re all looking for ways to save money. And with all the recent attention on living more sustainable lives it would be nice to combine the two. As I’ve mentioned before, a sustainable lifestyle is also one that saves money. Turns out that most folks ...

Tax Refunds and the Terrorific Twos

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

I doubt we’ll get a tax refund this year. I don’t know yet because we haven’t completed our taxes. Yes I know that today is the deadline. Hope I don’t go to prison. We’ve been working hard to get our taxes done on time arguing instead of doing our taxes. ...

How Quitting the Finances Made Me Save Money

Saturday, January 12th, 2008

I’ve been “doing the finances” for our family for almost 6 years now. I’ve done a decent job. I’ve somehow managed to buy us a few houses, support a family on one income, purchase our cars in cash and pay off my student loans. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve ...

Perceived Budgeting For Sex: Why I Enjoy Losing Money

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

Over the years I’ve come to realize a common pattern in my marriage. The frequency of sex is directly proportional to the amount of money that my wife has to spend. You don’t need a learning management system to figure this out, but I thought I’d chart it out anyway. ...

We’re Officially Participating in the US Credit Crisis

Monday, December 24th, 2007

Just over a year ago we had paid off all of our debt. Every last cent. No student loans, no car payments. Not even a mortgage payment. We didn’t have any credit cards. What we did have was an awesome credit score, though. But now we’re in debt. $30,000 in ...

Here’s Why We Don’t Have any Furniture in Our House

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

For years Mary and I have purchased “interim” furnishings for our house. A $100 bookshelf. A $50 chair. A $25 picture and frame. But recently we’ve decided to end this streak by purchasing this 19th Century Qing Dynasty Throne and Footrest and 18th century screen from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum ...

Home Mortgages, an Old Fashioned Schooling in Personal Finances

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

If you take a look at the real estate headlines on CNN Money you’ll see a rather grim picture being painted of the housing market and specifically home mortgages. For example: Homeowner equity dips. Federal Reserve reports that owners’ home equity drops to barely above 50 percent, falling home prices are ...

Moneyhacks: Online Coupons for the Frugal Soul

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

I know that Mary already mentioned this but I thought it would be a good follow-up to my other post, Moneyhacks: Save on Movie Rentals by Going to the Grocery Store. Any time that I’m planning on buying something online or in the actual store I always head online to ...

Moneyhacks: Save on Movie Rentals by Going to the Grocery Store

Monday, December 3rd, 2007

We don’t have a TV. Instead we rent movies and watch them on the computer. We do have cable, but that’s because it came free with our internet access. At any rate, we used to go to Hollywood Video and Blockbuster but we don’t anymore. That’s because we found a ...

Life in Pictures #1: A Conversation With My Banker

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

I had the most absurd conversation with my banker yesterday. This is how it went. Seriously, almost verbatim. Click the image to get a better view. Created at Stripgenerator

Credit Card Debt for Investment

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

This is an interesting article about using credit cards for making money. I’m not sure that I agree with the practice but there are some great points here. The question, as far as you’re concerned, is what you use those loans for. Do you use them to buy a television (and ...

Goodbye House (Part 2): Hello Apartment Life

Thursday, August 10th, 2006

The only reason a great many American families don’t own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments. Mad Magazine. So now that we’re selling our house, what are our plans? As I mentioned previously, we are going to be ...

Goodbye House (Part 1): The Mortgage of Death

Friday, August 4th, 2006

It’s time to dust of my old rusty “Write” button here in WordPress and get to posting! Yay! A lot has been going on lately–wrestling alligators, alien abductions, saving the world…but primarily, our decision to sell our house. I know that this will be shocking to a lot of folks, ...