Last fall we had new neighbors move in next door. They seemed nice enough until spring came and I started hanging my laundry out on the line again. One day the lady of the house came over and said, “Can you not hang your laundry on the line? It’s not nice to look at.” I [...]
This week we tackled Baby Step 6: Pay Off Your Home Early. Or I should say that was what the lesson was supposed to be about. Instead we got the most boring lesson of the bunch, and one of the longest. I was looking forward to some creative and sound ideas for paying off a [...]
I’m constantly amazed by how little value we place on the older things in our society these days (and our older people, but that’s a whole other issue). I can remember looking around my grandmother’s house and seeing the piano that had belonged to her great grandmother, the quilts that her mother and grandmother had [...]
Despite the fact that it’s the middle of winter here, my dog has fleas. I got this great news at the vet’s office when she went in for her checkup. He said that the weather conditions here have been perfect for growing a huge flea population and now that it’s cold, all those fleas are [...]
I spent Christmas visiting my parents. When I am at my parents’ home, I am always amazed that nothing is ever out of place. I can walk into the house and know exactly what I will see and where it will be. I know what is in every drawer and every closet. If they have [...]
When thoughts turn to getting more cash every month, many people assume that they’ll have to take a second job. That may be true. If your financial situation is dire or if you have your heart set on some big ticket item, a second job may be the only way to get to the necessary [...]
When people find out that I’m debt free, the thing they most want to know is how it’s possible and how they can achieve it, too. Quickly. They want the crash course or the quick fix to debt free living. I tell them that there really is no quick fix. There’s no magic pill that [...]
I’m always a little surprised at how much everything in our society is measured in terms of money. We measure our worth by our salaries, not by how much we love our work. We measure our remodeling projects by how much we can get back when we sell and not on how much we love [...]
The only debt we’ve ever incurred was to buy our house. At the time we bought, we just didn’t have a spare $150K lying around so we had to get a mortgage. We knew going in that we didn’t want to be stuck with it for thirty years so we set out to buy a [...]
We just had our first cool snap of the year. While it will be hot again by the end of the week, the cool weather reminded me of the things I need to do to get my home and family ready for the colder months ahead. Some simple preparation and prevention efforts now will save [...]
