On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the War to End All Wars finally drew to a close when the combatant nations signed an armistice to end the First World War. That event was commemorated for the first time on November 11, 1919. Over the years [...]

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One of the most common responses I get when people find out that I’m debt free is, “Well, that’s nice for you, but you probably have a huge income.” I’m not alone. Many of my debt free friends say that they get the same response. The assumption is that in order to live debt free [...]

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While I’ve never been one to keep up with the Jones’, I’ve noticed a palpable sense of relief amongst many friends, acquaintances, and message board posters that the pressure to keep up, show off, and compete is off. At least for the moment.
In the heyday of the 1990’s and early 2000’s, everything was about [...]

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I drive an SUV that I purchased new in 2002. It has relatively low mileage but, after nearly eight years of hauling sports equipment for my kids and mulch for my garden, and after assorted spills while my kids negotiated who got to sit where, my car is not as pristine as it once [...]

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With H1N1 going around and the vaccine in short supply (even the seasonal flu vaccine is hard to come by in some areas), you may want to find other ways to protect yourself this season. While nothing (not even the vaccine) is 100% guaranteed to keep you from getting the flu, there are many steps [...]

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The Circle of Life is almost complete at Walmart. I just discovered that Walmart now offers a large selection of caskets for those of us who are planning for the great hereafter. I suppose that it can’t be too long before Walmart also offers a mid-wife service, and after that, dormitories for its [...]

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I knew it was bound to happen, but I’d been hoping that somehow I’d avoid it. Despite having excellent credit and no debt, we got a letter from one of our credit card companies dropping our limit from $10,000 to $300. This was done because of “inactivity” on our account, which really translates into the [...]

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A friend recently got a bit of a shock when his auto insurance came up for renewal. He discovered that his new rate was $400 higher than his old rate. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong until he remembered: He filed a minor, one person accident on his insurance. The total claim was for [...]

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“More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level — far below the level needed to earn a living wage.” – National Institute for Literacy
“Nearly half of America’s adults are poor readers, or ‘functionally illiterate.’ They can’t carry out simple tasks like balancing check books, reading drug labels or writing essays [...]

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The other day, I went out for coffee with my teen-aged son. My son and I went on a Sunday and I was not sure whether the bakery would be open as it was late in the day. My son asked why we were going to that particular bakery; since there is a [...]

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