The Boy and I spent some time looking at an amortization schedule the other day. That’s when we relized that we’re scarily close to paying off our house loan. Now I’m not saying that we’re going to pay off the house next month or even next year. However, we’ve only been in the Hayley house since […]
Finance
Ready for a Different Kind of Rain
We just finished another 101 List item and it’s a doozie: We fully funded our emergency fund. A fully funded emergency fund includes enough cash to cover 3-6 months of expenses. This isn’t want-to-haves or not pleasure spending. We’re talking flat out expenses like the mortgage, insurance, food and electricity. We’d been close for a […]
Dog Days of Debt-Freedom
The financial sages will tell you that there are hard times in the pursuit of becoming debt-free. Usually that’s discussed in the context of digging out of a mountain of stupid debt, like credit cards, car notes or excessive student loans. Then there’s the debt-free slog for the ultimate prize: 100% debt-freedom with a paid-for […]
Since You Insist…
This is the simple card I gave The Boy for Valentine’s Day. I found it here. Valentine’s this year was a kiss-and-a-craft. We’re saving our pennies for a very nice meal out with our friends, J&S, and fully funding our emergency fund. That’s true love.
How to Buy a Used Car with Confidence
The Boy and I did something last week that we rarely do – we bought a new (to us) car. We don’t buy cars often because cars are a practical purchase for us, and practically speaking, we don’t need a new car very often. But with our existing car having just rolled past 185,000 miles – […]
Their Loss, Our Gain
There’s no doubt that this recession really sucks. It’s given my industry a pretty good beating, I know a ton of folks without a job, but gosh, I’m really tired of gloom-and-doom attitudes everywhere. And if I see Channel 11’s Survive in 09 promo one.more.time. I think I might scream! I have to admit that […]
Trend Spotting
Walking into the office from the parking garage today, I spotted an interesting sign of the times: All but 1 of the 5 people walking in with me were carrying sack lunches. Old hat for Kelly and I, big change for many others. Why I think everyone should consider brown bagging as often as possible: […]
And Ten Makes Twenty
It’s a funny thing. I have a bee in my bonnet this week about money. Specifically, I am appalled at cashiers’ inability to count back change. I planned to share this frustration with a financial class that Kelly coordinates. Our lesson Wednesday night focused on negotiating for better deals. Then, in the midst of our […]
Stop the Madness
This morning I deleted 30 phone messages – an average of 4 calls a day – from our home voicemail. Gosh, you might think, the Hayleys are popular! Hardly. Every single message was from a debt collector. And not a one of them was trying to reach a Hayley. We had messages for Kay Haden […]
Stop Whining!
I’m so tired of constant whining! It seems I can’t escape laments about the down economy, high taxes, and the general unfairness of life. Here’s my piece of advice: if life is so terrible, then do something to change it. Quit being a victim. Grow the heck up. Life is hard. Nothing is free, easy […]