Retirement is one area that we have fallen short. As Christy mentioned in our story, when the stock market took a plunge in 2008 we stopped contributing to my work 401k. Although that was a mistake because we lost 10 years of growth during a great market run, it wasn’t a total loss because the…
Category: Money
They work hard for the money. So hard for it honey.
When I was a kid, I did work hard for the money I earned. Not really. I was the youngest of six, so we had a lot of waste. Do you remember those little metal garbage cans they had back then? They didn’t hold a whole lot, so we had 5 of them. In my…
Paying for Braces
I know some people consider braces to be a cosmetic procedure. Personally, I think braces are very important. I had numerous dental issues, which were not addressed when I was a kid. Growing up, I was always self conscious about my teeth – even more so as an adult. Finally, at age 28, I got…
Does this term life policy make me look fat?
I’ve had a term life policy in place since Christy and I were married. About 7 years ago my policy was up, so Christy and I both got a term life policy this time. I am the kind of guy that would rather go big on something to make sure it can accommodate change or…
Broker? We don’t need no stinking broker.
As Christy said in her post Weathering the Pandemic, we recently opened up Roth IRAs. Unfortunately, we currently can only afford to put in $500 a month so that will mean we are only contributing 1/2 of what we could be, but that still brings us to 15% of our gross income when combined with…
A Mother’s Perspective on Saving for College
When I started college, the price was very reasonable – about $1,500 per semester. My first 2 years were paid for with scholarships. My last 2 years, I received financial aid. I graduated from school with no student loans. But times have changed, and things are no longer so simple for young people attending college today. I…
Using debt…Responsibly?
I’ve said before that I’ve become a Dave Ramsey fanboy, but there is one thing we still do that he detests…we use debt. I know, I know. Credit cards spend millions a year in clever advertising for you to use their product, debt, because they know that it increases your impulse spending up to 18%…
How I learned to love Dave Ramsey
My wife and I were stupid with money for a long time. It didn’t necessarily have to be that way. Or at least for that long. We weren’t completely oblivious to our problems with money when we were younger. We just knew that we didn’t have any, and instead of taking a hard look at…
Can minimalism save me money?
I am drawn to the idea of minimalism. I love the notion of only keeping and maintaining things that are useful and meaningful to our family. In practice, of course, it is much harder to get rid of all the stuff cluttering our house. We live in a 1200 square foot house, so it is…
Tips to save on groceries
We have a large family. Seven people can eat through a fridge of food in no time flat. We spend more on groceries than anything else in our budget. Once upon a time, we shopped at Whole Foods almost exclusively. Have I mentioned how bad we were with our money? Don’t get me wrong, I…