My mom drives an old PT Cruiser, just like Nora does. We don’t take ours on long trips anymore because it is too unreliable. The left blinker is on the fritz, the radio shuts off randomly, and the rear hatch opens when it feels like it, not when you tell it to. Mom and Dad […]
Storm Dropped Neighbor’s Tree on Our House, But We Didn’t Take a Bath
Last month, a wild thunderstorm swept into the neighborhood. It delivered fierce, howling winds, which caused me to run to the front door to see if the badminton net would survive. Miraculously, it did, but not the neighbor’s 60′ pine. That came crashing through our back patio and onto the roof. It snapped off – […]
My Son Saved $1,712 on Insurance When He Took His Car to College
Nora suggested we inform GEICO that Grey took his car to Kent State to see if they’d lower his ridiculous premium. There is no ‘see,’ I said – once the cat was out of the bag, he’d have to live with the new policy wherever it went, up or down. But I couldn’t imagine it […]
Summer Vacation Edition: On the Road Again
Like most Americans, we are slowly returning to lives that resemble our former lives. In pre-pandemic times, Nora would travel most of the summer, visiting friends and family in Colorado, Vermont, Maine, and Long Island. Every other summer we’d do an overseas trip. In 2020, we were scheduled to go to England for a long-distance […]
Thoughts on Dropping Life Insurance, Avoiding Voluntary Taxes, and a Summer Jobs Update
We recently agreed to assume guardianship of friends’ two teenagers if the parents die. It’s one of those very low probability, yet very high impact type of scenarios. So it required some serious thought and prayer. When we told Pippa and Grey about it, their minds immediately went to…you guessed it: “What about us? Who […]
Real Estate Thoughts: A Refinancing Decision & Home as Nest Egg
Mortgage rates are in the cellar so refinancings are popular now. What about us? Should we refinance? We bought our Baltimore townhouse for $168,500 in 2001 with a 30-year mortgage and 6.625% fixed interest rate. Then we refinanced $159,600 in 2003 with a 30-year mortgage and 5.750% fixed rate. The house was appraised at $199,500. […]
My Son Made a College Decision! Here Are 6 Things I’ve Learned
I wrote two years ago about the 8 things I learned when helping my daughter find a college. Today, I’m a bit wiser in the craft of college selection, but this kiddo is different from his sister. And the pandemic has changed some things (some permanently), so there was still some learning to do. 1. Every 18-Year-Old […]
Money Benefits of Turning 50, Vaccine Hunting & Summer Jobs for Teens
I turn 50 this year (!) and with aging comes certain benefits. In July, I’ll be eligible for AARP membership. You laugh, but Denny’s gives a 15% discount for AARP members. Check out this resource for dozens of businesses that give these types of discounts for 50-year-olds. Even more of a benefit to hitting a […]
More Quick Takes: $5 Burgers, College Cost, and Squeegee Kids
We are a McDonald’s family. They have hands down the best fries and frappes. And going there gives us some non-elitist bona fides. (Until the pomposity of that last sentence anyway). Still, sometimes I wonder if the grass is greener or cows are juicier at some of the pricier burger joints. The other day, we […]
Quick Takes on a College Trip, Trump, iPhone Gift, and Listening to God
On Sunday, we came home from driving Pippa back to college in Ohio. We don’t have a minivan or SUV, but our PT Cruiser is just big enough to transport all four of us, plus Pippa’s stuff. However, the forecast for the weekend included some snow, and with the Cruiser pushing 150k miles, I’ve been resisting […]
My Amazon Diet for Christmas
I look so fit and healthy here due to the latest weight-loss craze – tropical fruits, plus protein from dried rainforest bugs. Nah, the headline actually refers to fasting from Amazon.com, the online behemoth. Like most crash diets, I’ve cheated. But I’ve had some success and lost some psychic weight. Amazon’s super-handy “past orders” record shows that […]
10 Myths (Busted!) on the 2020 Election, Christianity, and Personal Finance
Myth #1: There is a Grand Canyon-Size Enthusiasm Gap in the Presidential Election Pundits love to talk about the ‘Enthusiasm Gap.’ About how Donald Trump has rabid loyal followers and Joe Biden does not. That’s true, but it’s the wrong perspective. Trump fans are rabid, but anti-Trump fans are equally rabid. I love to bike […]
We Ported Our Landline Phone to Google Voice, Saving $46 Per Month
That headline doesn’t quite cover it. Actually, we transferred our landline to Google Voice, and super charged our Internet bandwidth, and gained some cool call forwarding/voicemail features, and are saving $46 per month with our new voice-over-IP (VoIP) setup. It wasn’t simple – there is a multi-step process – but you don’t need to be […]
Staying on the Road: Used Car Repair on the Cheap
Last time, I detailed the expenses involved in Grey getting his 2009 Mazda 3 on the road. He was excited to have cleared all the regulatory hurdles, but there were storm clouds on the horizon: the paper-thin clutch we had identified during the test drive. To his credit, Grey was being proactive about it, and asking all the […]