I want a new car. It doesn’t have to be new new, but just new to me. Still, with the recent improvements in MPGs, new new might win out. I even have a legitimate reason for wanting a new car- we currently have two sedans. That means we do not have a car that can accommodate three dogs and a car seat. And since we won’t stop going to the dog park once we have aread more…
I randomly have thoughts about what I should write a post about, but by the time I get a chance to sit and write, the ideas are all gone. I need to start writing them down, to seize the opportunities that present themselves, because they may never come this way again. Which is actually what I want to talk about today. So often, we, especially the “we” that write personal finance blogs are all about theread more…
On our road trip two weekends ago, C and I discussed the possibility of moving to a nearby community where the public schools are top notch. Since we’ve been talking about schools and private schooling, simply moving to the other side of Lake Washington and getting some of the best public education options in the country seems like it should be on the table. Because I like numbers, I ran the following scenarios. The 3 yearsread more…
Trying to be Responsible My mother is short selling her house. As she was looking at her finances last year, she came to the realization that once she retires at the end of this summer, she would not be able to afford her mortgage payment. Being the responsible person she is, my mother started working almost a year ago with a real estate agent, an attorney, and the banks (she has two banks, one holds theread more…
Here’s the Deal We are loaning my brother $3,000. I can hear all the financial bloggers screaming at their screens this very second “No, don’t do it!” “Never lend money to family!” “That’s a bad, bad idea.” And I suppose for some people, that is true. It’s never been true in my family. Let’s start with the fact that Charles and I would not be where we are today if family had not been willing toread more…
Going Big and Small: I have no problems with spending large amounts of money on large products. I’m talking in the thousands of dollars for dramatic results- like getting flood remediation work done on our basement. Sure it cost a lot, but our basement hasn’t flooded all winter. We did get a little water seeping up through the floor last night after a mini-typhoon hit our neighborhood, but it’s in a spot where there was noread more…
Windfall 1:I mentioned in Sunday’s post that we got an unexpected bit of windfall, in the form of a payout on a life insurance policy we did not expect to payout, and that we already had a plan for that money. In this case, it was an easy plan. Given that we are in the midst of the adoption process, an extra $10k will pretty much means we do not have to worry about how weread more…
It’s an Emotional Decision First: The choice to bring a child in to your life, including the when and how, is primarily an emotional decision. Most people will tell you, there is no such thing as the perfect time to have a child. You just have to decide that’s what you want and go for it. C and I are no exceptions to this. We have been talking about kids since we were dating. (We haveread more…
