Old School Coinage

What, you may gasp as you read the title.  I mean I know life is hard for me (the reader), but I just figured all you financial blogging guys and gals had it all figured out.  You may have been misled into thinking we are some sort of superhuman specimen's who never experience pain, heartache, or trial.  Maybe you think that we don't struggle like you every single day. Nay.  I say nay to this nonsense.  I in fact have been misled into this thought process a time or two.  It isn't real popular to blog about repeated failure or trial but I assure you all bloggers struggle the same as you and I. Here are some reason's that we as readers may believe that life is all peachy keen everyday for pf bloggers... 1. Highlighting the Highlights:    I think it goes without saying that most people only write about the highlights or successes.  It in fact is actually a cultural phenomenon, I mean just take a look at facebook, twitter, etc...  No ...

Phew.  It has been a while since I have had time to sit down and let my fingers unleash some creativity (or garbage:) upon my dell.  The reason I have been long to post is that I have been busy establishing a routine since summer has ended and school has resumed.  Here is an example of what my life currently looks like 5:15: Wake up/Read 5:30: Work out 7:00: Shower and get ready to work 7:20: Work day begins 3:30: Work day ends 4:00: Get home and prep dinner 5:00: Eat dinner 6:00: Clean up/Other chores, usually outside work 7:00: Watch an hour of t.v. or so (depends on what shows are on) 8:30: Shower and off to bed/Read 9:30: Finish reading/Lights out/Sleep Looking at my routine after having typed it out is kind of weird.  I know that I do all of these things on a daily basis and it is kind of what makes me who I am.  I am slightly OCD so having a routine is very important because I feel more successful when I stick to a routine.  I also bel...

February: I sat on the edge of the bed wringing my hands.  It was cold out but my body felt as if it had run 10 miles.  My heart was pounding and I was trying my best to look stoic.  My wife was weeping in the bathroom.  We had just received her test results back from the doctor.  She was going to lose another child.  ANOTHER. I wasn't mad at her.  I wasn't mad at myself.  I wasn't even mad.  I was in disbelief.  In that moment I came to the terrible realization that we would probably never have kids. March: My birthday is in march.  So is spring break.  We took a nice weekend trip to St. Louis and had a wonderful time.  My wife was still struggling with health issues which worried me.  We didn't know what was going on.  She was supposed to be o.k.  I didn't really understand what was going on.  All I knew is that she looked fine and felt fine, but one day I could wake up and she could be dead ...

Hmmm you may be thinking as you read the title.  I wonder if the surprise is anything good.  Maybe a birthday cake.  Maybe some found money.  Maybe the surprise is "everyone gets a car!!!!"  Sorry Oprah.  Just had to. Nope.  The surprise is not actually a good thing.  I received in the mail an unexpected bill for $565.  Ouch.  That hurt.  That actually really hurt because we had to take part of the money out of our emergency fund.  I admit, I kind of freaked out over it.  The worst part is the bill really wasn't that unexpected.  It was for car insurance that is due every six months.  I had gotten slazish (lazy/slacker) and forgotten to calculate the amount of money needed to be put away every month so that the car(s) insurance could be paid.  Dave Ramsey would say that I just paid some stupid tax.  Some of you may be saying it is ONLY five hundred bucks.  Some of you may tell me it isn't that ...

Do it yourself or DIY is pretty popular among the finance bloggers these days.  It is no wonder people who want to save money are doing more and more projects themselves.  Need a roof shingled?  No problem.  Toilet repaired?  Easy peasy.  Wire a switch or two?  Nothing to it.  Except getting shocked.  Getting shocked sucks. The modern era of you tube and forums have allowed easy access to information that you used to have to go to the library to get.  Even if you could get a book on the whatever you were doing pre-internet you still couldn't watch a tutorial on how to do something. I myself am into wiring and minor projects around the house and I don't consider myself a "handyman."  All of this is great but I ask the question when is DIY not worth it? DIY is obviously not worth it if you don't know what you are doing, have no skills, and have no desire to learn those skills.  Some may consider those people lazy.  I d...

So often times in life I get extremely focused on a long term goal and the finished result.  It can be a fitness goal, financial goal, spiritual goal, etc... Last summer it was building our house.  I wanted that house built and I wanted it built fast.  Basement dug.  Good.  Concrete poured.  Great.  Framed and roofed.  Sweet.  Everything was going along splendidly until we hit the dry in stage.  Progress slowed.  I became frustrated and irritated that nothing seemed to be getting done.  My bank account didn't seem to notice that nothing was being done however and we continued to dump loads of cash into the house for materials. I'm glad I took pictures everyday.  It allowed me to view progress....and not go crazy. I was suffering from what many Americans suffer from.  I-want-it-now-itis.  Many people (myself included) occasionally have a problem with ignoring the process that is needed to obtain the product ...

As I sit here this morning, sipping my hot tea in my leather backed dumpster salvaged chair, I realize there is a lot of good and contradicting advice about finance. There is tons of information on what you should and should not do with your money.  Everyone has an opinion, including myself.  Yahoo finance, MSN money, Mr. Money Mustache , +20SomethingFinance.com , and many others all have views on what you should do with your cash.  I read a lot of blogs and for the most part they all usually convey the same basic message.  Save more, make more, spend less, invest, and be happy. GREAT.  GRAND.  B. E. A. UTIFUL! ... but what happens when you disagree with the advice given, or maybe even the personal viewpoints behind the advice.  What do you do then?  Do you fire off an angry comment or email?  Do you unsubscribe from their blog never to return and remove the site from your favorites (do people actually use favorites)? Well here at the ...