Personal Finance Advice

The other day, I was headed to our local dog park with my wife and our puppy. We were already in the car and actually backing out of the driveway when I realized that I had forgotten my business cards. I stopped the car and told my wife that I was headed back into the [...]

I had an interesting exchange with my two sons yesterday (separately). I am trying to motivate my elder son to speak more articulately and with a greater awareness of proper grammar. He retorted that I do not know how to communicate and that as long as information is conveyed effectively, it does not matter how [...]

At the beginning of this year, I started posting a “thought for the day” on my Facebook page. I do this in part because I do not want my page to become stale, and in part because I enjoy the discussion that each quote generates. Not surprisingly, I have learned that the most life-affirming quotes [...]

It’s January. If you live anywhere in the USA, you are probably cold right now, at least at the moment of this writing. That means that you are probably inside and have plenty of time to think about things. Stop! If you start thinking, you may arrive at a New Year’s resolution that you have [...]

I spent Christmas visiting my parents. When I am at my parents’ home, I am always amazed that nothing is ever out of place. I can walk into the house and know exactly what I will see and where it will be. I know what is in every drawer and every closet. If they have [...]

Last week, Florida had its first real cold spell of the season. When I went outside to let our dog stretch his legs after a night indoors, I could see my breath and I very much regretted leaving the house without at least two more layers of clothing. While we did not get the snow [...]

My business definitely qualifies as a small business. I hope that it will someday grow into a bigger business but, for now, it is just me doing what I do. That is fine because my clients know that they will get quality service from me even though I am not backed by an army of [...]

Christmas is less than three weeks away. In past years, I would have completed my shopping by now. Indeed, in past years my shopping has always been done by about the middle of October. This year presents new challenges and I don’t know what to do about them. My kids are too old for gifts, [...]

My friend is an aging veteran of WWII, having served in Europe and returned home with all of the horrific memories that combat service indelibly writes on the minds of those who experience it. After the war, he married a woman he loved and returned to a normal life, at least as normal as a [...]

Over the years, I’ve met a lot of people. If you were to look at my Facebook and Linked-In directories, you would find professionals and artisans, white collar and blue collar, stay at home parents and people who have chosen careers over families. Some have been clients. Others have been service providers. I’ve known some [...]

I need to buy new sneakers today. I know this because when I took my dog for a walk this morning, the plastic heel guard in my right sneaker tore through the fabric cover and scratched my heel. More specifically, the abrasion continued for the full mile that I walked so that I was bleeding [...]

I am tired. I have been up for the past two nights until about 1 am trying to finish projects for clients and writing content for my website. I am also a bit under the weather, as I seem to have a sore throat and headache that just won’t go away. I can tell you [...]

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the War to End All Wars finally drew to a close when the combatant nations signed an armistice to end the First World War. That event was commemorated for the first time on November 11, 1919. Over the years since, November [...]

I drive an SUV that I purchased new in 2002. It has relatively low mileage but, after nearly eight years of hauling sports equipment for my kids and mulch for my garden, and after assorted spills while my kids negotiated who got to sit where, my car is not as pristine as it once was. [...]

The Circle of Life is almost complete at Walmart. I just discovered that Walmart now offers a large selection of caskets for those of us who are planning for the great hereafter. I suppose that it can’t be too long before Walmart also offers a mid-wife service, and after that, dormitories for its workers. People [...]

The other day, I went out for coffee with my teen-aged son. My son and I went on a Sunday and I was not sure whether the bakery would be open as it was late in the day. My son asked why we were going to that particular bakery; since there is a coffee shop [...]

Like most people, I love to find a bargain. A BOGO deal coupled with a great coupon is a cause for great pride. A 90%-off clearance sale where I can find things that I will actually use is a great thing. A 50th anniversary celebration at a restaurant that rolls back its prices to 1959 [...]

Is it my imagination or are brands not nearly as big a deal today as they were thirty years ago? When I was growing up, there were endless discussions of Coke versus Pepsi, McDonalds versus Burger King, and Haagen Dazs versus Ben and Jerry’s. Over the past few years, however, I think that debates of [...]

When my wife and I were first married, we spent many weekends searching for art and antiques at auctions, antique shops and thrift shops. We never spent a lot of money on anything we bought and, after a few years, our New England home was full of wonderful 18th and 19th century pieces. Indeed, we [...]

I like to sip iced coffee when I drive. I am not sure that I like the coffee as much as I like crunching on the coffee-flavored ice, but for whatever reason, I like to have an iced coffee in the car. Of course, as a responsible frugalista, I would never admit to stopping at [...]