Personal Finance Advice

Well, it certainly has been awhile. If you can remember that far back, in late February I was diagnosed with extremely low vitamin D after going to visit my doctor because I had a fuzzy head. Over the last 2+ months I had good days and bad days, but things have progressively gotten better. I [...]

It’s been a rough week where I have had minimal productivity. I realized after the low vitamin D diagnosis that I had been doing some things on my own to fight the effects which weren’t particularly healthy including eating a lot of junk food and gaining some weight. Upon understanding a bit more about what [...]

As I expected, I woke up quite sore from a the day of digging in the sand. I definitely used more than a few muscles that I don’t normally use, and my body decided to remind me of that the entire day. Even when sitting in front of the computer most of the day where [...]

It appears that we have found the culprit to my fuzzy head. All my blood tests came back within the normal range except for my vitamin D test which came in well below what it was supposed to be (for those familiar, it came in at 11). This actually surprised me quite a bit because [...]

If I keep my eyes open for coupons, I can get an oil change and tire rotation for $19.95 in my area without a problem. That’s less than it would cost me for the oil and filter, not to mention the time it saves me. But I don’t take advantage of these discounts most of [...]

I’m pretty sure that my doctors think I’m nuts. Since my head has been “fuzzy” for a few weeks (and has progressed to the point where it was getting difficult for me to get anything done during the day), I decided that I better try to find out what was going on. The fist stop [...]

I have grown to learn that many of my friends call me when they have a last-minute change of plans because they know that I have the flexibility to do things on the spur of the moment that many people don’t. The plan for today was to take the car in to have the clutch [...]

My team didn’t win on Super Bowl Sunday, but that wasn’t the biggest controversy. In hindsight, I guess I should have seen something like this coming when it comes to my sister. I spent the day with my dad at his house as he threw a Super Bowl party for a bunch of his friends. [...]

My current house sitting job ends tomorrow, so a good part of the day was spent cleaning the place to make it look better on their return. Washing, vacuuming, cleaning and all that fun stuff. While doing all that, I began to reflect what I was able to do the first month. The only major [...]

I rarely get the consumer bug. Anyone that knows me well also know that if you want to take me shopping, chances are you’re going to have to drag me screaming and yelling the entire way. I rarely “lust” after any gadgets. Even my computer which I spend most days on is nothing more than [...]

Reality set in today as I received my monthly health insurance bill: a painful $485. That will be nearly $6,000 a year out of the $17,000 budget or about one-third of all the money I have. This makes it very easy to understand why most people on a minimum wage simply choose to go without [...]

If there were ever a reward for people who somehow seem to embarrass themselves on an ongoing basis, I would certainly be in the running to receive it. I kept up that tradition with flying colors today. I usually take showers a bit late. My normal routine is to get up in the morning and [...]

One of the risks which comes along with traveling from house to house to house is that sometimes I forget things. I have plenty of razors (TIP: I get them for free from drug stores — every time a razor company comes out with a new model razor, you can almost always get them for [...]

Why is it that when there is something wrong with a car, whatever seems to be wrong with it miraculously resolves itself the minute that you bring the car in to get repaired? Today was the last day I had before I needed to head back up north to house sit, so I thought I [...]

With the end of the current house sitting job, I have three days before the next one begins. Since I’ve managed to not have to pay anything for lodging so far this month, I figured that I should try to make that the case for the entire month. The plan was to go to visit [...]

This might sound a little strange, but I’m finding that if I want to save money and reduce my costs as part of this minimum wage challenge, one of the best ways to do that is to do more than people expect (it’s also a great way to get more business and earn more money). [...]

Despite my sister insisting that going out for coffee isn’t a real date, I had plans to meet a friend of a friend who was supposedly “perfect” for me at a local coffee shop. I had a few reservations about this, but decided that there was no harm in trying to prove my sister wrong [...]

Apparently, my thoughts of going to a coffee shop or hiking don’t qualify as a “real date” according to my sister. While I realize this is just another attempt by her to try to get me to spend more money in the minimum wage challenge, it did get me thinking about how one does go [...]

As I previously noted, I like to leave places in better shape than when I arrived, so I spent most of the morning vacuuming and cleaning up the house where I had been house sitting. I consider myself a fairly neat person, but it’s amazing how dirty a place can get with two dogs running [...]

I really thought that I had graduated from cooking injuries now that I am doing a minimum wage challenge rather than a food challenge, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I have two nice lumps on my head to prove it. You’re probably wondering “How the hell does someone get lumps on their [...]