I used to tell my kids I was too old for concerts, mostly because the idea of shelling out $100 for tickets just didn’t seem reasonable. As the prices of concert tickets kept climbing, there was no way to even consider attending. Finally, a band I really liked came in to town, and it was time to put my frugal foot forward and find a way to attend, cheaply.
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How much of your identity is tied to your work? How much of it SHOULD be tied to your work?
I recently watched a movie, The Company Men, and was deeply touched. The movie follows the crumbling lives of three men who, having climbed the corporate ladder for years, “had it all” in terms of material possessions, until sudden downsizing in their company had proved that when everything you “own” is financed by debt, you don’t really own it.
As the main characters get stripped away from their “wealth,” facing the reality of giving up luxury and dealing with the difficulties – and humiliation – of trying to land new jobs, we are reminded of several important things (the following post does contain spoilers, so watch out if you’re still planning to see this movie):
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When I mentioned to a colleague that my husband and I planned to diaper our son in cloth, she looked at me as if I were crazy and wished me the best of luck. I shouldn’t have been surprised by her reaction—there really is no contest in terms of convenience when you compare cloth with disposables, but I was thinking about other factors than convenience. Environmentally, I felt more comfortable with reusing something over and over. Health wise, I liked the idea of diapering my son in something natural—cotton—rather than something chemical. And I thought that cloth was the better financial choice. However, after an initial investment of nearly $200 for 10 Fuzzi Bunz diapers, I wasn’t so sure about the money part, so I decided to give this some more thought. Here are the financial facts about cloth vs. disposable diapers:
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Even though a walkable neighborhood isn’t the first thing a real estate agent might mention when showing a house, it can be an important consideration when you’re picking somewhere to live. When I picked out the house I live in now, one of my big concerns was choosing a place where I could walk to at least a few different places. My neighborhood isn’t exactly downtown, but my house is within about a mile of a small shopping center, a post office, a couple of restaurants and a library. Being able to walk to those places has made a world of difference for me. Here are 5 reasons why this is so:
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One of the more interesting questions I was asked recently had to do with dividend stocks. My brother was trying to figure out what to do with money withdrawn from a mutual fund. He asked about dividend stocks because he had heard that they offer a reasonably stable return — plus cash pay outs. I thought some basic information on dividend stocks might be of interest to him, and to MoneyNing readers.
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You’re not alone if you sometimes feel like you’re just going through the motions. We all sometimes feel dispirited and unmotivated; it’s just that some of us are better at re-finding our enthusiasm than others.
I know I’m not the only one who has a stash of wise quotes, like Warren Buffett, filed away for those days when I’m just not feeling it. Reading words that say beautifully what we need to hear can remind us of what we hold dear, the values we espouse and the rewards of our hard work (or the dangers of slacking!) and give us just the push we need to stay on track.
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