I’m such a dunce. I have been spending way too much time thinking of things to spend money on these days. I’ve dealt with at least 3 bouts of car lust over the past couple months and have been thinking about home improvement projects too. Will someone please duct tape me to a chair to bring things under control? I’m sure a psychologist could help
A friend of mine recently sent me a message to tell me that his company was hiring for an IT position that he thought was a great fit for me. Ever since my friend started at his company I’ve thought about how great it would be to join him there. There are a number of reasons for this but the top two are that I’d
I happened upon an article today about a Law Professor named Todd Henderson. Todd discusses how unfair the expiring tax cuts are to his family. I’m not going to try to summarize it too much. Go read it HERE. Seriously, go read it. It’s interesting but what is FAR more interesting is the comments. There is a second article related to this HERE. This was
We received our tax assessment for the 2011 tax year today. Our assessed value dropped by $42,000. That’s on top of a $92,000 drop last year. WOW. Our assessed value has dropped by $134,000 in two years. If someone had told me that was going to happen a few years ago I would have looked at them in disbelief. Our home value has dropped by
Over the last few months my wife and I have been watching the implosion of some acquaintances of ours. Let’s call them Jack and Kris. When we first saw Jack and Kris we thought they were doing well. They drove two nice cars, had a nice new house and always dressed well. As we learned more about them, it was clear they were spending money
As I’ve said many times in the past, I’m a HUGE believer in credit unions. Today I was considering tying up some of my cash in a short term CD. I logged on to my credit union and checked their rates, only to be very disappointed. Here’s what I found for a CD less than $50,000 (min $1000): 6-11 month CD: .65% 12-17 month CD:
In a sign that the economy isn’t exactly rosy, I’m starting to see more and more impromptu garage sales. Actually, I think I should call them impromptu sales instead because I’ve seen a couple variations. Yes, I’ve seen your standard, run of the mill, garage sales but they seem to have a different “feel†to them. Instead of seeing various knick knacks out in the
The New York Times has an article about Alexandra Jarrin. Alexandra has spent the last couple years on unemployment. She exhausted her benefits and now is struggling to make it day to day. She has a college degree and was working on her masters but ultimately lost her job as “Director of client services†in March of 2008. It’s always quite interesting to read about
I watched an interesting Dateline show last night that highlighted the suffering of various people in Ohio as they live their way through the Great Recession. Here is a link to the coverage on their website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38382773/ns/dateline_nbc-america_now It’s definitely worth checking out. I found myself feeling very lucky and a little bit guilty to have so much while others have so little. It reinforces my
Well, not trenches actually. It’s more like a report from my neighborhood. As long time readers know, I keep a close eye on the real estate that’s for sale around my house. It’s really been a fascinating experience to watch houses fall in to foreclosure and then sit for many months unoccupied as the lawns grow out of control. I’ve often wondered what the circumstances
