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When prepaid college plans work
This reader story comes from Elaina. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.
Spare Change: The sweet emotion edition
This article is by staff writer April Dykman.
Last month in an Ask the Readers post, I wrote about money worries:
“Even though my expenses are manageable, even though I have money in savings, even though I’ve historically always made enough money to cover the bills and then some, I still worry.”
And longtime reader Tyler Karaszewski made a really good point:
Can we really change our financial habits if our backs aren’t against the wall?
This article is by staff writer Sam, the Financial Samurai.
I recently had a discussion with a friend who made an argument why it’s better to eat out in Manhattan than to save money by cooking because of the convenience and the joy of eating with friends. I’m all for breaking bread with good people, just not so much if you’re concerned about income. My friend just went through a divorce and eventually needs to find a job since she gave up her career in the arts to raise her son for a decade.
Food spending: When bad habits attack
This article is by staff writer Holly Johnson.
In 2010, my husband and I were pregnant with our second child. And although we were making plenty of money, we were burning through all we made at lightning speed. Yep, we were wasting it. In fact, we were spending money we didn’t even have by financing cars, miscellaneous purchases, and trips. And, even though we had a baby on the way and two rental properties, we didn’t have much of an emergency fund to speak of either.
Material stuff can make you happy
This article is by staff writer April Dykman.
Experiences make us happier than “Stuff.”
That’s the current line of thinking, which quite a few studies support. Here’s an example from Livescience.com:
If you’re trying to buy happiness, you’d be better off putting your money toward a tropical island getaway than a new computer…The results [of a Cornell University study] show that people’s satisfaction with their life-experience purchases — anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation — tend to start out high and go up over time…The findings, based on eight separate studies, agree with previous research showing that experience-related buys lead to more happiness for the consumer.
How to winterize your home
This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle.
As I write this, the back side of my house is mostly exposed to the studs with loose fiberglass hanging out in the area where landscaping will be someday. That’s right: Some crazy people choose to do remodeling projects in the middle of the coldest part of winter. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense, considering this article is about winterizing your home. Having one wall with very little insulation during sub-zero temperatures is not winterizing.
Being frugal really isn’t that hard
This reader story comes to us from Bill Fay, who is a writer for Debt.org, where he is known as The Most Frugal Man in America. He spent 21 years in the newspaper business and eight more in television and radio, dealing with college and professional sports, then seven forgettable years writing speeches and marketing materials for a government agency.
Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.
Ask the Readers: How do you get past the money taboo?
This article is by editor Linda Vergon.
Reading the comments on Kristin’s Wednesday post, Money lessons I’ve learned since writing for Get Rich Slowly, it’s very clear that being able to talk with family about money is as difficult as it is beneficial. And while we’ve discussed the topic before (Ask the Readers: How to talk to friends and family about money), it’s a big enough problem that updating it could be helpful.
A 2012 survey by T. Rowe Price bears out the breadth of the problem. It determined that 28 percent of parents found it difficult to talk to their children about finances – and 29 percent of those surveyed said it was difficult to talk about puberty.
Home remodeling — when you can’t (or don’t want to) DIY
This article is by staff writer Holly Johnson.
When my husband and I walked into our last home for the first time, we felt like we were walking right into the ’70s. With disco-era fixtures and old smelly carpet, the four bedroom colonial was quite the sight. Oh, and let’s not forget the orange laminate flooring that graced the kitchen and bathrooms. Except for the master bathroom, of course. It had shag carpet.
Shirt tales: How to find clothes for your kids
This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle.
When we doubled our family size, we more than doubled the amount of laundry. And let’s not even talk about the increases in stains and holes. Or the back-to-back phone calls from my son’s principal: “Hey, Mrs. Aberle, your son was playing in the snow without snow pants. He is soaked. Can you bring in a dry pair of pants for him?” And the next day: “The button on his pants fell off and he needs another pair.”
Because our kids are so hard on clothing, every time I evaluate my kids’ closets, I’m glad we haven’t spent lots of money to clothe them. Unfortunately, the items I did spend more money on were the items they lost, like the stocking hat I bought from L.L. Bean (stupid, stupid, Lisa!) that disappeared. Or they didn’t like the clothes and wouldn’t wear them.
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