September 2015

The thing about parking tickets…

September 30, 2015

Raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten a parking ticket? Raise your hand if you then complained about it on Facebook or to a friend? Raise your hand if it was your fault? :) At one of the meetups I go to every week, there’s always some chatter in the background on how horrible the parking is and how many tickets someone has now racked […]

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Should We Offload Our #1 Mistake??

September 28, 2015

As many of you know, our #1 financial mistake was the purchase of our home back in 2007. Not only was it at the peak of the bubble, but we bought it with no money down, no budget, and the 2nd worse crime of all: on a complete whim. (We literally took a wrong turn on our way to check out an apartment to rent, […]

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The Time I Was In a Coma

September 25, 2015

For an entire year, I was in a coma. I missed birthdays, Christmases, births, deaths, work – everything. The whole world went on without me and then one day I snapped out of it and BOOM! I was back. And then, thank God, I woke up from the dream I was having :) But wow, what a thing to experience… I’ve mentioned how vivid they’re […]

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11 Credit Myths (and Some Tricks I’ve Used to Increase My Score)

September 23, 2015

Good morning friends! If you think credit is sexy, you’re gonna love today’s post. And if you don’t, well, you’re going to be convinced by the end of it ;) And hopefully learn how to increase your credit score too since the better it gets, the less you pay over time! Which can literally save you thousands! We’ll start with a handful of myths that […]

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Challenge Everything Complete! $5,484.07 Banked!

September 21, 2015

We did it!! 12 straight months of challenging our bills and stuff, and here we are now with a nice pile of change :) And $5,484.07 at that! Only $15.93 short of maxing out our Roth IRA – woo! Here’s one last shot of our USAA account for proof: What a ride it’s been too… From battling with cable companies, prying ourselves from our (once) […]

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Why Kids Are Smarter Than Adults

September 18, 2015

As of today, I’ve been a father for 3 years, 2 months, and 8 days. And for the past 16 months, 2 weeks and 5 days – a father of two :) While doubling up on kids has been quite the adjustment (why doesn’t anyone ever tell you how much harder two is??), I’m learning a lot about being a dad, and really about human […]

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Side Hustle #60: I’m a Voice Over Actor!

September 16, 2015

I used to joke that if I could get paid to just talk all day I’d be one happy (and rich) person. Then a friend one day told me there’s a thing for that called “consulting,” and a few months later I was officially a blogging coach and soon after a money coach ;) But the REAL opportunity, as I’m just now finding, seems to […]

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Become a Mad Scientist w/ Your $$$

September 14, 2015

One of my favorite financial blogs is the Mad Fientist who cleverly mashed the word “scientist” with “financial independence” (or FI), and then added “Mad” since every normal person out there thinks we’re ALL mad for trying to reach such a place so fast, haha… at least that’s my interpretation ;) And while the blog is most excellent and everyone should read it the second […]

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What Haters Are Like

September 11, 2015

Tell me if you don’t know people like this… I just paid off my debt! (You shouldn’t have had any to begin with) I just invested in my first stock! (You need to diversify more) I just saved for retirement! (Why? YOLO!) Budgets are sexy! (No they’re not, they’re boring) I just rode my bike to work! (You’re gonna hit by a car one day) […]

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PS: It’s Okay to Buy Stuff

September 9, 2015

One of my favorite sayings in the world is “you can afford anything, you just can’t afford everything.” Attributed to the beautiful (and financially independent!) hustler, Paula Pant. Who’s probably in some far off country right now enjoying the fruits of her labor as she rightfully should! A year or so before hearing that phrase, I also remember reading a post by Ramit Sethi of […]

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Are You Laboring Today?

September 7, 2015

Today is a funny day. It’s Labor day here in the States (and up North, Labour Day) which would lead you to believe that we’re all laboring here, only that’s actually not the case. Nope, today we do the opposite of that – we take the day off :) It’s kinda like celebrating Beer Fest without the beer, or enjoying Christmas without the part with […]

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Piggies, Composting, and a Benjamin Franklin Update!

September 4, 2015

First, let’s get to the important part…. Look what I came across on my morning walk yesterday!!! A PIG! On a leash! As in someone’s PET! Hahahahha… The best find yet on my walks, even beating out that $20 bill from three weeks ago (woop!). And apparently this guy here knows how to open the refrigerator and pee in a litter box as well. In […]

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New Net Worth: $468,391.43 (Down $23,000. Ouch?)

September 2, 2015

Well that was a fun month :) Actually, this clocks in as the 2nd largest drop of net worth since tracking it over these 7 years (the first was a $40k kick to the gut back in June of ’13), and sets us back to January’s numbers when we were at $462,741.66, sigh… But as many of you financial rock stars know, none of this […]