I’m looking forward to a fun weekend. Rumor has it the sun will make an appearance in Portland, which means Kris and I can do some more gardening. I’ll also be able to mow the lawn for the first time this year. Tomorrow morning, I’ll make my first marathon training run. (I’m doing it for the companionship, not with the marathon as a goal.) And tonight I’m going bowling with some of my old high school friends, including two that I haven’t seen in 20 years. It’s going to be awesome!
Speaking of awesome, here are a few of my favorite personal-finance stories from around the web…
Last October at Gather Little by Little, Gibble wrote a profound article that has been seeing a lot of attention lately, and deservedly so. Do you appreciate what you have?” he asks. He describes three lessons his teenaged son learned while volunteering for a local homeless shelter, concluding: “Regardless of where you are financially, how small your home may be, how much debt you may have, or how behind on your payments you might be don’t ever forget one thing: Someone, somewhere has it worse than you.” This is a great post.
Frugal Dad recently looked at a subject that I’ve never considered. “Should parents pay off kids’ credit-card debt?” he asks. Many parents don’t have this option because they’re struggling to get by themselves. But if you could pay off your child’s debt, does that mean you should? It’s an interesting question.
Across the sea, Plonkee recently made a stab at explaining the sunk-cost fallacy, the notion that once you’ve spent money it’s gone and shouldn’t be factored into your decisions. I’ve tried to tackle this subject once or twice myself, but feel like I’ve never done a good job of explaining it. I like Plonkee’s definition better than mine.
Finally, Billshrink has a handy chart that shows where to get your money’s worth. They’ve compiled the return periods and store policies for 19 major U.S. retailers and listed them so that it’s easy to easy to choose the one you need!
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Ah, yes, we’ve just started on our garden, too. Lots of things, like raspberries, mint, and irises have spread from last year, so we can fill up many new rows and beds at no cost.
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Many thanks for sharing my post with your readers, J.D! I enjoyed the other articles as well. That piece by Gather Little By Little is one of my all-time favorites, and one I often look back to for inspiration on raising my kids to be givers.
Hope you can enjoy some nice weather there in Oregon – we’re finally drying out a little here in the South, but more rain in the forecast for Sunday.
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That list from the last link seems bogus: I used to work at best buy, we’d honour competitor’s prices all the time, it’s the only way you get them to buy it at your place, and not theirs.
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I’m wondering what sort of springtime outdoor activities I can do with the kids this weekend that are atypical. Is there some sort of spring version of apple picking that I haven’t yet thought of?
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I really dislike the “someone has it worse than you” argument because people use it as an excuse to be uncaring. Oh, you lost your job? Whatever, someone else lost a better job longer ago and has 46 more kids to feed.
You get the drift. It’s a good concept, but people take it too far.
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The first link was really good! Its true how so many people complain about their misery without thinking about how minor their problems are compared to others. I was in a similar position until I started to volunteer and even travel to some 3rd world countries, those experiences really humble a person and make you appreciate the things you have rather than complain about the things you lack.
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@JD – Thanks so much for the mention. Enjoy the sun tomorrow!
@FrugalDad – Thanks, I really appreciate you saying that.
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You raise a valid point, Marie.
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Marie, I don’t know what I dislike worse – when people generalise with “someone has it worse than you,” or when they one-up your miseries with how much worse off than you they themselves are. Even while I try to be a genuinely caring person, being told that someone has it so much worse than I do, even though it’s absolutely true, doesn’t actually fix MY problems. I still have my own problems, but now I feel GUILTY for being miserable over them. I do try to be thankful, but some days it really is tough. I try to keep things in proportion, and there are some things I never get tired of: I am ALWAYS thankful for electricity – I have light! At the touch of a finger! Any time I want! This is an option that was not available to KINGS in most centuries – but I have it. In the early 19th century, candles for a year could cost one-eighth the cost of a year’s RENT (if you were well off, that is; if you were poor, you either had no light, or it was a much higher percentage of your income). And humble as it is, I am thankful for the throne room I have – you know, the littlest library. I may not be Henry VIII, with a Groom of the Stool to stand there and watch and hand me my tidying cloth – but I’m really thankful I’m not. Having Charmin tops having a Groom of the Stool any day. Nor do I pick my way to work through “Paris mud.” Garde a l’eau, y’all. And I’m grateful for the miracle of running water at the turn of a handle – clean, clear and cold. If I don’t have hot water in the upstairs sink, at least I have it in the kitchen, and in the shower. To me, these things constitute everyday magic. I’d be curious to know what other people’s everyday magic is: what would you miss if it was suddenly gone? Not big things, like the people you love, but something small, that most people would take for granted; everyday magic.
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My dad paid off my credit card debt. He said he’d rather I paid the interest to him than to the bank. It took me more than 3 years to pay off. It would have taken much longer, but Bank of Dad charged a lower interest rate than the cc company, and it was a fixed rate too. I haven’t carried a balance since.
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@ La BellaDonna – DEFINITELY electricity. Our power went out for a few hours last fall and I was useless: I couldn’t fix dinner on the electric stove, I couldn’t read my book because my candles were too small, I couldn’t do laundry, or clean or watch tv or do anything. I couldn’t even take a walk because the streets were dark and the batteries dead in the flashlight. That’s a wake-up call!
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My parents helped me with guaranteeing a consolidation loan, which has helped me immensely in planning for my future. Before, I was paying up to $1100 in min payments only, varying from 5% to 18% interest over 6 different debts. Needless to say it was a bit tough to try to get ahead of things, and I wasn’t feeling very positive about it all… but in comes our personal banker, and my wonderful folks, who have me down for a 2% interest rate, and I’ve agreed that they have a copy of the statements, etc sent to them, so they know I’m doing my part in paying it off. We agreed that I would pay a minimum of $500 per month (which is 375 over the min interest payment) and that amount is taken directly from my bank – and if I have more to pay I can.
In this way, I’m still responsible for paying off my debt myself, but they were still able to help me out of a pickle.
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