I hope everyone had an outstanding Christmas! We’re really digging having the week off. I couldn’t believe how quickly the holiday flew by. Didn’t we just buy all those presents? This was the year of the Lego sets for my kids. They got just a ridiculous amount of them. Does anyone else’s kids have those Monster Fighter sets? They’re kind of cool … My Blog Updates: You would NEVER guess it, but I’ve been really busy behind the scenes working on My Money Design. Here’s a few of the things that have been going on: … [Read more...] about The Christmas Break and My Blog Updates
Lifestyle
What I Want for Christmas
Now that my wife and I have been married for more than 10 years, picking out Christmas presents has become somewhat of a challenge for each other. She’ll ask me what I want for Christmas, and I’ll do the same. But neither of us can really think of many things in particular. It’s not that we’re fussy or don’t know what to get each other. We’re both got a lot of things that we really want to do, but they’re not really your classic “under $50 and under the tree” variety. Part of the problem (if you can really call it that) is that we’re both pretty realistic about what we want. We don’t get too carried away. Plus we’re both working professionals, and so we’re accustomed to buying the things we need when we want them. But then there’s the … [Read more...] about What I Want for Christmas
What Do You Think is the Worst and Best Christmas Song?
What would the Christmas season be without the huge variety of Christmas songs out there. You’ve got your classics, your modern ones, funny ones, religious ones – there’s a little something for everyone. So which one do you think is the best Christmas song? Which one do you like the least? … [Read more...] about What Do You Think is the Worst and Best Christmas Song?
Goal Setting Activities for Your Personal Finances
Very shortly it will be a brand new year and a chance for brand new beginnings. So with that, I ask: What are you going to do differently with your finances than you did last year? Not sure? That doesn’t surprise me. We all want the best for our money and our future, but it’s pretty hard to figure out how to go somewhere if you don’t even know where it is you’re going. To really understand what it is that you want, you need to expand your financial perspective through a series of goal setting activities that help you figure out how you feel about yourself and your money. Once you’ve had the chance to visualize what it is you really want for your money, I think you’ll be surprised by how easily things will come together. Please take … [Read more...] about Goal Setting Activities for Your Personal Finances
A Moment of Silence for the Connecticut School Shooting
I was originally planning to post something fun or entertaining this weekend for my usual wrap up. But given the recent events with the Connecticut school shooting, I really didn’t feel very comfortable doing so. Instead, let’s take a moment of silence to extend our hearts out to those who were affected by this hideous tragedy. … [Read more...] about A Moment of Silence for the Connecticut School Shooting
Figuring Out the Operational Cost for Santa’s Christmas Presents
Do you see that thing over on the left? That is the Lego Star Wars Death Star, and it’s what my son wants for Christmas (among a thousand other things). It’s pretty amazing as far as Lego sets go; capturing several different scenes from the Star Wars movies into one toy. However, it also costs around $380. (It was $400, but they kindly knocked the price down for Christmas). That is pretty ridiculous; even for a Lego set. Plus it is way over the limit my wife and I are prepared to spend for each of our kids. While picking up my kids from school, I tried to explain to my son that I don’t think he’ll be getting a Lego set that costs the equivalent of a car payment for Christmas. To that, he replied “That’s okay, I’ll just ask Santa”. When I … [Read more...] about Figuring Out the Operational Cost for Santa’s Christmas Presents
Ghosts of Personal Finance Bloggers Past
Did we really just quote some Dickens’ to open this post? A Christmas Carol was always one of my favorite Christmas stories, but that’s not what’s got me thinking about this topic. This week I was trying to clean off some of the broken links from my site in hopes of FINALLY raising my Google Page Rank score in the next update. While running the link checker, I kept noticing the same trend of broken links popping up in the results window: Past personal finance bloggers. Yes, if you really want to bum yourself out, go visit your post archive from about a year ago, and look at the names of the people who used to leave you comments. I was finding that a pretty significant number of them no longer visit my site. I decided to find out why. … [Read more...] about Ghosts of Personal Finance Bloggers Past
Struggling to Buy Presents? Try These Christmas Gift Ideas for Her
Guys, let’s face it. We’re kind of bone-heads when it comes to picking out good presents for the special women in our lives. They do so much for us, and we want really badly to show them how much we appreciate it. And so with the clock ticking on the number of days until the big morning, here’s my list of suggestions of Christmas gift ideas for her. Hopefully something on this list sparks an “ah-ha” moment in your head as something you think she will like. Enjoy! … [Read more...] about Struggling to Buy Presents? Try These Christmas Gift Ideas for Her
