Saving Money on Senior Pictures

Written by on · Leave a Comment

My daughter is on the cusp of beginning her senior high of high school. Traditionally, many parents have senior pictures taken to commemorate this milestone of their child’s life. We did exactly that for our son a few years ago, paying a significant amount of money for a professional photography session and pictures. We decided to go a different route with our daughter. Friend Photographer We gathered a list of recommended photographers, but I suggested a friend of ours. Photography was her hobby, but she had taken pictures of our family a few times in the past and her work […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 8/30/19

Written by on · Leave a Comment

I’m working from home today, waiting for Best Buy to deliver a new chest freezer.  The gasket and lid liner are cracked and breaking apart.  While it still works, there’s a huge ice chunk forming in the lid and it doesn’t seal well.  We need to do something about it eventually, and we found a new one at a great price.  Still, it’s not much fun spending a couple hundred dollars on something that provides zero value add to our lives over what we currently have. At least we know we’ll have space to keep frozen goods for years to […] Read more »

Saving Money Hack: Making A Hotel Reservation

Written by on · Leave a Comment

Hotel reservation lines connect you to a central call center. These call centers handle reservations for all locations of a hotel chain. This is efficient for the hotel chain, but not necessarily for the customer. In fact, many times travelers get better rates by calling the hotel front desk directly. Front Desk Service My wife and I need a hotel room for an upcoming marathon. We are late in trying to get a room, so we anticipated difficulty. She checked the availability online for a hotel within walking distance of the finish line, not surprised to find no rooms available […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 8/23/19

Written by on · Leave a Comment

My daughter, who will start her senior year of high school in just over a week, has orientation today for her new job as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). Her place of employment is less than two miles from our house, she’ll be making good money, the hours are flexible, and it’s in her desired career field. She’s already been accepted at one university with a great nursing program, and is waiting to hear back from another. Huge fist pump for bright futures, and my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Best Cheap Cell Phone […] Read more »

Saving Money Hack: Renting A Uhaul

Written by on · Leave a Comment

Life is full of opportunities to save money. Keep your eyes open, ask questions, and you find them all around you. I found one at U haul that cut the cost of a trailer rental in half, simply by slightly altering the time I picked it up. Two Nights, One Day Fee I needed a trailer to transport my smoker to a BBQ contest and Uhaul had exactly what I needed. Since the contest started very early on Saturday morning, I planned to pick up the trailer around 4:00pm after work on Friday and return it after the contest completed […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 8/16/19

Written by on · Leave a Comment

I’m soooo excited about this weekend, friends! I am participating in a BBQ contest at my church.  I’ll spend the entire day smoking ribs and chicken which will be judged later in the afternoon.  Then, the food is fed to neighborhood folks that come to enjoy sliding on a slip-n-slide.  It’s an opportunity for me to fire up the smoker, enjoy the day with other meat smoking enthusiasts, and participate in a community outreach program for my church. Fist pump for BBQ, fun, and my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump 5 Sacrifices that can […] Read more »

Budget Pro Tip: Oversave Your Purchases

Written by on · Leave a Comment

Don’t buy something unless you have the money in your pocket. That simple sentence is great advice, meant to keep a person from overspending. But having the money to buy something after sacrificing and saving, even after all your bills are paid, may not be sufficient. Personally, I like to oversave large purchases. My wife wanted to order some products online that amounted to a significant amount of money. Knowing we have more discretionary funds in the second half of the month, she asked if it would be better to wait until our middle of the month paycheck. She was […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 8/9/19

Written by on · 1 Comment

Happy Friday, EOD Nation! I’m pumped because my monthly budget is about to get an infusion of extra cash.  I have two installment loans with their last payment this month, adding hundreds of dollars to our discretionary funds each month. We haven’t figured out exactly what we’ll do with these funds, but likely there will be a bump to our monthly retirement and emergency fund contributions as well as just having more money in our pockets.  Life is good! Fist pump for cash infusions and my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump How to Afford […] Read more »

Read This BEFORE You Upgrade Your Phone

Written by on · Leave a Comment

The subject matter at EOD is primarily financial. But deeper than that, it’s about living the best life you can with the resources you have. One of those resources is time. Being wise with your money and your time will go along way towards getting the very most out of life. It’s been years since my wife upgraded her phone. Picking out a new phone, activating and paying for it took only a few minutes. Then came the part where my wife expected the employee helping us to link the two phones together and transfer the data from her old […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 8/2/19

Written by on · Leave a Comment

I went to get my van’s oil changed and came home with my wallet $150 lighter than expected. I had forgotten my van was also due for a transmission service. Since I’d rather pay for the service than to have a more catastrophic transmission problem, I had it done. It made me think about one of my favorite posts from this week (listed below) about saving for car maintenance.  If only I had followed THAT advice…. Get your fists up for my favorite posts! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump How to Budget the Easy Way from DINKS Finance 5 […] Read more »

3 Reasons You Should Review Your Checking Account Regularly

Written by on · Leave a Comment

  I know people that roll through life, never reconciling their checking account. Many younger people fall into this category, and for the most part it works because they don’t write checks, so the current balance is up to date. Others keep close tabs on their account, verifying every transaction. I fall into the second category because you just never know when you might notice something out of the ordinary. I was looking at my checking account online over the weekend when I noticed a $6.95 charge from an online gaming site. I recognized it something my son had been […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 7/26

Written by on · Leave a Comment

My daughter, who eventually wants to become an RN and/or a midwife earned her Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certificate a few months ago, and has recently had a few interviews at nearby nursing homes. She has one offer on the table, and expects to get another in the next few days.  Must be nice, being 17 and having job offer options… Fist pump for my daughter getting her medical career off to a great start, and my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump How to Budget on a Small Income from Club Thrifty Low Effort […] Read more »

Hidden Costs Of Renting An RV

Written by on · 2 Comments

I camped with friends and family for four days attending an outdoor music festival. We rented a camper from an RV dealership to pull behind a truck for what seemed like a reasonable price.  However, there are costs incurred when camping with an RV you may not realize at first. Hidden Costs RV relates expenses you need to be aware of include: Fresh Water : If the RV has a sink or bathroom, and you plan to use them, you’ll need to fill the fresh water tank. We filled the camper’s 50 gallon freshwater tank for $1 a gallon. Gray […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 7/19

Written by on · Leave a Comment

I’m currently camping with friends and family at a four day music festival but that won’t stop me from sharing my favorite posts of the week, OR saving money! Concerts and festivals usually jack up the price of everything knowing they have you as part of a captive audience (meaning you don’t have a choice as to where you buy your bottle of water – either it’s from them, or you just don’t get it). But even here there are some ways to save money and make every dollar go as far as it can. One such method is buying […] Read more »