Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 02/28/2020

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The road to handle both our automobile insurance and the gap insurance claims for my daughter’s car accident has been long and windy. I took many phone calls to get everyone the information they needed, but I believe payments from both policies are in flight. We’ve already purchased a replacement car, so at least I don’t have all day Duber (Dad Uber) responsibilities.  The outcome is good (wrecked car completely paid off), but I could do without having to deal with insurance companies for awhile. Fist pump for being done dealing with the accident, AND my favorite posts of the […] Read more »

Split A Meal, Save Some Cash

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Sitting across from my son and his girlfriend in a restaurant, I listened as they picked a meal to share. My first thought was to question whether they’d both get enough food. Then, my mind was flooded with memories of bringing home leftovers or being miserably full when leaving the restaurant. Maybe my son was on to something that could help my wife and I cut our bill when dining out. By sharing an entrée, you can significantly reduce the overall cost of eating at a restaurant. However, there is a little bit of art to the process. Some entrees […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/21/2020

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My daughter handed me an unusually heavy plastic bag, which I quickly realized was full of coins. “Isn’t there a place where you can take these to turn them into money?” she asked smiling. I listed several places  I could take her coins:   The CoinStar machine at Walmart, which was most convenient but would take 10% of her money as payment. The coin counter at our local bank She scoffed at paying to convert her coins into paper money, and asked if I would take it to our local bank. She collected all the loose coins she had from […] Read more »

What is Gap Insurance and Do I Need It?

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The insurance adjuster on the phone told me the car was a total loss. My daughter had been in a car accident a few days earlier, struck on the driver’s side of the vehicle after which all the airbags deployed. She was physically OK, however her car was not. I had expected the adjuster to tell me an estimate to repair the car, and a time frame in which the body shop could complete the work. Instead, he was rattling off numbers that represented the market value of the car and how much they would be paying out to bank […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/14/2020

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Happy Valentine’s Day EOD Nation!  My wife told me a few days ago to not buy her flowers.  They look nice, but then she just puts them on a shelf and a week later I throw them away. Instead we’re braving the crowds and going out to eat.  The good news is we’re using a gift card we purchased from Costco a few weeks ago.  We’ll save $20 on our dinner AND we won’t have to pay anything out of pocket today.  As far as this weekend’s spending plan goes, Valentine’s day cost me the $4 for the card and […] Read more »

How to Buy a Home While in Debt

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Two to three decades ago, owning a home meant saving up big time. You had to be financially stable, i.e., have a consistent stream of income and no debts. However, times have changed and today, buying a house doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. According to real estate buyer and seller trends, millennials make up a huge percentage of recent homeowners. A generation that is pretty much uncertain, carefree, and financially unstable is making such moves. How come? It’s simple. It’s a lot easier to own a home now if you know what you are doing. If anything, millennials […] Read more »

My Son Did His Own Taxes For The First Time!

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My son was home from college for the weekend and expressed interest in getting his tax return done. He’s received a significant refund in the past, and wanted to get this year’s version into his bank account. I involved him in the process before, but this year he was going to be all in. First, I instructed him to gather information he would need throughout the process: Collect Needed Documents For my son, this only meant his W-2 forms. Since he switched jobs in May, he had two of them. Both were sent to our home address so I had […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/7/2020

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Happy Friday, EOD Nation! I’ve got some fun stuff planned for this weekend.  Dinner with friends on Friday night at a restaurant and on Saturday night another friend is smoking a brisket and asking people to bring sides for a night of food and fun. Sunday I plan to be snowed in my house watching the opening weekend of XFL football.  Sounds like a lot of fun AND easy on the wallet.  What do you have rolling this weekend? Fist pump for a busy and fun weekend, AND my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump […] Read more »

Your Credit Score Might be About to Change

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Your credit score can have a dramatic impact on your life. It determines your ability to secure financing for things like automobiles and homes, as well whether you qualify for credit cards and other lines of credit. If you monitor your credit score, you may want to pay extra attention in the next few months as Fair Isaac Corporation rolls out some tweaks to the FICO score calculation with FICO 10. What’s Changing? The new model will look at consumers’ account history over the previous 24 months which is longer than had been done previously. Who’s Affected? Those with high […] Read more »

Safe Bankroll Management Tips While Betting on Sports

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  There are many things to consider when getting into the sports betting industry, but bankroll management needs to be one of the first things to think about. Sports betting can be extremely addictive, and it can also be extremely costly if you don’t have a safe plan in place. The hope is that you are winning money when betting on sports, but you also need to protect against losing big. Everyone in the sports betting industry will tell you something different when it comes to bankroll management, but we have built up our own list of tips. There are […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/31/2020

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Happy Super Bowl weekend, EOD Nation! I’m excited for the game, I think it’s going to be a good one.  The last few years, in my opinion, the commercials haven’t been very good. But, I’ve seen some sneak previews and I’m hopeful there will be some good ones this year.  I’m not much of a go to a bar and watch the game sort of person, so we’re hoping to get together with friends to enjoy the event. Fist pump for Super Bowl weekend, AND my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump More Reasons to […] Read more »

How Do Interest Free Promotional Offers Really Work?

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Our washing machine’s drum bearing was going out, and our appliance repairman notified us they were authorizing replacement through our appliance protection plan. The new washer my wife and I picked out was completely covered by the plan, but we were also contemplating buying the matching dryer. As we talked about it, the sales person described a 6 month no interest finance option. Many retailers offer similar offers, and it’s important to keep in mind exactly how they work. Line of Credit They may not say it, but you have to qualify for the offer. You’re actually applying for a […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/14/2020

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Fate hit me hard this week.  I knew it was coming, and I even wrote about it in my post earlier this week.  We had someone come and look at our extremely loud washing machine and my fears proved correct.  The drum bearing was going bad, and the service person deemed it was not worth the cost of parts and labor to fix on our 15 year old washing machine.  We were instructed to go to a local appliance store where we were given a dollar amount towards a new washer. We picked one out, and as I had predicted […] Read more »

4 Reasons I’ll Need An Emergency Fund This Year

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I vowed to beef up my emergency fund this year. This isn’t just a blind goal, there’s a reason behind this goal. There are actually several reasons it’s imperative I achieve this goal. Without a pumped up emergency fund, I may be facing a very difficult financial situation. Here are 4 reasons I absolutely must have a fat emergency fund in 2020: Water Softener Every now and then the salt tank fills too far and water drains out the overflow valve. That’s not supposed to happen. While it hasn’t happened in awhile, I’m just waiting for it to break down. […] Read more »