The weekend with our big annual party is here!   I’ve been on vacation from my day job, but it hasn’t felt like vacation.  I’ve been cleaning, smoking meat, and decorating all day every day.   It’s been important to me to make the time to get my marathon training in too, however.  I’ve also found a little time to do some blog reading. So enjoy your holiday weekend, and my favorite posts of the week!   Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Showing yourself Financial Forgiveness from Frugal Rules How to build a Life you don’t have to Retire […] Read more »

I’m on vacation next week from my day job.  I’ll spend the entire week cleaning, organizing, and shopping for our annual Memorial Weekend Party which takes place next weekend.   Most importantly, I’ll be firing up my smoker almost every day to create some smokey yummy goodness for the party. That’s my fist pump for the week, what’s yours? Posts That Make Me Fist Pump It’s A Way of Life, Not an Event from Frugal Rules 8 Delicious & Frugal Grill Recipes! from Bargain Babe How would you like to be debt free, forever? from Debt Discipline Wants Vs. Needs – […] Read more »

This weekend brings us Mother’s Day 2015.  I’ll be traveling to see my mom to honor her in appreciation of all the wonderful things she’s done for me, and for the great mom she is. Check out my favorite posts of the week, but DO NOT forget to fist pump for your mom this weekend!   Posts That Make Me Fist Pump How to deal with expensive friends from Get Rich Slowly What Does Financial Independence Look Like? from Young Adult Money How to Talk About Finances With Your Significant Other from DINKS Finance Why You Need Life Insurance, Especially […] Read more »

My post from Monday participated in the Financial Literacy Awareness Carnival hosted over at The Heavy Purse.  If that wasn’t awesome in it’s own right, the post then got picked up over at Rockstar Financials.  Lifehacker is known to pull great content from Rockstar, so my mind was completely blown when my article got picked up and referenced at Lifehacker as well!  Super, duper cool. On a completely unrelated subject, I told my son that he could keep his first two paychecks from his first part-time job to do with whatever he pleased.  After that we’ll talk about paying for […] Read more »

I’ve had one of those weeks where I find myself extremely thankful for my career.  I’ve been consciously taking note of the interesting and cutting edge things that I’m doing, and can’t help but want to put my heart and soul into doing the very best I can.   Enjoying my job sure makes it easy to get out of bed in the morning.  Hopefully that will translate into some sweet pay increases. That would definitely be worth a fist pump! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump How to Be a Conscious Spender from Debt Roundup Do You Need A Budget? […] Read more »

Last weekend we had a birthday party for our daughter – she turned 13!!!!  Vonnie and I are now the proud parents of TWO teenagers.  We bought a huge roll of contractor’s plastic and built a “splatter paint cube” in our garage.  It was actually our daughter’s idea….but we made it come to life.  Tori and her friends each got a container with washable paint and a brush.  They went in the cube and threw paint everywhere.  They had a blast.  It turned out to be more expensive than we had anticipated, so this weekend is a “lay low” weekend. […] Read more »

Tuesday night, my son brought home from work his very first paycheck.  It was for the 8.5 hours he was in training, and he received a paper paycheck as his direct deposit hadn’t taken effect yet.  When I asked him if he knew what to do with the check, he shook his head, “No.”  I explained to him how to endorse a check, and what he would do once he got to the bank.  I could see his eyes glaze over, so I asked him if he wanted me to go with him.  He said, “Yes.”  Looks like a financial […] Read more »

I love new opportunities, and over the last two weeks I’ve had one land on my lap.  I’ve found a new writing client to replace one parted ways with towards the end of 2014.   Vonnie and I will have to sit down and figure out what this means for our budget, making sure that we put the income to good use. That definitely deserves a fist pump, so get your hands up and give me a “one time” on this glorious Friday! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump 4 Ways To Put Your Budget Back on Track from Eyes On […] Read more »

I was taking a final look at my tax return before I sealed the manilla envelope and put it in our fireproof filing cabinet.  I couldn’t help but notice how much I earned last year with my blogging and online adventures.  I earned more as a part-time freelance writer in 2014 than any previous year.   There are limitless ways that a person can make some extra money – in fact our friends over at The Penny Hoarder recently compiled quite a list of side hustles that could fit nicely with any lifestyle.  Substantial income increases at my primary job have […] Read more »

I’m happy to report that I successfully completed my taxes.  Submitted, approved, and paid for.  WHEW, it’s nice to have that off my back.  Now it’s time to turn my attention to saving and planning for our annual Memorial Weekend party.  This seems very appropriate given it’s the first day of Spring. Wait, what?  First day of Spring? That deserves a fist pump all on it’s own….. Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Living On Credit Cards from Live Real, Now Experience over the Event from Debt Discipline Here’s Why You’re Broke: A Sense of Entitlement from Club Thrifty How […] Read more »

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was riding my bike to clock in at my first job at a Snyder Drug.  This week my son landed his first job at a grocery store.   The store is part of a national chain, therefore puts it in the “large employer” category as far as the great state of Minnesota is concerned requiring it to pay a minimum wage of $8.00 per hour.  My son and I had talked about this previously, as he had been curious as to how much he would expect to earn once he found his first […] Read more »

Vonnie and I had a little getaway planned for tonight.  We were going to take the afternoon off, and head to the Minneapolis/St Paul metropolitan area and spend the afternoon together, and then go to a Nickelback/The Pretty Reckless concert tonight.  We had our bags packed, and ready to go.  I had my list of trip preparation items that needed to be done this morning ready to rock, when we found out the concert has been postponed due to a family emergency.   Bummer. I called the hotel to cancel, however their policy is that we would have had to […] Read more »

When I changed our medical coverage for 2015 to a high deductible PPO with a Health Savings Account, I wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice.  Yesterday I took Tristan and Tori into the optometrist for eye exams, new glasses for Tori,  contact lenses for Tristan, and a bill of several hundred dollars.  Between my contributions and seed money from my employer we had $1000 in our HSA.  I simply swiped my HSA debit card, and walked away with zero out of pocket expenses. I think that deserves a fist pump, just like the following posts! Posts That […] Read more »

Vonnie and I are hosting a get together for her side of the family tomorrow.  Of course I found it as a fantastic reason to offer to fire up the smoker and make pulled pork.  Not only is it delicious, but it’s an relatively inexpensive way to make a large quantity of great food for a largish gathering.  If you ever find yourself in South Eastern Minnesota, let me know and I’ll throw some wood in the smoker, fire up some home made BBQ sauce and show you what I mean. Fist pump for BBQ! Posts That Make Me Fist […] Read more »