Monthly Archives: December 2008

It’s raining 64-bit Vista, Leopards, and Gators

photo credit: craigCloutier What’s a gal to do? After a long conversation with the husband yesterday, we decided to ditch the idea of a netbook and shell out the extra money for a new desktop. I had been researching desktops for awhile, and we took the plunge (We got a solid deal, which I’m sure I’ll talk about in another post). Why so soon? A big part of it has to do with my husband’s scanning project that he has been working on. His grandfather was a photographer, and he is creating a digital archive of all of his...

photo credit: milele In a previous post, I mentioned that we hoped to spend $250 total on Christmas this year. We had $95 dollars left and quite a bit to still get. So in the end, how did things turn out? We actually ended up with $105 to spend, since my mom wanted to contribute to the gift certificate for my stepfather (we had budgeted $20, but only spent $10). We spent $15 on my brother – we redeemed $20 in gift cards from Amazon, and split the cost of a Wii game with my grandmother. We didn’t get...

photo credit: Stuart Chalmers This is one instance where I am so glad that I was wrong. Yesterday, I was wondering if our truck had finally reached the end of the road. It turns out that the rear brakes had iced up (it’s a pickup, which explains why warming up the truck for 45 minutes had no effect). In addition to a free tow (thanks AAA!), our auto shop didn’t charge us anything. Maybe they felt sorry for us, or are full of the holiday spirit, but I am so thankful that we didn’t have to shell out any...

photo credit: clspeace I woke up this morning to find that the car was gone, but the truck was still parked in the street. My husband always takes the truck to work, so I knew that this wasn’t a good sign. I called the husband. He thought that the truck just needed some time to warm up, since it was cold this morning. He said that he couldn’t get it to move. I went out and let the truck warm up for 45 minutes. Basically, it will start and shift into gear, but it won’t move. At all. I...

No shopping in stores for us this weekend!

photo credit: bettyx1138 I have to admit, it is nice to have all of our Christmas shopping done! The only thing left that I might look for is alphabet stickers (when I asked the kid what he was going to ask for from Santa, this was his response. Who knew?) We did pick up some good deals this week. I ended up getting gift cards from Walmart using their $20 off $80 promotion. I got $80 in gift cards for $60. We combined this promotion with the American Express wish list gift certificate on my husband’s card, and we...

Get a free digital magazine subscription from The Read Green Initiative

photo credit: inoc Wow – it’s environmentally friendly, and it’s free! Treat yourself to a one year digital magazine subscription from The Read Green Initiative. All you need to do is pick your magazine and enter your e-mail address. Then, sign up for an account with Zinio, which provides sales and distribution of digital content. When I signed up for my Zinio account, all I had to do was provide an e-mail address and create a password (no physical address or credit card information was required). Being a personal finance geek, I picked Kiplinger’s for my free magazine, but...

Using Mint.com to cut through the financial static

photo credit: ArtemFinland As the year comes to a close, it is always nice to take a look at the finances. Although I love tracking our finances using Microsoft Money, the level of detail doesn’t always provide a clear look at the underlying picture. For example, our net worth is approximately the same as last year, but this is due to losses in our retirement accounts, which I am not overly concerned about. Since we are in our early 30′s, we make regular contributions and reallocate our holdings twice a year. It’s pretty much on auto-pilot. But what about...

Spending quality holiday time with family – fun and frugal ideas

photo credit: naviniea Christmas is going to be so much fun this year. Our little one is almost 3 years old, and he’s going nuts with all the Christmas lights around town. He’s been asking about a “Kees-mas tee” all week long, and today is the big day! Since all of our Christmas shopping is done, it’s going to be a very relaxing holiday season. Here are some of the things we plan on doing as a family this year. Some do cost money, but we feel they are well worth it! 1. Cut your own Christmas tree –...

photo credit: Fosforix There have been a couple of times where I have disputed credit card charges in the past, but they were relatively straightforward. Once, I was charged twice for the same item, and could not contact the company via customer service. I contacted the credit card company, and it was taken care of almost immediately. The second time, I was charged 10 times the correct price, and had the original receipt. Again, the process was relatively straightforward. Once a year, I tend to make small charges to all of our cards in order to keep them active. ...

Bloggers Unite for World AIDS Day

Hello! I am back from vacation, which was wonderful. I have many new blog posts planned, but I wanted to talk a little more about AIDS awareness today. HIV and AIDS is a topic that is very familiar to me, as it was the topic of my doctoral thesis. I thought that I would just share a couple of interesting tidbits that I learned about while completing my studies. 1. There seems to be this idea that contracting HIV is no big deal, since the virus can be managed with anti-retroviral therapies. However, this is not always the case....

Money, Love, and Change

Monthly Archives: December 2008

It’s raining 64-bit Vista, Leopards, and Gators

How did we do on our Christmas budget?

Keep on truckin!

Time to say goodbye to the truck?

No shopping in stores for us this weekend!

Get a free digital magazine subscription from The Read Green Initiative

Using Mint.com to cut through the financial static

Spending quality holiday time with family – fun and frugal ideas

Disputing credit card charges

Bloggers Unite for World AIDS Day

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