As part of a potential recession coming up, I wrote this post about a year ago where I talked about rationalizing streaming services. I still think a recession is likely into 2025 but I was able to get some good deals on streaming services. In one instance, I got Hulu (with ads) for $0.99/month for…
Category: Expense Management
Flood Insurance Double The Cost
We got our flood insurance bill this week and the cost doubled from around $500 last year to $900 this year. It is important to note that we have never filed a flood insurance claim. Actually we haven’t filed any kind of claim in the 30 years we’ve owned our current home. Our home owners…
My New Parallel Medical Ecosystem
I’ve embarked on a journey to build my own parallel medical system that is somewhat outside the current medical ecosystem which I believe to be fundamentally broken. I’m not talking about alternative medicine such as herbs, teas, magic crystals or copper bracelets but new startup medical firms that have a science based but different perspective…
Air Conditioner Cost About To Skyrocket
I recently wrote about my Mother’s Day fiasco with our air conditioner unit so it got me thinking about what it would cost to replace the unit. Our current AC unit is approaching 10 years and that’s about the time it starts failing or need constant repair of some sort. In looking for the latest…
Your Three Retirement Demons: Inflation, Taxes & Lifestyle
While I don’t watch or listen to Dave Ramsey, I do occasional run across an article with an outrageous title such as this one, “Dave Ramsey delivers wake up call to Iowa couple making nearly $200k but struggling to make ends meet“ Essentially, this couple has $785,000 in debt even though they earn $200,000 per…
$1600 To Watch NFL Football?
The Dailymail has an article out claiming it will cost NFL fans $1600 to watch all the NFL games next season. Ouch. The good news is that I don’t watch football other than the Super Bowl. I don’t have 3+ hours to waste watching football per game and it’s time I’d rather spend on investment…
Consumer Price Index for April 2024
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index for April and I was eager to check it to confirm my suspicions about the high cost of meat and electricity. I downloaded the relevant charts and am posting them below. If you want to play around and create your own charts you will find…
The Cost of Celebrating Mother’s Day
I haven’t been posting lately and that’s because of a very expensive Mother’s Day. It all started when I was voluntold that we would be hosting Mother’s Day for my mother-in-law and my mom. This meant we would be having at least 20 people over and maybe more depending on which extended family decided to…
Skip The Latte? No! Buy Starbucks Stock
I recently wrote, “Endless PF Debates, Wrong Context” where I discuss some of the endless debates in the investment community about how to invest. I also wrote that I would write about other debates in a future date so that day is today. Spend Less Than You Earn vs Earn More Than You Spend Another…
Inflation At Home 2024
Inflation is like a boa constrictor that slowly squeezes every nickel and dime out of you but lately it feels like a Titanoboa and we must battle it everyday. I got a bit of a shock early this year with the cost of utilities. Both electricity and water went up far beyond what I was…