2013

Investing In Gold And Silver

05.20.2013
investing in gold and silver

The following is a guest post from Cindy who writes at Midlife Finance. After my post on ways to hedge your bets for expenses and investing, one commenter asked about investing in gold. Was it a good option for safeguarding your money? Well, yes…maybe. First, it’s necessary to decide how you want to deal with these precious metals. (I’m adding silver into the discussion, though other metals, like platinum and copper, are also significant.) People have been using them for coinage and ornamental purposes for thousands of years; early civilizations like the Sumerians and Egyptians seem to have focused primarily on [...]

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My Very Cheap Day

05.17.2013
My very cheap day

On Wednesday, I was sitting at the library trying to come up with an idea to blog about. Actually, I had a “to blog” list, but none of them struck a chord with me, so I started reading some magazines instead. Luckily, I found an article in Money Magazine that I can comment on – “My very cheap day” by Kristen Bellstrom. (Thanks to Brian for finding the link for us.) It’s not easy for frugal folks to cut expense Her mission was to spend one day trying to cut every expense she encountered. Aha! I already found something to [...]

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What advice I would give my 23 year old self

05.15.2013
What advice I would give my 23 year old self

Recently I read an article asking what advice you would give your 23 year old self. (Sorry, I forgot where I read this.) This is a very interesting question because it is a very personal question. It is not a generalized topic like the series I wrote about retirement advice for young folks. Everyone has a different life experience and this kind of question makes you think about what you could have done differently. Let’s see where I was when at 23… I got a Master degree in Electrical and Computer engineering and was already working at Intel. Future Mrs. [...]

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Why I’m not getting an iPad for our toddler

05.13.2013
Why I'm not getting an iPad for my toddler

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that children under 2 should avoid television completely and older kids limit screen time to one or two hours per day. Studies have shown that excessive screen time can lead to attention problems later on. What about the iPad? This is a much more interactive device than a television. Should we let kids play with it? Many parents are exposing their kids to the iPad from a very young age.  Is that a good idea? We don’t have an iPad and I hadn’t considered getting one for Baby RB40.  That is, until we played with one [...]

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