September, for me, is this odd mix of ends and beginnings; the summer draws to a close, fall colours begin to come out shepparding in the fall season. It also marks the switch over to pumpkin spice lattes, and well … pumpkin spice everything (we won’t get into that). It’s also a time for new beginnings for kids starting the new school year along with all the changes that brings. It’s a great time for fresh starts and clean slates. The typical time for resolutions usually is on January 1st, but September makes a good month for it as well. There is a very distinct change about this season that is very abrupt. School starting up marks that change pretty clearly. This year is a little different with the Covid pandemic still ongoing. We’ve had to make some adjustments, but our daughter is back at school, mask and all. She’s Continue Reading
Misc / News
Vacationing Pandemic style – in isolation.
Summer is a time where kids are out of school, and more importantly, the weather is beautiful. It’s a time where a lot of people take a vacation to soak it all in and enjoy themselves. The idea of a summer vacation is ingrained in our culture for a good reason. We’ve been going on an annual summer trip for the past few years, actually ever since my daughter started going to school. But this year, the world decided it was a good time to change, drastically. We just got back from our summer trip, we have a small RV and go camping (really, it’s glamping). We had a vacation booked that we had to change and alter, but we still had one planned and considering everything that’s happened this year. Having an RV is great because it allows you to be pretty self-contained, it’s the perfect way to stay Continue Reading
#AwesomeBloggerAward – OMB
This post will be a little different from the usual personal finance posts as this site is a #AwesomeBloggerAward nominee. Fire and Wide (@FireAndWide) has honored us with this distinction, and I’m flattered. I’ve been blogging for a long time and never got an award. Thank you very much Fire and Wide!! The #AwesomeBloggerAward is pretty straightforward; you get a series of ten questions that you then answer, then nominate a few people. That’s it, no crazy chain letters about misfortune or luck, and the only thing this has in common with them is that you pass the nomination along to at least 5 people with new questions. I’ll keep my nominations to the end. Now onto the questions: The questions are broken into two categories, the first five about blogging and the second five about my favorite person in the world, ME!! I hope the humor comes across in Continue Reading
Dealing with car issues in a Pandemic
We’re not traveling as much as we used to, though I’m sure we all want to. Unfortunately, grocery stores aren’t always next door and if you’re buying for a week or two you still need that car. Probably more considering you want to get as much at once as possible. Naturally this is the perfect time for the car to breakdown, which is exactly what mine decided to do. This started a couple weeks ago when I went to the grocery store. I got our groceries and the way back out I noticed that one of the rear lights was on. As I got closer to the car it turned out it was just a rear blinker light. The car wasn’t on, none of the other lights were on just one lowly light. I was a little surprised but not shocked, as it had happened before in the winter in Continue Reading
The New Reality: going down to a single income
Most of us are experiencing a new reality when it comes to work, working from home comes with many challenges, but it’s not the only new reality. Unfortunately, too often this new reality is one where there is less income coming in (layoffs, furloughs, pay reductions). I have now joined this group; we are now down to a single income where we had two and while we are fine a lot of people aren’t. Claiming Unemployment Benefits Today was a bit of a sobering day, I actually filed for unemployment benefits. The process was fairly painless and now I wait and see if there are any issues. My guess is that there won’t be any problems and the benefits will roll in. We as a family are in a position where we know we can weather this situation but it’s sobering none the less. Will we have enough to Continue Reading
And then the world changed…
The last time I posted was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far way it seems; since then the world decided to change in a heartbeat. I figured it was time to come back and start writing again, for numerous reasons but if there’s any way I can help I will be glad to. First and foremost, I would like to make sure that the frontline responders and all of the immediate support that they get are recognized. They keep us healthy, they keep us safe, and they keep us fed! They keep our world moving forward when it feels like it wants to curl up in a little ball. Many of them are making them more than minimum wage – they don’t keep doing this regardless of the turmoil going on in the world. They’re all our heroes! There is so much loss, and potential loss happening Continue Reading
Pressing the reset button!
When your computer, or any electronic device, decides to freeze the easiest way to solve the problem is often to press the reset button. But take this solution out of electronics and, while simple, it applies to a great many things. How does a baby learn to walk? They fall down over and over eventually starting to understand elements of walking and developing strength in their legs. Over time this slowly becomes easier and easier and in time the baby walks – how many times do they have to press the reset button to get it right? Most things in life are like that – you have to fall down a fuckload of times before you really start to understand what you’re talking about and what the concept is. This iterative process is one of the ways we learn, from our mistakes, getting better at each attempt. Not many of Continue Reading