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May 11, 2007    |       4 comments

Late Night Friday Blog Highlight

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Today was one of those draining days at work where after I got off work I wasn’t in the mood to write anything for today. After dinner, we ended up going for a walk and enjoyed the perfect weather (sunny & not too hot). I also did a little bit of working out on my elliptical. It felt good to get more active.

Anyways, now it’s a relaxing time and I spent some time cruising the blog-o-sphere and thought I would share some interesting articles.

Re-focusing on Debt/Life Balance – At We’re in Debt, they discuss that sometimes you do need to spend a little bit of money even though you are paying off debt. I agree and discussed this with answering, How Far Will I Go to Pay off Our Debt?.

The Top 5 Ways to Become a Millionaire – Jeremy at GenXFinance gives some solid information. No get rich quick schemes here.

Money Question: How Do You Handle Financial Disagreements? – Golbguru asks this important question among a few personal finance bloggers and opens the floor to comments from his readers.

I hope you enjoy these articles as much as I did 🙂

May 9, 2007    |       33 comments

“You Live in a Poopy House”

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My son came home from school yesterday and started talking about some boys at school. He’s been having problems with them ganging up and bullying him (which has been a nightmare in itself – he’s only in kindergarten!!). I overheard him telling his dad that the boys said a bad word. They told my son, “You live in a poopy house.”

I was working at the time and I immediately stopped what I was doing. I know kids sometimes say the darndest things, but I’ve seen their house. It’s large and extravagent with playground equipment in the yard and even a trampoline. My first thought is that the parents are rich. Now that I know a few things, I am more inclined to say that they are in a lot of debt 😉

Anyways, our house, on the other hand, is standing and the roof doesn’t leak so that’s a good start. It isn’t close to a mansion but it provides what we need. The decor leaves much to be desired and many things haven’t been updated in years. It has a lot of problems cosmetically and sometimes it does bug me that our home doesn’t look better, but it is our home and it provides the essential needs. I am content with it for now because our small mortgage ($323) is letting us pay more towards our debt.

Hearing what those boys said to my son did bother me. People can tell me I have a poopy house all they want and I’ll let it go in one ear and out the other because we have this house for a reason. But I remember as a child words like that always hurt. My son acted like he wasn’t bothered by it and I only hope that he really wasn’t. I hope he learns that the biggest house in the world won’t make you happy. Other things do.

Part of me worries that our financial situation will have a negative effect on our son. The other part of me wants to believe he will grow up to be a well-rounded individual because of the life we live. One that realizes that money doesn’t make a person who they are. Their debt doesn’t define them…their wealth doesn’t define them. What matters are the things that money can’t buy: compassion, understanding and a good heart.

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