makingourway

Healthy sleeping tips

2009-10-12T21:37:00.002-05:00

My favorite tip from consumer reports is that you: (this is from National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and individual sleep-medicine experts they consulted): Use the bedroom only for sleeping or sex. I...

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Losing our transit benefit

2009-10-12T21:35:00.001-05:00

It's unfortunate, but big company has decided to economize on certain HR benefits. One, which I really enjoy and will be sad to miss, is our transit benefit. I was able to pay for more than $200 a month in transit costs using pre-tax dollars. This...

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updating our children's furtniture

2009-10-12T21:31:00.002-05:00

Looks like our little ones are getting a bit too big for the hand me down furniture they've been living in (a day bed from my bachelorhood) and a convertible crib (now bed) from our first. Our strategy looks like we'll do the following: 1. ...

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quick update on net worth - overall about 13% down on investments

2009-10-11T13:39:00.002-05:00

Did quick overview of investments. Very difficult to track in quicken when rollovers seem to reset investment performance at the time of rollover. However, most of the rollover assets were similar, so I'm estimating my investments to be down 13%...

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ipod choices

2009-10-11T13:33:00.002-05:00

i finally gave in and bought an ipod touch. something i'd been avoiding for a long time. Now the question is what do i do with my CD's i'd like to rip? rip them in mp3 format or put them in apple's aac format? Honestly the only way we listen to...

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finally getting satelite tv

2009-10-11T13:30:00.002-05:00

Well, we've been offline without any cable tv for a long time. Seems like inlaws are the primary driver of having satelite so they can watch overseas tv. I'm ok as long as we don't have English channels. It'll force the children to work on their...

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Watching our investments slowly come back (maybe 6.66% off)

2009-09-13T10:47:00.004-05:00

It's been quite a while since our investments lost about 35% at the bottom of the market. They're slowly getting better at about 6.66% off accroding to quicken. However, i think they may be further off as I rolled over my old 401k and I suspect...

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start thinking about your 2009 income taxes

2009-09-12T15:04:00.002-05:00

It's time to start thinking about your 2009 income taxes. Will you owe money, will you be owed money? If you plan and project your tax situation now, you'll be able to accrue / save extra cash and be prepared for the april 15th tax bill. On the...

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Rethinking the basics

2009-08-20T22:47:00.001-05:00

When's the last time you re-examined how you do common activities and decided to learn how to do them better? Reinvesting in the basics can be a huge liberator, bringing minutes or hours back into your schedule every day. Just ask yourself simple...

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blackberry vs. iphone

2009-08-13T03:58:00.002-05:00

i'm wondering if i should switch from my personal blackberry to an iphone. Switching would entail: 1. canceling my current phone contract (est. $150 fee) 2. buying an iPhone and a bunch of chargers 3. figuring out how to balance the cost effect...

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paying attention to corporate discounts

2009-08-11T07:50:00.001-05:00

My former employer provided a 17% discount for verizon wireless. May new employer provides a 23% discount for AT&T. After looking at the various plans, it seems cheaper to put everyone on at&t. I wonder how many other corporate...

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Woe to the mortgage bankers

2009-07-21T21:54:00.001-05:00

Just had a very interesting conversation with an old friend - a mortgage banker. I think he's going to quit his job. He talked to his other friends at other big banks, like BofA. His other mortgage broker friends are considering quiting too. I...

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blogger buddy

2009-07-21T21:29:00.001-05:00

Life has been crazy and hectic, so i've had little time to keep up. during a break i found blogger buddy, it's made by the same company that makes the xm vista sidebar client. I'm testing it to see how it works. Any common experience? Regards,...

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cheap exercise vs expensive exercise

2009-06-06T00:04:00.000-05:00

After leaving big company, I joined aspiring big company, which brought several new lifestyle changes: 1. I don't travel as much (yet) 2. There's a health club in the building 3. I spend 3 hours r/t commuting On the advice of a friend I tried...

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Brief notes on our 2008 Strategy Recap

2009-04-12T11:01:00.002-05:00

2008 was a crazy and busy year. I was traveling almost 100% for work, we still had (and have) the other house we could not sell and work was increasingly unstable (as it was for so many others). We also had some very sick children, which made...

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last minute thoughts before sending in your income tax returns

2009-04-12T09:30:00.002-05:00

1. Always make sure you've matched and collected your 1098 and 1099-div/interest forms from your banks and other financial institutions. The IRS gets the same forms and if you've forgotten or missed one they'll find it via computer match and send...

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check out the new carnival of personal finance

2009-03-22T21:43:00.000-05:00

MOW is included in this week's carnival of personal finance. The topic is learn the basics of personal investing. I plan to flip through it myself. Regards, makingourwaySee www.makingourwayblog.com for more posts.

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Why do i still need my blackberry?

2009-03-18T02:38:00.001-05:00

It looks like my employer may be providing me with a company phone. Which is certainly nice if I no longer have to file telephone expense reports. However, what do I do with the BlackBerry I currently own? It won't be connected to a Microsoft...

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late night shopping for diaper rash ointment

2009-03-18T02:27:00.001-05:00

I recently had to buy Desitin for one of our younger children. Desitin has the highest percentage of zinc oxide (about 40%) of all the products offered at walgreens. Traditionally, we've slathered large amounts all over our children's nether...

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a nice way to help others... make a meal

2009-03-16T11:10:00.003-05:00

While helping a very sick family member, I was very impressed by the help their neighbors and community provided. Often people wonder, how can I help? The family has someone ill, can we do something? The first inclination is often transportation...

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what a hilarious video "are you good friends"?

2009-03-14T21:46:00.002-05:00

I was recently watching a you tube video when my eyes wandered to "are you good friends"? I followed the recommended link and low and behold it was hilarious! A young lady discusses her experience at clothing store where she felt compelled through...

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Thoughts on what it takes to be rich in Chicago

2009-03-12T21:43:00.004-05:00

I recently read an old blog posting from US News by Rick Newman. He published a discussion and table of what the top 20% and top 5% earned in 40 of the largest metro areas. The article was most likely spurred by Obama's tax initiatives aimed at...

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Financial models for catastrophic illness

2009-03-05T14:16:00.003-06:00

I have a relative who is quite ill. I was wondering what information would be out there to create a budget for all of the medical expenses that will occur. I have to say there was very little if anything available. Based on my understanding,...

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creeping socialism

2009-03-05T14:14:00.003-06:00

What does it mean when the federal government takes over and owns our banking system? Will political entitlement, logrolling and general corruption displace profit oriented decisions? The long term consequences of our current situation frighten me...

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a wonderful link to great financial listening

2009-03-05T14:12:00.003-06:00

Subscribers to the economist can listen to word for word reading of the entire magazine. I find it better than NPR's marketplace, however, the link to the consolidated articles was always hard to find. So, I'm sharing it with you...

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