Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 84F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Clear to partly cloudy. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. Low 59F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
I had a striking deja vu moment when I read today’s first reader tip. I don’t think I’d ever thought about it, but Roseanne’s tip brought back a memory of my grandfather doing this very thing on the big, black cast iron wood range that sat in my grandparents’ tiny kitchen in Potlatch, Idaho. The stove had a small door with a glass window to observe the fire burning inside. He would clean that door so my grandmother could see when she needed to add more wood to the stove. Sounds like something out of the dark ages, doesn’t it? For the record, I was a very, very young at the time.
Recently, I underwent that procedure no one my age likes to talk about. As much as I dreaded the exam, it was nothing compared to what I went through to get ready for it. Just seeing those words on the office door made me want to cut and run: Certified Financial Planner.
A friend of mine is the comptroller of a small corporation. As such, she is required to handle all aspects of that company’s finances including payroll. She takes the opportunity to figure and tweak the withholding from her own paycheck to reach her goal of neither owing taxes nor being due a refund on April 15.
I don’t really have a mailbag, but it would be fun if I did. What I do have is a file named ECMailbag. That’s where I save all of the questions and letters that you, my dear readers, send to me. I just don’t have the time to respond personally, so I love it when once each week I get to respond to your questions here.
The most powerful financial tool you have at your disposal is your ability to control your thoughts and the circumstance in your life. Your attitude is the only thing in your life over which you have complete control.
Recently I spent a few days on the campus of a private university in the mid-west. I was there to speak to the students on money matters -- specifically the student loans many of these students will take with them as part of their college experience.
Frugality. It’s a word that, for many people, screams deprivation and even poverty. I get letters from readers who say they’ve had it with trying to live below their means and never having anything they love. “What’s the point if all of this deprivation if it just makes me feel even more miserable?” was the way one woman closed her letter.
The idea of emergency preparedness is a good one. Every family needs some kind of plan in the event of a kind of disaster that could disrupt the normal course of life. But where to start? Hopefully, these quick tips will do the trick to get you unstuck and on your way to being prepared.
