Essays

  • Insurance policy on a clipboard shielded by an umbrella
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    And They Didn’t Even Buy Us Dinner First: Property Insurance Woes

    Property insurance is necessary if you own a car or a home, especially if you have a loan or mortgage. But it’s also a flawed system that punishes you for using the coverage you’ve paid for. Surviving without health insurance is difficult, too, and I don’t even want to get into what’s wrong with the state of healthcare in the United States. Finding insurance coverage Shopping for insurance coverage is easy if you’ve never had a claim and just want to save some money. You can go online to compare rates of major and not-so-major companies and choose the one with the best price and coverage. Often, there’s a discount…

  • Snoopy thinking he has a pretty good life.
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    A Lesson in Gratitude

    There’s always something to be grateful for, even in the darkest of times. One of my goals for 2024 (and beyond) is to maintain an attitude of gratitude no matter what life throws at me. Life’s thrown a lot at me lately, especially with property insurance woes, which I will write about as soon as the situation is resolved. What’s kept me sane is my therapist’s advice to focus on gratitude to drown out the bad thoughts. Sometimes it feels easier to complain In the daily grind, it’s easy to focus on the negative. Maybe you overslept, the kids are cranky, or your dog puked on the rug. There’s always…

  • Green piggy bank
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    Finances and Frugality in a World Where Everything Costs a Freakin’ Fortune

    Let’s talk about some F-words (no, not that F-word). Let’s discuss finances, fortune, and frugality. I’m not a financial advisor, but I wanted to share some thoughts about money and some practices that have worked for my family. Finances Money. We need it to live, but everyone makes different amounts of it. And we all have different financial situations, systems, and priorities. Some of us budget every penny and others are comfortably wealthy or don’t care to keep track of spending. Some people spend, and some people save. Some are good at both. Then there’s debt, and credit scores, and debt-to-income ratios. What’s good debt vs. bad debt? Do you…