I'm retired law enforcement, and spent 18 years as a patrol officer. If I stopped you for running a red light or stop sign, don't try to tell me that you didn't. I watched it, I saw it, and if it didn't happen I wouldn't have stopped you. I don't want to be embarrassed in court or develop a reputation as an unreliable ...

Other than groceries, gas for the car and a once-a-month dinner out this week we haven't spent anything. We also put a much larger than normal amount in savings from overtime that I worked a few weeks ago.

[quote user="Pat"]Do you have advice for her?[/quote] Yes. Stop creating spoiled brats, especially the "grown-up" ones. Give them notice that on a certain date within a couple of months financial support will stop. The 22-year-old needs to know that she will have to pay for her next car or do without one. The 23-year-old ...

[quote user="Carmina"]I have been using cash only for purchases of gas, food, doctor visits, school fees.  I have been using debit for over-the-phone payments only.[/quote] We've been doing that for years, although we write checks for groceries and use a couple of credit cards for mail-order stuff. But we keep track of the ...

It hasn't affected us much other than to make us more aware of how fortunate we are and grateful that we didn't make the mistakes that so many others have done. We are so much "on the same page" about finances - which is really about priorities - that sometimes it's a little weird, like we're telepathic or ...

[quote user="mikasha"]But I don't understand the part about turning down jobs. Wouldn't a lower-paying job be better than not bringing in any money at all?[/quote] One would think. DW has said more than once she would take any job at all if she had to. We are fortunate in that we have a pension that more than pays all the ...

The last time I went shopping on Black Friday was 1973. Never again.

If you're not fussy about appearances, a cheap book case is to get some boards at the lumberyard and stack them on cinder blocks. I did that for a couple of years until the money was there to buy something nicer. It was a decorating style referred to as "Early Poverty".

Great idea! Even when I was single and moved into my first apartment, I realized that I didn't have a clue as to how to cook anything more complicated than fried eggs, macaroni & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches. I ate a lot of frozen veggies, frozen pizza, canned soup and Uncle Ben's rice. Liquids were beer and Coke. A ...

[quote user="Brandy"]My little man isn't so little anymore. The days of picking him the latest Lego set or action pack of figures is past. So what do we give him this year that says he is special to us and that he will enjoy.[/quote] Just get him what every teenage boy wants: A fast car, a motorcycle, a speedboat, an ...