Weekly Update 35

We are falling into a normal routine for this school year and our new place.  We finally got our TV/entertainment area set up in the townhouse so that is an accomplishment.  I’m now spending Monday and Thursday evenings at work while Kyle is at some activities, which gives me time to hit the gym and put in a few extra hours in the lab.  On Friday we had plans to see an outdoor movie but it’s was rained out.  Last night I went out with some of my girlfriends who I haven’t seen much recently and it was great to spend some time with them.

Leading up to the end of this month I was trying to figure out why out checking account balance had dwindled so far.  We should have had some extra money around because of not paying for Kyle’s cell phone but it looked like we were going to overspend.  After about an hour of digging, I found that I had double-transferred some money from checking into savings.  It’s the first time that I noticed a mistake in a transfer like that after weeks instead of hours.  I make a lot of those types of transfers in and out of our targeted savings every month so I guess it’s not surprising that I messed one up.  Anyway I feel good about rooting out that error instead of just ignoring it since it was a rather big discrepancy.

Posts I Liked

Jason from Work Save Live explains four different uses for life insurance.

John from Married (with Debt) reminds us that wealth isn’t created by your income but rather your income less expenses.

Amber from Money Under 30 points out that online bill pay is not all upsides.

Kraig from Young Cheap Living visualizes how his friends will react when he tells them he bought his (future) house in cash.

Daisy from Prairie Eco Thrifter outlines several strategies for combatting lifestyle inflation.

J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy asks if you have a higher net worth than Joe Biden.

Tie the Money Knot has several suggestions for couples who want to have kids in the future regarding giving up one income.

Michelle from iHeartBudgets compares the cost of cloth and disposable diapers.

L Bee from L Bee and the Money Tree details an outrageous etiquette breach by one of her friends over a gift.

Top Comment

Kelly shared her assessment on interviewing for a postdoc on my post on job-seeking expenses, observing that “if they don’t offer to pay most of your travel expenses for a postdoc interview, then their funding situation is probably limited… It might also say something about how they treat their lab staff in general.”

Most Frequent Commenters

1. SWR @ Destination Declutter

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