My Money, Your Money, Our Money

Even in this age of equality, women generally still have a better grasp (not to be sexist, just stating a generality!) of what is required daily to run a household, from safety pins to bath towels and from how many apples are in the refrigerator to who took the last shower. Thus, it makes sense for whoever fits this role to put the frugal eye on the countless ways a household wastes or makes money.

Who wants to do that alone, while their partner spends what s/he has with no thought of whether they need toilet paper? To solve this problem, many couples have turned to "my money, your money and our money."

Answers To 5 Excellent Questions About Reverse Mortgages

Can you get a reverse mortgage? Should you? What are the pitfalls and benefits of this popular way to use your home for retirement income? Guest author Matt Allen answers these and more questions that will help you really understand what reverse mortgages are all about: 


When is a homeowner eligible for a reverse mortgage?

In the past, a homeowner only needed to be 62 and have enough equity in their home to qualify. Today there are several other things that come in to play as far as being eligible for a reverse mortgage.

You need to pass the financial assessment. The whole purpose of the assessment is to look at your willingness and ability to pay your taxes and insurance. They look at your credit history, your mortgage / rent payment history and your property tax and insurance history for the last two years. You are also required to have a minimum disposable income based on household size and region you live in.

What they're not telling us about inflation

I enjoy reading Gary D Halbert's weekly enewsletter because he always has something to think about.

Part of what he was talking about this week caught my attention. At least I know I'm in good company:

""Let’s face it, how can inflation be only 1.2% over the last year when we’ve seen the prices of many commodities rise sharply?  On average, our basic food costs have increased by almost 50% over the last year (as measured by wheat, corn, oats, and canola prices).   Beef and pork prices are up almost 40% over the last year.  Cotton prices are up over 50%.  Your morning cup of coffee with a little sugar has risen by around 35% since last October."

Yes, let's face it. Food prices are soaring, and cotton clothing will soon. It's not a good situation, money-wise and the immediate future does not look rosy.

And "they" tell us that inflation is low? It's an interesting discussion that you might want to read for yourself:

Inflation Coming Sooner Rather Than Later

What We Don't Do

We talk about saving at the grocery store, about saving energy dollars, about saving on the clothes budget, but how many times have you thought about saving by not being charged for something? To explain what I mean, let me quote an email I received:

(I) don't know where this tip might fit on the site, but I had an experience recently that is going to blow a big hole in my budget. I got caught speeding. Even though the trooper was merciful, court fees alone are 90 dollars. Speeding isn't worth the risk in safety and cost.

Once upon a time, many years ago, I attended a personal finance seminar where the speaker claimed to buy all of her clothing second hand, use generic foods and pay off her credit cards on the first of every month.

You know what stuck in my mind? She recommended using the library extensively instead of bookstores, but she then went on a tangent about library fines. It seems that the librarian knew she would eventually return her books and so wouldn't charge her the replacement fee on her books no matter how long overdue they were.

After all these years, I shake my head in wonder.

Why bother to pay attention to generic apple sauce for ten cents less than a name brand if you're going to pay the library two cents a day for three books for a month, because you won't take the trouble to return them on time?

What about other times when we cost ourselves money?

Times like when we have to pay late fees on bills when we could have paid them on time, or administration costs on insurance premiums because we pay them each month instead of each quarter or half?

Parking tickets? Overdrawn accounts at the bank?

Sometimes it's what we don't do that costs us the most money.

Confessions of a personal finance blogger

I was challenged to do this, and I just can't pass up a good challenge. There are only so many things I'm willing to confess to in public, or it could have been a real humdinger of an article.

I'm not really a "personal finance" blogger, I'm just a frugal one, but... well, like I said, I was challenged, so here it is:

Confessions of a personal finance blogger