Finance Gourmet Site

Summer Time!

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Summer Time! 1

We at Finance Gourmet (it’s just me, but I like saying that) are getting ready to gear up for summer. That means a few things. First, some of the articles around here are going to be about VACATIONS and things like credit card rewards programs, airline miles, and how to save money on travel. Second, some of the articles are going to be focuses on outdoor activities and how you can take advantage of them while saving money, and living the good life. Third, there is a WHOLE LOT of weird stuff going on in the world economically speaking. Regardless of what you think of President Trump, the stuff he is doing is bombastic, and not at all carefully implemented, so expect plenty of whipshaw from investors, the markets, and economic numbers. As always, a well balanced portfolio is the answer to all your long-term investing issues, but changes are probably necessary for your short-term stuff because the volatility isn’t going away. And, finally, I’m “off” during the summer (I don’t have to go into an office anyway) so expect a bit of off-topic drift as me and the family have a whole lot of fun without breaking the bank, …

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Finance Gourmet iPad WordPress App

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Did you know that there is a WordPress app for the iPad? I didn’t. While it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to type fast enough to write long personal finance advice blog posts, it does look like a handy little tool for keeping an eye on things and making smaller updates. Well, I guess this is a successful test of a new finance blog tool.

Quick Thanks

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A quick (but big) thank you to Kristie Lorette, a fellow Copywriting & Marketing pro, who spotted a potentially embarssing quirk on the site and had the courtesy to let me know about it. Thanks Kristie.

Major Conversion

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I’ll be moving the now hybrid version of Finance Gourmet to an all WordPress format.  So, it will look very different soon. Comments on the market, selling the house, and my small business(es) coming tonight, and the rest of this week.

Iggyshouse Down!

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Some of you have followed along as we try and sell our house without a real estate agent.  I have documented how we were using Iggyshouse.com to this.  But, the site has been down for the last several days.  I was finally able to find this article suggesting that this is not a temporary glitch. Needless to say, we are re-evaluating.  Even if it does come back online, this is disconcerting to say the least.  If we were off MLS for even one weekend, that might have cost us a sale.  So, I cannot recommend using iggyshouse.com at this time. Stay tuned.  I’ll post a follow up when I have more details.

Personal Finance and Prescriptions

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These days, medical expenses are a big burden to many family’s budgets. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to figure out just how and when you can save money without endangering your health. However, here are some tips that could save you plenty of money on your prescriptions. Costco, Sam’s Club, and Other Warehouse Clubs It is no secret that places like Costco and Sam’s Club have pharmacies, and yes, they have good prices on prescriptions as well. Not a member? No problem. Most states have laws requiring any business establishment to permit public access to the pharmacy. In other words, you can march right into Sam’s Club without a membership and have your prescription filled. Just tell the person at the door that you are having a prescription filled in the pharmacy and they’ll let you right in. These places tend to train their people pretty well on this rule so they don’t get into trouble. The one catch is that both Costco and Sam’s Club have restrictive payment options so make sure you have the right kind of credit card or are prepared to pay by check. For more expensive prescriptions this may not be a very palatable option, …

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WordPress Theme Hacking

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I’ve become obsessed with themes in WordPress. Nothing seems to be exactly what I want, although there are a lot of great themes out there. Currently I’m using this grid based theme (see credit in footer). I’ve been hacking at it for a while now, and I’m not sure it looks as good as the one on another site of mine Undefeated Daddy which is using the WP Premium theme with virutally no hacking (just to make things work in my file structure). So, it continues…

Selling Your Own Home – Time Warp

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Ok, so nothing at all on the house for two weeks. It was very weird because we were having a few showings every weekend day and one or two the other days with an off day every now and then. Then, all of the sudden, nothing! I checked everything out to make sure a phone number wasn’t wrong or anything. We panicked and called our realtor friend. She said not to worry and that these things go in cycles. Incidentally, this kind of hand holding is part of what you pay a real estate agent for. Anyway, the funny part is that the day she got back to me, I get a call. They want to setup a showing for…NOW. Oh, great, thanks for the notice. So, I race around and clean up the place (baby toys EVERYWHERE!) Then, two showing for Saturday. So, hopefully everything is still on track.

Money Psychology

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I’ve decided to do a new series here at Finance Gourmet on the psychology of money.  Virtually all the emails I get and questions I’m being asked from both online and in person lately have to do more with psychology than they do with raw numbers and math.  I already have about eleven topics ready to go and I’m sure more will pop up as I go along.  Don’t miss out on any of them by: Getting the RSS feed