Uncategorized

The first three months of the year were great for us financially, and relatively quiet otherwise. We came back from spending new year’s eve in Florida, settled back into our routines, and tried to play outside with our little one as much as the weather allowed. Without further introduction let’s get into the numbers. The Numbers Let’s dig into some of the larger and more interesting items. Daycare: not surprisingly daycare continues to be our biggest recurring expense. We remain grateful to have found a great place right across the street from our house as it saves us lots of … Read more…

A little over two years ago my wife and I purchased our first house. At the time, it was the biggest purchase of our lives so we gave it a lot of thought and analysis. In fact, I wrote an entire blog post about it. If you don’t want to read through the entire post, here is the TLDR: Don’t fall for the conventional wisdom that says buying a home is always better than renting. Do your own analysis keeping emotions aside. Your mortgage payment is not your only cost. Consider: repairs and maintenance, opportunity cost of having your money … Read more…

The last three months of 2018 were quite busy for us. As soon as tax season started winding down we took a trip to Texas to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. We enjoyed exploring around Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. We also attended a friend’s wedding in South Carolina, and traveled to Florida to receive the new year. Other than that, we enjoyed some fantastic weather (at least in October and November) in Raleigh spending time as a family. Let’s Dive Into the Q4 Numbers Not surprisingly, daycare was our largest expense at $698 per month. This is lower than usual for two reasons. First, we took a … Read more…

April, May, and June were great for us this year. I very much enjoy the rising temperatures and the extra day light that comes with spring. The highlight of this quarter was meeting up with my parents in Las Vegas for a couple of weeks of family fun. We also traveled to Jackson, MS for the baptism of our godson. We were very honored and exited when our friends J & K asked us to be godparents of their little one 🙂 The Numbers Here is a summary of our expenses for April, May, and June, as well as the … Read more…

Just this past week I found myself facing a dilemma you will likely face several times during your lifetime: when something needs to be done, should you do it yourself (DIY) or hire a pro? The story begins a few weeks ago when my daughter flushed a pair of scissors down the toilet. Shortly after, the toilet started getting clogged. At first we were able to unclog the toilet with a good ole plunger, but the clogging would occur again every time any solids were flushed down. After a lot of research some Google searches, I learned that the scissors … Read more…