Year-End Charitable Giving vs Year-Long Giving

As I wrote before, one of my goals for 2008 is to increase my giving to my church to reach 10% of my income, meaning I intend to tithe in 2008. We give consistently throughout the year so that it has become a habit, a part of our lifestyle. On the flip side, [...]

Reevaluating Our Emergency Fund

One of the mainstays in a secure financial life is the emergency fund. But what that fund should be and where it should be stored is a major point of contention through the professional and blogging world. Some require that $1000 be saved for a rainy day and others go as far as [...]

The Year of the “Broke Christmas”

For the first time in our marriage, I’m actually going to have to stick to the gifting budget we set for each other. We have always set a modest budget (around $100) for Christmas gifts for each other, but I have always thrown that out the window. My wife did a good job [...]

It’s Hard to Get Ahead When Taxes Pull You Down

Well, I just received the most enjoyable piece of mail today… My credit union sent out my new set of coupons for paying my mortgage for 2008 and, much to my bewilderment, the amount went up by almost $50 per month! That means my taxes for last year were more than $400 higher [...]

Who Is That Caveman and How Did He Get Where He Is?

I realized this morning that I’ve been writing about myself and my present for two days now and haven’t told you who this friendly caveman is or how he got here.
Who am I?
I’m a 27 year-old, married caveman with a beautiful one year-old daughter. I am a software engineer and have been with my [...]