How to split costs with roommates
We’re buying our first home and have offered to let a friend and her son move in with us and “pay rent” (part of the mortage + utilities). He thinks our friend should be paying more than half because she’s taking more space, my suggestion was that all of the adults pay an equal amount. So, homies, how have you worked out splitting the costs between roommates in such a situation before?
How to budget, save, and still have a life
If life trips you up, will you be ready? These days you never know when a job loss, medical emergency, or even a cavity will suck your bank account dry and shriveled. You know how important it is to build up an emergency fund, but you need extra money before you can save any money, right? You might be surprised about the answer.
Moral dilemma of a first worlder: Let’s talk about the ethics of the goods we buy
What with recent events in the news about Foxconn, the Chinese company that produces gadgets for Apple, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and others, I’ve started to sit down and wonder if I really want to be purchasing products that were made by people living and working in poor conditions. But I need tech. What do I do?
How to make money off decluttering your house: a video question from Dootsiebug
THANK YOU GUYS for your help on my question about rooting out plastics in my home. I’m going to sit down this weekend and use your advice to come up with some strategies to reduce the plastics I buy in food packaging.
Today Dootsie has a question. If you follow along with comments on Offbeat Home’s posts, you’ve probably run into her. AND NOW WE GET TO SEE YOUR FACE, DOOTSIE!
You owe me a dollar! A self-improving way to save for big goals.
My beloved and I are not the neatest people on earth. We try, and we spend quite a bit of time each week cleaning up our humble little home, but ultimately the place is usually a little messy.
That being said, he has a habit of leaving his shoes smack in the middle of the front door, and I trip over them every day when I get home from work. This shit drives me INSANE.
One day I snapped. I told him every time he leaves his shoes in front of the door he owes me a dollar. The habit persisted, and every dollar he gives me goes straight into our wedding bank.
Choosing a charity to support this December
Every year our family chooses a charity to donate to instead of giving each other more “stuff.”
This year it is my turn to choose, and I am having a hard time finding a useful legitimate charity to donate to. I am interested in a group that is involved on local fronts as well as global, I want the money to go towards what they say it will and I would love for it to be less widely known (not Salvation Army or Toys for Tots — while they are great I would love to donate towards a smaller charity).
Do you have any ideas or a good place to start looking?
If your bank’s too big to fail, make it smaller: what to know about switching from banks to credit unions
Since I had three business and personal accounts at two different crappy banks who definitely cheated their way to prosperity, last month I closed my accounts on Bank Transfer Day.
How do I come to peace with my membership in a food assistance program?
We recently made the decision to fill out the application for SNAP — a food assistance program — and are waiting for our response. Now I find myself feeling…awkward.