Posts I Liked This Week

When I visited Mrs. Micah’s personal finance wiki, I discovered all sorts of new sites I hadn’t visited before, and came across lots of great articles from some of my favorite bloggers.   Here are a few highlights that inspired and/or intrigued  me:

None of us are average when it comes to how much we’ll end up spending to raise a child.   I agree that we’re all different when it comes to how much it will cost to raise a child, just as we’re all different when it comes to the amount we spend on all the other aspects of our lives.   I have no doubt that the Frugal Babe household will spend considerably less than the average in raising our child.  

Some yummy-sounding recipes from Frugal Upstate.

The passport photo ripoff.   I couldn’t agree more.   My husband and I spent $16 to get our  photos taken last year when we needed to renew our passports.   The lady at Walgreens just stood in front of us with a digital camera and took the pictures – they didn’t even use a tripod.   Why does it cost $8 per picture when a digital print on one of their machines is about 25 cents?!   I remember when my whole family needed updated passports in the 90s, my parents took the six pictures on a 35 mm camera, got double prints, and ended up with six renewed passports with a total picture charge of about $10 (film and processing).  

Thirty good personal finance rules to live by.  

A very comprehensive post about the pros and cons of paying off a mortgage early.   My husband and I do pay extra on our mortgage every month (currently $150 extra, but we increase that amount by $10 each month), and hope to pay off a 30 year mortgage in about half that time.   But it’s not nearly as much of a focus as our HSA and IRAs.  

Here’s  a welcome change from all the people I hear talking about their tax refunds (some of my friends get refunds of $5000 or more!).   Fiscal Musings made the W4 changes necessary to keep more tax money throughout the year, and will be paying taxes next month.   But no free loan to Uncle Sam!

A post that reminds us to find our inner purpose and seek to make peace with ourselves.   It doesn’t matter how much money we’re putting in our IRAs or emergency funds if we’re not happy with who we are and what we stand for.  

An informative post about credit reports and credit scores.   I really liked the snapshot of the credit report card from credit.com – I’m tempted to go see my own, but I’m sure I’d have to pay for it…

Things we need to know about 529 plans.   This is a good one for me, as we’ll be opening a 529 sometime later this year for our little one who will be arriving in May.

It amazes me how many great pf blogs are out there.   I love reading other people’s ideas and seeing what worked or didn’t work for them.   It’s always nice to not have to reinvent the wheel.