Category: Babci
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Settling Estate Disputes – Babci Style
Tweet My dad died when I was 14 and it wasn’t without it’s drama. You see, he had recurring chest pains and stopped working for good when I was about 9. When I was 12 and his health insurance ran out, he emptied our bank accounts and went back to Poland. He never liked America…
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Is your biggest strength your biggest weakness?
Tweet This post is dedicated to Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff. She is currently looking for a more exciting job and I thought it would be a good exercise to think about as one prepares for interviews. I inherited a trait from Babci that I can only describe as the ability to have…
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Sacrifices to Get Ahead
Tweet I promised a Babci story this week and when I asked for things people wanted to know, one of my readers, Margaret asked “why did Babci get married so late in life?” Well, there is indeed a story there. There are actually a couple of reasons why she was close to 40 when she…
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Dream Homes and Gut Reactions
Tweet One of our dreams is to someday retire, have a little boat and live on the ocean. Oceanfront property is not cheap in the Northeast. However, with interest rates as low as they are, we decided to have a look around to see what was out there. It wasn’t long before we found a…
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The Dumpster Dilemma + Underwater Summer Homes
Tweet The house next door to Babci just sold for $99K and it’s about identical to hers. We bought Babci’s house at the peak of the market in 2005 and are currently about $155K into it. We have already replaced the roof, furnace, refinished the hardwoods downstairs, gutted the hall and one of upstairs bedrooms.…
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Verbal Abuse, Brainwashing and Personal Finance
Tweet I figure I’ll write a few posts on my dad, as he taught me many lessons in all the worst ways. A little background. My dad was not a very nice person. To top it off, he was a lazy, racist, manipulative, gambling alcoholic. Here’s a photo of us when I was born. You…
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Extreme Frugalism – How many have you tried?
Tweet The other day, I was commenting on an interesting post about shameless frugality over at Squirrelers. Mr. Squirreler himself expressed an interest in hearing about some of Babci’s money saving undertakings that would make even the frugalest of frugalites cringe. So by popular demand, here is a list of actual things that either my…
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Perspective – Hard to Gain but Great to Have
Tweet Webster’s Dictionary defines perspective as: “the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance.” Sandy L’s definition of perspective: “A much needed life experience that helps prevent a sense of entitlement to things that aren’t really that important.” I think this sense of entitlement is what gets people into so much…
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What’s the Window Into your Soul?
Tweet Whenever I want to know how my mom is doing, I take a trek back to her garden and have a look. One of my longtime family friends was touring my mom’s garden and it wasn’t long before she was laughing and admiring the interesting things mixed in with her vegetable garden. There were…