What Ana Does

I'm currently listening to this audiobook: The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber. And, full disclosure, I'm not in love with it. I'm not jibbing with his position on a lot of these money issues. But its got me thinking about how I'm teaching my kids about money in the real world. Leah has been asking about an allowance and what she'll have to do to earn it for years. And the question stumps us. I didn't get an allowance growing up. But we were encouraged to get jobs and babysit as soon as possible. There wasn't a lot of extra money for new Gap shirts or trendy jeans, so if I wanted to not live in my sister's hand-me-downs, I'd have to buy them myself. And I especially don't remember earning money for doing regular chores around the house. We did them because we had to, we'd be threatened with a wooden spoon (to clean my room, which I hated to do) or, eventually, because we wanted our house to look nice. The author of this book is no...

I love the art of shopping: Discovering neat and different objects. Hunting for the best prices. Using coupons or big sales to get exactly what I want. I love bringing home new stuff. And the internet is my frenemy in this shopping fad. If Leah needs new snow boots, I can be picky and visit all my favorite "boot" sites, to find the best quality at the lowest price -- all on my lunch break. So -- for the past several years, as a reaction the major spending/shopping extravaganza that is Christmas and early January after-Christmas sales (love em), I've made a practice of cutting down personal spending in February (or sometimes March) to just the essentials. Essentials = food, kids activities and needs. And the "big NO" to clothes shopping for me, hunting new house decor, or books, etc. I usually have a surplus of new stuff I haven't even worn/read/framed from the holidays, anyway. The most important step to this shopping diet is to unsubscribe to all th...

Audiobook: The Difference by Jean Chatzky Read by: Jean Chatzky Genre: Self Help Perky and smart, I've seen Jean Chatzky on the Today Show a bunch of times but I'd never bought her books. But, I could use some financial tips and, sure, I'd like to be a millionaire, so I pulled this one off the shelf. I figured, if even 1/4 of this information gets through my thick, numbers-deficient brain, it would be a win. What I got was some good advice not all about money. The Difference, Jean states in her clear, positive voice, isn't about being born with a trust fund or knowing your way around Wall Street (although those things certainly help), it's a state of mind. Your attitude. She sent a questionnaire to a bunch of people, including millionaires, and mined some common themes. Interestingly, luck plays no part in financial wealth. In fact, Jean found the more you believed in luck, the less likely you were to be rich. Rich people believe they had some luck, yes...