Queercents

So my new year’s resolution is to lose weight. Big surprise there!!! I think many people have tried to lose weight over the years as their resolution. Unfortunately, last year I decided not to make losing weight one of my resolutions and I ended up gaining weight. Ooops.

What I’ve come to realize is that it can be expensive to lose weight. There are many aspects of losing weight that incur a cost.

Jason, my partner, and I have decided that in 2008 we plan to eat more organic foods. We are also going to try to purchase more locally produced items. However fresh and local items tend to cost more. The good thing in Indianapolis is that we have a lot of farms in our state. A recent Indiana blogger wrote how buying local, can actually help your state’s economy. Read the rest of this entry »

While we’re taking a break during the holidays, follow along each day as our contributors provide a recap of their best posts from 2007. Thanks for reading and being a continued supporter of Queercents. Enjoy!

Most Commented:
FairTax: is it important to LGBT community?

Ultimate Tip:
Git‘er done for Free

Looking Ahead:
Moving is an expensive proposition

Read all of Phil’s posts by clicking here.

*Phil is one of our newer contributors. He has big posting plans for 2008!

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that Jason and I are renovating a property.  The moving van shows up tomorrow and, almost immediately, this new property will become home.  Thanks to Jason, tomorrow morning, I will leave our current house, work a full day, and return to our brand new home later that evening.  Exciting and pricey all in one!!!

It seems like you shell out money any time you move.  I remember when I first moved out of my parents place.  I couldn’t fathom how expensive the move would be.  I knew that I now had to pay rent, but what I forgot was that I also needed my own furniture.  Not only did I need a new bed, but I also needed to stock my own refrigerator and cabinets.  Spices can be very expensive…and honestly, I think the bottle of orange peels have now been with me for over 6 residences. Read the rest of this entry »

There are a lot of places online to get things done…and many times you won’t have to shell out a dime.

I remember back in the late 1990’s coming across a website called Craigslist. Anytime I have moved, I have used Craigslist to sell those things that I didn’t want to haul to a new place. In Indianapolis Craigslist is still gaining in popularity but back in Massachusetts (and Chicago) it is widely used. For the most part Craigslist is free!

We have been remodeling a home that we plan to move into next month. We had a contractor bid the job. The first line item was to demolish the current kitchen cabinets. This was going to cost us over $1000. Read the rest of this entry »

I started working at a pretty young age. I also liked to excel at whichever job I was doing. I remember the local newspaper had a contest to see which news carrier could increase their subscriptions the most. This meant going door to door to all the non-customers and asking them to receive the daily newspaper. Unfortunately, I won. Yes, I got the $100 savings bond, but it also meant that my one hour long paper route now took three hours to complete. Oops!!!

Success often has unintended consequences.

While I was in college, I worked full time, about 30 hours per week as a university tour guide, and worked my evenings as a Resident Assistant. I was also a double major and finished in four years. This led to many exciting job offers as I was graduating. I took a nice job with a fantastic salary and I was the envy of a lot of my peers. Read the rest of this entry »

Nina had written about fighting over money and it got me thinking. My partner Jason and I haven’t ever fought over money. We may have disagreements about which bill to pay first or how much money we should be saving, but we haven’t ever fought over the topic.

I think there are a few reasons for this. The first is that together we don’t have any credit card debt. The only debts that we have are my student loans and our Mortgage debts. Everything else we save up for before we buy.

Another reason is how we handled our dating lifestyle. When straight couples date, it is a social norm for the guy to pick up the tab. While I disagree with this idea, it definitely does not translate very well into the gay community. When there are two guys, do you pay twice the amount? When there are two gals, does nobody pay? Obviously, this is not the case. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m very excited that I have been asked to be a contributing member of Queercents. I’ve never been a writer, so I ask that you excuse any mild grammar errors. My interests are in real estate, debt reduction, and tax reform (including FairTax). The vast majority of my posts will tend to fall in these categories….and I hope to learn a lot, from my readers, along the way.

I moved to Indianapolis for the money!

Indianapolis? Why did you move to Indianapolis?

I hear this all the time. I hear it from my friends and family back in Boston and I hear it from those I left, back in Chicago. Fortunately, I absolutely LOVE Indianapolis! I didn’t, however, know this before we made the decision to pack up and move. If you had told me 5 years ago that I would be living in Indianapolis, I would have thought you were nuts. But thankfully I am here! Read the rest of this entry »