Blog
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WWYD: Free Item at Checkout
So here’s the deal: the other day Rob and I were at a major discount store, which shall remain nameless. The harried lady scanning our items at the checkout lane did not seem to have complete control of the scanner, so in rapid succession she scanned a corkboard/whiteboard combo; a wall clock; a shelving unit;…
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The Small House Movement vs. Big, Bad Houses
“If size did matter, the dinosaurs would still be alive.” — Wendelin Wiedeking On Sunday, Arrol Gellner, an architect and syndicated columnist, wrote an article that appeared in the LA Times entitled: What Was Supersized May One Day Be Downsized. He writes, “The size of the average American house more than doubled between 1950 and…
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Setting Goals: Realistic, Routine and Socially Binding
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” — Napoleon Hill Émile Coué is the father of autosuggestion and according to Wikipedia, “Autosuggestion is a process by which an individual trains the subconscious mind to believe something, or systematically schematizes the person’s own mental associations, usually for a given purpose. A trivial example…
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New Year Resolution #2: Live Frugally Ever After
My second resolution is less about a particular action (like checking my credit reports) and more about a way of life. I spent much of my early 30s getting out of debt, as my first Queercents post explained. I spent my middle 30s getting situated financially: that included saving for the down payment for my…
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New Year’s Rituals for Success
Today I wrote a post on my Coaching4Lesbians blog called “Take Stock of 2006 and Create a Vision for 2007”. When it comes to your finances, the same holds true — if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. So, I suggest taking a few quiet moments this holiday weekend…
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New Year Resolution #1: Check Your Credit Reports Free
Happy new year, happy new queer! The daylight hours are now gradually getting longer, a new calendar will soon hang on your wall, and it’s a perfect time to make a resolution to better yourself somehow in the coming year. Something I tend to neglect, even with my fairly responsible use of credit, is keeping…
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Ten Money Questions for Stewart Lewis
Stewart Lewis has many talents: he writes novels and makes music. He is what the world would label a creative type. As you’ll learn below, his bank account has grown with each artistic success, but that doesn’t mean he ever intends to balance his checkbook. I asked Stewart to get personal about fame, fortune and…
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WWYD: Exploiting Return Policies
In this week’s “What Would You Do” series, I thought we could tackle the topic of merchandise returns. We all probably received something over the holidays that we want to return or exchange. To start, here are some tips from Mark Huffman at ConsumerAffairs.com that you can keep in mind at any time of the…
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Self-Esteem… on Borrowed Credit
“A shortcut to riches is to subtract from one’s desires.” — Plutarch I recently wrote an article now appearing in the January 2007 issue of the BLADE, a Southern California GLBT magazine. I wanted to reprint it here… Ten years ago, Juliet B. Schor wrote a book called The Overspent American and she concluded that,…
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Ten Money Questions for Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese is the President of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. I asked Joe to get personal about money and the cost of causes. He gracefully declined on the personal questions so we trimmed Ten Money Questions to Five Money Questions. I made the exception because after all it’s…
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