Category Archives: Family

A Frugal And Fun Trip To The Park

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This past Sunday, my family (wife and 2 kids) decided to go to the nature park.  Actually, it was more my wife’s idea, but since the temperature this past Sunday in our neck of the country was almost 80 degree, it sounded like a wonderful idea.

So we went a park close by that was a nature friendly park (no swings and play areas).  Nobody was allowed to bring pets to this particular park.  And it was unique in that it had a swamp area and a bunch of small ponds.

We started our day at the park by going to the glass enclosed observation deck watching the squirrels, chipmunks, finches and blue birds feed at the bird feeders.  It has a microphone outside and we could hear the chirping of the birds, that always make the experience a bit more enjoyable.

Next we strolled down to the first pond.  Not much was happening, so we decided to skip some stones across the pond surface.  I taught my son a few years ago, so I mainly focused on teaching my seven-year old daughter how to skip the stones.  She was successful with 2 skips, but that was about it.  It will come with time, I told her.

From the pond we strolled down to the wetlands and onto the floating walkway that floats on the swamp-like water.  This part of the park is always a favorite!  On this particular day, we saw a goose chasing other geese out of the pond because the his mate had just laid eggs.  It was a comical sight that had my daughter laughing for a long while (what a great sound).  We then looked around and found a turtle near the weeds laying on a log next to the edge of the water.  It was just catching some rays from the sun.  Still anything like seeing a turtle on a lazy park walk is magical for the kids.

We then walk back to the park building.  Once inside, I noticed that a room called “Lab” had its door was slightly open.  The light was off, but I went in and turned on the lights (we’ve been there before in the past).  In the Lab room, we saw a spiny softshell turtle (what a queer-looking animal) in an aquarium swimming like it was desperately trying to get out.   Next we saw some snakes (rat snake and others) and another turtle (box turtle).  This effectively was the grand finale of the trips and I have to admit that even I was impressed.  Of all the animals that we saw, the Spiny Softshell turtle was the most interesting for the entire family.

 

Spiny ShoftShell Turtle

Spiny ShoftShell Turtle

 

 

My wife and I had to leave for other appointments after the lab room, and surprisingly the both kids didn’t want to leave.  Whenever your kids don’t want to leave something educational, I consider that a successful trip!

Now to some this might sounds like a boring trip, but if you were a couple, it would have been incredible romantic since there wasn’t hardly anyone there and the sounds of nature all around opens a temporary door for a little escapism from the chaos of the day’s hussle and bussle.

For my wife and I, the good time that the kids had is what made our day.  We know that the days of my son enjoying such activities are limited since he almost eleven years old.  So we try to make the best of it while he’s willing to be entertained by such family trips and time together.

We went on our park trip over 6 hours ago, but I”m still playing back the great time we had in my head!  Too bad there wasn’t someone there to video record the experience as we enjoy the time together…

While such a trip might seem very frugal, in actuality, it’s very rich in experiences and family bonding time.

Do you have any small frugal activities that you would rather do than a costly one?  I personally enjoyed the small but educational trip as much as the indoor amusement park trip we had this past Thursday.

I hope everybody had a great weekend like we did!

-MR

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Why We Didn’t Buy The Most House We Could Afford

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Today, I decided to give my story on why we decided to build the house that we currently have.

My Upbringing:

I come from a family were both my grandparents and parents either paid off their mortgages early or never had a mortgage.  Both never liked being in debt long, at least not consumer debt.

When we bought our house, we didn’t buy the most expensive house that we could afford.  Instead we build one that we could get by with comfortably on just my salary.  This enabled my wife to become a SAHM (Stay at home mom).

Today, my wife and kids have a strong bond, they do many great things together, including homework and special fun trips.  That stability in the life of my kids is something that was missing for both my wife and I when we were growing up.

It Came With A Price!

With only me working a paying job, it drastically slowed our wealth accumulation.  Oh sure, I still pumped a bit of  money into my 401k, the kid’s 529 plans and into a few investments in my regular brokerage account, it was still small amounts.  Based on our frugal ways and if my wife were to have continued to work instead of becoming a SAHM, we would have been millionaires by now.  But instead we decided to raise my kids this way to maximize their development to the fullest.  To date, we have been very successful with the path, and I’m very happy with the way our kids are turning out.

The key that enabled me to accomplish all three tasks at the same time (mortgage accelerated payment plan, 401K contributions, and 529 college plan contributions), was that fact that we bought an affordable house and lived frugally.  We could have bought a house that could have been closer to a Mc Mansion, but we picked the path that we thought would be best for our kids.

So to conclude, why we didn’t buy the most house we could afford to, was because we didn’t want to be house rich but cash poor.  This in turn enabled my wife to be a SAHM and for us to have some flexibility in raising our kids the way we think is best.

-MR

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The Power Of Spousal Teamwork

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I was reading an article called “Our Stock Portfolio” over at “Budgeting in the Fun Stuff“‘s site that she and her husband built.  While her husband mainly does the investing, I can tell that she’s proud of him and supportive. 

It’s a solid portfolio of great dividend stocks that they have built during “The Great Recession” while prices were at a low.  While the most people were stuffing the proverbial mattress during that hard time, this couple was brave enough to practice what Mr. Warren Buffett always preaches “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful” by buying when the prices were bargains!

I was impressed by the pride I could hear in her words about their efforts!  Looking at their portfolio, it appears very solid and prudent!

Now lets talk about Crystal’s activities blogging.  I’ve never seen a blogger increase the success of their blog as quickly as she has.  The last time I checked, her blog had an Alexa score beneath 40,000! 

What’s really impressive about this is that her site isn’t even a year old yet.  Not only does Crystal have 3 blogs, she’s also a staff writer at sweatingthebigstuff.com, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  She’s a guest blogger at so many sites that you’d almost think that she cloned herself and has a team of writers!

The thing is that this type of productivity is surely supported by her spouse!  I’m betting that her husband is just as impressed as I am and continually verbally supporting her in her efforts!

Success in life is much easier when you have a caring and supportive spouse!  Although I’ve never met Crystal and her husband, I’m sure they are an incredible couple!

-MR

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Lessons Learned From a Funeral

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Mixed Emotions

Mixed Emotions

I had this entire week mapped out in exact details as to what I was going to do!  Then it happened, I get a phone call telling me that an old friend’s dad had pasted away, and the calling hours was tonight!

Event though I haven’t seen my friend or his parents for years, I felt obligated to drive down and pay my respects…

Now I haven’t seen my old friend or his parents for a good many years!  I also haven’t seen any of my neighbors from the old neighborhood for years and years either!

So why this funeral turned into mixed emotions for me was because while standing in the long line, past friends and their parents keep stopping and talking to me all the way up to where the morning family were at the casket.  Heck, even my mourning friend broke rank and come over from the casket to shake my hand, and at that point I wasn’t even close to the casket.  We haven’t seen each other so long it was almost pleasant for the both of us.

While I was in line, I felt so sad for my friend’s mother and sister, especially  his mom.  But at the same time, so many people greeted me and talked with me, that I almost felt disrespectful towards the grieving family.  At times, the my odd neighborhood friends and I were almost laughing and having a good time catching up.  It was very confusing to say the least.

During the drive down, I was listening to “The Snowball” a biography about Warren Buffett (I only made it half way through the book in the past).  And of course, being financial sort of guy, I calculated how much the trip would cost me (I’ve done this before with trips to my parent’s house).  The entire trip cost me $20, but that wasn’t important (mostly), isn’t it funny that I calculated in my head while driving down?  I guess it’s now part of my being…

Last year, I would have tried to get out of this.  I had plenty of excuses, like I didn’t find out until it was too late (this is true to a degree, I rushed down and was their 1 hour after the funeral started!)  Or that I had to work that night…  Luckily, my New Year’s Resolution is be a better me (see my post called “Becoming Super?“), so I traveled down and did the right thing!

This funeral was a reminder to make the most of the journey through life, and to remember to visit old friends and their parents occasionally, because some day, sadly they will be gone.

-MR

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