Letter grades are one of the hallmarks of the American education system. Whether it’s an A or an F or something in between, letter grades define our academic abilities as students for nearly two decades of life. And then what? People still talk about succeeding and fret at the notion of failing. What would happen if … [Read more…]
There’s something about money: It brings out the best, the worst, and the most awkward side of people. Since I’ve dedicated a fair amount of time this summer to side hustling, I’ve had to do some explaining for how I’m spending my time. I get it. A lot of people think teachers have summers off … [Read more…]
Though it seems entirely too much like a dream to be reality, I’m part of the Tip Yourself team. I alluded to it when I discussed my summer side hustle plan. And before I tell you what I’m doing and how you can help, I thought I’d tell you why I’m doing it. It turns … [Read more…]
There goes the neighborhood. Over the past month, there have been a string of break-ins in our neighborhood. It all started with a singular incident in which $14 was stolen from someone’s kitchen. When I heard the news, I was nervous. But it seemed like an isolated incident, and I brushed it off as teenagers, or … [Read more…]
I did something in Vegas that made quite a few passersby uncomfortable. In a city known for tolerating proclivities of all kinds, I take pride in the fact that I literally stopped foot traffic on the Strip. Most people froze; some continued walking but executed a wide berth. A few mouths went slack jaw. One … [Read more…]
Last month, we paid 3.5 times our mortgage payment. In part, it was a good month for side hustling — hello, tutoring before finals — and in part because it was one of the two months a year when I score an extra paycheck. While I didn’t put my entire paycheck towards our mortgage*, I … [Read more…]
Retail therapy. Shopping addiction. Following in the footsteps of Cher Horotwiz*. I have a lot of stuff. Way too much stuff, in fact. While I’ve written about decluttering my office and the whole first floor of our house, I’ve stopped short of sharing the nitty gritty details of the upstairs. Because it’s kind of embarrassing.
After I ran my last post in this series, I thought surely I would run out of awkward moments to share. Then I remember that I’m me, and there’s no shortage of awkward moments in my life, finance related and otherwise. For instance, let’s flashback to two weeks ago in my classroom: I don’t normally … [Read more…]
Over the past week, there’s been a lot of celebrating going on in my world: a milestone birthday followed by Mother’s Day celebrations with my mom and again with my mother-in-law. There have been laughter and sweets, photos and games. And yes, there have even been gifts. One thing I’ve noticed post-celebration–even more than the … [Read more…]
Two weeks ago, our neighbors announced they were moving and proceeded to list a leather couch, some knickknacks, and their adult cat on our neighborhood social networking site. They wanted money for the furniture. The cat? They’d give that away for free. In the fourteen days that have passed, they’ve everything is taken…except the twelve-year-old … [Read more…]