My site, it was down.
Sorry about that yesterday, guys. Apparently there was an issue with something rebooting and then not starting back up and it took a little while to get things going again.
Luckily, my hosting company identified the root problem and fixed it for me, so we should be good to go now.
On a related note, someone suggested to me once that I could save a lot of money by doing my own web hosting, and while it’s true that that could save me money, I am 10000000% sure that I will always want to pay someone to do it for me.
I love writing posts and chatting with you guys but I totally do not love any of the technical parts of blogging. It’s money well-spent to have someone else do that all for me!
Me: Dear hosting company. Please accept my dollars and save me from the techy things.
I cancelled Amazon Fresh.
I gave it a try last week with the $30/$100 purchase coupon (read about my experience here), but it’s definitely not for me long-term.
ALDI FOREVER.
So I cancelled in plenty of time to beat the end of my 30 day free trial period.
I paid for a dishwasher fix.
I have a pretty old Kitchen-Aid dishwasher. Actually, it’s a good 14 years old by now!
Anyway, the soap door lost its tab and wouldn’t shut anymore. Luckily, my repair guy was able to order a new soap dish/door, and I am really glad I hired him to put it in.
The whole door had to be taken apart, and it was rather solidly stuck together after being left for 14 years!
I can fix some things on my dishwasher, but this was definitely one I was glad to outsource.
I suppose eventually we’ll have to replace this machine, but for now, it still has been cost-effective to repair it.
(By the way, if your soap door malfunctions, you can start the dishwasher, wait 8-10 minutes for the rinse cycle to end, then open the door and add the soap. That way the soap is in there for the wash cycle, not the rinse cycle. That’s how we limped through until the door parts came in!)
I gave up on an investing book.
You know how I’ve been trying to become less clueless about investing?
Well, I picked this book up from the library.
I got about halfway through it and just gave up. I found the writing style to be annoying, and my goodness, I kept feeling more and more overwhelmed at the idea of investing the longer I read it.
Danielle Town and her dad buy individual stocks, which does seem to get you farther faster than investing in, say, a Vanguard fund.
But that the process is so daunting to me, I know I would never even get started.
So for me, at this point in my life, I need to remember that done is better than perfect and something is better than nothing.
Which means that something like Ellevest or Vanguard is a better fit for me than investing in individual stocks.
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And that’s all I’ve got for you today, friends! I’ll be back tomorrow with a menu/grocery post, and hopefully my blog will stay up and running smoothly.
Tina
Monday 30th of July 2018
I started out with a fund suggested to me by my parents' bank guy. I started reading on investing, mostly what was in our newspaper. I decided Vanguard and especially index funds were the way to go. When you buy Vanguard funds, you are a shareholder in the company. That means instead of paying profits to someone else, they give them to you in the form of lower expenses. Their loyalty is to you. Also, index funds outperform 75% of all managed funds. If you buy individual funds, you need to investigate and continually check in them. If index funds outperform 75% of managed funds run by investment professionals, how do you think the average person will do with individual stocks? I have done well with index funds and Vanguard. I have watched my costs go down since I started with them. Their website has a lot of information on investing as well.
K D
Friday 27th of July 2018
Facebook! Need I say more. Buying index funds is the way to go. You will not hit a home run but you will not strike out. I think you're doing the right thing with your investments.
Chrissy
Thursday 26th of July 2018
Just fixed my washer 2 weeks ago. For some reason the control board lasts about three years. I still felt like, even though this is the third one (at $200 a pop), it's cheaper than a new one and getting a washer in and out of my basement is no small feat. The advantage this time was that 1) I knew what was wrong with it, 2) I ordered the part online cheaper than the repairman did, 3) I saved the service fee. And even though it was a no brainer to fix, I still felt a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment and it didn't "require a mustache."
Kristen
Thursday 26th of July 2018
You go, girl! Woo!
Rebecca
Thursday 26th of July 2018
Here is the investing advice My brother gave me: buy what you know and only invest in single stocks if they are categorized as “dividend dynamos”. Meaning they have not decreased their dividends in ten or more years. So, I bought Coke, ADP (the company that did my payroll services), Proctor and Gamble. They’ve all done pretty well. My husband refused to buy individual stocks and only buys funds. Good luck.
Laura Vanderkam
Thursday 26th of July 2018
There are also pretty low fee funds out there that consist of high dividend paying stocks. So even if you want dividends you don’t have to go the individual stock route.
smh
Thursday 26th of July 2018
My sister is a financial advisor who operates according to the fiduciary standard (best interest of the client). She says that for most people, Vanguard index funds are the way to go, but so many people don't know this. It's always good to understand investing, but it seems like that as a practical matter, you're doing really well! There are always differences among funds and what not, but your personal savings rate is the most important thing.