I’ve never been a big fan of gadgets that do only one thing. I warn my clients that they are not a good use of limited space if there is another way to accomplish that same task with something you already own and which has multiple uses. But I’m (occasionally) willing to be proved wrong. A few years ago, a childhood friend came to stay with us for a few days during the summer. It was strawberry season, and I…
Read more →Did you know that you can donate your children’s gently-used Halloween costumes? ‘WEEN DREAM is a non-profit organization located in New Orleans. They collect costumes all year round and then provide them to kids in need in time for the following Halloween. As their website states: “‘WEEN DREAM gives costumes to kids from all over America who are faced with unique challenges, including those with special needs, physical and/or mental disabilities, homeless children, kids living in poverty or at shelters,…
Read more →I have written in the past about how coupons and sales cause us to behave in ways that waste our time. (You can read these rants in Coupons: To Clip or Not to Clip? and Sucked in by a Sale.) I have a new chapter to add to the legion of examples in which we waste so much time to save money. My daughter wears contact lenses. Earlier this year, she went to the eye doctor for her annual exam and…
Read more →Medical records come into our lives in a variety of ways. Sometimes we walk out of the doctor’s office with papers in hand. Sometimes they get sent to us via snail mail or e-mail. Frequently, they appear in electronic portals such as MyChart. That can make it hard to figure out what to keep and how to keep it. Let’s start by delineating the different types of medical info that will come your way: Bills and receipts Insurance forms Explanation…
Read more →Over the years, I have honed my packing skills so that I don’t bring anything extraneous when I travel. I’m proud that my family and I have traveled internationally — sometimes for multiple weeks — with only one carry-on suitcase per person. I can’t even remember the last time I checked a suitcase. I last wrote about packing light in Simplify Your Packing. In that post, I talked about how I minimized the amount of jewelry I traveled with. But…
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