DavidHLancaster

Comments

• My wife grew up poor but didn’t realize it until she saw the financial aid filing when she went to technical college. He mother made some of their clothing, she wore bread bags on her feet to keep them dry while wearing her boots in the winter. The old farmhouse her parents bought when she was in early grade school initially had no bathroom, and no heating upstairs. Her parents used to heat up limestones on the wood stove and put them under the covers before they went to bed. Eventually they had a closet downstairs converted into a bathroom for a family of six. The bedrooms were all upstairs. Her 10ish older brother told he that setup was luxurious. When he was was a child snow came in between the sheathing in his room In an earlier house.

  Post: Growing Up In A Big House

  Link to comment from September 11, 2026

• Here is another health tip. One of my sister in laws had a blood clot and they tested her for something called the Leiden factor which makes you more susceptible to blood clots. More than half of her siblings have it.

  Post: On Being a “Healthy” Person

  Link to comment from September 11, 2026

• We don’t specifically rule out hotels that don't have a free breakfast, but when on vacation we do only eat breakfast, maybe a small snack at lunch then dinner, so a free breakfast does allow for paying for one meal.

  Post: Free Breakfast

  Link to comment from September 11, 2026

• “Economists often debate how such massive cash infusions behave in the real world.” Is there really any debate after seeing the effect of the federal give aways during COVID? The only debate that I see by economists is whether it was a good idea. We are still experiencing the inflation costs of that massive infusion with a Federal Reserve which is afraid of raising interest rates to get inflation back to THEIR target. Too bad the person who came up with this scheme is not as intellectually curious as you. Mark Crothers for president. OOPS, there’s that constitution getting in the way again. 😁

  Post: The $5,000 Thought Experiment

  Link to comment from September 11, 2026

• For our daughter’s wedding years ago we had a simple plan. We budgeted a set amount. Gave our daughter the number and told her she could spend it any way she wanted. It was her money, but we told her not to ask for a penny more, and she did not.

  Post: A Wedding Too Far

  Link to comment from September 9, 2026

• Cocktails, one thing I have stopped participating in for myself, asI don’t think they are good value. My wife thinks differently however

  Post: Wedding Cost is just the beginning

  Link to comment from September 9, 2026

• Pitlochry this coming Saturday the 12th.

  Post: Taking It With You

  Link to comment from September 7, 2026

• I am finding it hard to believe that Toro can no longer build a reliable walk behind mower. I have bought two Timemaster 30” mowers the first started with replacing the belts after three years, then the pulleys, the the stems, finally the engine failed all starting three years after purchase, and failing over one year. These repairs cost almost 1K, and kept my mower unavailable for most of a season. My second one needs a new belts after just 18 months.

  Post: Locking it in

  Link to comment from September 7, 2026

• Frugal? I have an iPhone XR I purchased in 2020. But I must admit, I am starting to envy my wife’s ability to use her wide, and telephoto lenses on her 16 while we are on vacation in the UK now. HOWEVER, I still can’t leave my discipline gene by the wayside and continue the plan of only having a charge for the purchase of one phone on our bill at a time. So it’s only 16 more months until my new phone, but who’s counting?

  Post: Taking It With You

  Link to comment from September 5, 2026

• As I like to say a lot of peoples’ doldrums is because they are on social media, where as a rule people don't generally post the bad stuff, only the good. People compare their lives with the normal ups and downs to postings of people where they see lives where everything is perfect all the time. That life doesn’t exist, ever. The solution? Get off of social media!

  Post: The Economy of Expectations

  Link to comment from September 5, 2026