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From the time I decided to become an attorney, my brain was always wrapped around the future.  Everything in life was set to mesh well with getting into and succeeding at law school.  That included finances.

Always careful to only take the exact amount of student aide to cover what my scholarships did not, I knew I didn’t like the idea of all that interest accruing.  I didn’t move out, I chose to stay living at home, where I could study, work, and not have to pay rent (plus I like my parents a lot, and staying wasn’t nearly the drag for me as others seemed to think it was).

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s posts this week.  Again, thank you to our new commenters.  It’s always nice to know who’s reading, and what you’re blogging about as well. 

From toys teaching us how to invest to levees breaking, this last week of posts was just great!  Thank you to everyone for such an outstanding week.  It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn from each of you every week.

Kids, Toys, and Spring

No one likes to think of themselves as paranoid, but we're often more comfortable with being called "skeptical."  In finance, though, skepticism is basically just a healthy dose of paranoia.  This is nothing to be ashamed of; in fact, it is your common sense kicking into play.  In the world of finance and investing, there are plenty of people who are out to get you, so paranoia isn't entirely out of place.

Skepticism Can Be Common Sense

There seems to be a trend going on in the world revolving around the idea that less is more. Frugality is making a comeback. Saving pennies for a rainy day has become more appealing than splurging for the latest "better than botox" cream. It's no wonder than some of us (present company included) fancy saving over investing. It's safe, steady, and what we've been taught to do for so many years, plus investing could be the same as gambling our hard-earned dollars away. Right? Sure, no one is going to say you shouldn't save money.

Last week we talked about opening the finance lines of communication to cut back on unnecessary items. As you went through your budget with your spouse, there were certainly some areas that were not integral to living well, and you probably cut out the extras.

Their house was beautiful. We pulled up expecting a small ranch like our own, but found ourselves sitting in a three-car driveway, in front of a three car garage. Really? How many people need a three-car garage?

Rainy days, cold and snowy days, too-hot days.  If you have kids, finding ways to keep them amused on such days that doesn't involve a slew of Barney videos or the Wii can be a bit challenging at times.  Why not take an indoor kind of day and turn it into an opportunity to have fun and learn a bit about money?  Here's an idea for a game that most kids will like and will also sneak in a bit of financial education to boot.

What You Need

With all the woes of the world right now, it’s important that we don’t forget to focus on the positives:  Spring is almost here!

Along with all the green grass that springing up around us, many of you may have noticed a couple new people to MomVesting community (commenters).  As a little welcome, I’m going to do my best to include all of our happy commenters in this week’s round-up. 

You've probably heard the saying "a penny saved is a penny earned." Makes, sense. A penny is a penny, right? It's actually not exactly true. In most cases a penny saved is actually better than a penny earned. “What?” you ask? Well, thanks to federal taxes, earning a penny typically leaves you with only a fraction of your hard-earned coinage, while saving a penny post-tax leaves you with an actual full, shiny, copper coin. In fact there are many benefits to saving versus earning, so let's take a look.

Taxes

While channel surfing the other night, I came across a program that featured people who regularly engaged in "extreme couponing."  I have to say, it was a bit fascinating to watch.  One such gentleman had a specific desk area all set with a paper cutter and two (that I could see, anyway) huge binders filled to bursting with coupons.  The show followed this same guy as he took his binders to the local supermarket where he went on to buy no less than 60 liquid hand soaps (because they were a mere thirty cents each with his coupons) and what had to be at least 100 toothbrushes (again, because the