I have decided to keep a running list of the great life advice I have picked up through my 40 years on Earth. Perhaps skimming this list could help others.
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17. Secrets to Successful Leftovers. Everybody with a kitchen needs to check this out.
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1. Never let your car insurance lapse. Not even for one day. That will be the day you drive your winter can in the summer cause your summer car needed work and the cops will stop you and you will end up losing your license for a year and only be able to drive back and forth to work. Do you want that hassle- no. So pay your car insurance bill.
2. Advice in case of being laid off. Also applies to any job seeker. The key - 5 good interviews=1 good job offer.
3. Foolproof cure for mild depression. People - it involves ice cream so you know it must be good.
4. All bestselling books will eventually end up in the Goodwill book department, garage sales, and library book sales. If you are patient you can pick them up for cheap.
5. Getting Guys to Help around the House and Various other Marriage Tips.
7. Pay your bills on time if you at all can. Plan ahead - you know the light bill is coming every month, don't be surprised when it comes along. Yes, I personally could use to follow my own advice here a bit more as I have had a few late payments here and there due to being totally disorganized. Well, do as I say, not as I do.
8. Expect car repairs. Car repairs are just going to need to be done. Cars are money pits second only to houses and children. When your brakes need to be done, and some strange part of your suspension needs to be replaced, be ready for it. Have $500 in your savings account earmarked for strange car repairs.
9. Never wake a sleeping baby. (Other than when they are like 2 weeks old and you have to wake them up to feed them) They just wake up crabby - enjoy the peace now and deal with the bedtime issue later.
10. Potty training advice. Repeat after me, "My child will not be wearing pull-ups to Harvard." That's all I got. I had (Ben) and am having (Adam) the worst potty training experiences in the history of all children on earth so don't go looking to me for advice on this subject. ;-)
11. Cleaning your house - check out the flylady. She's sort of crazy, and I personally always take off my shoes when I come in the house, but she has alot of great advice for "Sidetracked Home Executives." Tip - sign up for the email group as a daily digest, and you will only get one email a day instead of the multiple emails she sends out telling you that its time to clean your sink, etc.
12. Put at least 10% of your salary in your 401k. You don't want to be living off of social security eating dog food when you retire, do you? No. So put that money away. Roth IRAs are really great too, put as much as you can in yours each year. You can get one right at your local bank.
13. Investment advice: If you don't understand it, don't invest in it.
14. Applicable to EVERYTHING for Scam avoidance: If it seems to good to be true, it is. Don't buy into it.
15. More scam avoidance: If someone is wants to buy or sell your ebay item "off ebay" or use a cash clearinghouse, or Western Union, or a check or other funky business, just avoid this. Let ebay and Paypal handle the security of your auctions - they work great and you should not be afraid to buy and sell with them. However, be suspicious of people who want to go around the system. This goes TRIPLE for Craig's List. CraigsList can be scam central because its free to list - be really wary and just take cash only and meet in a public place and bring a big scary guy around to protect you.
16. Advice for flying. This is the one with the earplanes and compression hose.
