My husband, born in Kerala, India and raised in Dubai, remembers his parents participating in ‘kuri‘ clubs.
All the participants – mostly members of his extended family – would get together for a celebratory dinner.
During the evening, everyone would give their kuri contribution to the oldest brother, and a name would be drawn from all the [...]
You’ve heard it said that having a baby is “the most natural thing in the world,” but I feel strongly the most natural thing in the world should be free, like sunshine or a light breeze. Both are delightfully natural, both are free.
As it turns out, the only thing free about bringing a little one [...]
Every year, as shoppers hear those sleigh bells jingling in every New York City department store and trim their waist-high trees, I scoff. Really, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, I tell myself.
But then it is Thanksgiving. And then it’s a week into December. And then two. And finally, the funny Christmas cards on every drugstore [...]
Mortgages, pension plans, joint filings -it’s a whole new world out there. Are you prepared for it? If you are like most Americans, chances are the answer is no.
Advice on being financially savvy varies, but most professionals agree on one thing: Americans need a financial reality check. Check out this brief introduction to seven important [...]
Over these past few months, it has become increasingly clear to many of us how crucial it is to have an emergency fund. This is not only to secure our financial lives in a time we’re facing an alarming unemployment rate, but also because of the psychological effect it has on us.
Simply knowing we have [...]
This is our attempt at making a stop-motion animation out of frosting. We didn’t have a camera, so we balanced a macbook upside down off of a trashcan.
Now, that’s budget-tasktic animation. Enjoy.
On the day I turned 18, I went to a nearby supermarket to pick up some dry ice, a pack of cigarettes, and a lottery ticket (and I registered to vote). I wasn’t doing a science project and I don’t smoke, but those are just a few of the cool “rights” that you get when [...]
Leave it to scientists to figure out how marshmallows are good for more than just roasting over campfires. In the 1960s, Professor Walter Mischel conducted an experiment known as the Stanford Marshmallow Test, in which preschoolers were left alone in a room with one marshmallow. The children were given the choice between eating the marshmallow [...]
I left college chasing the American dream. I wanted a house with a two car garage, a good job and lots of stuff. For my first job, I had to choose between a job in the northeast or one in the southwest, so I used a cost of living wizard to help me make the [...]
Recently around the office, we’ve been talking a great deal about how research on losing weight can be applied to reducing how much people spend. They are both largely issues of self-control in the face of an environment designed to get you to eat/spend more, so there is much that we can learn from eating [...]
This post was written by Stephanie Raill Jayanandhan, Support Specialist on November 11, 2009 
