This is where your finance takes place

I am so excited it is unbelievable! Last week we started our Xmas shopping with my wife and my two children. I still can buy them gift in front of them as they will not remember that it was for them in a month! Actually, this is probably the last time I can do as William is now 27 months. It is definitely a good trick to know what your children like. I let him walk (read run ;-)) through the alleys and I was carefully looking (that he does not run into a cart!) what he was looking for. I already had a good idea of what I wanted to buy but I did not have much ideas to give to my family.

Then, we get to this kind of miniaturized city on a table (about 3′ by 3′) with a train going across the city, an airport, a garage and a port. It was the materialization of my childhood’s dream! and so was my son’s! His eyes lighten up and he started looking at the demo through the glass as he just discovered an Egyptian treasure. Once I got him off the demo with something else, I quickly grabbed the big box (man it was heavy!) and put it in my cart. Yes, this toy was expensive but the glitter in my son’s eyes worth much more. On top of this, there was a rebate of 35%

Stupid unexpected expenses!

Now that I have spent a good chunk of my gift budget, I get hit with unexpected expenses. This month has been quite a mess in term of expenses so far. During my business trip, I lost my sunglasses. The problem is that I really loved them and use to wear them all the time. I bought them before my honeymoon two years ago and paid a good chunk for them. I’ll have to buy a new pair shortly if I do not want my eyes to burn;-).

Then, my central vacuum died a week ago. It will cost $500 to get a new one. Housecleaning (considering the housecleaning lady) is getting very expensive! Maybe I should just stop cleaning my house? hum… sounds interesting…. Then, electric knife (you know the one you use on those delicious roast beef?) burn dead in my wife’s hand. Let just say that Christmas is coming and my wish list is getting pretty fat now!

Carnival Picks

I have finally got back to my original submission schedule. I was ashamed to miss last week Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Million Dollar Journey. This week, I worked harder (lol! let just say that I was less lazy ;-)) and submitted a couple of articles. One was for the Carnival of Personal Finance presented at molamony and the other one was part of the Carnival of the capitalist at SEO ROI. Here’s the 3 picks of the week:

#3 Slow Motion Retirement (or Retire Early, Retire Often) at Dough Roller

#2 Where?s Waldo? - The illusion of superior professional mutual fund manager performance. at The Skilled Investor

#1 My evolution from new to used… car, that is at I’ve paid this twice already.

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