This morning we met with a local lawyer to discuss having wills, a trust, and other documents drawn up. Overall it was a short meeting, and I think we’re getting exactly what we need for a decent price. We’ll end up spending $850 for wills, living wills, and other assorted documents. It’s really a rare expense, that we likely won’t need to change until all our children are grown. Even then we may be able to just modify the will, not draw up a new one. I’m putting this ahead of fully funding our emergency fund right now, and some people may say that’s risky, but getting on plane without a will feels more risky to me right now.
I recommend putting a simple will together for everyone. There are a ton of great resources online, and in book format. For about $300-500 depending on your needs and location you can likely get all your documents drawn up by a lawyer if you are single or have no dependents. If you have children this should be your #1 priority.
If you are looking for something to watch this evening I would highly recommend checking out unBroke on ABC at 9pm. The program is taking stars like Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, and Seth Green and setting them up in comedic clips that will impart basic financial information. I plan to watch online, and tweet about anything I find interesting. For a small sample that had me cracking up, watch the video below (careful parents! contains cursing):
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite articles from around the web this week.
Stephanie at Poorer Than You (great blog title) wrote about her stepmom being bamboozled by that sneaky freecreditreport.com site. Don’t be fooled! Go to www.annualcreditreport.com for your free reports. Try and stagger them every 4 months so you can keep an eye on your credit without paying for fraud protection. You may not see the following ad as much as those freecreditreport.com ads, but that’s because they are actually free, so the no one stands a chance of earning any revenue from the ads!
Frugal gives you 5 Reasons NOT to Save stuff for later. As an (occasional) organizer I hear a lot of reasons why people feel they need to keep something. Mainly it comes down to feel some sort of safety in the objects around them, or avoiding the emotions that some things bring up.
Flexo at Consumerism Commentary thinks personal finance advice is not one size fits all. I agree, and loved the article. He speaks specifically about Suze Orman, but really the same advice applies to me and in my opinion any other blogger, or article or book on personal finance you read. We are all just talking about our own experiences, knowledge and opinions, and anyone that tries to sell you a bridge (or a book, or a way of life) is someone you should ignore.
MB at Fly Away Family wrote an excellent post about how to travel when your child has food allergies. Mainly it takes a lot of planning ahead, but her suggestions are great. The same also applies to adults with food allergies.
Wisebread had a great post about 15 ways to use Witch Hazel. It didn’t include the way I discovered witch hazel, maybe because it involved childbirth and was written by a guy? (I’ll save the details, if you want to know feel free to email me)
Trent at The Simple Dollar posted a great list of 14 great places to trade stuff online. He left off one of my favorite resources though, Time Banks! We have one locally and while we have yet to use it, I know when I have more time on my hands I will be able to use it to barter organizing and landscaping, and maybe the hubby’s web skillz for things we need like painting the house, demolishing our patio or putting in a fence.
What have you been reading on the web this week? (feel free to promote your favorite blog post from this week if you have a blog)
Kelly
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