Home and Family « Len Penzo dot Com

True Story: How to Cope When Your Spouse Skips Out with All the Cash

By Guest

(Readers: In February 2012, I received a heart-breaking message in my inbox from Spedie, a long-time reader and frequent commenter here at Len Penzo dot Com. Her husband abandoned her and their marriage — but not before he callously drained the household checking and savings accounts of every last penny. This is her story.)

I’d always considered myself pretty street smart. You know, the kind of girl that didn’t have an

Continue reading True Story: How to Cope When Your Spouse Skips Out with All the Cash

Dear Diary: How I Fixed My Water Heater Without a Plumber and Saved $400

By Len Penzo

Recently the Honeybee alerted me to the fact that our hot water heater was making popping and cracking sounds that she had never heard before.

This got me a bit worried because the heater was 12-years-old and I knew it was on its last legs. When a water heater dies it’s not a pretty sight.

Trust me when I say it is always better to put an old heater out to pasture

Continue reading Dear Diary: How I Fixed My Water Heater Without a Plumber and Saved $400

Essential Tips for Lowering Your Grocery Bill (Part 3)

By Len Penzo

This is final post in my three-part series outlining essential tips that the Penzo household follows for keeping our grocery bills under control.

Of course, there are many methods for cutting the grocery bill that go way beyond shopping at discount grocery stores, taking advantage of in-store specials, and using coupons. However, there are several areas that I tend to focus on in order to ensure my grocery costs stay as

Continue reading Essential Tips for Lowering Your Grocery Bill (Part 3)

Essential Tips for Lowering Your Grocery Bill (Part 2)

By Len Penzo

Food isn’t cheap.

Want proof? Then chew on this: I spent almost $12,000 in groceries last year for my four-person family, including two teenagers.

And what’s really scary is that I work very hard to keep my food bill as low as possible every year. I shudder to think how much more I’d expend on groceries every year if I didn’t try to control costs.

There are many methods for cutting your grocery

Continue reading Essential Tips for Lowering Your Grocery Bill (Part 2)

Essential Tips For Lowering Your Grocery Bill

By Len Penzo

One of the big reasons the Honeybee has tolerated me for so long is because I love to cook. Some of you fellas out there would be wise to keep that in mind.

Why is that, you ask? Well, it’s somewhat ironic, but the fact remains, the more time men spend working in the kitchen, the less time they spend in hot water with their wife or girlfriend.

Trust me.

Anyway, as the

Continue reading Essential Tips For Lowering Your Grocery Bill

Gee, Thanks: 4 Presumptuous Gifts That Can Strain A Budget

By Len Penzo

Merry Christmas my a$$. If this means I'm going to be coughing up $750 per month for the next 7 years, I would rather have gotten a nice tie … or some underwear and socks.

I remember the worst gift I ever received. It was a vacation to the Bahamas that an old girlfriend of mine gave to me. It was one of those too-good-to-be-true ultra-low-cost package “deals” that was

Continue reading Gee, Thanks: 4 Presumptuous Gifts That Can Strain A Budget

Why Financial Success Often Depends on the Road Not Taken

By Len Penzo

Decisions, decisions. Like it or not, our lives are defined by them.

It’s no secret that a big part of our financial success is based upon the decisions we make in life.

Just ask any person who has jeopardized their financial future by, say, starting a family before securing a good job.

Fortunately, most of us will be lucky enough to be afforded with at least one or two challenging opportunities — and

Continue reading Why Financial Success Often Depends on the Road Not Taken

When Is the Right Time to Stop Giving Gifts to Nieces and Nephews?

By Len Penzo

My daughter, Nina and her friend, Ashley. My little girl keeps growing up, no matter how nicely I ask her not to.

When my daughter, Nina, was still measuring her age in single-digits, I’d tuck her into bed every evening and, just before kissing her goodnight, ask her to stop getting older.

She didn’t listen.

The truth is, kids are always in a hurry to grow up.

Unlike many adults, who prefer to

Continue reading When Is the Right Time to Stop Giving Gifts to Nieces and Nephews?

Why I Refuse to Get Upset By Subtly Deceptive Advertising

By Len Penzo

Last weekend I was lured to an online calendar website with the following promise: “Everything up to 60% off!”

Sixty percent!

While I was visiting there I found a calendar that was on sale for $13.49 — $1.50 off the regular price of $14.99.

Now, after taking a couple of minutes to do the math, I became a bit put off because, let’s face it, that’s only 10% off — not 60%.

That’s when

Continue reading Why I Refuse to Get Upset By Subtly Deceptive Advertising

6 Basic Steps to Help You Achieve Financial Freedom

By Guest

Financial freedom can be a difficult term to define, but at a very basic level it simply means controlling your own finances entirely.

In order to gain financial freedom, you have to be free of debt, able to provide for yourself, and able to prepare for your future. However, achieving those goals is often easier said than done — particularly in times of economic hardship such as those that much of

Continue reading 6 Basic Steps to Help You Achieve Financial Freedom