Hope for your financial life and beyond

When Life Makes It Easier, Push It!

Boy Running in natureNews flash…Life is hard!

Not the most groundbreaking news for this Monday post. Honestly, it’s not even news at all. Our lives are filled with so many challenges we don’t even know where to start counting them.

There are instances however, where a window of opportunity opens, allowing the journey to become easier. Sadly, we often are caught up in our own challenges and struggles. So we fail to recognize the moment and it passes us by, useless and wasted. I was reminded of this again on a recent marathon training run.

A runner faces three types of terrain grades while on the course – flat, uphill or downhill. Runners love the flats as it allows us to get into a steady rhythm and pace. We tolerate the uphill portions of our run, slowly grinding them out, laboring step after step. The downhills are dualistic in nature, presenting the runner with two contrasting methods of approach:

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An Unintentional Coke Zero Detox

Coke ZeroThe other day, after a rugged morning of shopping with three of my kids, I treated them to lunch at Atlanta Bread Company. Peanut butter and jelly kids meals for them; hot pastrami on rye with spicy mustard for me. And of course, drinks and chips all the way around.

At the drink dispensers, there were multiple drinks that I would consider health(ier) options: water, light lemonade, light pomegranate lemonade, regular unsweet tea and unsweet green tea. I went with another option – Coke Zero. At least it doesn’t have sugar in it.

I love Coke Zero! Have been drinking it for years (maybe one or two a week – nothing outlandish). Regular. Vanilla. Cherry flavor. Doesn’t matter. I even got turned on to Sprite Zero in the process.

But something odd happened when I sat down at the table and took the first cool sip.

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Will You Still Love Me If I Blog For Money?

blog for moneyIt’s a tad bit presumptuous of a post title, don’t you think? I’m taking a gigantic leap in assuming my readers love and appreciate the content they get at Luke1428. Furthermore, that they would continue to tune in day after day if there was an inexplicable directional shift in my blog philosophy – like if I chose to blog for money?

As it stands now, Luke1428 is growing. June and July have seen the best viewership to date in the little over a year the site has been up and running. Why risk ruining a good thing now?

Because I believe this space can be better. Maybe even awesome!

But let me ease any apprehension you might be having right from the start. I could never blog for money only. It’s not in my DNA.

Why I’m Here

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I’m Saving Thousands in 60 Seconds or Less

60 seconds or lessPersonal finance bloggers love to help people develop sound money habits that will yield positive results if consistently applied over time. Many of these habits are hard to develop especially when they require great amounts of sacrifice. It took me a long time to realize I had issues with spending and an even greater length of time to bring that habit under control.

But success with finances doesn’t have to be difficult or take years of intense work learning how to budget or invest properly. In fact, there are some simple, everyday activities that take 60 seconds or less that could greatly impact a person’s future financial well-being. These require only minor preparation and even less time to execute.

Four 60 Seconds or Less Activities

Here are the four, everyday money-saving activities I’m doing right now that take me 60 seconds or less to accomplish:

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Should My Daughter Separate Her Toes? (Syndactyly)

syndactylyThis past week Miss LukeTeen28 (my eldest daughter) popped the question my wife and I have been anticipating for the past 12 years since the day of her birth. No, she doesn’t want to have a boyfriend. (We’ve told her she can’t date until she’s 30!) Her interest is in a cosmetic surgery to correct a condition known as Syndactyly – the fusion of one or more toes.

Syndactyly 101

“Syndactyly” is the medical term for this condition. Hers is a simple fusing of soft tissue between the second and third toes on both feet (the left is more pronounced than the right). The issue appears to be genetic in nature, as I know of one other person in my extended family who has this condition.

She is in no pain or discomfort from her syndactyly and the risks are miniscule. The surgery would be completely for cosmetic purposes. (So when she wears her sandals the doofus middle school boys at school aren’t tempted to call her “four toes.”) Maybe the fact that she is almost a teen is figuring into her asking about the procedure now.

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Trayvon, Zimmerman and Our Road to Healing

On Sunday and Monday my Facebook news feed blew up.

Black White HandshakeOf course, everyone had an opinion about the much publicized and politicized court case from Florida that had finally ended late Saturday night in a not guilty verdict for George Zimmerman. Few of the opinions were intelligent enough to warrant reflection on my part. Most just expressed pent up frustration and anger, pointed in blame or cried out for justice.  It would not surprise you in the least to know the opinions from my group of friends were basically split along political and racial lines.

I was not alive in 1960s America when the years of racial tension finally exploded and produced the civil rights legislation that changed the face of America and gave an entire subset of American citizens a new reason to dream. I can’t relate to the level of violence that was present in that era. I only know what I see now in 2013 and from my vantage point, it doesn’t appear as though this country is progressing in a more unifying direction. And that’s a shame after 237 years of freedom.

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I’m Having a Yak-Attack!

Heart PulseMy hand is resting gently on the mouse, scrolling and clicking. Without warning,  a strange sensation comes over me. My upper body begins to feel a tightening pressure like the whole center of my chest is squeezing inward. The skin on my arm turns clammy, as my hand breaks out in a sweat.

Why can’t I breathe? Where is this anxiety coming from? I’m just working on the computer here.

Ok…settle down…you can do this. Copy code. Paste into widget. Save. Refresh.

Boom! I’m a Yakezie Challenger! Whew…that wasn’t so bad.

My sincere apologies to heart victims everywhere who experienced those symptoms and were faced with a life and death situation. Heart issues have impacted my family on more than one occasion so I certainly don’t employ those symptoms with jest. Only to point out the physiological and emotional tensions I experienced on a minute level as I concluded it was time to push my blogging self once again. Maybe you don’t get nervous about stretching yourself and going out on a limb like this, but I do.

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This Little Light of Mine

CandleHidden Nuggets Series #1

Have you ever lost your way? I have on more than one occasion, including this past year while writing for Luke1428. Unintentionally, I strayed from the vision that sparked the purchase of this domain name in early 2012.

It started sometime this past January when I began to incorporate less and less of a spiritual perspective in my writing. My vision for Luke1428 had been to share what God had revealed to me about money and personal finance through my reading of the Bible. It’s littered all through the Bible’s pages, really valuable and practical applications that anyone, religious or not, could appreciate.

I started out gangbusters on that vision.

I ended blog year #1 fizzling out on it.

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Post Beach Vacation Blues

With the kids on a sandbar at low tide

50 yards from shore on a sandbar at low tide

Our family was blessed last week to enjoy a beautiful vacation on the shores of North Carolina. We spent the week in a gorgeous beach house with some members of our extended family. Just a stone’s throw away.

Each morning I would get up early, go for a run, then sit on the second floor balcony of our beach house.  There is nothing like a change of venue to get the old writing juices flowing. In fact, last Friday’s post “Infamous Days Are Not Showstoppers” was penned as I watched the waves break onto the shore line and felt the gently ocean breezes against my face. Ahhh…vacation.

Now I’m back writing in my usual spot…the basement. No beach scenes here. Just spiders.

Once vacation is over I’m ready to be home. But I dread the week following vacation. The week is always out of whack. First, I’m always a little tired and rundown from all the vacation activities and travel. Then there is a whole day to do laundry.  Wife back to work. Kids bored to tears because the things to do around the house don’t hold a candle to chasing crabs after dark on the beach. A huge trip to the grocery store to restock the cupboards. (The checkout clerk actually made a joke about how full my cart was. Ha…Ha…”Yes, ma’am…I shop for six. Just bag the groceries please.”) Are your post-vacation weeks like this?

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Luke1428 Celebrates 1-Yr. Blog-iversary! A Special Thank You

Designfolio ScreenshotWhat a year! It all started with this post on July 3rd, 2012. If you like the Finding Nemo seagulls, then check out the video at the bottom of the post. See how long you can bear to listen. I give it 30 seconds tops.

Oh, and the post had a uniquely spiritual message about ownership that I continually have to revisit to this day.

I’m not sure what I was expecting last year when I started this blog. All I knew is that I had an idea, a passion and had finally worked up the courage to share those with others. Some people have no problem sharing on such a public forum like the Internet. I did. It was the biggest obstacle I had to overcome when starting Luke1428.

So in many ways, July 3rd is my personal independence day – the day I broke through some mental and emotional barriers and became willing to open myself up to the world.

Some things have changed here in the past year, including the free theme you see in the screenshot above. I’ve realized since my upgrade how un-functional that theme was. That’s part of the blogging learning process though, and I don’t regret using that because a great looking theme was not part of my original goal. RIP Designfolio.

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The Beach vs Pool Debate

Summer vacation trip #2 is headed our way soon as the Luke1428 family heads to the beaches of North Carolina. We had great fun on our June camping trip and are looking forward to a week with some extended family members as we share a house at Holden Beach. Being here though once again brings up the beach vs pool debate in our family.

beach vs poolTonya who blogs at Budget and the Beach often shares about her love of all things beach related. A lot of people hate the beach (my wife) and would prefer to soak in the sun’s rays lounging by the pool.  I grew up around pools and even was a lifeguard at one for several years. So if I had a choice I would lean the pool direction. However, I always look forward to going to the beach and usually enjoy myself while there.

The Beach vs Pool Debate

Here are some of the pros and cons that might help you figure out which side you lean on in the beach vs pool debate:

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