FreedomFIter

Well, today was the day that I fell over a cliff. Not literally, because that would require going somewhere with a cliff. The figurative quarantine Covid-19 mom-mom-mom-mom-mom work from home school from home parent from home never leave home cliff. I felt like I was the embodiment of an inflamed wound, where everything that approached… Continue reading ENW April 2020: $15,700

I wrote a post yesterday about take-out and, like a couple of posts I wrote last week, by the time I got inside from walking the nutjob puppy, decided it was stupid and pointless. This has been (understatement) a very strange couple of weeks. I feel like I’m playing a new sport with no understanding… Continue reading Marching on

I’m no economist. I do, however, trust economists, especially those who break complicated ideas down for the average Jane. What I’m saying here is I trust Planet Money. I started trusting Planet Money from their very beginning, when they reached out through my super vintage iPod and explained subprime mortgage insurance to me. I know… Continue reading I changed my mind about hoarding cash.

I wrote a long post yesterday about the potential for $10K in student loans to be forgiven by the government stimulus package, but by the time I got inside from walking around in the dark with the nutjob puppy, that proposal seemed to have been shelved. Everything is moving so fast and also so slowly!… Continue reading Student loan relief

It’s at the point where it’s meme-worthy: so many people grabbing toilet paper and canned goods for their stockpile that there’s nothing left for the average Jane. Empty shelves, price gouging. “Why would anybody take more than they can reasonably use?” The practice is uniformly ridiculed and shamed - why would you take more toilet… Continue reading Stocking the pile

Amelia is a stubborn 3-year-old who has a big heart. The stubbornness and the big heart often come in conflict with each other, and when she is being told to do something she doesn’t want to do, she absolutely won’t, unless she can convince herself to think the change of plans was on her terms.… Continue reading Okay, I’ll play

It feels really gross to talk about money right now. My husband is salaried, I am salaried. We both have side hustles that are continuing as normal, if not more than normal. Meanwhile, my friend who is a bartender doesn’t know how she’s going to buy food once her savings run out in two weeks.… Continue reading Social fiscal responsibility in a pandemic

What day is it? Month? We are three days into social isolation and I already feel disoriented. I made a schedule for my kids that is shockingly similar to one I saw being mocked mercilessly online, and I’m staring at an almost completely empty calendar for at least the next two weeks. I’m writing this… Continue reading March mid-month freelance check-in: $2876.05

Well, we’re in it - social isolation. My college is going online, for at least a few weeks, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that K-12 schools are shutting down for two weeks starting Monday. I’m not somebody who panics (except I suspect that everybody thinks that about themselves, especially panickers), but the main feeling… Continue reading Everyday I’m scrambling

I just read an article about how everything should shut down in the hopes of containing coronavirus. Travel, sporting events, conferences, schools. Harvard students aren’t coming back to campus, and while we don’t have any local cases of the virus here, do we think we're better than Harvard? I’m guessing both my husband’s job (at… Continue reading Preparing for Corona