My husband and I got a fixer-upper in a small neighborhood. The house was pretty much unlivable, but he managed to DIY what he could and hire what he couldn't until we moved in. It's been incredible living the last couple of years without paying rent or mortgage. We've had to do some additional major house projects (new AC, insulation, etc.) since moving in, but it's a lot easier financing a project with Lowe's and paying it off in two years than being saddled with a thirty-year mortgage. I would definitely recommend it to millennials. Even if you can't buy a $100,000 house outright, the loan is much more manageable, as are the expenses of home projects you can finance.
This past week has been one for the books for my state of Texas. As you’ve undoubtedly seen on the news, the entire state experienced extreme winter conditions, including deep snow and ice, plus power failures that left over a million without power. This is the kind of story we’ll be telling our grandkids, right after we yell at them to stop hoverboarding on our lawns.
As I type this, the temperature outside is in the low forties. The last of the snow and ice that paralyzed Texas for the past week is melting, leaving the usual winter landscape of…
As the heat of summer fades into autumn, the usual melange of seasonal items are blooming in stores. As always, there are pumpkins to be carved, wreaths to be laid, candy corns to be consumed (or at least scorned by the non-believers). The season lends itself well to horror, as the days shorten and night blurs the boundaries of the possible. However, it is worth taking a moment this year to reflect on the oft-downplayed sub-genre of sunlit horror, which tends to be ignored in favor of the obvious powers of the dark and grotesque.
Nowhere is this deficit more…
Trash Talk — The Need for a Circular Economy
As a child of the ’90s, I have fond memories of trips to San Antonio’s North Star Mall with my mom. I used to love the excited hustle of moving crowds, the rustling of plastic bags, the feeling of getting something NEW, preferably from the Disney Store. In retrospect, it amazes me how much happiness I derived from a few pieces of cheap, brightly colored plastic. Nowadays, I would rather spend the night jabbing myself with a staple remover than go to the mall. I’m not alone, either: shopping malls are…
Anyone who knows me in personal life is familiar with my no. 1 vice: books (My uppers and downers are Stephen King and Mercedes Lackey). I’ve been a heavy reader since childhood, but my interest took off in my last year of college (2011) when I bought my first e-reader, the Barnes and Noble Nook. It was an early version with few features, but I instantly fell in love with the idea of mainlining as many books as possible without having to find space for them in my non-expanding dorm room.
Since then, I have worn out and replaced two…
I’m an aging millennial with a love of writing, tech, and environmental issues news.