I know it’s cliche to say “the summer went by so fast” but THE SUMMER WENT BY SO FAST! Tomorrow, my baby turns nine, and on Tuesday, he starts the fourth grade. As my friend Heather always likes to say, “Time is a thief.” But also, watching my son grow up is one of the greatest privileges of my life.
I was telling my mom recently that I always feel like I’m not doing enough, and then I sit down to write these monthly recaps, and I marvel at all I did. Personally, August was a super busy month. We went on a family trip to Chicago, I took my estate-planning final, and we’ve spent the last two weeks in Cape Cod with my parents. We overlapped in the Cape with my brother and sister-in-law, and I loved spending time with my very adorable nephew. While I’ve been here, I’ve done a lot of work, but I also ran in the Falmouth Road Race and took a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard for lunch at Biscuits, and today, we’re driving up to Boston to see the Red Sox play. (And we’ve got our fingers crossed that we can finally break Ken’s streak of never seeing an MLB team he’s rooting for win a game IRL.)
Professionally, this summer has been interesting because my time is solely focused on The Purse. I’m not juggling some random freelance or consulting gig on the side. I know this might sound nuts, but it’s hard to manage having so much time. I’ve made a few mistakes along the way. Still, having a little more breathing room is giving me the space to do some daydreaming and planning for the fall, and I’m excited about what’s next.
The big news is that Alicia Adamczyk, my former colleague at CNBC and Fortune, will be joining The Purse as a senior editor! I really couldn’t be more thrilled to work with her again. She’s smart, funny, and a wonderful writer, and she knows so much about personal finance (and Taylor Swift and a lot of other things).
Working with Alicia means that there will be more of The Purse (yay!), and we’re going to be rolling out all kinds of fun new series over the coming months. She’ll also continue to write her excellent newsletter, Money Moves—I highly recommend subscribing!
Now on to our August recap!
August on The Purse:
Kicked off the month with a Home Economics featuring a family of four in Wisconsin who are spending 27% of their income on childcare for their two young kids. The comment section on this is so good, if a bit infuriating. https://the-purse.ghost.io/home-economics-family-of-four-milwaukee/">
Home Economics No. 34: A family of 4 living on $250k in suburban MilwaukeeHello! I’m back from Chicago, and we had the best time! We walked a million miles, ate all the Chicago classics (hot dogs, deep dish, and Italian beef), and decided we want to start a new family tradition of visiting Major League Baseball parks across the country. It was wonderful to get away, but I am
Lindsey Stanberry
I launched a new travel series (name still TBD, but reader Nicole suggested “Mapping the Spend,” which I think is a strong contender). It was so fun to share the details of our family trip to Chicago, and I’ve had so many readers reach out who want to share their own travel experiences! Want to share yours? Fill out this form!
Introducing Our New Travel Series!Before I kick off today’s letter, I want to do one last callout for back-to-school receipts for the project I’m doing with Yahoo! The stories are anonymous. Fill out the form here! I'm still hoping to find a family with a kid going off to college for the first time and a dad who will share his shopping experience. There has got to be a few dads out ther…Lindsey Stanberry
The Division of Labor featured our first anonymous couple. I was nervous about how readers would respond to Marie’s story, but the feedback has been amazing. I think a lot of people can relate. I’m exploring doing more anonymous versions of DoL. If you’re interested in sharing your story, you can fill out the form here.
“Our division of labor is not equal.”Real quick before we dive into today’s DoL, I’m still looking for one more family to participate in the back-to-school shopping series I’m working on with Yahoo. I’m specifically looking for a low-income family. If you’re interested in participating, just reply to this emailLindsey Stanberry
I spent a lot of this month working with my friend Erin Donnelly, a senior editor at Yahoo, on The Bank of Mom and Dad, a big series about back-to-school shopping. I loved getting a chance to hear from moms across the country about their experiences (the good, the bad, and the expensive). Tracking down a dad who 1) does the shopping, and 2) wanted to share the details was HARD, so a HUGE thanks to the Colorado father who finally stepped up (and to his wife who is a Purse reader and sent him my way).
Back-to-school season seems more expensive than everIn a week, my son starts fourth grade, though my Instagram feed has been filled with adorable back-to-school photos for weeks. (It really is my favorite!) But a piece of me has been thinking about back-to-school shopping ever since my friend Erin Donnelly, senior editor at Yahoo Life, reached out to me in late June to see if I wanted to collaborate on a…Lindsey Stanberry
And last but not least, we wrapped things up with a super interesting paid edition of Home Economics, featuring a family in Florida who received a life-changing inheritance from the writer’s grandfather.
Home Economics No. 35: A family of 4 in Florida who recently received a windfall inheritanceGood evening, friends! I’m trying a new send time for paid Home Economics, but to be honest, it may be the first and only time I send it out at 7 p.m. on a Thursday. August schedules are weird, and mine has been the weirdest. The past couple of weeks have been hectic, as I’ve been wrapping up a few big projects. (I hope you’ve had a chance to check outLindsey Stanberry
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