I once had a job where I commuted one day a week with someone I knew from church.  We both lived and worked close to each other.  That once a week shared ride did more than save us both a bit of money and stress.  It led to a great friendship that has now lasted more than 20 years.

Do you carpool?  If not, what are the possibilities of finding a colleague who lives close to you and suggesting that you give it a try for at least a day a week?

I hurt one of my feet almost two months ago.  Finally realizing that it wasn’t going to heal on its own, I asked my primary doctor for a referral and made an appointment with one of his recommended podiatrists.  I checked with my insurance company before going on the appointment to make sure such a visit would be covered.  Once there, I received good news that there was no stress fracture, which I was concerned about, and was given a prescription for an anti-inflammatory medicine.  Then, almost as an afterthought, I was told that a set of custom shoe inserts would help the problem from recurring.

Since it all happened so casually, I didn’t think anything of it when they started making a custom mold of my feet.  It was only when I was checking out that I was informed of the outrageous price and that it may or may not be covered by insurance.  I would have 24 hours to contact my insurance company and, if need be, cancel the inserts. Regardless, another sizable fee had already been generated by making the molds.

Later that day I found out that the work would be covered by insurance. If it wasn’t, it’s likely that I would have cancelled the order.  However, I would have been stuck for the full price of the molds.  Lesson learned: get all fee information up front, whether renting a car, ordering phone service, or having a medical procedure.

The APA recommends that parents look for signs of stress in their children such as sleep or appetite changes, nightmares, or avoidance of situations or people.  It also recommends age-appropriate communication. Adolescents may be able to handle more details of their family’s situation, whereas younger children may perceive situations to be worse than they are and mostly need reassurance that their family is going to be okay.

Tough economic times can provide great opportunities to teach children about budgeting, using coupons, making trade-offs, and more.  One of my favorite resources for teaching age-appropriate lessons about money is this document from the National Endowment for Financial Education.

There is some especially helpful guidance at the very end of the Consumer Reports article, including the non-intuitive advice to stay off the U.S. Postal Service’s national change of address database.

In addition to the warnings sounded by the article, it also highlighted some information services you might want to utilize. For example, if you’re planning to buy a house, you can purchase – or ask the seller to provide – a five-year insurance loss history for the property. Such a report may reveal hidden problems, such as a susceptibility to flooding.

A few years ago, Consumer Reports also put together this helpful report showing its recommendations for which foods are worth the added cost of buying the organic versions.