Kids – Page 2 – Mr. Tako Escapes

Lockdown Week 4: Birthdays, Projects, and Frugal Food Failures

April 4, 2020April 5, 2020 Mr. Tako 26 Comments

Week 4 under lockdown is complete! Schools have been closed for only a month, but right now it feels like years. Can stay-at-home dads get PTSD?

If this pandemic has taught me anything (and it’s already taught me several things), it’s that I have the greatest respect in the world for teachers. People who willingly teach 20-30 rambunctious kids, day after day, year after year, without going insane are amazing people. They’re obviously saints or super-humans. Possibly both…

Food Investing Kids Uncategorized

Lockdown Week 3: Board Games And Investing In Bear Markets

March 28, 2020 Mr. Tako 14 Comments

Are you starting to get a case of “cabin fever” under the coronavirus lockdown? Maybe you’re not under a lockdown order yet. Some places around the world are just now starting to go into lockdown mode, but here in the Pacific Northwest we’ve already been at it for 3 weeks…

So, the cabin fever has really started to set in!

Just kidding. It’s quite the opposite in fact…

Investing Kids

Lockdown Week 2: Homeschooling, Bikes, And Making The Best Of Things

March 21, 2020March 22, 2020 Mr. Tako 30 Comments

Hi folks! It looks like I’ve managed to survive a second week of full-time homeschooling and SAHD (stay at home dad) life! It’s been quite a week, but the kids are now starting to settle into this “new normal” routine.

I can’t believe I’m calling this normal now… Life certainly does bring many interesting turns.

Investing Kids Saving Travel Uncategorized

Living Through The Boring Bits

February 8, 2020February 10, 2020 Mr. Tako 10 Comments

Sometimes when inspiration hits for a new blog post, it comes from very strange places. Today’s post was inspired by an odd one — I took a trip to the DMV. Yes, really — the DMV!

Turns out, my drivers license was about to expire. I needed to make a trip to the nearest DMV office to get it renewed. Oh bother! The problem is, I don’t live anywhere near a DMV office. The nearest licensing office is a 30 minute drive away!

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January 2020 Expenses And Dividend Income

February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 Mr. Tako 20 Comments

I wish I could say, “I like Winter.” But if we’re being totally honest with each other, I really don’t. Not even a little bit.

Our little corner of the Pacific Northwest had 28 days of precipitation in January (out of a possible 31). That’s 28 days of measurable rain and snow under a blanket of dark clouds. Woohoo!!

Dividends Food Investing Kids Uncategorized

December 2019 Expenses And Dividend Income

January 8, 2020January 8, 2020 Mr. Tako 16 Comments

Oh what a difference a month makes! Back in November the Tako family was blowing the doors off our regular monthly budget due to the purchase of a “new to me” car. Weak dividend income in November didn’t exactly help our cash-flow situation either.

December was a complete turn-around story however. It marked a return to normal spending and a chance for our cash to replenish itself with a very dividend heavy month.

How great was our December? Read on to find out!

Kids Saving Uncategorized

The Holiday Aftermath: A Mixed Financial Bag

January 4, 2020January 4, 2020 Mr. Tako 19 Comments

Happy New Year! It’s been two weeks since I last posted anything on this blog! Wow! Has it been that long already?

As usual around the holiday season, I take a break from blogging to spend time with my family. It’s all about spending time with the wife and kids, and a whole lot less time spent thinking about money and finance! On that front, I think the holidays were a success..

Investing Kids Saving Uncategorized

Waiting for Patience

November 27, 2019December 4, 2019 Mr. Tako 7 Comments

Patience is a theme I often write about here on this blog… mainly because I tend to write a lot about investing. As we all know, investing is one of those activities in life that requires large amounts of patience in order to be really successful at it.

Here’s the thing though — I’m not an inherently patient person. Patience does not come to me naturally. I’m actually pretty bad at waiting for things in general…

Dividends Food Investing Kids Saving Uncategorized

October 2019 Expenses And Dividend Income

November 6, 2019 Mr. Tako 14 Comments

Wow! Another month is gone already? Holy-heck did October ever fly by fast! I was pretty productive this October, mainly due to the kids being back in school/daycare. With the kids away, I can generally get a good 24 hours per week to work on various projects around the house…

Which is exactly what I did for most of the month of October! I was so busy trying to get all my outdoor projects done before our ”monsoon season” started, that I even missed International Octopus Day…