Arthur Thompson 🥉

One more thought - I’d gently push back on “title without money” here - titles are real currency for credibility intros, and client trust. Frame it as aligning the external-facing title with responsibilities at no cost: based on leading projects, mentoring, and client presentations, I’d like to update my title to Senior [Role] now and revisit compensation at review time. Offer a 6‑month check‑in to confirm it’s working, which keeps it low risk for your manager.

With 5% down, expect roughly $1,185 P&I, plus $175 taxes, $75 insurance, $240 HOA, and about $100 PMI, for around $1,775 a month. That is about $325 above your current rent with a lean $7k cushion. With a 3 to 5 year horizon and condo assessment risk, I'd wait to build 10% down and a larger emergency fund and unless you can secure seller credits and a first floor pet friendly unit at a similar all in cost.

Choose artist-grade pigments for better lightfastness and lightly seal finished pieces with fixative. Keep them out of direct sun.

Your memory card might be faulty since formatting did not resolve the error. Test with another card to confirm if the issue is with the card or the camera. If a replacement is needed and consider the SanDisk 128GB SD card for its reliability and 100MB/s read speed and suitable for family photos and full HD video. This option provides good capacity without high cost, making it ideal for tight budgets compared to smaller or pricier alternatives.

Try to identify which smell you have because it changes the fix. Oily and sweet means residues baking off. Sharp acid or electrical smell means something is wrong. Start cold and sniff the empty interior and underside. If it already smells strong without heat, look for hidden packaging bits, labels, or a dab of glue near the heater. Check the power cord at the plug too in case it is warming during use. If it only smells when hot, do two high temp cycles empty, then a sacrificial potato cut in half to absorb odors, then a long cool down with the basket slid out. Keep anything dusty away from the intake so it is not pulling lint onto the element. Avoid sprinkling baking soda inside the hot cavity since it can cake on the heater. If the smell persists after a week of regular use, swap it while you are in the return window.

Short answer, yes, that one is probably worth it. Four hundred dollars for parking fifteen hundred dollars for ninety days is an outsized return. Even after taxes, figure you keep around 70 to 80 percent depending on your bracket, so maybe 280 to 320 net. The opportunity cost of keeping that cash idle is small by comparison, roughly twenty bucks over three months if your alternative is a five percent savings account. If the whole process takes you two to three hours end to end, you are paying yourself around one hundred dollars per hour or more. My rule of thumb is simple math: net bonus after tax minus any likely fees minus forgone interest, then ask if that beats your hourly value for the time it will take. This one usually clears the bar comfortably if you can float the balance without stress. Pitfalls to watch for are mostly in the fine print. Make sure you know what counts as direct deposit, because some banks require employer payroll or government benefits and will not count an ACH push from another bank. Confirm the monthly fee waiver path and set balance and transaction alerts on day one so you do not dip below the minimum by accident. Check the clawback and early closure terms, since many require the account to stay open 90 to 180 days after the bonus posts, and some charge an early closure fee. Expect the bonus to post 30 to 60 days after you meet the requirements, and you will get a 1099-INT the following January which adds to taxable income. Opening usually hits ChexSystems, and a few institutions do a hard credit pull, so search your bank's data points or ask them before applying if you are rate shopping elsewhere. Tactically, I open the account, move in the minimum plus a small buffer, set payroll to send the required amount for two cycles, keep screenshots of the offer and statements, put calendar reminders for the bonus post window and the safe-close date, and only shut it down after the clawback window passes.

Two months is a very small cushion and and life loves bad timing. I see couples strain because a flat tire or a job gap lands right after they wire deposits. Build the emergency fund to at least three months before you commit money you can't easily pull back. Deposits and retainers are often nonrefundable, and pushing dates can add rush fees you did not plan for. A sturdier buffer means you protect the day you are saving for. Once you hit that floor, map payments to your cash flow and keep flexibility where you can. Ask vendors about staggered schedules, smaller retainers, and clear reschedule clauses, then pick priorities and trim hours or extras before touching the buffer. Choosing an off-peak date or weekday can free hundreds that go straight back to savings, and shorter coverage with tighter timelines still yields beautiful photos. I am picky about light and timing, but I promise a calm couple with a stable cushion always photographs better than a stressed one.

Basics win! Fixed rent percentages, utilities split evenly, and a small monthly house fund. One person runs autopay; track odd buys in Splitwise and label food.

With income that bounces, treat yourself like an employee and pay a steady monthly salary from a holding account. Make Checking A your income holding account and Checking B your bills and spending account. All client payments land in A. Once a month move a fixed amount to B equal to your low-month baseline, say 2,000, and pay all bills and the card minimums from B. That smooths the spikes and makes decisions easier. For the surplus that accumulates in A, use a simple rule that changes once your cushion is built. While your emergency fund is under one month of bare-bones expenses, meaning only rent, utilities, groceries, gas, and minimum payments, put the minimum on the card and send 70 percent of surplus to savings and 30 percent as extra to the card. Once the fund hits that floor, flip to 20 percent to savings and 80 percent extra to the card, since 24 percent is expensive, until the balance is gone. In any month where income is under your set salary, pause extra debt payments and use the emergency fund to keep the salary going, then in the next strong month replenish the fund first and resume the 80/20 split. Automate the transfers on the day money lands so you do not have to think about it, and keep only a small buffer in B to avoid overdrafts. If a big repair hits, pay from savings without guilt and drop back to the 70/30 mode until the fund is back to the target.

In a small basket style the bacon sits close to the element and that gap is what makes or breaks the smoke situation... give yourself every bit of distance you can by using the lowest position and a single layer and do not let the strips curl up toward the top. Vent it like you would a pan sear. Park the fryer under a running hood or crack a window, and keep the top clean so only fresh drippings are in play instead of baked on residue.

Learned this the hard way last year. I rushed extra payments on the car, then a surprise bill landed and I had to put it on a credit card at a worse rate. Stack the emergency fund to at least a month, then crush the loan.