Whenever I go get an oil change (often, whenever I find myself with a good coupon to a local oil change service provider), I always notice that little sticker in the corner of my windshield that they affix during the oil change.

Usually, it lists the mileage at which I should get my next oil change (according to them) and often lists the approximate date at which I should reach that mileage.

No, this isn't a post on how Social Security is going bankrupt and won't be around for many of us (not saying that it's true or false, just saying this post isn't about that.) What it is about is the fact that Social Security doesn't cover much even if you do get it. The summary from Daily Finance:

Here’s an interesting thought experiment from Carl Richards over on the NY Times “Bucks” blog…

Imagine that your investment portfolio somehow got liquidated overnight, such that when you wake up your holding are 100% in cash. If you were give the opportunity to buy back into the market at no cost, would you re-create the same portfolio that you’re currently holding?

The following is the latest post in my "Reader Profiles" series. Each post in this series details the financial situation and challenges of an FMF reader. The purpose of this series is to help us all identify with people like us (in similar situations -- not all will be, of course, but eventually I'm sure you will find someone like you here), get to know the frequent commenters on the site, and hear some financial wisdom/challenges from people other than me.

January 31st was the deadline for companies to mail out W-2 forms and 1099 forms involving other income and interest. Coming up is February 15th, the deadline for brokerages to send out 1099-B forms listing stock sale proceeds.

That means you early-birds out there (not me) are probably chomping at the bit to file your taxes! So here’s a question to you readers about last year:

Fridays are typically “Ask the Readers” days at Get Rich Slowly, but today I’m doing something a little different. I’ve made a couple of big revelations lately, and those have generated a lot of questions. Today, I’ll answer a handful of these questions in order to give an outline of how I’m managing my money.

There’s a lot to be said about the discipline it took to be conscious spender (and saver) even after a windfall. How did you do this?

I love Dropbox. I like that it’s a real folder on my computer that is also invisibly synchronized and backed up in the cloud. The best part is that usually I forget it’s even there. Other online storage apps like Box.net or SkyDrive don’t work nearly as seamlessly for me.

Every weekday, I drive my daughter to preschool. It’s a nice routine, one that gives me a chance to spend some time with her. I make breakfast for her, make sure she’s adequately dressed for the weather, brush her beautiful long hair, and then we’re off to her preschool.

Along the path from home to preschool is a gas station. That station has the lowest gas prices within about a ten mile radius, so it’s the one I tend to use regularly.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Paying off low interest debt
2. Refinancing question
3. Coaching youth sports
4. Building credit from scratch
5. Buying home without down payment
6. Breakfast question

Last night I saved $228 (plus tax) with a 10 minute phone call. How? Easy. I called our DSL provider and asked for a discount.

While poking around on their website, I noticed that they were offering their 6 Mbps DSL service (our current level) at a promo rate of $19.99/month for new customers. Given that we’ve been paying $43/month, I was annoyed. Annoyed enough that I called and asked for a better deal.