Here's a piece from MSN Money that says the lifetime cost of bad credit is over $200,000. They detail how they got to this number, but the short version is that if you have a bad credit score you end up paying more for all sorts of things -- mortgages (where half the $200k costs lie), auto loans, credit cards, home equity loans -- basically whenever you borrow money.

The more of life I experience, the more I realize that the most valuable thing a person has in their life is time. The cost of a book is trivial compared to the value of the time spent reading it. The cost of raising a child in terms of dollars is far less than the value of the time spent rearing the children.

Time is the one thing I wish I had more of.

One frequent question I’m often asked is whether or not paying half of a mortgage payment twice a month versus paying a full mortgage payment once a month is actually worthwhile.

Let’s say, for example, you’re in the situation that Paul, one of my readers who wrote in recently, finds himself in. He just took out a $219,000 mortgage. His monthly payment on that mortgage is $1,300.89. Paul wants to know whether paying half of the mortgage twice a month will save him a significant amount.

My two year old daughter is showing a tremendous nascent interest in making music. She sings constantly. She uses her hands as percussion all the time on her knees, on the table, and anywhere else she can use them. She climbs up to our keyboard and attempts to play songs.

This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a quote from J.D.’s review of The Total Money Makeover: