Financial and Lifestyle Resources for Vermont

The holiday season is heralded as a time of joy … and a time to buy. For those who have the means, it’s exciting to think about the new things you may get and the gifts you can give. For those who can’t afford holiday costs, it can be a time of anxiety and loneliness. For those who don’t have family or are going through their first holiday season without a loved one, it can be devastating.

My wife and I are new homeowners and in preparing for winter, we've begun the yearly process of budgeting for our heating bill. In auditing how our house deals with heating over the past few chilly weeknights, we realized we wanted a better way to control the heat, while also saving on fuel oil!

Starting July 1, 2020, Vermonters are no longer permitted to put food scraps in the trash. This is the final phase of Vermont’s food waste landfill ban—part of the Universal Recycling Law which passed in 2012. The goal of the law is to reduce the state’s trash and increase recycling and composting of food waste. Why does this matter? We want to reduce dependence on landfilling, conserve valuable resources like aluminum and oil, and reduce greenhouse gases created from landfilled food scraps and other organic matter.

I love to exercise outdoors, especially in the summer. I’m not much of a runner or biker. I like to walk, but I get bored on my typical route. Hiking gives me the complete experience—lots of exercise, views, fresh air, sunshine, companionship, and a sense of challenge and accomplishment. I’ve hiked all my life, starting as a little girl on Mount Mansfield’s Sunset Ridge Trail, the Tetons in Wyoming in 1990, and the Hunger and Elmore Mountain trails in central Vermont in the last couple of decades.

Like many people, I want to give to others, but I don’t have a lot of time and I don’t have a lot of money. Fortunately, I love athleticism and I have found that nearly all races are tied to a charity. I learned about this connection at an important juncture in my life and I want to share my story with you because it is this connection that allows me to make a real and positive difference in people’s lives.

My daughter is in college, so for the past couple of years I’ve struggled to pull together the funds for a vacation. This year is even more of a struggle because I had to pay for some significant repairs to my home and my car. I know I’m not the only one in this situation, so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned how to travel on a budget while still having a fantastic vacation.

Over the past couple of years, VSECU has gone through an internal transformation that has made it easier for all employees to cultivate and strengthen relationships across the organization. Over the course of that transformation, I learned a lot about the importance of relationship to personal and career growth.

How many times have you sat in a meeting and made a suggestion or a statement that gets you a few nonchalant head nods; then a man in the room makes the same suggestion and receives a round of applause and support? How many times have you been engaged in conversation with a group of men and realized nobody is making eye contact with you anymore and the men have created a bond that you just can’t infiltrate, so you sit quietly, shrink, and settle for observing after several attempts to engage? How many times have you been asked a question by a man, which you answer, and then the questioner bypasses your gaze to check in with another man for the “real answer”? How many times have you heard, “just get to the point”? If you’re a woman, I am confident you can relate.