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The retailers are praying that you are, to help salvage what may be a dismal Christmas season due to the current economic crisis. However, is it really in your best interest to hit the streets at 5 AM to score the amazing deals that stores are touting? (more…)
Happy Thanksgiving One and All. Today is a day to think about gratitude- to stop focusing on all the things we want and need, and to take a minute to look around at all we have. So, on your blog, in the comments, or even just around your dinner table today I ask you to list the 5 things you are thankful for. As you do, make a note about how few of them are silly material possessions (unless of course you are thankful for your iphone… I won’t judge, but I’d be surprised if that is on too many people’s top 5 list, although I suppose it might make some people’s top 10 
) (more…)
Christmas is supposed to be a time for celebrating the Birth of Christ (if you believe in such things). At the very least, it is supposed to be a time that we spend with our friends and family, sharing good memories and letting each other know that we are loved and appreciated. But, all too often, Christmas becomes something else entirely. It becomes a time to overspend, to fight in the aisles to get the latest must have toy, to trample each other to get the Early Bird Special on Black Friday so we can add yet another useless gadget to our already overcrowded homes. And, it becomes a time when we charge, charge, charge on our cards to allow us to maintain extravagance. In other words, we are a long way from the manger. (more…)
When I was younger I used to imagine that one day I would be rich. I would win the lottery or marry some rich prince or get some great fantastic job that didn’t require me to work more than a few hours a week and yet allowed me to live the lavish lifestyle. I would shop all day and eat in the most decadent restaurants. I would have a maid and a cook. If I wanted something, anything, I would go out and buy it. (more…)
I received a reader email asking which surveys I do in order to get the Survey Money listed in my monthly budget. I’ve tried out a lot, and here is a listing of those that I use: (more…)
In many ways, I am lucky, because my DF is completely on the same page as I am about getting out of debt. We both want to pay down our loans aggressively, and we are both willing to make the sacrifices necessary to do so. However, even if you don’t have a supportive partner or if you aren’t married, it is much easier (and more fun) to accomplish your debt repayment or savings or other financial goals with someone else. (more…)
I’ve written a few posts about how couples can stop fighting about money (here and here) . I definitely speak from personal experience on this matter. When I got involved with DF, he was a bit of a financial mess. In fact, a few times I almost broke up with him early in the relationship because I didn’t like some of the money decisions I was seeing him make. But, he was sweet so I stayed. And I didn’t really find out about the extent of the money issues until about a year in, when it became clear that the reason he was living paycheck to paycheck was because of a whole giant mound of credit card debt he had acquired during college. (more…)
My debt consolidation officially went through, so now all of my student loans are with 1 company except for 1 private loan. It’s a little scary to see such a huge number in my consolidation account ($113K). It seemed a bit more manageable when it looked like $8500 there and $10,000 there. (more…)
I’ve updated my progress bars. I have now paid 18.7% of my private loan off. Almost 19%. I can’t WAIT until I can get that line to the 100% mark. I’d like to pay it off in 6 months, but that would be like $3600 a month paid and that doesn’t seem too feasible, so more reasonably my goal is 12 months or a payment of $1750 a month. I’ve paid $730 so far this month and should be paying at least $1000 (probably closer to $1200) with our next paychecks. So I’ll definitely meet or exceed that payment goal this month :)
I’m also going to start a page on which I publish my weekly shopping lists, per a readers request. Now, there are a lot of places to find shopping lists. Mine will be specific to me. I don’t really like to spend any money on groceries if I can help it, so I usually only list the deals that come out to be free or close to free. I also have a large amount of extrabucks (CVS money) to start with, so I do post deals that require me to pay out ECB’s to get ECB’s back. Check them out if you are curious or want a really refined list of the BEST deals at CVS and Wags (at least the closest to free)
