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In this post, I wrote about why it is important to track your spending.  Well, this post wasn’t just talk, I’ve been walking-the-walk and tracking my spending for almost half a year now.  I’ve learned a lot, we’ve refined our process for how we track our spending, and I am even more convinced that it is important to do this and that it is helpful to engage in this process.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that tracking your spending carefully is almost more important than having a budget (in fact, we don’t have a budget we only track.)  (more…)

I am not a proponent of spending money, generally.  At least not unless you have no debts and a good solid savings.  Otherwise, there are very few things that I think are worth the sacrifice to financial freedom.  However, there are a few area’s where I feel like everyone should treat themselves a bit.  Here are 5 recommendations I have to make you feel rich, even if you are on a Raaman noodles budget…   (more…)

A few years ago, Bank of America came out with its Keep the Change Program which played on the old idea of throwing your charge into a jar.  Although I didn’t become a Bank of America customer, I thought the idea was ingenuous.  If you can make saving fun, or at least effortless, then it gives you yet another incentive to save money.  So, here I’ve posted some idea’s or games to play to help making saving some extra money a little more enjoyable.     (more…)

I mentioned to a friend the other day that I got a really cute sweater at a thrift store.  Her response was “why, you can afford to shop elsewhere.  And you are taking clothes away from someone who might not be able to.” I had to think a little bit about her second point- was I really taking away the opportunity to buy that sweater from someone who really needed it?  However, the Goodwill Store isn’t a charity in the sense that they give away clothes or provide clothes to the needy… so its not as if I’m going to a food bank and taking food out of the mouths of the needy or anything like that. Goodwill is open to everyone, with no income requirements or requirement of impoverishment.  In fact, I think that when I buy a sweater at Goodwill, they put that money towards helping people (right?)  So I was able to answer that issue relatively easily.  Even more thought went into the idea of whether I could, in fact, afford to shop elsewhere. (more…)

I set some goals for August in this post and some of them turned out a little better than others :).  I also have some goals that I’ve set for September. (more…)

The other day, I went shopping with a neighbor.  We’ve lived next door to this family for a long time, and they basically are The Joneses.  They have 3 cars for 2 people (a huge SUV, an Audi and a Porsche).  They have a boat (in an area of the country where you can use a boat for maybe 3 months out of the year, if you are lucky).  They are always remodeling something, and if you ever want to borrow the latest power tool you can bet they have it. (more…)

My mom had a beautiful set of copper pots. She loved cooking with them. She hated to take care of them. They are super tarnished, and almost black in some places because she rarely polished them.  At this point, to replace the set now would be almost $2000.  I don’t want to, nor can I, spend that kind of money. So, instead I am spending a lot of time cleaning them (for those who are curious, I am using lemon & salt and also letting them sit in dill pickle juice and it is actually working).   (more…)

Yesterday someone broke a window on our car while it was parked in a secure parking garage.  They stole a GPS System, and left a ton of shattered glass in its place.  We need to have two cars (there is no public transportation to speak of here, and I need to get to my part time job and Fiance to his full time one).  So, I got on the phone last night to try to find someone to fix our shattered window.   (more…)

The other day, I was cutting up brownies into serving sizes after I baked up a pan.  I specifically did not want to eat a brownie. I was about to go out to dinner, and I had already had sweets earlier in the day, and I was going to be having desert later that night.  So, instead, I proceeded to eat the crumbs that were left after I cut a brownie.  The pieces that stuck to the bottom of the pan also got eaten off the bottom, before the pan made its way into the sink.  And that last little piece that wasn’t quite big enough to be a serving size… well don’t even get me started on that.  Ultimately, I think I probably would have eaten less if I had just cut myself a normal size brownie, but thats not really the point here.  The point is that, in dieting and in budgeting, the crumbs count. (more…)

This advice may seem contrary to what you might think a personal finance Blogger would say.  After all, it’s clear that our irrational relationship with money is the root of a lot of our money problems (otherwise, why would so many Americans get into debt for things that aren’t necessities).  However, while using your brain definitely has a place in making money decisions, ultimately I think the allocation of your assets should be decided by your heart.  Let me explain what I mean. (more…)