A Recession Lesson: Reduce Your Debt
[from ]
When it’s over, I hope this recession will be known as the time when America lost its devotion to debt.
What Extra Money Can Do For You
[from ]
Do you know that feeling when you’ve had something hanging over your head for a long time — and then it’s gone? My husband and I have been enjoying that feeling. We just paid off our vehicle loan. What a relief!
Now we have the happy problem of what to do with the “extra” money […]
Doing Away With $23,100 in Credit Card Debt
[from ]
The Bathiche Family Age: Tarek and Evibeth, both 25. Background: The Bathiches are stationed at Fort Meade, Md. Evibeth is an Army sergeant, and Tarek is an Army staff sergeant. They earn $67,000 a year. They have two children: Anthony, 3, and Sophia, 7 months. Where they started: When the Colo…
Chipping Away at Debt
[from ]
The families in the Color of Money Military Challenge this year were able to significantly reduce their debt loads despite a tough economic climate. Here is how much each family cut.
Charge It! But Watch The Rewards
[from ]
When I was in the 6th grade, Mrs. Nygren (my teacher, may she rest in peace) used to admonish the class that no one should ever buy anything on credit except for a house. She was adamant. If we could not pay with cash, we should not buy what we wanted to buy. […]
Dave Ramsey Falters in a Crummy Economy
[from ]
By Maggie Ellis, guest writer
I know many people who are followers of Dave Ramsey’s financial advice. Since the economy has tanked, it seems like I’m seeing even more people joining the Dave bandwagon, looking for a way out of the financial messes that they have gotten themselves into. His “Total Money Makeover” and the associated […]
Holidays With the Financial Half-Wits
[from ]
By Maggie Ellis, guest writer
It’s that time of year again. The time of year when my spouse and I are punished for our thrifty ways. How are we punished you ask? By being forced to spend the holidays with our families who are, at best, financial half-wits. (Half-wit is probably generous in some cases. No-wit […]
Is Debt Necessary For Generating Income?
[from ]
“Margie” writes in:
My husband and I are pretty frugal, but we currently carry about $25,000 in credit card debt and a personal loan. Our monthly interest is about $800 on the balances.
My husband owns his own business and has cash in hand to pay off these balances; however, he chooses to keep the money in […]
Get Your Budget to Work: Stop Caring
[from ]
I’m sure you’ve heard that if you want to be successful in getting or staying out of debt, you should craft a budget and stick to it. Does this really work? I suppose for some people it does, but it’s really never worked for me. That is until I stopped caring so much.
The problem for […]
On Good Debt and Bad Debt
[from ]
One of the most common ideas that personal finance writers bring up is the distinction between “good debt” and “bad debt.”
There are several fairly similar definitions of each kind of debt, but generally they either revolve around the terms of the debt (low interest rate debts - usually below 7% or so - would be […]
Can Adult Education Help You Become Debt-Free?
[from ]
John and Jane Doe desperately want to be debt-free. They’ve sliced and diced their credit cards and cut their expenses until they’re living on next to nothing but macaroni and mooched meals off relatives. They recycle and reuse. They never go out like in the good old days and a night of fun is a […]
That First Taste of Financial Success
[from ]
About a month after I hit bottom in terms of my debt, I sent in a large payment on one of my credit cards, a big enough payment to completely eliminate the balance. That money had come from a lot of things: eating very cheaply for a while, selling off a bunch of DVDs […]
How Important is Your Debt to Limit Ratio?
[from ]
We are under constant media barrage about checking our credit report and we all know it’s important to have a high credit score. With the new legislation, it’s possible that a great credit score will be more important than ever. But does the average Joe really understand what goes into the calculating of a credit […]
Looking for Someone to Blog about Their Debt
[from ]
We are looking for someone in debt that is willing to blog about it. We recently purchased the Blogging Away Debt Blog and are looking for someone to take over the blogging from Tricia once she has paid off all her debt. Tricia will still be around blogging for awhile, so you would be blogging […]
The Plain Truth and Your Finances
[from ]
As the economic decline slides further into uncertainty, we have to take a hard look at our own familial finances and begin to ask some serious questions. It’s time to take off those rose-colored glasses.
First, we all need to understand what we, as individuals, can and cannot control.
We can control how much we earn
If you […]
How Come I’m Broke and You’re Not?
[from ]
One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is, “How did you learn so much about finance?” The subtext to the question is usually along the lines of, “I know you aren’t a genius or good with numbers, so how come you have a handle on this stuff and I don’t? How come I’m broke […]
Charting Their Rise Out of Debt
[from ]
While the government tries to figure out how to bail out Wall Street, I’ve been working this year on ways to bail out three military families from debt that was crushing their spirits.
Keeping College Debt Under Control
[from ]
I decided that to pay for college without borrowing money, I would have to make some serious income. So I started a janitorial service for the commercial businesses near my school. Sure enough, I got a few contracts, each of which paid an average of $800 to $2,200 per month. And I ended up…
Saving Money Can Be Social
[from ]
Why do many people opt to spend rather than save money? Because saving isn’t fun. It’s not as much fun as going to the movies, or out to eat, or to an amusement park. And why is that? Because many of the things we do for entertainment are social. They get us out amongst other […]
Financial Lessons We Can Learn from Our Grandparents
[from ]
Your grandparents (or maybe great-grandparents) were better than you at saving money. If you think long and hard about that, most of you will probably agree with that statement. There are a number of reasons why they were better and some things we can learn from those facts. Let’s dive right into those reasons.
Awareness of […]
I Thought I Divorced That House
[from SavingAdvice.com Blog]
There is so much involved when you are getting a divorce. The emotional shock seems to outweigh all else. You certainly don’t want to think about financial matters. But you must. Many unscrupulous lawyers make their monies on quick and dirty divorces. They don’t tell you everything that you need to know.
The following story is […]
Frugal Your Way Out of Debt
[from SavingAdvice.com Blog]
People have gotten into debt for a variety of reasons. Some is due to their own fault while others aquired the debt from circumstances beyond their control. While it’s important to understand why you got into debt so that you can take the necessary steps so that it doesn’t happen again, the fact is that […]
Is Complete Debt Freedom a Worthwhile Goal for Us - And For You?
[from The Simple Dollar]
I hear from a lot of readers who avidly follow Dave Ramsey. Many of them have taken his Financial Peace course, some got on board with his Total Money Makeover, and others avidly follow his radio show. Virtually all of them are strongly committed to complete debt freedom as a goal and they’re […]
The Big Debate #4: Pay Off Debt or Save for Retirement?
[from The Simple Dollar]
This week, The Simple Dollar is taking a deeper look at five common personal finance debates.
Once a day or so, I’ll get a long email from someone pouring out the details of their personal finance situation. Quite often, they’ve reached an age where they’re starting to seriously worry about retirement and have realized that […]
How to Offset the Cost of Luxury
[from SavingAdvice.com Blog]
By Ann Hartter
Al Gore offsets his carbon footprint. Volunteering for your community is offset for minor crimes. If you can offset those, you can definitely offset luxurious spending. The opportunity or the cost of that opportunity is a perceived value. Sometimes you even have to make a case to yourself for something […]
Looking at Debt Repayment as an Investment
[from The Simple Dollar]
Quite often on The Simple Dollar, I’ll mention the advantages of getting your debt paid down. For most debts, paying them down is the best thing you can do with your money, provided that you have a small emergency fund set up to protect yourself against the unforeseen and at least some retirement savings.
As […]
The Single Biggest Money Mistake I’ve Ever Made
[from The Simple Dollar]
The single biggest money mistake I’ve ever made was the day I decided that my future self would pay for stuff that I wanted (not needed, but wanted) now.
The amazing part is that I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was twenty years old and a junior in college. I had taken the advice […]
Should You “Debt Snowball
[from ]
The idea of debt snowballing is a popular one: it pushes you to get rid of your debts and get on a financially stable playing field, plus it encourages you to behave in a frugal fashion because you’re setting aside such a large, steady block of money each month to eliminate those debts.
What’s a debt […]
Obama Knows Firsthand About Consumer Debt
[from washingtonpost.com - Personal Finance]
Far too many people are buckling under the strain of running a household as consumer prices rise, home values decline and banks tighten up on credit. There’s such financial distress across the country because of mountains of personal debt that any new president will have a difficult time trying t…
Why Are Student Loans Acceptable?
[from SavingAdvice.com Blog]
By Cortni Marrazzo
I’m sure you have heard that there is a difference between “good debt” and “bad debt.” Bad debt is usually associated with credit cards, car loans, and other debts that aren’t secured by something that is growing in value. However, the term “good debt” is often given to such debt as […]