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Posted
Jul 15 2008, 11:02 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
We like the new blogger who posts at Sallie's Niece. She "went to school thanks to my Aunt Sallie Mae," her site says. "Now watch me struggle to pay and pay." She owes $72,735 to Sallie Mae, and that's not including a nearly equal amount in private loans. Sometimes it is a struggle. She has done battle with the "Evil Overdraft Monster" and payday loans. Her latest nemesis -- now vanquished after two years -- was the gyros truck outside her workplace. "At five days a week for three months each year, I am just now realizing that I spent $900, a whole emergency fund's worth of George Washingtons, on very thinly cut lamb rolled in pita bread with some tomatoes and onions!" Our foodie heart goes out to you, Sallie's Niece.
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Posted
Jul 14 2008, 07:00 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This guest post comes from Silicon Valley Blogger at The Digerati Life. Our family has experienced a few changes over the last couple of years, which has required us to become much more watchful over our finances. My spouse left his job a couple of years ago to start his own company, while I worked at a stable job to assure ourselves a reliable income stream. I stayed with my job for quite a while despite a killer commute. But things got even tighter when I resigned this year due to the commute, for health reasons and in order to seek a better work/life balance. At first, it seemed like a frightening decision that would impact our finances significantly. But it turns out, we've been able to roll with the punches. Savings we built up through the years (particularly during the dot-com boom) plus changes we've made to our spending habits have helped us adjust to a life with less income.
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Posted
Jul 11 2008, 11:59 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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My favorite yard sale story of all time comes from my friend Meghan Pembleton, sister to an inveterate garage saler. At one such event Meghan's nephew, a preschooler, took a small toy from the "free" box. The sale's host said, "Those are free, honey."
The child gave the garage sale response he'd heard so often from his mom: "Would you take a quarter?"
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Posted
Jul 09 2008, 12:01 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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Yesterday I was thinking about "hypermilers," those folks who go to great lengths to squeeze maximum mileage from their cars. While of course I strive for the best mileage possible, I don't hypermile -- with my car, that is. As a frugalist, I hypermile my whole life.
Meal plans, shopping, entertainment, transportation, utility usage, gift-giving -- all are done with an eye toward achieving maximum bang for the buck.
Plenty of you are right there with me, if posts on the Smart Spending message board and the comments about my articles are any indication.
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Posted
Jul 07 2008, 09:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
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Recession. Not a recession. Whatever label you put on the economy, "people are hurting financially," "Frugal Dad" says. He provides 75 tips for cutting back to help your budget withstand the impact of $4-plus gas, higher food prices and our other economic ills. We love compilations like this because you can print them out and put them on the fridge. Frugal Dad covers a lot of ground here, and has some ideas we hadn't considered. He cuts bottled juice with water to make it last twice as long. To save money but salvage his social life, he meets friends after the dinner hour. Eating out, after all, can be a mighty budget buster.
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Posted
Jul 07 2008, 12:34 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
It can take years for a big Hollywood movie to get approved, let alone filmed. That's why I think that the parallels between "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" and our current economic situation are probably coincidental.
Foreclosures. Job loss. Hungry people lining up for food handouts. Families who can't make ends meet no matter how hard they work. But enough about today; let's talk about the Great Depression, the setting for "Kit Kittredge."
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Posted
Jul 03 2008, 02:14 PM
by
Donna Freedman
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"Story Girl" at the My Money and My Life personal finance blog wondered if community supported agriculture were a frugal choice. She'd be paying $25 a week for an ever-changing variety of fresh, local produce. But $25 is "nearly half my weekly grocery budget," Story Girl notes.
Now she's really glad she did it. In an item called "Why I love CSA," she explained that there was more to the decision than simple frugality. "There are a lot of reasons why I consider this to be a good choice for me," she writes, "and why it may even save money in the long term."
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Posted
Jul 02 2008, 09:06 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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Last July, I was in debt. This year I don't owe a thing. That's the kind of independence I'll be celebrating this Friday: freedom from obligation. And to paraphrase Franklin D. Roosevelt, I'll also be celebrating freedom from wants.
"Freedom from want," according to FDR's famous Four Freedoms speech, means "economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants." I'd like to define that further. To me, a "healthy peacetime life" means having my needs met and my wants under control.
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Posted
Jul 01 2008, 04:54 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Here's a clever budgeting aid from Chris at Cheaperversion: Create a do-not-buy list. "The purpose of a do-not-buy list is to banish the idea of purchasing unneeded items from your monthly budget," Chris writes. Although Chris doesn't spell them out, there seem to be some unwritten rules here: Your list has to contain stuff you really want, but you're also allowed to buy cheaper or better-for-you alternatives, or the same product in smaller amounts. For instance, the top two items on Chris' list are 24-packs of beer (a 12-pack is on his weekend to-buy list) and "high-calorie" cookies (we're assuming cookies "lite" are OK).
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Posted
Jun 30 2008, 09:37 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Lately I've been feeling better about things financial. The bottom line could be healthier, but I'm trying to concentrate on what I have rather than what I don't have. To wit: retirement monies from my previous career, an emergency fund, a university scholarship, a part-time writing job, a well-stocked pantry and cheap rent due to my gig as apartment house manager. I also have the useful life skill of being easily amused: long walks, yard sales, meals at home, writing to friends, going to the library and doing The New York Times crossword puzzle all make me happy.
Still, I sometimes get jumpy about the lucre. This tends to happen after I've read the newspaper or online news sites with stories predicting doom, gloom and recession. It also occurs whenever I pay attention to grocery prices for very long. The anxiety is vague and free-floating, but the hypervigilance it inspires is very focused indeed.
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