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Posted
Jul 16 2008, 02:27 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Would you rather eliminate your debt with a snowball, or smack it down with an avalanche? "Flexo" at Consumerism Commentary says, "By choosing the debt avalanche method, you will pay off your total debt faster, you will pay less interest, and you are mathematically efficient." We're all for being mathematically efficient.
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Posted
Jul 16 2008, 12:44 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Catherine at Frugal Homemaker Plus and Crystal at Money Saving Mom have heard this comment from others: "You and your husband make good money. Why don't you spend more on a nicer home/car/vacation/TV?" Why? Because they have different -- and impressive -- priorities for their money, if you really must know. As Crystal said -- in response to a rude comment apparently questioning her sanity for repairing her old van rather than buying a new one -- "We're living like no one else so that someday we can live and give like no one else." (Yes, she is a fan of Dave Ramsey.)
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Posted
Jul 15 2008, 11:02 AM
by
Karen Datko
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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 11 2008, 03:45 PM
by
Karen Datko
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If you thought credit card companies offer rewards and cash back because they want to give you things, think again. Several bloggers were intrigued by a study in the July issue of Consumer Reports about how rewards programs work -- in favor of the companies. "Consumer Reports found that people who have rewards cards often end up spending more money than those with a regular card, and on top of that, they don't always reap the benefits of having the card," wrote Peter at Bible Money Matters.
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Posted
Jul 01 2008, 05:00 AM
by
Karen Datko
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Blogger Rosalind Mays gave her kids credit cards. What? Is she nuts? They're only in sixth grade or thereabouts. Explaining one of the more interesting methods we've encountered for teaching kids about money, she writes in a post at Real Life Debt: "But the catch was (cause there is always a catch), I became Visa. I've always wanted to be a banking giant."
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Posted
Jun 30 2008, 01:09 PM
by
Karen Datko
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What amount of money would vastly improve the life of blogger "Too Smart"? He says $3,600 would pay off a loan from a friend -- and get him out of the downward spiral of payday-advance loans. In his case, the interest on those loans is 400%. "We float checks every two weeks at three different payroll-advance places. The balance is around $2,000. The interest and fees are approximately $300 each time we flip. That's about $600 a month," he wrote at a new blog called Too Smart to Live Like This. How did a bright guy get himself into this fix?
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Posted
Jun 27 2008, 08:48 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Most of us have lottery dreams. If we won the big one, we'd quit our job(s), pay off the house, live abroad. But consider this: The amount of money it would take to change your life might actually be much more modest -- and a lot more attainable. "Paidtwice" at I've Paid For This Twice Already calls that amount your "life-changing money." She used to think it was hundreds of thousands of dollars. "But then I realized -- at this point, life-changing money for me really means simply getting out of debt and establishing an adequate emergency fund," she wrote. With $40,000, she wouldn't have to think so much about money with every decision she makes. Many of her readers said they feel the same way.
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Posted
Jun 20 2008, 05:40 PM
by
Karen Datko
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"DogAteMyFinances" didn't report a success story when she recently updated her finances for her reading public. When she started her blog, also called Dog Ate My Finances, she had a net worth of $8,000 and $30,000 of debt, she wrote. Fast forward six months. The net worth is now $3,000 and the debt has grown to $45,000. "That's just embarrassing when you make over 150K," she admitted. But, she's being an adult about it. She's blaming no one but herself. In a reversal of roles, her readers offered sound advice to the personal-finance blogger.
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Posted
Jun 17 2008, 11:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
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Here's a little snapshot of reality we never thought we'd see: MP Dunleavey owns fewer pairs of jeans than we do. (She has one; we have two.) That factlet about the often loved, sometimes maligned New York Times and MSN Money personal-finance writer was contained in an e-mail interview she did with U.S. News & World Report. We've been among those who have sometimes wondered about MP's spending choices, particularly when she bought a larger house, but that wardrobe confession compelled us to give her another look.
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Posted
Jun 11 2008, 03:03 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Sometimes a good way to learn is to examine other people's mistakes. Lately, personal-finance bloggers have written about two doozies. "Mrs. Accountability" at Out of Debt Again tells the story of Nancy, a woman she met about six years ago when both were poor and living in a trailer park. Nancy's life changed when her mother died. The will specified that some of the estate be used to buy Nancy a condo free and clear.
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