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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 07 2008, 04:49 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. While sorting through reader e-mail recently, I began to detect a subtle recurring theme. People were writing to me because they had a goal in mind, but their present circumstances seemed to be far from their intended destination. These two points were so far apart, in fact, that my correspondents were afraid to begin moving. Because the distance seemed overwhelming, they were paralyzed. The importance of action I used to feel this way, too.
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Posted
Jul 02 2008, 07:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. You are going to be fired from your job this Friday. Read that statement again. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine if that sentence were true in your own life. Would you be ready?
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Posted
Jun 20 2008, 06:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Almost every day, people write to me with intimate details about their debt situations. Some of them are pretty mild and can be taken care of easily with a little bit of elbow grease. Others are horrifying and will take some very serious attention to manage. In either situation, the principles for getting rid of debt are much the same. Similar tactics can be applied whether the debt is a $200 credit card balance or a mountain of $250,000 worth of various forms of debt.
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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
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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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Posted
Jun 09 2008, 02:53 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Those who are serious about paying down debt have crafted their own little devices and mind games. For instance, we use the money we earn from our pet-sitting business to make extra payments on our mortgage principal. FloridaChic was born with a shopping gene, but she's learned to channel that impulse to pay off credit card debt. She explains her mind game in a post at Debt Smack called "The lazy girl's guide to snowflaking." This blogger might think she's lazy, but she has serious mind control.
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Posted
Jun 02 2008, 05:37 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. I pulled out my camera gear last night. It's been two years since I used it regularly. Before I started Get Rich Slowly, I seriously considered trying to become a professional photographer. But for a long time now, my camera stuff has been gathering dust in the corner of my office. I can't even remember the last time I used it. It's fun to look at all my equipment again. It's fun to handle it, to imagine the possibilities. I'm eager to get outside and make some images. As I sorted through my bodies and lenses, though, I had to shake my head.
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Posted
May 30 2008, 01:34 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Tell us, Kristy, what do you really think of Dave Ramsey and his debt snowball? "My opinion of Dave Ramsey is that he's horrible with math and probably not so good at psychology, either," Kristy writes at Master Your Card. Wow. Strong words about many people's favorite financial guru. Of the snowball, she says, "I don't think it makes good financial sense to teach people a method that costs them more money just because it may make them feel better." (In some parts, them's probably fightin' words.)
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