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• The debtor's toolkit: 12 tactics to use for tackling debt

  Posted Jun 20 2008, 06:08 AM by Karen Datko
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  Filed under: debt, saving, emergency, Simple Dollar
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  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.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 7 comments) 7,146 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Blogger's rant: Why the economic future looks so grim

  Posted Mar 26 2008, 05:01 PM by Karen Datko
  Rating:
  Filed under: debt, saving, emergency, Karen Datko
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  Fed up with the government's bailout du jour? You'll find a kindred spirit in Randall at Credit Withdrawal. He's been on an extended rant lately about the causes of economic gloom and the supposed solutions to fix them. His starship goes where a lot of other personal-finance bloggers hesitate to travel.

  Bailout plans provoke this reaction: "Rewarding stupidity isn't going to make anyone learn from their mistakes. America is the land of opportunity, but that opportunity also includes the opportunity to fail."

  Why does the government want us to blow our tax rebate money on stuff? He writes: "If everyone were to spend their checks only on debt reduction, the only 'stimulus' that would happen would be for the bankers and lenders, and they already have lots of money coming to them from the Fed in the form of reduced prime rates and now direct loans to nonbanking businesses."

  Randall doesn't stop there. He foretells the future -- it ain't pretty -- and proposes what regulars folks should do, just in case his predictions are spot on.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 2 comments) 1,619 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• 8 ways to take charge of your finances in 2008

  Posted Jan 21 2008, 11:52 AM by Karen Datko
  Rating:
  Filed under: debt, saving, emergency, Get Rich Slowly
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly.

  If one of your resolutions for 2008 is to take control of your money (instead of letting it control you), this crash course in financial basics can help guide the way.

  Here's a summary of everything I've learned about personal finance.

  Track every penny you spend. The authors of "Your Money or Your Life" admonish readers to "keep track of every cent that comes into or goes out of your life."

  (This is) the best way to become conscious of how money actually comes and goes in your life as opposed to how you think it comes and goes .... This is the step that somehow makes the biggest impact.

  It doesn't matter how you track your spending -- the most important thing is to do it. You can use a cash notebook, you can use an on-line tool like Wesabe, or you can use software like Quicken or Microsoft Money.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 9 comments) 14,316 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• What do you do with your spare change?

  Posted Dec 31 2007, 09:12 AM by Karen Datko
  Rating:
  Filed under: debt, banking, saving, emergency
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  What to do with spare change has been a popular topic here of late, so we thought we'd look into how personal-finance bloggers handle theirs. (None keep enough in jars at home to pay cash for a new truck, like that famous Indiana fellow.) You can tell by the name of his blog that glblguy at Gather Little by Little doesn't eschew spare change. In fact, he wonders "at what point did we as a society make the decision that loose change just isn't worth the trouble?" He and his wife put spare change, and now $1 bills, in a jar, and periodically deposit the money in an emergency fund or pay off debt. Estimated savings over 15 years of marriage: $4,500.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 4 comments) 1,155 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• 7 responsible ways to use your holiday bonus

  Posted Dec 18 2007, 06:11 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: debt, retirement, saving, emergency
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

  Earlier I wrote about seven irresponsible and fun ways to spend your holiday bonus, and now I’m going to throw a bone to the responsible crowd and list seven responsible things to do with your holiday bonus. I think everyone is a mix between the two (or at least I am). If you spend your entire bonus on fun things, you aren’t saving enough for the future. If you do responsible things with your bonus, you aren’t really enjoying the fruits of your labor. I think you need to find a nice happy medium without going overboard in either direction.

  Eliminate debt. Are you carrying high-interest credit card debt? Before you spend any of that bonus, put it toward your debt. Before you save for your retirement, pay down your debt. Paying down a credit card debt at 19.99% is like earning 19.99% on an investment (not exactly, but you get the idea), so pay down that credit card debt as soon as possible. Before you can build your personal-finance house, you need to firm up your foundation by getting rid of your debt.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 1 comments) 975 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

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