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Posted
Sep 29 2008, 07:54 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
I've been very nervous about money lately. Who hasn't? But my jitters aren't solely the result of the recent Wall Street turmoil and bailout babble. For me, and maybe for you, financial angst has been building for a while. Talk of a bailout is merely the insult that tops a series of injuries.
Here's my list: Last week my bank, Washington Mutual, failed. The apartment building I manage is about to be sold, so my job is up in the air. My monthly health insurance premium rose a startling $119 overnight. I had to write a check for quarterly income taxes. The alimony ends in six months. A credit card statement for almost $3,000 arrived in Friday's mail, and it's due three days before payday. The money left over from my educational grant was 75% lower than I'd expected.
Bills are showing up for my colonoscopy (can't skip this since there's a major family history of colon cancer) plus the three doctor visits and numerous tests it took to deal with a recent, unrelated health problem -- and I have a $1,500 deductible. Underlying it all is the fact that I'm almost 51 years old and I haven't had a "real" job since November 2002.
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Posted
Sep 10 2008, 10:23 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Sarah Winfrey at partner blog Wise Bread. "Pa-doink" is the sound you hear when something small and heavy hits water. Think about a child throwing a coin into the fountain at a shopping mall: A toss and a pa-doink later, there's one more wish waiting to be granted and one more coin at the bottom of the pool. I heard a story once about a man whose job it was to clean those coins out of the fountain. None of his supervisors wanted the money. "It's not enough to bother about," they said, and "It's not worth our while," so the man shrugged and took the coins home. He didn't know what to do with them, but he put them in an extra jar his wife had given him and set them aside for later.
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Posted
Jul 10 2008, 09:25 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Truman Lewis at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. When the transition to digital television occurs in February, many homeowners who have carefully included a portable, battery-powered television in their disaster-preparedness kit will be out of luck. The small, inexpensive analog sets that consumers in earthquake- and hurricane-prone regions have come to rely on won't be able to receive the digital signals that all television stations will start sending when the changeover occurs Feb. 18.
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Posted
Jun 26 2008, 03:30 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It goes without saying that whenever personal-finance bloggers write about how much money they saved on shampoo or toilet paper and other mundane stuff, someone thinks -- and sometimes writes -- "Get a life." Why think about -- or take the time to find -- a $1 savings on a tube of toothpaste? As Kevin at No Debt Plan succinctly says in a post called "2 reasons you should care about my toothpaste savings," it's not just about the toothpaste. It's about "your money-spending life."
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Posted
May 22 2008, 05:41 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Philip Brewer at partner blog Wise Bread. My very first experience running a household was in 1980, just as the last big inflationary period was spiking above 10%. My carefully constructed budget was destroyed by prices that were rising by 1% every month. Since then, I've given considerable thought to how to deal with just that situation. Since history seems dangerously close to repeating itself, it's a timely topic.
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Posted
Mar 05 2008, 07:51 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. 2008 has been a difficult year. On Dec. 30, I rushed my wife to the emergency room. She had severe abdominal pain and was literally doubled over as we raced to the hospital. When morphine didn't dull the pain, they moved to Dilaudid, which is much stronger. It took the edge off the pain. Then the vomiting started. Ten hours and many tests later, they released her. They didn't know what the problem was, but the medicine had reduced her systems. After a restless night, the pain returned, and off we went to the hospital at 5 a.m. This time we spent 13 hours in the emergency room before she was admitted. More tests, more guesses, more pain and more vomiting. By Jan. 2 (happy new year, by the way), they had narrowed the problem to one of her kidneys and scheduled a procedure for later in the week. The procedure went well, and everything seemed to be resolved. She was discharged that day. Five hours later the pain and vomiting returned. We were off to the emergency room again, she was admitted and had the same procedure. She was discharged the next day, nine days after the ordeal had begun. She's doing much better now, although there are a number of follow-ups yet to go. They think the problem has been resolved, but they aren't certain. I give you all of this background so you can better appreciate the following four things this experience taught us about health insurance (we have preferred-provider organization or PPO insurance).
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Posted
Jan 31 2008, 06:56 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Does shame sometimes compel us to spend money that we don't have? It's time to get beyond that type of thinking, writes paidtwice at I've Paid For This Twice Already. In a gem of a post, paidtwice explains that she came to that realization after her dentist said her wisdom teeth have to come out -- this just after paidtwice spent the family emergency fund and other reserves on a car engine replacement. So she's practicing what she'll say when she tells the dentist that the procedure will have to wait until she has saved money to pay for it. "I get so hung up on appearances, and the idea that money would cause me to put this off makes me feel like I can't keep up the appearance that we're doing just fine," she writes. But, she says, "I'd rather live in full awareness of reality and be a little embarrassed than in a fantasy world I create with available credit."
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Posted
Jan 18 2008, 05:02 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Recent layoffs at a company Blubba once worked for prompted him to share the benefit of his experience with his readers. The host of Fat Man ... Skinny Wallet has been down that road. He says the first thing you need to do is get a handle on your emotions. "Losing your job is a lot like a breakup," he writes. "A lot of emotions are going on -- mine were shock, disappointment and bed-wetting terror at being able to make mortgage payments on my just-purchased home."
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Posted
Jan 04 2008, 05:32 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm of partner blog The Simple Dollar. No matter how careful you are, there may come a time when enough bad events happen that you simply cannot afford your bills. While you can do certain things to protect yourself from being in that situation -- building an emergency fund, practicing frugal living -- they don't really help when you have no money and a pile of bills to pay. If you find yourself in this situation and don't know what to do, here are some practical steps you can take to get started on the road to recovery. Don't bury yourself in guilt and shame. Everyone makes mistakes in life, and you're certainly far from the first one or the only one. I was in a desperate situation once upon a time. Realize that there are solutions to your problems, no matter how bad the challenges are. Just because you don't immediately see the answers doesn't mean the answers aren't there. There are answers, and there is a path to a better situation.
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Posted
Jan 02 2008, 01:49 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We've been mighty intrigued by Location Independent Living, a weblog by and for people who live wherever they want in the world and still earn a decent living. (Imagine working, say, on the beach in lovely Diamante, Italy.) The Web site deals with the practical and the cerebral. A recent post, "3 fears I had about leaving the rat race that didn't come true," addresses worries about failure and divorce, and the limiting effects other people can have on your confidence as you pursue your cubicle-free dreams.
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