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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 10:33 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Inside a neighborhood newspaper recently I found a coupon section with the headline, "Frugal is hip. It's OK to clip."
Hip? Suddenly I'm hip? For years people debated my sanity, sometimes openly, because I shopped thrift stores, used coupons, made soup stock from chicken bones. Turns out I was just a bit early to a party that others have finally deemed cool enough to attend.
At various times in recent history it has also been hip to wear shoulder pads, cook with oat bran and turn rocks into pets. I don't want frugality to be hip. I want it to last.
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Posted
Sep 22 2009, 11:23 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from James Limbach at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
Counting down the hours until payday? You're not alone.
As the economic downturn trudges on, many workers are struggling with household budgets. About six in 10 workers -- 61% -- report they always or usually live paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet, compared with 49% last year and 43% in 2007, according to a new nationwide survey of more than 4,400 workers by CareerBuilder.
Thirty percent of workers with salaries of $100,000 or more report that they too live paycheck to paycheck, versus 21% in 2008.
Some workers are making ends meet by dipping into their long-term savings. More than one in five workers say they have reduced their 401(k) contributions or personal savings in the last six months to get by. Among workers earning six figures or more, a nearly equal number -- 23% -- report that they have also reduced their 401(k) contributions or savings.
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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 07:47 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Wojciech Kulicki at Fiscal Fizzle.
A critical skill for a fulfilling financial life is understanding your own money priorities. Without taking this first step, it's like driving without a destination -- you will simply end up wherever the road takes you.
I've touched on the topic of setting priorities in a number of past posts:
Now I'd like to take a more detailed approach and propose a list of seven independent activities that will drive you to find what's at the heart of your financial desires.
I guarantee that doing even one of these will bring you much closer to understanding what you value and aligning your daily actions with where you'd like to finish. It's worth the effort.
Consider these seven individually, or as a group:
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Posted
Sep 18 2009, 07:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Here is one of the most frequently asked questions in all of personal finance: "How do I get out of debt?" At one level, eliminating debt is simply about following a few steps:
- Stop going into more debt.
- Spend less than you make.
- Pay off debt with the difference.
If you follow these steps, eventually you'll be debt-free. The problem is that following these steps isn't always so easy. And to make matters worse, there is a lot of "help" out there that can make matters worse. From debt-consolidation companies to books like Kevin Trudeau's "Debt Cures," which I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy, there are a lot of promises being made that getting out of debt is easy. It's not.
In fact, tackling your debt may be one of the hardest things you'll ever do. You have to control your emotions, which can play a big part in how we make financial decisions. You have to educate yourself about everything from home loans to credit cards to credit scores. And you have to discipline yourself in the way you manage and spend money.
The fact is that controlling your spending and paying off your debt is not an easy thing to do. But the good news is that you can do it. If you want to be debt-free bad enough, you can make it happen.
To help you reach your goal of being debt-free, I've assembled a list of 23 tips and tools. If you know of others, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
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Posted
Sep 16 2009, 02:09 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Baker at Man vs. Debt.
I think I'm going to enjoy writing this much more than you enjoy reading it.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Tyler Durden, he is an essential character in "Fight Club," which is both a novel and movie. While the novel came a few years before, the movie escalated into a cult classic in the years following its DVD release. If you aren't familiar with the character, well ... we should probably part ways here.
For those who are still with me, let's get some things out of the way. We aren't going to be talking about masculinity, violence, mental disorders, religion, or even politics. Those themes run rampant through the movie and have been discussed in great length and detail by individuals much smarter and more witty than me.
Instead, we are going to have fun. We are going to dive into some of Tyler's most famous quotes (from the movie) and attempt to pull any applicable personal-finance wisdom from them. The movie's strong anti-consumerism message will make some of these very easy, while others may seem like more of a stretch. I'll let you decide.
Here are Tyler's thought on a wide variety of personal-finance themes:
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Posted
Sep 14 2009, 02:38 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
How tacky is this -- or is it? You're invited to a wedding and reception, and you're expected to pay for your meal.
We've never encountered this, and neither has Mike at Clever Dude, although he considered it briefly before he got hitched. However, a friend of his was invited to a wedding for which she was asked to pay for the meal and also bring a gift.
Not cool, Mike said: "The wedding is for YOU (bride and groom). The reception is for US (friends and family)."
He added, "If I'm going to plop down $50 to $150 on a present, the least I should expect in return is a decent meal."
It's tradition, sure enough. But in these economic times, can't we all tweak our expectations a bit?
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Posted
Sep 14 2009, 09:27 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.
Ever think about what you'd do if you could turn back the clock and be 20 again? Though I wouldn't especially want to live my life over, there are a number of money moves -- and decisions that had more influence on lifelong personal finance than I could have guessed at the time -- that I'd either not do at all or that, given a peek forward 40 years, I'd do differently.
For example:
I would have taken advanced degrees in disciplines whose graduates make decent pay. Can't say I regret having prepared for an academic career. It has allowed me to earn an adequate (not generous) living after spending way too much time as a lady of leisure.
However, I'd never recommend to a young person who wants a life in academe that she or he pursue a doctorate in the humanities. University faculty in business, engineering and law earn more than those in other disciplines. A Ph.D. in accounting can start at the assistant-professor level with a six-figure salary, and believe you me, that is one hell of a lot more than you earn teaching history or English.
Mind-numbing major? Puh-leeze! What could be more mind-numbing than postmodern theory? Oh yeah: postmodern feminist theory! Give me a bag of beans to count, any day.
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Posted
Sep 10 2009, 05:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
I'm often tempted to spend money that I shouldn't.
I'm good at restraining my impulsive nature. I don't simply go into stores and then emerge later with a hefty bag, a credit card bill, and a dazed look on my face. Still, in certain places, I am strongly tempted to spend. I look around and see tons of items that I'd like to have.
Here are seven places that really fuel my spending desires.
Bookstores. What can I say? I love to read. I read about 10 books a month for my own enjoyment and probably five more for The Simple Dollar and other professional purposes. The smell and feel and sight of a new book are like manna to me. I usually resist most of my impulses by arguing to myself that I can get those books at the library or at PaperBackSwap, but it's definitely a struggle -- one I don't always win.
Williams-Sonoma. As I get more and more adept in the kitchen, I'm slowly upgrading my kitchen equipment to superior versions of the cheap (and sometimes problematic) equipment I have on hand. Williams-Sonoma does an extremely good job of convincing me to accelerate this upgrade process, enticing me with better knives, a wide array of very nice pots and pans, and lots of other items.
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Posted
Sep 04 2009, 02:37 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You've lost your job or your business has slipped? Thank your lucky stars if you don't have a Washington Redskins season ticket contract.
The Washington Post reported that the team has sued 125 season ticket holders who wanted out of their contract in the last five years, including a struggling 72-year-old grandmother, no less, who didn't hire a lawyer and now faces a default judgment of $66,364. That includes $5,300 for two premium seats for every year through 2017.
Another fan who was sued cannot work because he's a paranoid schizophrenic. (That suit was later dropped.) Many of the 24 or so defendants interviewed by the Post said they're hurting financially.
Seems heartless, no?
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Posted
Sep 04 2009, 08:55 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You never know how much stuff you have until you need to move it 1,500 miles. Just ask my daughter and son-in-law, who are heading to Phoenix, Arizona. Although they sold some items online, staged a yard sale, donated many other belongings to charity thrift shops and gave lots of things to friends, they still couldn't fit everything into a 6x7x8-foot moving cube.
I don't suppose anyone out there could use seven dozen plastic hangers and some ice cube trays?
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