Search results for getting started
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Posted
Mar 24 2009, 04:44 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.
If you're out of work or looking to supplement your income, you might want to consider working for the U.S. Census Bureau to help conduct the 2010 census. According to CNNMoney, the 2010 census will put 1.4 million people to work and is projected to cost $14 billion.
If you want to make some extra cash and you have the time, you might want to get the ball rolling on securing a job with the Census Bureau.
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Posted
Oct 08 2008, 10:06 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Not that long ago I had about $130 to my name. I was struggling to balance a handful of part-time jobs with re-entry into college after 30 years away from higher ed.
Going back to school terrified me. But my life was already turned upside down: I'd left a long-term marriage and run through most of my savings to support myself while I dealt with health problems and also to help support my adult daughter, who is disabled. Why not throw college into the mix? As scared as I was, I knew if I didn't do it then I'd never do it.
Fast-forward to now. I managed to get through both logic and algebra, was accepted to the University of Washington on full scholarship, was awarded short-term alimony and was hired part time to write for this blog. I paid off all my divorce debt, started a Roth IRA, and have been able to help family members who are in financial trouble.
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Posted
Nov 24 2008, 06:57 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. In "The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets" (which I recently reviewed), author Peter Schiff provides a list of the best jobs to beat the economic collapse he predicts is just around the corner. "I foresee the following as the 10 strongest professions and industries over the coming decade and beyond," he writes. His list:
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Posted
Feb 08 2008, 08:05 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If President Bush wants us to spend that tax rebate, he needs to call it a tax "bonus." Or so wrote behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley in a recent New York Times guest column.
"A rebate, psychologically speaking, is the return of a loss of one's own money ... so it is unlikely to be seen as extra spending money," wrote Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
In one experiment at Harvard, he and some colleagues gave out $50 checks. Half the study participants were told it was a "rebate," while the other half got a "bonus." A week later, the bonus recipients had outspent the rebate crowd by more than 50 percent.
Can simple word choices really make that much difference? Sure they can. The word "budget" makes some people's jaws clench. Somehow the phrase "spending plan" sounds a lot better.
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Posted
Mar 24 2008, 09:33 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Tired of putting quarters into the dryer? Save two bits and do your bit for the environment by getting a drying rack.
According to a group called Project Laundry List, electric dryers amount for 5% to 10% of residential electricity usage in the United States. Racks are the green/frugal solution for apartment dwellers who don't have access to outdoor drying.
They're also useful to homeowners in places where housing covenants ban clotheslines. Apparently the sight of damp clothing flapping in the breeze brings down property values. A Boston Globe article quoted Frank Rathbun, a spokesman for the Community Associations Institute: "If you imagine driving into a community where the yards have clothes hanging all over the place, I think the aesthetics, the curb appeal, and probably the home values would be affected by that."
I wonder if he means all clothes, or just boxers and briefs?
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Posted
Aug 08 2008, 03:42 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"Not the Jet Set" is sorely tempted on the way to work by perfectly usable things people have left out by their trash cans. But what are the rules for Dumpster-diving? Do you need to be sneaky? How do you handle shame? We did some research and found a handy post at Sueann's NWPR Blog, plus photos of her remarkable finds, including brand new KitchenAid food processor attachments. (Her finds don't include food; she hasn't become a freegan.) "Dumpster divers have rules," Sueann Ramella wrote. Here are some we gleaned from her post and from other sources:
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Posted
Aug 24 2009, 07:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly.
In June, a user at Ask MetaFilter wondered: What are the differences between someone who makes $100,000/year and someone who makes $30,000? As you might expect, this question generated a lot of discussion -- all of it interesting.
Many commenters noted that, from their experience, high-income earners generally exhibit several of the following traits:
- They maintain a strong work ethic.
- They don't watch the clock.
- They seek to improve their skills.
- They do quality work.
- They're flexible and adaptable.
- They maintain a good social network.
- They possess self-confidence.
A few commenters noted that there are two other factors that absolutely play a role in how much a person earns.
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Posted
Jan 17 2008, 07:04 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Filed under: college, debt, marriage, The Dough Roller, student loans, children, getting started, stocks, mutual funds, frugal, cars
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. The best thing about being 40 is having survived your 20s and 30s. And at 40, I'm considered an old-timer in the personal-finance blogging community. Reflecting back on the past 20 years, I realize that I've learned a thing or two that I wish (oh, how I wish) I had known when I was 20. Here they are, in no particular order: School loans are like a bad date -- easy to get, but hard to get rid of. At 40, I still have more than $20,000 in school loans. Education is important, but I spent far more money during school than I needed to spend. Compounding, like the 1970s Big Red Machine, is pure magic. Assuming you retire at 65 and earn a 10% return on your investments, $1 invested when you're 20 will be worth 2.5 times more than $1 invested when you're 30, 6.5 times more than $1 invested when you're 40, and 18 times more than $1 invested when you're 50.
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Posted
Feb 27 2008, 09:49 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Picking lowbush cranberries is a challenge. They're about the size of the eraser on a new pencil and grow just a couple of inches off the ground. It was tough going until I learned how to put on what I now call "berry eyes." For a moment, I would concentrate on what lowbush cranberries looked like -- and suddenly, they seemed to be all over the place.
Frugal behavior can feel like that. Changing your spending habits seems difficult or frustrating at first. Then something clicks, and you see the possibilities for frugality just about everywhere you look.
Lunch is a good example. One day you decide to throw leftovers into a bowl and hit the workplace microwave at noon: five or six bucks saved. You start to do it twice a week, or three times. Then you start buying canned soda in the lunchroom because it's 50 cents cheaper than the bottled -- until you realize you could buy a 12-pack of pop for what you pay for a week's worth from the machine.
In time, you realize that a glass of water is better for you. It's also free. See?
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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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