Budgeting

How to Avoid Christmas Debt Without Becoming a Grinch … 12 Great Tips

Were you still paying for Christmas 2009 in July of 2010? Did you have heart palpitations when you received your January credit card statements this year? Has the joy of giving become the duty of giving? Does Christmas giving spark spousal wars in your family? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, I [...]

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Beware of Percentage Budgets

You have seen those percentage budget plans which deftly tell you what percentage of your budget you should spend on which categories.  Yes, they are a good guide, but you need to beware: giving too much credence to those percentages could get you in trouble.

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Five Steps Toward Automating Your Way to Wealth

Will power just doesn’t get the job done. Sure, on a day when you are feeling particularly noble you might set aside an extra $50 in your savings account or pay an extra $25 on that credit card debt. But, if you are like most of us, starting a plan and sticking with it gives [...]

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You CAN Afford That Baby – Ten Money Saving Tips

You have read those cost projections for raising children. MSN, back in 2001 projected a cost of $249,180 (over $350,000 in 2010 dollars) for a family with a $65,800 or greater income. The Baby Center web site tells us the cost of raising a child from baby to adulthood is $266,698. The Wall Street Journal [...]

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How to Pay Off Your House (and everything else) Early

“It seems like we will be making house payments forever. We owe $140,000 at 6% interest and are paying $1000 a month. How much sooner could we pay off our mortgage early if we started paying an extra $100 a month?” The above is a hypothetical question, but it could be you. There are two [...]

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How We Vacation For $500

A great vacation should allow you to get away, relax and have fun. For me (and I assume for you), relaxing and having fun is impossible if it isn’t affordable. This post will share some tips that Jan and I have used over the years and will conclude with the breakdown of our upcoming $500 [...]

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Airstream Saga Continues: Jan and I Second Guess Our Decision

Many of you will remember reading about the Airstream camper my wife and I purchased last fall. Previous posts of this ongoing saga are Airstream and Irvin, a Nostalgic Adventure,  Airstream Update: Did We Create a Monster? , and Update on Airstream – Not Good News.

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Four Ways to Cope With Rising Gasoline Prices

It is starting again. According to CNN Money, gas prices are up 45% from last March and still rising. Prices may not reach the record high of $4.114 per gallon as reported by AAA on July 17, 2008, but people are nevertheless rumbling, “Gas prices are rising through the ceiling and there is nothing I [...]

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