Skimping and cutting corners doesn’t usually have a positive ring to it…unless it’s on your budget. These are helpful tips even if your budget is rock solid and your main concern is de-cluttering or breaking material accumulation habits! But listen: read through these and pick out ONE thing to try first. Completely re-vamping your lifestyle takes…
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University – Week 3
I can’t believe that I’m so late in posting about probably the most important week of Financial Peace University, the cash flow planning lesson, also known as the dreaded budget. Attendance to this lesson really determines if you’re willing and able to make a change in your life. Without a budget, you won’t pay off…
Do you need an Ally?
We’ve been using an online bank for the majority of our banking for several years. We started with ING Direct until they were purchased by Capital One. We don’t really care for the large banks and figured they’d screw up a good thing, so we decided to switch to Ally Bank. We’ve been with them…
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University – Week 2
This last Saturday marked week 2 of the 9 week journey for those going through FPU at our church. I’m at one of the locations that has a pretty small class with about 6 participants each week. Personally, I kind of like this because everyone gets more of a chance to talk and share their…
Tracking Your Finances, the Easy Way
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably got a variety of checking, savings, retirement, and investment accounts, all at different institutions. On top of that you may have credit cards, a mortgage, or a car loan. It can be overwhelming to get a complete financial picture. That’s where Mint.com comes in. I love using this…
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University – Week 1
If you’ve never attended or even heard of Financial Peace University, then listen up. Financial Peace University is a 9 week course that covers pretty much every financial topic the typical American family needs to know about. It was developed by Dave Ramsey (the guy on the radio) and his team. Each session covers a specific…
What is a Roth IRA and why do I need one?
I’ve been pretty focused on finding products and services that will save you money in each post. However, this week, I wanted to take a break from the usual and discuss the Roth IRA. I’m sure everyone has heard of them by now, but perhaps you’ve still got some questions. Well hopefully I’ve come up…
Recommended Reading Added
I’ve added a recommended reading page to the site. This page includes books about personal finance, career, and any other topics that should be helpful as you navigate life and money. Please check out the books that are there. I plan on adding more as I have a chance to read or review them. Please…
Foot Family Project
In preschool, our youngest was assigned the project of creating a foot family. For those that don’t know what that is and can’t figure it out from the picture, it is essentially a picture made up of outlines of each family members foot, turned into something fun and supposedly represents our family. My wife likes…
Recovering From Unemployment Part 2: Delayed Gratification
Delayed gratification is just a fancy word for patience. I don’t think that anyone is born with the immediate skill of patience; rather it is perseverance developed with experience and a true desire to mature and grow. I certainly do not come by this skill easily, and tend to want what I want when I…