We have made a few moves since we got married. My husband and I started our life together in a small apartment with continuously broken air conditioning. When I got pregnant with our first child, we moved into a cute starter home, which was somewhat far from work. After child 2 came along, we decided [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Personal Finance category.
Should A Family of Four Be Able to Live Off $111,000 Per Year?
I was reading an article on CNNMoney.com the other day, and the family being profiled was contemplating a reduction in work hours for mom. The question was, could the family afford it? Here is the breakdown: The family has 2 children. Dad makes $78,000 and mom would be reduced to $32,600 annually. That would make [...]
Guest Post: Manage Your Debts – Have a Plan
This is a guest post written by Andreas Nicolaides, a personal finance writer for MoneySupermarket.com Debt can be a horrible thing to face, but it is something many of us face regularly in our day to day lives. Placing yourselves in debt can sometimes be unavoidable, but it’s when we let our debts pile up [...]
How Much It REALLY Costs To Drive Your Car
I drive a lot, and quite honestly, I take my car for granted. It has gotten me to Florida, Washington DC, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and countless other places. I love my car (Taurus X), so of course, Ford decided to not make it anymore. Until recently, I didn’t really think much about driving, I [...]
Turn Off All Your Senses When Grocery Shopping – Except Your Common Sense
I was at the grocery store the other day buying produce, and I suddenly realized how much grocery stores rely on the senses of consumers while trying to market their items. For instance: Sight: I was selecting some corn in the produce department, which was very reasonably priced at 4 ears for a dollar. I [...]
Housing Market – It Was Only A Matter of Time
I was thinking this morning about the horrible state of the housing market. The area I live in has been especially hard hit, along with the job market. While pondering all the foreclosures and the drop in home prices, I thought back to the mid 90s. I was in my 20s and we were living [...]
Retiring Before the Age of 40? How Realistic Is That?
I was reading an article on Yahoo Finance the other day providing tips on how to retire before the age of 40. (The exact title: ’5 Ways to Retire Before Age 40′) I laughed when I saw this headline. I am 42, and I cannot imagine our family having enough money to retire. The article [...]
Do You Take Advantage of Free (Or Almost Free) Stuff?
I love free things, and I take advantage of obtaining free items any chance I get. Stores know that we shoppers love free things too, as they try and lure us in with free, or almost-free items, with the hopes we will spend a bunch of money on periphery items that are anything but free. [...]
I Learned A New Word Today – Freeganism
Yikes, I am so creeped out. I just turned on Oprah for a second and she is doing a feature on ‘Freeganism’. I may be late to the ‘freeganism party’, but I wish I would have been kept in the dark. For those of you not in the know, the act of ‘freeganism’, is obtaining [...]
How Does The Government Decide Who To Bail Out?
According to Fox News, the Obama administration is launching it’s largest effort yet toward bailing out homeowners that owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. This latest plan takes affect this Tuesday, and will help those that have kept current with their mortgages, but are underwater on their loans. The thought is, [...]