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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation

Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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What’s your position on debt? Read this first

This article is by staff writer William Cowie. You hear it all the time, here and many other places: Debt is bad — evil, even — you know, like smoking and drinking and gambling. Yet, despite overwhelming evidence that smoking is bad for us, almost one person out of every five still smokes. And in the past year, that number has not declined significantly. The government even has campaigns to get people to stop doing what’s bad for them. Beer companies have to add “Please drink responsibly” to their ads and, in many states, gambling is flat out illegal. People aren’t borrowing enough? So, if debt was bad for you like those other vices, you would expect your government to have some educational program

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Quick Tip – Taco Seasoning

Mexican food is one of my all-time faves (comes with the territory of growing up in Texas and currently living in Arizona…I’ve always been very close to the border!) It tends to be cheap, quick and easy to make, and delicious! So I just wanted to peek in today with a quick tip on cheap taco seasoning. One word: COSTCO!!!! I mentioned a couple months ago that I buy Taco Seasoning from Costco because its so cheap and I had several commenters mention that they make their own for pennies compared to the store bought stuff. So feast your eyes on this photo….   That’s $4.29 for a 24 oz jar of seasoning, coming out to .179 cents per ounce. (To be clear, this is

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Celebrating Mini-Milestones

Friends – I have a fun mini-milestone to share today…. Remember my debt thermometers? Please ignore grease stain on bottom left…the thermometer hangs by the stovetop so it occasionally gets grease splatters. Gross, I know. But the dang thing has sentimental value so I refuse to simply make a new one.  Well, they’ve continued to hang on my fridge side-by-side: the fully filled-in Wells Fargo debt thermometer, and my still mostly empty Auto Loan debt thermometer. I love having them side-by-side because I can remember feeling like my Wells Fargo debt was going to take forever to pay off, and its so nice to look back and remember what it felt like to kick that debt’s butt! For a number

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Financial stress: Strategies for the sandwich generation

This article is by staff writer Suba Iyer. My husband and I are millennials who expect to be part of the sandwich generation soon. The term “sandwich generation” refers to those who support both an aging parent and a child. As I read the responses to the Ask the Readers article, Are you planning to care for an aging parent, it looks like we have plenty of company, and statistics from the Pew Research Center seem to substantiate that. (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/01/30/the-sandwich-generation/): “Nearly half (47{7dabfd103aa443fce219eea47f0f346a11a54ce587a1a0cbb74f06b9f7a304ca}) of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising a young child or financially supporting a grown child (age 18 or older). And about one-in-seven

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Wants Vs. Needs – How We Rationalize Spending

This age old debate is a mental and emotional struggle that everyone deals with.  Some deal with it better than others, but there are some that allow it to completely consume them.  Anyone that is trying to get out of debt must get a grip on this debate and find a common ground.  Wants versus needs will always play a role in our purchasing, but we have to learn how to control them in order to make better decisions.  If you are currently looking into starting a debt reduction plan or are on one, then this is something that is very important to learn. Well, figuring out the difference between the two is important for anyone who wants to use their money wisely. Emotional buyers are the

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Final Update from Adam and Emily

Finally, the most important update of all! Shortly after we stopped blogging in 2014, Emily and I learned that we were expecting our firstborn daughter! We had been hoping for a gift from the stork and were overjoyed by the news. We spent most of last year in anticipation of our arrival, and she came into the world on Thanksgiving Day last year with our family all around us! It was the blessing of a lifetime. She is perfectly healthy and is one of the happiest babies we’ve ever seen. She’s now 5 months old and is doing very well, above the 99th percentile in height. We are blessed beyond measure and had a fabulous holiday season. Emily has done a great job taking care of her

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Ask the Readers: What is your best budget-friendly tip for Mother’s Day gifts?

This article is by editor Linda Vergon. A mother’s love is more precious than gold, but you don’t need to spend a mint to make Mother’s Day special for her. In some ways, your lack of funds could actually help you make her day more meaningful. When it comes down to it, most moms prize the time they can spend with their children more than anything. So if you don’t have the funds to take mom out for Sunday brunch, a Broadway play, or a trip to Nordstrom’s, it may just be a good thing. Maybe you can’t escape the realities of your budget right now, but here are some ways to tell her you care even if your wallet is a little weak. If you live

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Mother’s Day 2015 Toddler Craft

Writing at this blog has been transformative for me. Just one of the many, many changes has been in regard to gift-giving. Prior to writing here I would always send some type of (usually $$$) gift for Mother’s Day to all the important women in my life. I am fortunate to have many: My mom, 2 living grandmothers on my side, hubs’ mom, and one grandma on his side. That’s FIVE people to whom we’d send gifts every Mother’s Day. Generally I’d spend about $50/person. I remember shipping Bath and Body Works gift packages one year. I did a chocolate-of-the-month gift one year. I’ve done gift cards to restaurants. You get the picture. This holiday was pricey for me. But it doesn’t have

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Cheap Going Away Gift Basket

Since my friend was moving cross-country, I decided to put together a little going away roadtrip-ready gift basket. This was super cheap to put together, but is thoughtful and practical at the same time. In my basket I included: 3 current magazines, purchased through trade-in credit at our local used bookstore (tip: this is a great idea for magazines to flip through while you travel, too. They sell current issues for as little as $1 at our store). Cost: $0 3 dollar store snacks (Corn Nuts, Yogurt-covered pretzels, and trail mix). Cost: $3 3 candies from Walgreens (Skittles, Lemon heads, and Rasinetes). Cost: $3 1 basket from Dollar Tree. Cost $1 Total Cost: $7 Another idea that I had after I’d already given the basket to

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Replacing our HVAC, Part II: Installation, rebates, and timing

(This is Part II in a two-part series about replacing an air conditioning unit. Part I is Honey Progress Report: Replacing our HVAC, Part I. Honey Smith’s experience investigating solar panels is chronicled in Financial benefits of solar panels? Not so fast.) This article is by staff writer Honey Smith. It’s been over a year since we bought our house and, while homeownership has been a fulfilling experience thus far, it hasn’t been cheap. Our air conditioner broke last year — on a 108-degree day in August, no less — resulting in a hefty thousand-dollar repair bill. We immediately added a replacement unit to our list of priorities as the existing unit was more than 20 years old. The bigger picture Our

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Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation
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Best tips for managing money as an expat

This article is by staff writer Ryan Takach. Have you ever considered taking an overseas assignment? Getting to see the world — while earning a steady paycheck and gaining valuable work experience — is a dream for many adventurous workers. Accepting an expatriate assignment was also one of the best career decisions I ever made — but it required some serious financial preparation and thought. If you are pursuing an expat assignment, hopefully you can use my experiences as a helpful guide to keep your cash flow on track. Expat experiences — the short- and long-term varieties There are two basic types of expat packages (both have financial assistance for relocation, housing, taxes, and other incidental expenses): Short-term assignments, between six months and two years,

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