Personal Progress Update

While my net worth improved this month, it will be going down again shortly due to some much-needed home repairs… Net worth as of April 1: $63,415 Net worth as of May 1: $67,943 Here are this month’s highlights: The cracks in our foundation walls started leaking again, making me question why we ever bought [...]

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I Think We Need a Bigger Emergency Fund

Oh, lord. The hits keep coming. Back in January, our heat pump (it’s like a combination air conditioner/heater) was making weird noises and our electric bills were really high. I had someone come out and they said the compressor was weak and recommended replacing the unit for $3,000 (it’s 10 years old – about the [...]

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Angie’s List

If you haven’t heard of Angie’s List, you’re not alone. Angie’s List is a website where members can access and submit reviews of local companies, contractors and even doctors. I guess you could say it’s kind of like a member-generated Consumer Reports for local services. While some cities offer free trial memberships as initial reviews [...]

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Save Money by Visiting the Store Less Often

In the past two weeks, have you made an “emergency” trip to the store because you were out of something you need, like toothpaste, paper towels or shampoo? When visiting, did you only purchase the item you ran out of? On Thursday, I made a Target run for Q-Tips (which I’ve been out of for [...]

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More Funny Financial E-Cards

Courtesy of someecards.com:

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Snowflaking Has Its Own Carnival

Snowflaking, the popular concept of throwing all your extra little bits of money toward your debts, has quickly snowballed into its own website and carnival. Check out the first edition of the Carnival of Snowflakes, hosted by paidtwice, snowflaker extraordinaire! The submissions include lots of practical advice and suggestions for coming up with extra snowflakes [...]

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I Finally Got My Cheap Haircut

Back in February, I wrote about dumping my high-priced hair salon. Well, the problem with not going to a fancy place is that you no longer have hair “appointments,” so until tonight, I hadn’t gotten a haircut in about 14 weeks. Yikes! I finally went to Snip ‘N Clip and got my hair cut for [...]

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My Credit Card Debt: An Example of Reverse Snowflaking

Snowflaking your debts can sometimes seem like a never-ending fool’s game of pennies and nickels, but stop for a minute and consider how you acquired your debt in the first place. Chances are, you employed reverse snowflaking. That’s right – reverse snowflaking. Many people with credit card debt (myself included) can’t really recall what they [...]

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Acting Pro Se is Such a Pain

Recently, my husband and I have been diverting our regular debt payments to savings to take care of some potential foundation problems. The longer the money sits there, however, the more ideas we have for things we “need” to spend money on. Here’s one example: My husband’s ex-wife, who used to have joint physical and [...]

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The Costs of Chronic Lateness

You know that person that comes into work 20 minutes late every day, keeps you waiting at the restaurant and interrupts church by trying to find a seat during the prayer? That’s me. I am chronically late. I don’t do it to piss you off, because I think my time is more valuable than yours [...]

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Define “Living Paycheck to Paycheck”

The phrase “living paycheck to paycheck” gets thrown around a lot, but the truth is, I don’t really understand what it means. Here are some possible definitions: Not having enough money in savings to survive for a reasonable amount of time without a paycheck (i.e., not having a three-month emergency fund) Spending your entire paycheck [...]

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Next Year Will Be Different

I was so proud of myself last year. In 2007, my big, fat federal refund was in my checking account by February 15. It was the first time I hadn’t waited until April to do my taxes. Believe me, I know where the city’s post office that’s open ’til midnight on April 15 is. This [...]

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My Taxes Are Done and It’s Not Even Midnight

Ah, done at last…until we’re audited, that is. Actually, I think we did our taxes correctly.  We finished last night after work and I even had enough time to watch Desperate Housewives before I went to bed.  It’s such a good feeling to be done!  We didn’t pay any money, and, instead of owing $1,000, we’re [...]

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Procrastinators, Unite!

Sorry my posts have been a little irregular lately, but I haven’t been eating my Activa have been trying to finish my taxes.  I thought I was almost done, but it turns out I hadn’t started the state forms (I have to file two state tax returns since I live in one state and work in [...]

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A Day of Unexpected Expenses (aka, “Life”)

Today I spent $244, most of which was unexpected. 10 a.m. – Took my car for an oil change, tire rotation and a state inspection: $56 (this was the one I was expecting) 2:30 p.m. – Arrived to tea party bridal shower without adhering to the “Wear your best tea party hat!” instruction because I [...]

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Oh, Hail No! (Do I Have the Right Car Insurance Deductible?)

  This afternoon, an unexpected hail storm blew through town. Seeing as how I was at work and we have uncovered parking, there was little I could do to protect my car (except run through the parking lot in high heels while dodging ice pellets and move my car into the underground parking garage across [...]

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Shrinking Debt, Shrinking Waist?

So far, my debt-reduction efforts have been leading to weight gain, not weight loss. After all, sitting in front of a computer for hours and not buying salads because they’re more expensive than burgers does not a thin person make. I weighed myself on Monday and I’m at my highest weight ever – 143 pounds. [...]

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Carnivals and Other Recommended Reading

Carnivals I Participated in This Week: Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Money Ning, which included my post Financial “I Never” with Finance Girl (I had a fun time writing this post, but no, I wasn’t really taking shots). Carnival of Twenty Something Finances, hosted by The Bag Lady, which included my post Childhood Money [...]

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A Guilt-Free Way to Reduce the Gift Budget and Snowflake the Difference

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You’re planning on giving your sister a $20 birthday present – probably a DVD that she’s been wanting. You get to the store, and the DVD is on sale for $9.99. “Great,” you think, “Now I can buy her the DVD and a CD.” Stop right there. If you [...]

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Kansas vs. Memphis: Who Would Win in a Financial Championship?

Well, we all know that Memphis is going to win the NCAA basketball championship tonight (OK, so I’m making that up – I could really mostly care less.) But which city would win a financial battle off the court? Let’s compare the financial stats of these two cities, brought to us by our lead stat [...]

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How Often Do You Pay Bills?

I’m a planner, a scheduler. I do laundry on Sunday. I pay bills on Tuesday. I give my stepson piano lessons on Thursday. I find that by assigning tasks specific days of the week, they’re more likely to get done (maybe that’s why my house is never clean – I haven’t assigned a day for [...]

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Financial “I Never” with Finance Girl

It’s Saturday night and your team isn’t in the Final Four (or didn’t even get invited to the tournament – sigh). Let’s find a way to drown your sorrows… Presenting: Financial “I Never” with Finance Girl In order to play Financial “I Never,” you first need to find the hard liquor of your choice. There, [...]

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Cici n’est pas un carney.

My posts were included in three carnivals this week. Check them out: Debt as a Symptom of Sexual Addiction was an editor’s pick in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Stock Trading To Go. My post on Charity Showers was also included (I think I screwed something up with the submissions this week – [...]

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Funny Financial E-Cards

My husband read my post on Debt as a Symptom of Sexual Addiction and sent me a lovely e-card today… Here are some good finance-related e-cards from the same site…

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Why Did We Buy This House Again?

Ah, spring…that lovely time of year when I’m again reminded that buying this house was perhaps not such a good idea. What do they say? April showers bring May foundation leaks? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Our naive first-time homebuyer, no-down-payment, 2005 height-of-the-housing market purchase has quickly turned into a real-life version of The Money [...]

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