This weekend the 2014 Financial Blogger Conference is taking place in New Orleans. It’s the 4th year of the conference, and the first one Vonnie and I are not attending. The conference has traditionally been a fantastic shot of motivation to keep my blogger juices flowing. I’m a bit down that I’m missing it this year, although I am grateful to follow along virtually by reading blog posts of my friends and fellow bloggers attending, as well as through the steady stream of Facebook updates. Hope to be back at next year’s conference. In the meantime, it’s Friday, which means […] Read more »
The Best Mystery Shop EVER
I had heard about mystery shop jobs paying hundreds of dollars, but I had never seen one. Not until last week. I got into mystery shopping as a way to put a little extra breathing room into our budget while my wife and I fought our way through a debt management program paying off $109,000 of credit card debt. The average shop I pick up pays around $15. Nothing spectacular, but if I do three or four of them a month, the extra money is always appreciated. However, the low pay per job is one thing that prevents people from […] Read more »
Is Car Insurance Worth Your Time And Money?
Do you have car insurance? Standard liability coverage is mandatory in many jurisdictions, but opting into other types of coverage might be in your best interest. After all, liability doesn’t compensate you if your car is unexpectedly stolen. It rarely pops into your head that you could be the victim of a carjacking or a simple B&E that leaves your property in ruins. But car thefts and vandalism are common across all of North America, with many models specifically targeted by thieves due to their popularity. Casualty insurance organizations in the US and Canada recently released lists of the top […] Read more »
I Love you Like A Blogger Roundup – 9/12
We’ve had some house guests this week, my parents on Tuesday night, and some friends of ours from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area Wednesday and Thursday night. Since my city, Rochester, MN, is the home of the Mayo Clinic we offer up our home as a place to stay when friends and family are referred there for tests. While the circumstances for seeing people isn’t always the best, we’re always happy to spend time with loved ones, and take a bit of stress off of their need to come to town. I’ve been enjoying the heck out of the cooler temps […] Read more »
Playing with fire: is life insurance a main course or luxury dessert for you?
Do you have life insurance? I do. I have so much life insurance, I joke that if something were to happen to me, John will be a very wealthy man. It is a bad joke, I know. John’s been telling me that since the very first time I mentioned it. It may be a bad joke, but it is the truth. My life is insured for close to $800,000 in two different policies; one of these is part of my pension plan. This is quite a bit less than the amount for which David Beckham’s legs were (are?) insured but […] Read more »
Are You As Financially Savvy As A 7th Grader?
My daughter and I always have a good time together. We have similar personalities, interests and senses of humor. She was aware of our situation as we fought to pay off over $109,000 of credit card debt, and even shared her perspective on our journey in a guest post here on Enemy of Debt. She apparently also paid close attention to how our view on money and what is important in life changed over the last few years have changed. I found this out through a conversation we had last weekend. We had gone to the mall to buy a […] Read more »
I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 9/5
Yesterday’s high in Rochester, MN was close to 90. Today it will struggle to get our of the 60’s. Guess what peoples, Fall is officially on it’s way. While I LOVE summer, Fall’s cooler temperatures and lowered humidity makes for great running weather. There’s also the start of the NFL season (first game kicked off last night!) to soften the transition away from summer. Along with those cooler temperatures comes the turning off of the AC, the opening of windows, and MUCH lower utility bills. My electric bill literally gets cut in half for the next couple of months, and […] Read more »
Are You Taking Care Of Your Money?
Do you take good care of your money? Think about that question for a few minutes while I tell you a story. My daughter went to an outdoor swimming pool over the weekend with a friend’s family. The weather was hot making it a perfect day to go swimming. Even though the pool was crowded, my daughter had a fantastic time. Until she discovered that the $20 she brought with her was missing from her swim bag. She wasn’t the only one that had lost money, either. Her friend’s mother had $40 stolen from her purse as well. Apparently, the […] Read more »
I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 8/29
Here we are, the last weekend of Summer. I have to do a 17 mile run, a fantasy football draft, some last minute school shopping, and our neighbor is having a neighborhood party. We’ll be throwing back a few cold ones, grilling some food, and putting together the 200 foot slip-n-slide down the hill of the park that extends from our backyards. It’ll be a busy but fun weekend, and except for the school shopping part. relatively tame on the checkbook. Then, next week it’s back to school for the kids, and back to her job at the school district […] Read more »
Coupon Smarts at Toys R Us: A Guide
Couponing is becoming more and more popular among people today as a means of saving money at the store. In fact, over 300 billion coupons were circulated last year alone. Just about anything can be purchased at a discount, with the help of a coupon, promotional code or other form of rewards card. Toys are not left out of the coupon craze; many couponers have a great deal of success collecting and redeeming Toys R Us coupons. Those who are new to couponing may feel a little intimidated by the number of coupons available and the different strategies, organization techniques, […] Read more »
Club Stores are NOT Always Cheaper
In an effort to take advantage of our 2% cash back perk of our executive membership, I’ve been trying to get in the habit of making bulk buying run to Costco once a month. By purchasing products that we always need and use in bulk once a month I figured I’d save time and money. One thing consumers have to be very careful about is whether what we’re buying is actually cheaper at a club store. The perception many consumers have is that if you buy gigantic packages at a club store, it MUST be a good deal. But I […] Read more »
Inexpensive Entertainment Options That Are Tons Of Fun
We all like to have fun, but the cost of entertainment has gotten so expensive that it can be difficult to find fun that you can afford. Twenty years ago, the cost of a concert ticket to see a national act hovered around $30 for decent seats. Today, you could be paying more than $60 for lawn tickets to a comparable event. Fortunately, there are many inexpensive entertainment options available that are just as much fun but are much easier on your wallet. Here are some of my favorites. Inexpensive Concerts If you love to see live bands but hate […] Read more »
I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 8/22
Happy Friday, EOD Nation! Bob from Christian PF had an article over at the Huff Post this week that listed some great budget spreadsheet resources for readers…….and the EOD zero based budget spreadsheet was among those listed! What an honor and privilege – thanks Bob, that gets me in the mood to fist pump! Check out that article and the rest of the best that had my fist flying this week below! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump 4 Reasons Your Budget Isn’t Working from Luke 1428 A Lesson in Extreme Couponing From the Checkout Lane from Frugal Rules Summer […] Read more »
If You’re Going To Succeed, You Have To Have a Plan!
One of the major components of marathon training is the long run. Once a week, I run much longer than any other day, gradually increasing the length of my run until I reach a distance of 20 miles. I usually increase my long run by a mile a week. As I pass the 9-10 mile distance I start adding fluids and carbohydrate intake during my run. The weeks where I ran 12, 13 and 14 miles my long runs went horribly. I didn’t have the physical energy, nor the mental motivation to keep going. In last week’s post I contemplated […] Read more »