Making The Case For Real Estate Agents

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(Guest post by Tali Wee of Zillow) In this age of information accessibility, house hunters have countless home details at their fingertips, allowing them to easily shop without the assistance of a real estate agent. Folks looking to buy can spend hours locating homes that fit their wish lists within their markets, and competitive home information is available to the general public on Zillow at no cost. So, why do buyers need real estate agents now that they can shop on their own? House Hunting: Buyers are fortunate to have such a plethora of information to launch their home buying […] Read more »

An Oil Change and a Conversation About Debt

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Pulling out my debit card to pay for my oil change, I told the young man behind the counter who my employer was and asked if I qualified for a discount.  He acknowledged that I did, punched a few buttons and said, “Looks like that saves you 8 bucks.” Up until this point, our conversation had been standard small talk, but here’s where it got interesting. “Every little bit helps, right?” he continued. “Absolutely,” I responded. “My girlfriend has me going to this financial peace thing,” he stated. “Oh, you mean Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University?  What baby step are […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 1/25

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The family and I are on our mid-winter getaway with 4 other families at the Kalahari Hotel in Wisconsin Dells.  They have an indoor water park that includes this kneeboard ride that is a TON of fun.  If you’ve never seen one of these before, streams of water are shot up an incline giving you the ability to kneeboard, and have it seem like you’re on an actual wave.  It’s super fun and I was pumped to do it again.    Unfortunately, during our first day at the water park I found out the hard way that my new swim trunks […] Read more »

Just Say No!

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I’ve always had trouble with the word no even as a child. My mom claims she would have raised my brother ten times before having to raise me again. I was strong willed, stubborn and loved to say, “no”. Not much has changed since then, I am still strong willed and stubborn, the difference is now I can’t say no, to anyone. Extra responsibilities at work? Sure, no problem. We’d like you to be the head room parent this year. Ok, I can do that! Would you mind being the website coordinator for football? Yeah, I don’t see why not. […] Read more »

How To Have an Inexpensive Mid-Winter Getaway

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The weather forecast says that we may not break zero degrees today, and the wind chill will make it feel like -15F to -30F outside.  That’s the kind of cold that makes your teeth HURT. You can also do this really neat trick where you can watch boiling water turn to ice crystals instantaneously.  While it hasn’t been a very harsh winter, today is the kind of day that makes me long for the warm days of summer.  It’s for days like this that several months ago we began planning a little outing. Later this week a we’ll be heading […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 1/18

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I saw a video this week about how the people in L.A. are freaking out about the “arctic blast” bringing their high temps for the day into the mid 50’s.  Brrrrr. People out in Kentucky had to deal with a few minutes of sleet.   Just as a comparison, the most recent forecast projects a high temperature for Monday in Rochester, MN at -1. It’s all relative, I guess.  If I had to deal with California earthquakes, or the summertime heat and humidity of Kentucky, I’d probably just curl up in the fetal position in a corner and sulk. Stay […] Read more »

The Financial Pothole: Temporary Tax Cuts

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In the opening days of 2013 congress pushed through legislation to avoid the so called “fiscal cliff” preventing the taxes of the vast majority of Americans from going up, and automatic massive spending cuts  from kicking in. The news wasn’t all good, however, as the payroll tax decrease was not extended. This means everyone’s paychecks would be reduced by 2% effective immediately. This is a double whammy for me, as it most likely is with many people, since the first of the year is also when the new rates for my medical insurance kicks in. I received my first pay […] Read more »

This is Why Your Budget Isn’t Working

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how do you budget

  A few months ago, I wrote a few articles about how to budget.  But only recently, I realized that there was something I left out of those articles. I discovered that when I speak to people about their finances and how to make a budget, there is inevitable that person that tells me, “I tried to do a budget, but it just didn’t work for me”. When they express that to me, they seriously believe that doing a written budget just doesn’t work and that there has to be a better way of doing things.  But there is one […] Read more »

The Value of Money – Four Different Perspectives

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The value of money varies according to who you talk with.

Sometimes we're challenged in the world of personal finance simply because we don't understand the value of money. If we don't, we're in trouble because one of the functions of money is to help us establish the value of things. It's easy to say that something is worth 15 dollars, but it would be odd to hear someone say, "That's worth 15 heads of cabbage." It doesn't happen very often because money is how we establish value in the marketplace, so we need to get a better handle on its value. Value is a matter of perspective, so let's look at some. Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 1/11

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It’s almost 40 this week in Minnesota, and the snow is melting.  The weatherman tells me that big changes are in store for next week when some really cold air is supposed to make it’s way into the area.   I hope we get some snow soon, as the sledding hill in the park behind my house is no longer usable. It’s been a very busy week for writing blog posts, but I still managed to do a fair amount of reading as well.  As always, check out my favorites of the week below:   Favorite Posts: Debt-Free and Afraid of […] Read more »

“No More Frivolous Spending!”

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I have a confession to make…It’s been over a year since I tracked my household’s expenses. Yes I know better, yes that is horrible, and yes unfortunately, it’s the truth. My boyfriend and I have been living together for about a year and a half. Prior to his “moving in” we tracked both of our expenses and built a household budget that was fair and worked for both of us. We haven’t looked at it since. In fact, I pay all of our household bills and manage the finances for his business. He has NO idea where his money is […] Read more »

Real Men Use a Shovel

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In Minnesota, we joke that there are only two seasons: Winter, and Road Construction. We DO occasionally say “You betcha,” although not as often, and not as dramatically as in the movies. We eat tator tot hot dish, and in my city the average snow fall is just under 52 inches per year. Walking outside the morning after a fresh snowfall, you can hear snow blowers humming away all over my neighborhood. But you’ll never hear the roar of a snow blower engine coming out of my garage, because I don’t own one. I clear my driveway the old fashioned […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 1/4

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Happy New Year!  I had to say it, since this is my first opportunity to love anyone like a blogger in 2013.   There’s snow on the ground, and my family and I did some sledding over the last few weeks.  Soon the novelty of Winter will wear off, and we’ll be looking  forward to warmer weather.  The good news is we’ve passed the Winter Solstice and the days are again getting longer.  It’s practically Spring, right?  They say people in the Midwest live longer because we’re always optimistic and looking forward to the next season.  Always having something to look […] Read more »

It’s Never Too Late to Take Control Of Your Life!

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I’ve been an inconsistent exerciser for my entire adult life. I’ll go through cycles of exercising religiously for months, but then go through a similar span of doing nothing. However, at the beginning of 2011 I looked in the mirror at an overweight, out of shape, middle aged man. My family has a history of some significant health problems, and I knew that if I didn’t make changes, I was sure to follow in their footsteps. Today marks two years of consistently working out 5-7 days a week. I ran my third marathon in October missing a personal best by […] Read more »