American Consumers Dive 5.6 Billion Dollars Deeper in Credit Card Debt in One Month

Written by on January 12, 2012 · 6 Comments
Statue of Liberty has no credit cards!

While some of us were saying No to Restaurants in November it seems others were saying YES to binge shopping sprees financed by credit card debt. In an article sent to me by my friends over at Impulse Save, consumers racked up 5.6 billion dollars in credit card debt in November alone. Judging by the shape of the economy (specifically unemployment) one would expect these numbers to be down so this is an astonishing statistic. The Time Moneyland article also shared Federal Reserve data that shows consumer borrowing skyrocketed by 20.4 billion and is the highest month-over-month increase in the [...] Read more »

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Are You Making Excuses for the Money You Spend?

Written by on November 26, 2011 · 11 Comments
spending too much money on shopping

Yesterday was Black Friday. Did you hit the stores at 4am? Were you one of the million of folks out on Thanksgiving to shop the stores that opened in the evening? Or maybe you are like me, you avoid stores on Black Friday (and the days surrounding it) like the plague! I wasn’t always this way, there was a time when I hit the mall bright and early on Black Friday. I was armed with nothing more than my credit cards and a large cup of coffee. The problem with my “plan” was that I didn’t have a list (and [...] Read more »

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19 Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Shopping on Black Friday

Written by on November 22, 2011 · 3 Comments
Christmas shopping

Hello all! Are you ready for Thanksgiving? If you’ve been a reader for more than a year you probably know I hate Black Friday. There are many reasons for this and I won’t go into it again but I really have a problem with what the Christmas season has become. Really what we have let it become but I digress. Gobble up your turkey and say bye to your family because you have early sales to hit up! (Yes, this is sarcasm.) This year I wanted to provide a checklist of questions to ask yourself to make sure you are [...] Read more »

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This Year Just Say No to Chia Pets

Written by on November 10, 2011 · 13 Comments
chia pet

The holiday season is rapidly approaching; Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, whatever you call it, is about spending time with friends and family, enjoying a meal, and the true meaning of the holiday you choose to celebrate.  It is NOT about who spends the most, who has the biggest pile of gifts, or who got the most Christmas cards. Many of us take the true meaning and purpose of the holiday season and turn it into a spending spree only to find the credit card hangover in January lasts until next year when it starts all over again. The Target, Our Children [...] Read more »

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10 Reasons to Avoid Shopping on Black Friday

Written by on November 24, 2010 · 12 Comments
black friday 1

Photo Credit: denipet If there’s something I hate worse than debt when it comes to money, it’s a frenzied shopping spree instigated by the companies to give you a false sense of savings. That’s right I said it. I HATE Black Friday and all that it stands for! I can think of 100,000 better uses of my time as well as my money than camping out in tents the night before the doors open, and then participating in the human version of Running of the Bulls. People need an excuse to spend money and the stores have given them Black [...] Read more »

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Buying Bargains: How We Will Spend Less But Give More This Christmas

Written by on November 26, 2009 · 15 Comments

Is buying bargains high on your list of priorities? If not, you may want to reconsider. On Monday I told you I would share with you how my beautiful wife and I are saving money this Christmas. I also wanted to share with you some of the ways we are bringing in a few extra dollars to offset the unexpected expenses we’ve had in November. We donated more money this month than we budgeted so we thought it was a great idea to put our thinking caps on to earn extra dollars. Too bad I didn’t have my thinking cap [...] Read more »

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