Ashamed of your debt? Me, too. Here’s why.

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A few days ago, fellow EOD writer Travis talked about being ashamed of his debt. I could totally relate to his post because when I was in debt, I felt exactly the same way. But as I read and reread Travis’s post, I started asking myself “why was I ashamed?” Although I couldn’t really come up with one good specific reason, I was able to come up with a few possibilities: Debt meant I couldn’t control myself. I am completely guilty of making impulse purchase after impulse purchase. I had a good friend who I used to hang out with […] Read more »

Use the Internet To Stay Connected

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Like many families, my family is spread out throughout the U.S. Before we had a child, this aspect of our lives didn’t bother me or my husband too much. It was nice to have our own space but we knew that our parents were a relatively short drive away (3 hours north to my parents, 2 hours south to his) if we needed or wanted to visit (or if there was an emergency). It was a pretty sweet set up, actually. Then we had our daughter. Both of us grew up with our extended families less than 20 minutes from […] Read more »

Saving Money on Vegetarian Meals

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Just about 4 years ago, I decided to become a vegetarian. I did it after reading a few books and having the vivid imagery stick with me.  My imagination started to get the best of me and before I knew it, meat was literally off the table. It’s been good not only for my health but for my family’s budget as well. There’s a reason that when people are trying to cut back on their grocery budget they opt to have meatless meals each week. Meat is expensive. But vegetarian meals, if not planned properly, don’t actually save money. In […] Read more »

Free or Inexpensive Indoor Summer Activities

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This is the first in a 2 part series on how to keep kids entertained for minimal or no cost during the summer months. The second part, written by fellow EOD member Jessica Streit, will appear next week. This summer is going to be a different experience for me. It’s the first summer I’ll be home full-time with my daughter (who is 5) and quite frankly, I’m already panicking. Not so much because of all the time with her (which is awesome) but because, honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to do with her.  On normal days, I have […] Read more »

I Do Trust You Because We Did This.

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Yesterday, my friend Travis wrote a post about trusting his wife as she left to go shopping with a spendthrift friend. He mentioned that, although he had a million questions racing around in his mind, he had to let go and trust her to stick to their budget. And you know what? She came through (I should point out here that I’m not surprised because Travis’s wife is awesome). He raised an important issue: trust. Trust in a relationship, especially in financial matters, is excruciatingly important. In fact, without trust in that area, you’re probably not going to have trust […] Read more »

Improve Your Blog, Improve Your Finances

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As a blogger who writes about money, I often draw parallels to money and life. But it wasn’t until recently that I realized how closely improving a blog is to improving personal finances. Here are just a few ways that I’ve noticed: Start with one thing When I decided I wanted to write a personal finance blog, I had to pick what I wanted to write about. I wanted it to be more focused and detailed than my previous blog and I knew that I had to write about what I know. Since I know nothing about investing and I […] Read more »

Learning from Failure is a Stepping Stone to Success

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 When I started my site, Daily Money Shot, I was beyond nervous. I   wasn’t so much nervous in what I had to say versus being frightened of putting effort into a blog that no one would read. Although I knew that my need to write superseded my nerves, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would never get more than 3 readers. Why? Because I had previously tried to blog and, for all intents and purposes, failed. I failed for a number of reasons. I wasn’t passionate enough about the subject matter of the blog. I didn’t network well […] Read more »

Choices Are Hard, Which Choice Will You Make?

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I recently saw this sign on the refrigerator at work:   It’s an interesting sign, one that makes me think every time I go into the kitchen.  But the other day, as I was waiting for my lunch to heat up, I looked at the sign again. Since I relate almost everything to money, I realized that the same mantra can be applied to our debt. It would sound like this: “Getting into debt is hard. Getting out of debt is hard. Staying out of debt is hard. It’s all hard, so choose which hard you want.” I thought this […] Read more »

An Open Letter to My Debt

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Dear Debt, I’ve waited 5 years to say these words to you—good riddance. I know you’re thinking that this is some sort of joke and I’m really about to burst into a Green Day song, but I assure you I’m not. I’m legitimately, once and for all, saying good riddance. You have caused me enough grief, frustration and sadness for two lifetimes. And I couldn’t be happier that you’re gone. We started out as friends. You were a constant presence in my life. It was comforting to have you because it was a reminder of the good times we had. […] Read more »

What Paying Off Debt Taught Me About Myself

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I recently became non-mortgage debt free. This is a huge accomplishment and something that I am immensely proud of. It took a long time, too. Five years (just ask Lady Gaga. She thinks five years is a long time, too). Five years of cutting back, skipping vacations, forgoing home improvements, making do with what I have, shopping eBay and sales for pretty much everything…whatever you’re supposed to do to get out of debt, I did. Mostly. I’m not going to say that I was perfect during those 5 years, but I did the best I could. And I never thought […] Read more »