5 Misguided Beliefs That Actually Hurt Your Credit Score

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There was a time when I paid very little attention to my credit score because I thought that it is not important. This was the time when the ‘juiciest’ credit card deals out there were unattainable, when a loan secured against our house came with 7.5% interest rate and when all that came through my post box were bills. I still don’t check my credit score regularly; this time I don’t check it because my credit score is a perfect 999, which I suppose is as high as one could get. Boring, I know; but very handy. Now, offers for […] Read more »

A Wine Sale, A Blown Budget, and Lessons Learned

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Even the most diligent of the financial savvy have an occasional lapse in monetary reason.  I don’t claim to be in the first category, but I can certainly identify with the latter.   When these scenarios play out in life, it’s important to identify what went wrong, what led us down that path, and how we can do better next time. Over the weekend my wife and I stopped by a liquor store that was having a wine tasting event.  The plan was to stop in to taste some new wines and picked up a bottle or two.  We did taste […] Read more »

Subtle Signs You Need a Financial Planner

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In today’s ever-connected world, it is far too easy to gather information from all corners of the web. For better or worse, you can find instructions on how to plan for nearly all facets of life, including money management. In some cases, though, using the vast “knowledge” of the Internet, and the self-proclaimed experts who offer up financial information online does not lead to ideal results. If you’ve considered enlisting the help of a real-life financial professional but aren’t sure if it is worth the time or effort, stop and ask yourself if you’re experiencing these subtle signs you need […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/17

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With this weekend’s temperatures reaching 50 degrees or higher it sure doesn’t feel like February.  It did, however, remind me that spring is not that far off.  It’s time to start saving money away for lawn fertilizer which will be found on sale within the next month! Fist pump for spring, AND my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Three Immediate Actions to Reduce Debt from DINKS Finance 4 Tips to Avoid Temptation When Paying off Debt from Frugal Rules 5 Ways to Reward Yourself for Financial Progress from Eyes On The Dollar To Refinance […] Read more »

Tips to Making a Memorable Website

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A successful business can grow with their own profit without any help of external borrowing, which needs a brand recognition with the help of famous website. Your website must give people an insight about business. Competition in business is fierce because people can get their names out easily now a days. Social media is a viable form of marketing; people can quickly and easily make their own brands but it requires the attention from Internet users which can be challenging. The signal-to-noise ratio is pretty tough to deal with, especially when your competition is sometimes not very good but is plentiful. To rise to the top, […] Read more »

Everything You Need To Know About Selling Your Car Privately

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My high school aged son has been working for almost two years now, and saving his money. Buying his own car has been on his wishlist, and his potential first vehicle fell into his lap this week as one of his coworkers is selling his car. It’s a nice car, 6 years old, with low miles. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure it’s affordable and worth the asking price, but if we do purchase the vehicle it will be a private party sale. Buying a vehicle from a dealership is easy, as they take care […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/10

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Technology can make our lives easier.  My wife found a great example of this a few days ago when trying to schedule a hair cut for my son.  Instead of calling the salon and asking what times were available, she was able to view open time slots online and get our son on the schedule.  The tool required we pay a certain percentage of the service to reserve the time slot. $8 was charged to our debit card, and our son was off to get a haircut later that day.  Unfortunately, when it was time for him to pay the […] Read more »

Bad Things Happen and We Better be Prepared: How I Battled Cancer and Took Charge of Our Finances

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On November 21, 2005, my life turned upside down. Just three and a half  months before that day I had given birth to my first and only child, my daughter Lily. My husband and I waited six years to start a family, planning so we would be ready.  But no matter how hard you try, sometimes all the planning in the world doesn’t prepare you for the unexpected. After Lily’s birth, my health started to fail. I finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma. I was told I had a mere 15 months to live […] Read more »

Save Money On Your Tax Preparation Software

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Tax season is upon us as W2s, 1099s and interest statements are flooding inboxes and mailboxes.   Some people choose to have a tax professional do their taxes, while many are able to save a little cash by doing their own taxes using tax preparation software.  But just using tax preparation software may not be the end of the saving money train.  You might just be able to save some extra cash just by choosing the right place to buy your tax preparation software. On my way home from work, I stopped by the electronics retailer Best Buy to pick up […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/3

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Superbowl weekend is here!  Many people will go to a sports bar to watch the game, but that’s just not my kind of atmosphere.  We’ve hosted large Super Bowl gatherings in the past, but I’m just not feeling that either.  We do plan to get together with some friends and cook up some yummy finger type foods and hopefully enjoy a good game.  I’m not hopeful about the commercials, they’ve been subpar the last few years.  What are you doing for the big game? Oh, and don’t forget to get those fists up for my favorite posts of the week! […] Read more »

Score Sweet Rewards at Walmart with Diet Dr Pepper

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ColorMeSweet Earn a $5 Walmart eGift Card when you buy $10 worth of Diet Dr Pepper®! Simply upload an image of your Walmart receipt at DrPepper.com/Walmart showing purchase of $10 worth of Diet Dr Pepper in a single transaction. Earning rewards is sweet! You know what else is? A FREE digital adult coloring book. Check it out today! Read more »

Will Boredom Bust Your Budget?

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Has the unthinkable happened to you? You created a budget, even talked about it with your significant other. You determined the amount of discretionary funds available and how much you wished to spend, and carefully matched those funds to wants and needs. Yet end of the weekend analysis reminded you that somewhere along the way a decision was made to use funds outside the spending plan. How could that possibly be? The answer is simple; you spent out of boredom caused by lack of planning. This exact thing happened to my wife and I this weekend. We wanted to have […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/27

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Tax documents are arriving, and being promptly put into this year’s manila tax envelope.  This is the first year in several that I’m not dreading doing our taxes because I’m confident that we’ll be extremely close to even.  For the last few years we’ve owed a significant amount of money because I never accounted for the fact that my blogging activity is not taxed up front.  Midway through 2015 I made a significant change to my withholdings resulting in our tax bill being much less last year.  This year that withholdings change will have been at work throughout the entire […] Read more »