I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 5/29

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Party weekend was a complete success, a great time was had by all.  I even had some blogger friends from the Twin Cities area make the trip to help celebrate the beginning of summer with us!    I’ve limped my way through the week, as I’m completely exhausted.  I think I need a vacation for my vacation. Now that it’s over, it’s time to get down to business; financially that is.  We did end up spending a little more than we had originally intended, and we’ll have to tighten the screws a little it to make up for it.  It’s time […] Read more »

What Charcoal and Beer Teaches Us About Making Choices

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The end of May is in sight, the temps are getting warmer, and Summer is on everyone’s mind. There are great sales popping up everywhere for outdoor home improvement projects, and garden centers are opening up with huge selection of plants, yard care products and grills. Speaking of grills, this time of year I keep my eyes for sales on charcoal. Between my smoker and my grill, I use a lot of charcoal. If I see a great sale, I load up the van and pile it up in a corner of my garage to be used throughout the summer. […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 5/22

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The weekend with our big annual party is here!   I’ve been on vacation from my day job, but it hasn’t felt like vacation.  I’ve been cleaning, smoking meat, and decorating all day every day.   It’s been important to me to make the time to get my marathon training in too, however.  I’ve also found a little time to do some blog reading. So enjoy your holiday weekend, and my favorite posts of the week!   Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Showing yourself Financial Forgiveness from Frugal Rules How to build a Life you don’t have to Retire […] Read more »

Choose Role Models To Drive Internal Change

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Over the weekend, my cousin’s husband ran the Green Bay Marathon. His official time was 3 hours, 7 minutes and 18 seconds, with an average pace of 7:09 per mile. His time was good enough to qualify him for the Boston Marathon. I’m in complete awe at his accomplishment, as it’s something that I hope to do some day as well. It wasn’t hard to be just a little jealous. I was thinking about my inklings of jealousy as I was driving around running errands yesterday afternoon, and then relating it to my post last week about the Joneses. Were […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 5/15

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I’m on vacation next week from my day job.  I’ll spend the entire week cleaning, organizing, and shopping for our annual Memorial Weekend Party which takes place next weekend.   Most importantly, I’ll be firing up my smoker almost every day to create some smokey yummy goodness for the party. That’s my fist pump for the week, what’s yours? Posts That Make Me Fist Pump It’s A Way of Life, Not an Event from Frugal Rules 8 Delicious & Frugal Grill Recipes! from Bargain Babe How would you like to be debt free, forever? from Debt Discipline Wants Vs. Needs – […] Read more »

9 Tips For Creating Discipline With Money

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9 Tips For Creating Discipline With Money

I frequently get questions from my readers about how to resolve their various financial problems.  The questions range from not being able to save enough, to tackling huge amounts of debt, to how to stop living paycheck to paycheck. One of the common themes I’ve discovered in the hundreds of emails I’ve received, is that most of those readers tell me the root of their problem is a lack of discipline. Lack of Money is Not the Problem Learning discipline when it comes to money is not always easy, but it’s necessary if you want to get ahead financially.  Many […] Read more »

Tell The Joneses To Go To Hell, They’ll Respect You For It

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It’s taken me over 41 years of walking this earth, but I’m finally getting a grip on the person I want to be. It’s been building for awhile, but my perspective was reinforced at a gathering with friends over the weekend. It was our monthly gourmet club get together, which is basically a modified potluck. The host picks the theme and prepares the main course, and the rest of the guests bring an appetizer, side dish, or dessert that matches the theme. It’s a great group of friends, and we always have a lot of fun. It’s also an event […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 5/8

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This weekend brings us Mother’s Day 2015.  I’ll be traveling to see my mom to honor her in appreciation of all the wonderful things she’s done for me, and for the great mom she is. Check out my favorite posts of the week, but DO NOT forget to fist pump for your mom this weekend!   Posts That Make Me Fist Pump How to deal with expensive friends from Get Rich Slowly What Does Financial Independence Look Like? from Young Adult Money How to Talk About Finances With Your Significant Other from DINKS Finance Why You Need Life Insurance, Especially […] Read more »

Sharing Memories On Mother’s Day Using The Lowest Priced Unlimited Plans From Walmart Family Mobile

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #MobileMemories #CollectiveBias When I was a kid, my grandparents lived within ten miles of us, so it was easy for my parents to make the rounds on Mother’s Day. My parents could see their moms, AND show off their grand kids at the same time. Now that I’m an adult, my immediate family is spread out making it sometimes difficult to make it home for Mother’s Day. The good news is Walmart Family Mobile makes it easy to wish our moms a […] Read more »

The One Reason For Eating Out That Is a Big Fat Lie

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I think we would all agree that dining out is more expensive than cooking at home. We all go out to eat from time to time, but did you notice that we always seem to attach some sort of excuse to it? Whether we’re celebrating, or we’re on vacation, or we’re just too busy to cook it seems like we have to justify to ourselves a trip to a restaurant. Sometimes there are some valid reasons, sometimes there isn’t a reason other than we just want to and that’s OK. But there’s one excuse that we tell ourselves over and […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 5/1

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My post from Monday participated in the Financial Literacy Awareness Carnival hosted over at The Heavy Purse.  If that wasn’t awesome in it’s own right, the post then got picked up over at Rockstar Financials.  Lifehacker is known to pull great content from Rockstar, so my mind was completely blown when my article got picked up and referenced at Lifehacker as well!  Super, duper cool. On a completely unrelated subject, I told my son that he could keep his first two paychecks from his first part-time job to do with whatever he pleased.  After that we’ll talk about paying for […] Read more »

Are You Lying To Yourself About Your Finances?

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Today’s post is one of a network of posts throughout the personal finance blogosphere taking part in the Financial Literacy Awareness Carnival.  The Carnival is being hosted by Shannon at The Heavy Purse honoring April as Financial Literacy Month. Once you finish this post, head over there to check out other great articles linked to by the carnival. Enjoy! Are you lying to yourself about your finances? Don’t be so quick to answer that question, maybe you should think about it a little harder. You will never reach your full financial potential if you’re lying to yourself about your finances, […] Read more »

Five Objections to FX Trading and Why You Shouldn’t Listen to Them

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Don’t know about you but I’ve heard enough objections to last me several life-times. You want to leave work? Oh, it is so hard to get another job. You want to start your own business? Oh, but most of them fail. You want to run an ultra-marathon? Do you know how many people don’t finish? You want to make enough money to retire in four years’ time? This is impossible. And so it goes about almost anything. You see, I may be an optimist but I’m not delusional; well, not usually, anyway. I know that some things are difficult to […] Read more »

13 Ways You Can Save Money On A Low Income

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save money low income limited income

I get a lot of questions from readers wanting to know how they can save money on a low income, so I thought I would write a post about some of the suggestions I’ve been giving out that can help you put money in the bank, even when you’re living on a limited income.  I’ve also included some great resources along with the suggestions that will help you get started putting money in the bank right now!   You Can Still Save Money On A Low Income When you’re living on a small income, it can be especially hard to […] Read more »