I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 11/28

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I’m breathing a sigh of relief today, my friends.  In preparation for Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law’s house I spent all day Wednesday smoking a brisket, and got up crazy early yesterday morning to smoke a ham.  I got a great night’s sleep last night though. I hadn’t planned on going Black Friday shopping, but just for fun I looked through all the ads looking for anything that I was in the market to buy.  I found nothing.  The big goose egg.  Nada.  I woke up this morning refreshed and ready to take the rest of the weekend to recharge the […] Read more »

A Black Friday Deal you WON’T believe!

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Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is filled with family and board games along with tons of turkey and stuffing (I love stuffing). I should be entering receipts into YNAB right now. I usually check our bank account for my wife’s deposits at the same time but when I signed on to online banking I saw this: They are using the holidays as an excuse to sell you money Look, I understand if you don’t have enough money to purchase all the Christmas gifts you’d like to. Maybe you will borrow money to buy gifts this year, I’m […] Read more »

What Your Credit Score REALLY Means

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I’m currently enrolled in a credit monitoring service, getting periodic updates about inquiries into my credit, and small changes up or down in my FICO score.   When we charged something on our American Express, I was notified of a balance change. When we applied for a consolidation loan, I was notified of the inquiry and of a slight decrease in my score. Everything made sense, until I read a notification that landed in my inbox last week. My FICO score had increased by 24 points, and I couldn’t believe the reason why. A few weeks ago, my wife was in […] Read more »

7 Ways You Can Stay Motivated to Get Out of Debt

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7 ways to stay motivated to get out of debt resources

Over the years I’ve seen plenty of people get motivated to get out of debt, but they never end up following through with the process.  They are usually pretty fired up about getting out of debt and start out very motivated.  But not long after they start the process, their energy flags and it’s not long before they lose their motivation. I’ve seen a lot of other people make decent progress in paying down debt, but for whatever reason, they end up losing their focus and go back to their old habits, never finishing the get out of debt process.   How to […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 11/21

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Whew, last night was a late one.  My neighbor hosts a Thursday game night from time to time.  I’m not exactly sure why it has to be on a Thursday and not on a weekend, but it is what it is.  We got going around 8:30 and played one game of Pandemic, and then a round of Ticket to Ride.  I walked in my front door about 1:15am.  One of the attendees brought along a variety of pumpkin beers to try, and there we ample amounts of snacks.  It was a fun, inexpensive…..and late night.  But don’t worry, I can […] Read more »

Holiday Party Recipes Using Tabasco Sauce! #SeasonedGreetings

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My favorite part of the holiday season is family gatherings. I get to spend time with loved ones that I don’t get to see nearly as often as I’d like. Family gatherings mean potluck meals, which gives me the opportunity to fire up the grill or smoker and show off my culinary skills. My wife’s family likes a little heat with their food, but when I cook I don’t want it to be hot just for the sake of hot.  There has to be good flavor to go along with it. To add that flavor to my delicious party food […] Read more »

Lowest Priced Unlimited Plans Through Walmart Family Mobile Will Help Me Reach My Marathon Goal

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When I ran the Twin Cities Marathon on October 5th of this year, there were several family members that cheered for me at various places throughout the race.  I was extremely thankful for their encouragement, as it brought a huge smile to my face and gave me a little extra motivation to keep going.   In the months preceding the race, I had periodically shared details of my training through social media and received support from friends and family as well as questions and suggestions from fellow runners.   I received so much feedback that I decided that as I begin to […] Read more »

Why You Should Walk Away From Free Offers

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Today’s post is from Douglas Goldstein, the host of the Goldstein on Gelt Show, as well as the author of  Rich as a King.  Please give a warm EOD nation welcome to Douglas! When you go shopping and you see a sign saying, “1+1 Buy one and get one free!” what do you do? Many consumers don’t stop to ask themselves if they need or want this product. The satisfaction that they gain from getting “the other one free” compels them to take up this seemingly generous offer even if they don’t need both of the items in question. But […] Read more »

Financial Discipline: You Play How You Practice

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“Well, hello stranger!” said a loud voice from somewhere behind the Subway counter.   I quickly found the familiar face smiling back at me. It’s the same young lady that is working at the nearby Subway most Saturdays when I stop in to get lunch for my family. Saturday Subway is a tradition of sorts at the Pizel household. As the cashier rang up my sandwiches, she asked me if I wanted to get one of my sandwiches for free by purchasing a $20 gift card. I politely declined. Buying the gift card would violate three of my foundational spending guidelines: […] Read more »

Raising Money after a Divorce

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It seems every time we turn around, someone we know is going through a separation or divorce. With the cost of living on the rise, divorce has major effects on both parties. There are always going to be two different points of view on this topic. With divorce comes major financial adjustment for everyone involved. Majority of the time, men get stuck with the “tab”, if you will. Lawyer fees, child support, alimony, the list goes on. I have personally watched a few of my male friends go through this and seen them absolutely crushed monetarily. Although this was hard […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 11/14

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Earlier this week I talked about gazelle intensity, and how I’m going to tap into that kind of laser focus for two things:  1.) my weight loss and marathon training and 2.) saving up $7000 for my tax bill by April of next year.  Today is payday, so the savings begin.  Unfortunately, I haven’t plowed all the way through my budget for the next two weeks, and I need to do that before I start what I hope to be one of those “goal thermometers” here on my Fist Pump Friday posts.  Therefore, you have a week to think of […] Read more »

Black Friday At Walmart: The Holiday Superstore

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November 28th is right around the corner, which means it’s once again the season for retail madness. Black Friday is the Super Bowl of retail, and is looked at as one of the most hectic days of the year. Walmart is among one of the top competitors when it comes to Black Friday Shopping. The Walmart Black Friday 2014 ad has yet to be released, but it should be out in a week or two on bfads.net. Consumers make sacrifices on this day to get high priced items for dirt-cheap. According to BlackFriday.com, Walmart plans to open their doors to […] Read more »

My Apologies To Gazelle Intensity

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  I’ve never identified with the concept of gazelle intensity. My interpretation of it has always been one of extreme frugality, living with no frills for an extended period of time in order to throw as much money as possible towards debt and/or retirement. It always seemed to me that kind of perspective would have people essentially get zero enjoyment out of life while they pay off debt, or save for retirement. I always thought there had to be some kind of balance. I never understood why someone would purposefully and completely deprive themselves of everything. But over the weekend, […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 11/7

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  It’s been one of those weeks where the days just flew by.  I’ve been a bad blogger friend, as I opened my RSS reader for literally the very first time this week today.  My fellow personal finance bloggers write a LOT of articles in a week.   🙂  I’m happy this week is over, I’ve cleared the boards and ready to start fresh for next week. That in itself is worth a fist pump or two!   Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Dealing With Setbacks in a Debt Payoff Journey from Well Kept Wallet Introverts Rejoice!: Extroverts Spend More […] Read more »