For the past few years, I have sworn off Black Friday.  However,  I may….repeat MAY brave the Black Friday crowds this year for a very special gift.  Jealous of her brother’s new computer, my daughter wants her own laptop.  A laptop clocks in at way more than what we would budget for a Christmas present, so we made a deal with her.  If she pays for half, we would pitch in the rest as her main Christmas gift.  If I can find a laptop for a killer price on Black Friday, I could potentially make a run at it.  I […] Read more »

Friday baby, YEAH!  It’s payday and our emergency fund is up…unfortunately so is my weight.  I can’t out exercise bad eating habits, I need to remember that.  We don’t have any big plans for the weekend, which feels great.  I do, however, plan to punish myself for the weight gain with some ass kicking workouts.  Maybe I’ll even throw something on the smoker – wait, what’s that about eating better? What do you have going on this weekend? Posts That Make Me Fist Pump  Failing To Plan Ahead Destroys Budgets from Frugaling Your credit card is NOT your emergency fund […] Read more »

Posts That Make Me Fist Pump  What is the Key to Success When Paying off Debt? from Frugal Rules Personal Finance Lessons I Wish I’d Been Taught in School from Blonde on a Budget Debt Payoff Hangover from Budget And the Beach via Debt And The Girl Screw ‘em: Doing What’s Best for You in Your Debt Payoff Journey from The Frugal Farmer How to Flip the Switch and Develop a Budget Mindset from The Heavy Purse Shameless Self Promotion Residual Interest; Why Your Last Payment to a Creditor May Not Close Your Account is my post this week in […] Read more »

It’s accountability Friday, my friends. In last Friday’s roundup I mentioned my desire to have an emergency fund and NOT touch it.  In Monday’s post I declared it’s time for me to finally MAN UP and DO IT.  Today is the first day of the month which marks the beginning of a new bi-monthly budget cycle for the Pizels.  As specified in the post earlier this week, as part of our bill paying / spending plan activity, $100 has been placed into our savings account to begin my challenge to have a $1000 emergency fund by February 28th.    Each Friday […] Read more »

I read quite a few posts this week about emergency funds, one of which gets a fist pump below.  It made me think a lot about our emergency fund situation.  We build it up a little bit, and then we use it – and not necessarily for an emergency.  An emergency fund is the first baby step towards financial freedom.  It gives a person the ability to handle those nasty unexpected breakdowns of water heaters and cars and whatever else without affecting your base budget of food, clothes and the necessites of life.  But it also provides peace of mind […] Read more »

It’s Friday, and this post is coming at you courtesy of a cram writing session between sessions at the Financial Blogger Conference in St. Louis!  The question you might ask yourself is, “Do Personal Finance Bloggers try to save money even when they’re at a conference?”  I think the fact that we crammed so many of us into a taxi van that we were sitting on each others laps just to save a few bucks answers that question.  🙂 Enjoy your weekend! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump What’s Busting Your Budget? from Boomer and Echo Message Monday – Credit […] Read more »

Race weekend is here, RACE WEEKEND IS HERE!  I’m so excited for the Twin Cities 10 Mile on Sunday I’m having trouble sleeping.   The temps look to be great running weather (lows in the 40’s, highs in the 50’s).  As I mentally prepare for the race, I cannot get the lyrics for “Hall Of Fame” by The Script out of my head.  Check back here next Friday to hear how the race went.  🙂 I have to tell you how I found one of my fist pumping posts this week.  If you like reading personal finance blogs you should check […] Read more »

I have to be honest, I’ve been feeling just a little “off” the last couple of weeks.  I’ve been going to bed earlier trying to get more sleep, but I just feel tired all the time.  In the gym I haven’t been able to push nearly the weight I had been just a few weeks ago.   I don’t know what the deal is, but I’m hoping a weekend of relaxation and even more sleep will help remedy the situation.  Have any of you ever experienced something like this? September is almost over, which means your chance to vote for Enemy […] Read more »

In Monday’s post I reviewed Jeff Rose’s book Soldier of Finance, and announced that I would be giving a copy away.  I’m very excited, as this is the first give away I’ve done on Enemy Of Debt!  Without any further delay, the winner is…. Susan! I have your email address from your comment entry, and will be contacting you to arrange shipping the book to you. Congratulations! Yesterday I received my statement for my reduced paycheck for the furlough week.  Vonnie and I sat down and did our budget and spending plan for the next two weeks, and I’m very […] Read more »

Today is the last day of my work furlough, which means tomorrow I can officially sign into my email for work and begin the process of wading through an entire week’s email.  I’m looking forward to jumping back into the software development game – I’ve missed my bits and bytes.  🙂 Vonnie and I have been watching our spending closely to make sure our finances are ready when that reduced paycheck arrives a week from today.  You can read about how we’ve planned to make it through this rough spot in my post this week in the CareOne Community. Have […] Read more »

Fridays are normally awesome, but this one is a little different.   When I leave work for the day I’m officially on a one week furlough from my job as a software engineer.  For the week I’m off, I will only be paid 1/3rd my normal salary.  This obviously poses quite a challenge to our household budget.  We’ve known this was coming for about a month, so luckily we’ve had some time to prepare for it.  We have a plan, and believe we have it contained, but it will required us to stick EXACTLY to our budget for the next month. […] Read more »

Happy Friday, EOD Nation!  The last few weeks of Summer are proving to be rather busy for my family and me.  Both kids had their schedule pick up days for the upcoming school year and walked their initial class schedules.  With Tori entering middle school, and Tristan a freshman in High School they are both headed to new schools this year which brings both apprehension and excitement.  This weekend we have a family reunion to attend and then looking forward to a HOT Sunday afternoon lounging by the pool at our already paid for gym membership to let our checkbook […] Read more »