Update: Amazon’s Return Process Used To Be Easy, Now It’s Almost Effortless

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    Returning items ordered online can be an intimidating process, and somewhat worrisome until you see the refund posted to your account. Close to two years ago I wrote an article outlining how easy it was to return things to Amazon, however I just had an experience that had me shaking my head. It’s actually gotten EASIER to return things to Amazon and you can have your refund almost immediately. I had ordered some costume items for my daughter for her use in her cheer team’s themed homecoming float. Some of the items did not arrive in time for […] Read more »

Book Review: Hustle Away Debt

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What’s the first thing you do when an unexpected expense pops up, or if extra room needs to be cleared in the budget? If you’re like most people, you tighten the spending belt. The entertainment budget gets cut, and monthly expenses are scoured for things that can be discontinued. When faced with a financial dilemma, most people will free up funds in their budget by cutting spending. What doesn’t occur to most people is that there’s another choice. Instead of slashing spending, why not increase income? Cutting spending generally means lifestyle deflation because there are less discretionary funds available. But […] Read more »

Review: Kaiku Visa Prepaid Card

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My wife and I are back on a cash only spending plan, and it’s working out fabulously. It keeps our spending in check and within budget. Some of the comments on my recent posts on this subject have made a valid point, however. Dealing with only cash means there are times when I may be walking around with a significant amount of cash in my wallet, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that makes me a little nervous. One solution to this problem could be a prepaid debit card. Not just any debit card, but a Kaiku Visa […] Read more »

Review: Saving Money Is a Cinch With Cinch

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There are infinite techniques people use to save money. Similarly, there seem to be countless online tools to help people make it happen. Developers of such tools need to come up with a way to differentiate themselves from the rest, and a new service called Cinch may have come up with just the way to do that. Cinch’s goal is to help users save money on common household expenses such as your home insurance, car insurance and mortgage payment by making sure you have exactly the coverage or product you need. But beyond that they also want to help you […] Read more »

The Lemonade Stand Review, and IPad Mini Giveaway!

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Whenever I pass a lemonade stand on the side of the street, I pull over. Regardless of where I’m going, how busy I am, or whether I’m thirsty or not I pull over and buy a couple of glasses. It’s a personal policy. I did the lemonade stand thing many times when I was a kid, and I know how discouraging it is to not have any customers. I also know how awesome it feels to have someone take the time to stop and help you reap the rewards of your hard work. I absolutely LOVE seeing a kid’s eyes […] Read more »

Review: Month One Using A Cheap Wireless Plan Through Walmart Family Mobile

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I walked onto the baseball field and squatted behind home plate to warm up my son who was pitching. It was the last game of the end of the season tournament, and my eyes watered as he hurled the first pitch at me.  Next year he will be trying out for the high school team. Is he good enough to be a pitcher at the high school level? Will he even make the team?  These are questions I cannot answer, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this is the last time I would watch my son wind up on […] Read more »

Hotels.com Gained, and Lost Me As A Customer

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We knew we didn’t want to drive the entire 11 hours home from Kentucky to Minnesota in one day, so we were looking for somewhere to spend the night at about the 7 hour mark. The wife of another couple that had also traveled from Minnesota found a place in the desired city and price range using Hotels.com. Looking at the computer screen, I was impressed with the website as it listed the hotels for the city requested as well as the surrounding area. Users are also able to sort the list many different ways. Our friend called and booked […] Read more »

Debt Free for Life Book Review and Giveaway

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If I could give a Nobel Peace Prize to anyone — one of my possible choices would be to give it to someone who wrote a book with the title “DEBT FREE FOR LIFE“! (Biased, I know) Unfortunately, the Nobel Peace Prize has been tainted many times by being given to anyone that has a pulse, instead of to those who actually achieve greatness. In my opinion, the author of Debt Free for Life, David Bach, has achieved excellence and deserves such an award for his latest book. 🙂 Of course, for me, those that teach about debt and the […] Read more »

The Super-Charged Guide to Financial Freedom Review

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How do you increase the likelihood of you completing your financial resolutions? Reading! That’s right! Reading a book, or books related to the goals you want to accomplish increases the chance that you will succeed. That’s not to say you’ll accomplish what you set out to accomplish by simply reading a book. The book acts as a resource to teach you new ideas, but it also helps you stay motivated with your “eye on the prize!” Depending on your goal, it may take more than one book to help you cross the finish line. I read The Total Money Makeover […] Read more »

Bloggers: The Frugal Premium WordPress Theme is 30% Off!

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For some, this review won’t mean much, but to those of you who operate a blog, this premium WordPress theme is absolutely awesome. Not only is it the most comprehensive, user-friendly theme for WordPress I have found, it was developed by Eric Hamm of Charlottesville. (where I live) Anyone familiar with WordPress, knows that the theme you choose is absolutely key. Some themes do this, some themes do that, and if you want them to do anything special you have to know css and php code, and where to insert it to make it happen. Learning code is the equivalent […] Read more »

Book Review & Giveaway: The New Rules for Mortgages

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Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a magnificent week so far! Before I get started, I feel I need to clarify a few things about my views and beliefs concerning a mortgage. As most of you know, I am against debt, but I do realize that not all people are going to go out there and save, save, save, in order to pay 100% cash down. Some people, if not most, would even consider that to be impossible. I’ll save that discussion for another day, but I just want to point out that I understand that the average […] Read more »

How I Saved $168.17 On A Recent Purchase!

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Are you looking to save lots of money by getting huge bargains on merchandise? I don’t know many people that would say no to that question, but I want to make something clear right from the beginning. I’m not an advocate for mass consumption, especially just because you are able to get a huge discount. I am of the opinion that if you need something, it’s just really nice to save money in the process. Today, I am going to share something with you that I have found to be a great resource in helping my family and I save […] Read more »

My Beef With Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki!

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Ever heard of Rich Dad Poor Dad? I have to start by admitting that I used to like Robert Kiyosaki. In fact, one of the very first books on finance and money that I ever read was his first one called Rich Dad Poor Dad. That book, to it’s credit, did change the way I looked at money, but it also reinforced the acceptance of debt in order to prosper, which by now I believe is not only nonsense, but horrible financial advice. The best part of that book was reading about and understanding the difference between how rich and […] Read more »

Book Review & Giveaway: Give Me Get Me Buy Me

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Give me, get me, buy me! Does that sound like someone you know? It sounds like a lot of people these days which is why this book is so perfect for today’s day and age. The entitlement mindset has to be one of the most self destructive mindsets one could adopt for themselves, yet many do. Today I am reviewing a book written by Donna Corwin and it is titled, Give Me, Get Me, Buy Me – Preventing or Reversing Entitlement in Your Child’s Attitude. Talk about stopping something before it starts, now’s the perfect time to turn things around. […] Read more »