Debt Free News From A Debt Free Reader #19

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Happy DEBT FREE FRIDAY everyone!! Christmas is almost here. Are you ready? Will your Christmas be a Debt Free Christmas in 2010? I know someone who will be having a debt free Christmas this year. Dave, the author of I Heart Money. He has a book about how to change your relationship with money so that you can pay off your debt and build assets! Regardless of how it sounds, if you are still in debt you can have a debt free Christmas. That’s right and it’s real simple too. Buy Christmas with money you have! If you use credit […] Read more »

Media Deliberately Tries to Affect Our Personal Finances, so Here’s My Set of Defensive Measures

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Photo Credit: beggs Today we’re getting deeper and deeper into a culture that is influenced by media, but thankfully it’s “selective media.” I don’t mean media that selectively reports things or gives you one side of the story. That’s nothing new at all. What I mean is viewers can be much more selective about what is watched, listened to, and read. With an ever-expanding selection of television programs, radio programs, print publications, and Internet websites, we have more to select from now than ever before. And, changes in the marketplace are reflected as more new choices. Large print media are […] Read more »

Final Results: No Restaurants Equal Big Savings

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Photo Credit: scott.eyre Well November has come and gone! As most of you already know, I wanted to challenge myself — and you — to commit to not eating out at any restaurants at all for the month of November. So I started the No Restaurants in November Challenge. Some were excited, some were pessimistic, and some even questioned the reality of doing such a thing. While I definitely consider it to be more realistic than some claim, I still see how different lifestyles could make it more difficult for someone to accomplish this. With that said, I say anything […] Read more »

22 Days of No Restaurants in November

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Photo Credit: Eboli The “Normal” Justification Routine Cue Dream Sequence I’ve been up since 6 a.m. My 1 year old had a rough night due to teething and the day has not been much better. I completed some of the work I needed to do for today but there is so much more to do. I couldn’t keep the kids inside all day while I typed away and it was such a nice day so I took them out to play at the park. We played Frisbee, Downhill Racer, played at the park, then went home and helped Isaac work […] Read more »

Debt Free News From A Debt Free Reader #18

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If you act responsibly and understand that it's up to you to secure your own future, you can have the fun you want without all the stress that comes with running up debt to do so! I recently met some folks who were down on their luck, but it wasn't their luck that was keeping them down, it was their attitude about their situation that was doing the most damage. They seemed to have given up and were ready to accept that life would always be this way for them. NOT TRUE! Don't believe that for one second if you find yourself in similar circumstances. Read more »

Shocking News: Two Weeks of No Restaurants and I’m Still Alive

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Two weeks without a single bite at a restaurant…Yippeee! No delivery. No fast food. No buffets. To be honest with you, this has been much easier than I expected. The rest of this month is going to be even easier. At this point I am wondering why something like this would be considered extreme and unrealistic to so many. Hard maybe, but extreme? Come on. Is making yourself exercise extreme? Is eating right extreme? I think not, although I admit that there is a degree of difficulty in doing any of the above. 😉 Still I find that it’s no […] Read more »

No Restaurant November Update and October Confession

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Photo Credit: Yours Truly It was really fun reading the reactions from people related to this challenge. (responses on other blogs listed below) Until I started reading them I never really considered what I was proposing to be extreme, but apparently it is the equivalent of dangling your child over a balcony. Some adamantly opposed the idea right away, while others admitted it was something they would like to do, but just couldn’t. The rest said let’s do it! That’s what I’m talking about baby! I left a comment on Budgets Are Sexy suggesting that to those who said it […] Read more »

Debt Free News From A Debt Free Reader #16

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Happy Friday everyone! Right now I am enjoying myself on a fishing trip with my father-in-law, so I hope I catch some yummy fish! Have a great weekend, but before you do, I hope you enjoy this wonderful and inspiring debt free story. I love these kinds of stories!! I checked out Our Debt Free Path and knew immediately that these were my kind of folks. They are passionate, and best of all, they too, are doing the Total Money Makeover! Whether you like Dave Ramsey or not, you have to admit the guy has an awesome game plan for […] Read more »

How To Dress Nicely On A Budget

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This is a guest post by David Bakke Photo Credit: beckyjohns7 Up until recently, I always had the luxury of having the majority of my clothes purchased for me, either by my mom when I was younger, my wife when I was “grown up,” and by family and friends during the gift-giving holidays. I know, it sounds like I’m really spoiled or something, but in actuality, all of these close people in my life have always enjoyed shopping for clothes for me. Yup, I’m a pretty fortunate guy! However, my wife got a full-time job two years ago that made […] Read more »

Teaching Kids About Money – Here’s What Helps

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Photo Credit: Memory_Freak This is a guest post written by Clair Schwan. I can’t say that I have a lot of experience with kids, but I have a lot of experience with money, and part of my childhood involved what I thought was a good training program about the value of money and how it might best be handled. I had four of the best teachers I could possibly ask for – two grandparents who were young adults in the Great Depression, and two parents who grew up in it and struggled through the challenging economic times surrounding World War […] Read more »

Consumer Debt: The Black Hole of Personal Finance

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A black hole is considered to be the most dangerous place in the universe. And in matters of personal finance, I consider debt to be that place. Sure there are other areas of the financial universe that can cause dangerous circumstances to arise, but the same can be said for the universe. A black hole is not the only way to “meet your maker”, but it probably is the fastest and most destructive. The major difference I can see, is that unlike getting sucked into a black hole, with debt, you CAN escape its gravitational pull. The only way to […] Read more »

Tips on Keeping Your Car Insurance Rate

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This is a guest post from the folks at 21st Century Insurance. We are all required to have auto insurance, so it’s nice to know what we need to do in order to keep ourselves from spending more money than we have to. My favorite tip is the last one, mainly because I know I am guilty of assuming. In fact, when my insurance is set to renew I plan on asking for a better rate! 😀 Keep your Car Insurance rate where it belongs. If you’re like many of us, car insurance represents a big chunk of your household […] Read more »

All Aboard! The Personal Finance Tour Bus is Scheduled for Departure

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Good morning debt haters! This morning I would like to introduce you to a new network I have been asked to join. As you know, there are many networks out there, just as there are many personal finance blogs, but this network is a bit different because each member is considered to be an expert in a specific niche of personal finance. (investing, debt, Canadian, teens & college, retirement, taxes, Christian, and even humor.) Allow me to introduce you to the Money Mavens Network. I am extremely honored and excited to be working next to these guys. We plan to […] Read more »

Manage Your Money Week 3 – Death By 1000 Cuts

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Welcome to week 3 of the Manage your Money Challenge! We’re half way through the month and I am excited to see how much these challenges seem to be helping you. We were down to only 9 participants last week but I am still so excited. Those 9 are really taking this budgeting stuff seriously, and the comments and openness have been so wonderful. Thank you so much for your participation! Let’s get to it, shall we? 🙂 This Weeks Prize Winners! (via Random.org) Financial Peace University DVD Lesson: Relating With Money – Michelle Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Junior – […] Read more »