Challenge Accepted!

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So in my last blog I challenged everyone to come up with a financial savings strategy that I could execute as a 30 day financial challenge in November. So I chose two to try this month…I know such an over achiever.  I am trying Ali’s suggestion from the comments, to take the equivalent amount spent on non-essential items and place in a savings jar. I am also going rogue and trying an idea that I did last year and putting every single five dollar bill in a savings jar. With six days into the month I have saved $10.00 from […] Read more »

Cut A Brisket, Cut Your Costs

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It’s Labor Day weekend and grills across the country are firing up for end of the summer cookouts. We hosted one yesterday, and I was up before the sun (5AM to be precise) to start smoking a brisket for a gathering we were hosting that evening. I removed the fourteen pound mass of meat I had purchased and seasoned the night before from the refrigerator. I snapped on some rubber gloves and began rubbing a little extra seasoning on the brisket ensuring it was fully covered. I ran my fingers across the layer of fat that separates the two major […] Read more »

Hotel Room Fees Exposed!

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I opened the hotel room door to find a flyer labeled “Express Check Out” laying on the floor. Our vacation was over, and it was time to settle up with the hotel for our accommodations. I opened it up and sat down on the bed to examine it for accuracy. The daily room rates were as expected, but there were so many different taxes listed that I began to wonder exactly what those amounts were for. Normally I just assume the hotel is charging the government required taxes, but I was feeling especially frisky that morning and decided to verify […] 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 »

Carolina Dreaming

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Suzanne Coblentz CareOne Debt Relief Serivces Blogger

If you are able to take a vacation each and every summer, good for you, but for many of us juggling various financial goals, sometimes the big trips don’t make the cut. Getting away can get extremely pricey, and that does not even include what you paid in advance for your trip.  Vacationing in general is just an expensive process. As a result, it is not something that we do as a family each and every summer.  We typically do a few small weekend jaunts and live it up with the plastic pool in the backyard. Normally the idea of […] Read more »

Save Money by Being Your Own Florist? Yes You Can!

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What’s the key to a successful marriage? That’s a loaded question, and quite honestly I think the answer is unique to each couple. But if I had to give one generality that I think could possibly apply to everyone, I would advise people to listen to their partner. I’m not referring to giving a nod and throwing in an agreeable statement every time there’s a pause in your partner’s voice. I mean really listen to what they’re saying. The amazing thing is, your significant other will actually tell you what they want. About a month ago, my daughter had her […] Read more »

Save Money By Buying YOURSELF A Gift Card!!

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I wasn’t happy as I walked into Applebees to purchase a $50 gift card. A well liked member of the staff at the elementary school where Vonnie worked was leaving and her coworkers had come up with the idea to have everyone pitch in and get a gift card as a going away present. Vonnie volunteered to get the gift card even though some people weren’t going to give her their share of the funds until the next day. Past experience told me that we were going to get the shaft because someone wouldn’t pay up. The bartender handed me […] Read more »

The Biggest Ripoff EVER

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Every Memorial Day weekend Vonnie and I host a little get together for family and friends. While shopping for the needed supplies last week I purchased a product that could very well be the biggest ripoff on planet Earth. Can you guess what it is? If you guessed bottled water, you were close. At least with bottled water you could make the argument that your preferred brand tastes better than tap water or other brands. But this product, for what I needed it for, was a complete wallet gouger. Ice We purchased a keg of beer for our adult guests, […] Read more »

I Know a Secret About Kohls….

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Our son needed new dress clothes for his confirmation last weekend, so it was timely that we received a 30% off coupon in the mail from Kohls.  I usually don’t get excited about their coupons because they show up in my mailbox fairly often.  So frequently, in fact,  that I would never buy anything at Kohls unless I had a 30% off coupon in my hand. It should be fairly obvious that the regular price of their merchandise is simply over priced. With mailing in hand, we headed to Kohls to see what they had. On the shopping list for […] Read more »

My Wife Doesn’t Stop…..Until She Gets What She Wants

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When my wife gets her mind set on a mission, her tenacity at achieving a goal is unparalleled.  This is true in every facet of life, including those times when she feels that she has been overcharged, or not getting what was promised to her. I got to see my fiery wife in action again this weekend. Back in our free spending days we had a subscription to Sirius/XM radio. We had purchased a detachable faceplate unit that fit into a mounting plate in our car, or on a portable radio that we commonly use outside. The $15 a month […] Read more »

Online Coupon Sites That Will Save You Money

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Over the last few months I’ve been making an effort to use coupons to help save on groceries, household items, and other essentials of life. It’s obviously one of those things that you get out of it as much as you put into it. It takes time to dig through the local ads as well as websites to find coupons that match the products that my family actually uses. Through my quest for using coupons experience (say that fast 10 times!) I’ve found a handful of websites on which I have been able to find useful coupons that can genuinely […] Read more »

It’s a Win-Win: Get Rewarded for Saving

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I recently heard about a really cool concept that started abroad and is making its way to the US—prize linked savings accounts. Just for doing what you’re already (hopefully, should be) doing, you are automatically entered to win a prize. Yes, adults like prizes and anything that is free just like kids do.; a novel idea that has more people thinking about saving for their future. This comes at just the right time, with the rate of savings in America at an all time low. A report issued by the non-profit Corporation for Enterprise Development, found almost one third of […] Read more »

Just Say No!

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I’ve always had trouble with the word no even as a child. My mom claims she would have raised my brother ten times before having to raise me again. I was strong willed, stubborn and loved to say, “no”. Not much has changed since then, I am still strong willed and stubborn, the difference is now I can’t say no, to anyone. Extra responsibilities at work? Sure, no problem. We’d like you to be the head room parent this year. Ok, I can do that! Would you mind being the website coordinator for football? Yeah, I don’t see why not. […] Read more »

How To Have an Inexpensive Mid-Winter Getaway

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The weather forecast says that we may not break zero degrees today, and the wind chill will make it feel like -15F to -30F outside.  That’s the kind of cold that makes your teeth HURT. You can also do this really neat trick where you can watch boiling water turn to ice crystals instantaneously.  While it hasn’t been a very harsh winter, today is the kind of day that makes me long for the warm days of summer.  It’s for days like this that several months ago we began planning a little outing. Later this week a we’ll be heading […] Read more »