Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
I am a huge fan of Shark Tank and Kickstarter success stories, as it’s amazing how one idea/passion/lifelong dream motivates people to do incredible things. I too have a lifelong dream. Ever since I was a child, I have wanted to write a children’s book.
The perfect story came to me while I was pregnant with my second daughter. Even though I didn’t expect to be rich or famous overnight, I wasn’t quite prepared for the weeks of rejection either. What happened was that I pitched my story to several agents, but either I didn’t hear anything back or I would hear that they were only looking for writer/illustrator combos. Was it me?
Feeling defeated, I put my story away and thought my passion would just have to stay as a work in progress forever. Two things happened shortly after though. I started learning more about others who successfully published their children’s books through Kindle (which I didn’t know there was a market for), and I read a children’s book by a famous TV personality. That book showed me that publishers are only interested in profiting off of big names, no matter how stupid the content is. [ continue reading… ]
Buying a car can be an exciting adventure. There’s a certain level of satisfaction and enjoyment in pulling out of the dealership in a new ride. There’s quite a process that needs to happen before that can happen, though. The price needs to be negotiated, extended warranties to be discussed, taxes and fees to be added, and potential financing options to work through. In addition to all those things, there’s something else that should be considered if you’re contemplating purchasing a used car. Once that vehicle is in your garage, you’ll have maintenance costs. Planning for those costs needs to start even before you drive your new car off the lot.
Here are four commonly used car maintenance items that should always be contemplated when contemplating buying a used car: [ continue reading… ]
Just because you don’t make as much as someone else doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to enjoy the same things they do. Things like education, home furnishings, and working out can still be enjoyed by you regardless of your income. It just takes a little creativity. Keep in mind that it’s not about the thing so much as it is about the result. For example, I can listen to music on a $1099 iPhone or I can listen to it on an older iPod Touch. Regardless of the kind of player I use I still get to listen to my favorite music.
There’s a scene in one of my favorite movies where the lead character steps into a batting cage, then take fastballs to the chest to toughen up. He takes them all, screaming and grunting with the thud of each ball against his body.
With the completion of our debt management program (DMP) through which my wife and I destroyed $109,000 of credit card debt, that’s exactly how I feel right now. Whatever life has to throw at us, we can handle it. With hard work and determination, we can overcome any challenge and achieve any goal.
This is good. Because we’re not done yet.
We have one line of credit managed by a creditor that wouldn’t work with our program, as well as two store credit cards that we intended to take care of ourselves. It took every ounce of effort we had to stay on course with our program, so we used the last 55 months to concentrate on those debts.
Now that the program is complete, it’s time to concentrate on the remaining lines of credit. [ continue reading… ]
The latest survey indicates one third of those surveyed found that retirement expenses are higher than they thought they would be.
That’s a fairly alarming number when you stop to think about it – especially when you consider that the EBRI reports that these results are based on data before the inflation run up of the past year. [ continue reading… ]
The average commute time for Americans is 27.6 minutes one way in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While that number likely went down during the pandemic, many companies are starting to require workers to go back to the workplace. Anecdotally, just about everyone I know aside from one couple has already gone back to office life most days of every work week. And the only reason the lucky couple is still working from home is that the space their department works in is being renovated, so it’s just a matter of time before they are asked to go back too.
Sigh.
27.6 minutes one way is 55.2 minutes a day. That’s four and a half hours of commute time in a week. And that’s the average. In Los Angeles where I live, it’s more common for the commute time to be up to an hour each day and even longer when you factor in traffic. All of this time spent in the car is wasted time, especially if you listen to talk radio that you aren’t particularly fond of. So what should we do? Why not make it more profitable for your brain, budget, and body? [ continue reading… ]
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