Archive for January, 2008
Teens and the Credit Card Jungle
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008I got a surprise in the mailbox the other day, something I didn’t expect to see quite yet.
Actually, I’m stretching the truth a bit; my 17-year-old daughter Lindsay got something I wasn’t quite ready for—her first credit card offer.
It was from 1st Financial Bank.
Now keep in mind that my daughter is a senior […]
Cutting Costs
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Finding extra money in your budget is easier than you think. You’ve just got to use your head–literally!
Delaying that haircut can actually save you a bundle of cash over the course of the year. Let’s say you get your hair cut every six weeks for $20. That’s $173 per year per person. For a […]
Worshipping at the Altar of FICO
Saturday, January 26th, 2008FICO stands for Fair Issac Corporation. Bill Fair and Earl Issac started a consulting company in the 1950’s and developed FICO scores, which measure credit risk.
I keep trying to think of alternate definitions for the FICO acronym:
Floundering In Credit Oppression.
Forgetting I’m Credit Oppressed.
Forever Instant Credit Organization.
Financially I’m Constantly Overwhelmed.
Fighting Idiot Credit Oppressors.
Those aren’t very good […]
Debt loss and weight loss: a two for one
Friday, January 25th, 2008Since beginning my I’m Not Going to be a Slave to Debt Anymore journey last September, I’ve noticed the following:
Everything that applies to money applies to food too.
For instance, the excuses are the same, are they not? Someone who is 20-40 pounds overweight and not yet in crisis mode about it because they aren’t obese […]
The rich get rich by pretending to be poor. The poor get poor by pretending to be rich.
Friday, January 18th, 2008It’s not an official quote. I might have heard it on a Dave Ramsey podcast. But that pretty much summarizes it, doesn’t it?
Just don’t go shopping
Saturday, January 12th, 2008I was going to write about FICO scores but why write about that when I can write about shopping?
I stumbled across a BlogHer post about several bloggers who are taking a hiatus from shopping. One of them is even taking a year off from it and says:
But for an entire year there will be no […]
Understanding your money mindset
Sunday, January 6th, 2008Do you get excited about the possibility of living debt-free? If so, it’s time to give a brutally honest answer to the following question. At your core, do you really think it’s doable? Be honest now…. Do you TRULY believe you will pay all of your bills and become debt-free in six […]
My February Challenge
Saturday, January 5th, 2008Have you ever noticed that buying the little things chip away at your bank account? It’s those little things that always got me into big trouble with my finances month after month, year after year. I’d use my debit card without recording all the transactions, impulse buy at the grocery store, or just […]
Gift cards: they keep on taking
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008We’ve dissed gift cards here before but it’s time to diss them again, thanks to a recent article over at The Business Shrink.
The term “breakage” refers to the amount of money retailers get when gift cards go unused. Breakage will reach $7.8 billion dollars this year.
State legislatures are starting to take note. The Maine […]