The other day when I was prepping for a fantasy football draft, I stumbled upon a video at Yahoo that covered a family who spent only cash for one month. According to the story they saved $1800 (24%) compared to what they normally spent. After I picked my jaw off the floor from being amazed that they could spend almost 8 grand a month, I started thinking maybe I should get in on the savings. Some of you will remember that I’ve recently been introduced to Dave Ramsey and his method of debt elimination set out in his book, Total [...]
Read MoreAugust 2008
It was a sad day here at the Debt Defier household. We just canceled our Netflix account. We were already on the lowest plan available, so it’s not really a huge money saver. But as mentioned earlier the little things can add up, especially the ones that are a total waste. And that is what Netfix has been to us for over a year. We started out loving it. 3 movies at a time, no late fees. Friday, Saturday & Sunday night all turned into Movie Night! When the mail man would deliver our movies the house filled with excitement. [...]
Read MoreI recently finished a fiction novel called A Perfect Day by Richard Paul Evans. I am not sure how it got on our bookshelf, but I needed something to read one night and the dust jacket pulled me in enough to start it. I was pleasantly surprised. It isn’t a masterpiece, but it kept my interest and left me satisfied. I was even more surprised that it touched upon a couple of personal finance topics that I find near to my heart and I had no personal finance agenda when I started out. The story covers a business man that [...]
Read MoreWhen I last talked about my future plans I mentioned that I contacted two local schools. A State School where I’d earn a teachers certificate. A Private School where I’d become a Rad Tech. Option #1 would take 3-4 semesters. Option #2 would take 3 years. Option #1 would cost about one third of what option #2 would cost. Option #1 would also make considerably less than option #2 upon graduation. Hmmmm. I decided to be a teacher. Almost everyone who I talked to this last month when I explained my choices has said, “you’d make a good teacher” or [...]
Read MoreJust like most of you, I peruse a lot of personal finance blogs. Today I came across one that posed an idea that got me thinking. Not Made of Money posted a nice piece about not buying stuff with a payment mentality. I left a comment saying that I totally agreed that its a great idea to get rid of payments. But what about interest free payments? I used an example of saving enough money for an $800 item then being offered interest free financing at the time of purchase. Would you take the offer or pay in full? In [...]
Read MoreLike most things in life financial maturity is a journey not a destination. If we are open we will keep changing and broadening our perspective. Recently this has taken the form of questioning my definition of the purpose of money. I used to think that the definition of money took on two distinct stages, but I am starting to be drawn to a third stage that I am not sure I could have imagined a few years ago. Stage 1 – Money = Stuff This is the stage that we all know and love. It is the stage were the [...]
Read MoreI bet lots of you have read Robert Kiyosaki’s, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” where he talks about the different ways his father and a friend’s father taught him about money. When looking back at my own life I see that I too had different perspectives shown to me. My parents split up when I was 4, and went in very different paths upon their separation. My Dad who was a plumber when he was married to my Mom, moved back in with his parents in the Twin Cities so he could go back to school and be close to better [...]
Read MoreThe original filing deadline for the New Jersey(NJ) 2007 Homestead Tax Rebate was on Friday August 15th. Fortunately New Jersey extended the Homestead Rebate filing deadline until October 31st 2008 for those that missed it.(1) Homeowners who owned a house in New Jersey before October 1st of the previous year, paid property taxes, and make less than $150,000 AGI are eligible for a tax rebate. You can view the exact eligibility requirements here on the NJ Taxation website. Also remember that the NJ State Budget requires that they use the 2006 property tax amount in order to help cut costs. The last [...]
Read MoreHere in the Debt Defier household it feels like we’ve been wrestling some very big ideas lately. But as you seasoned vets out there can attest, the little things in life matter just as much if not more than the big ones. This is true in our financial lives too. Below are a few recent examples of how little things made a difference in our budget: Earlier this afternoon I was paying some bills and noticed a flyer in my electric bill informing me that I could pay my bill online with a credit card. I thought what a great [...]
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