“I can pay all my bills each month, I am doing well.” In a world of leased BMWs, credit cards galore, no interest credit offers, and high standards of living, what does it really mean to ‘live within your means’? We all might have our own definition, but I wanted lay out what I think it means and see what others think. The prevailing definition seems to be living on less than you make. Living within your means is much more than just being able to meet your bills each month. What type of bills you have matters immensely. If [...]
Read MorePsychology of Spending
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! And welcome to the official start of the holiday shopping season. Back when I shared my Christmas budget, I said I’d revisit the idea of whether or not Christmas is becoming too commercialized or not. Well it’s your lucky day! But first let me come clean about something. I can be an idealist at times. Not all the time, but just enough that I can be rather annoying to be around when certain subjects come up. You know my type, we’re very passionate about something about a certain topic for awhile then we move on to something [...]
Read MoreMy wife love lists. She’s always making them: Grocery Lists To-Do Lists Christmas Lists You name it and she’ll make a list. She starts her week by making a list of projects that need to get done. Usually her lists are quite handy, unless they are the dreaded “Honey-Do List”. But there is one kind of list that we can agree on. The wish list. For as long as I’ve known her, my wife has always kept a list of things that she wants. Once we got married we started a couple’s “wish list”. In fact we keep it on [...]
Read MoreNo, not through Napster or some other torrent, but through the unique site Snag Films. The current offer over 300 independent documentaries for absolutely nothing. They have quite a few quality films on there, so be sure to check it out if documentaries interest you. One of those free films is In Debt We Trust. Here is the description of the film : In America’s earliest days, there were barn-raising parties in which neighbors helped each other build up their farms. Today, in some churches, there are debt liquidation revivals in which parishioners chip in to free each other from [...]
Read MoreAs I struggle to resist the temptation to snag a snack from the vending machine during my ingredient month, I began thinking about how different personalities chose what to eat at vending machine or even at a restaurant. This led me to identify five distinct purchasing personalities. The purchase decision at a vending machine or a restaurant serves as concrete situation to help us think about our own purchase personality. We all can probably be any one of these at different times and in different situations, but the question is what personality are you most of the time. The Lavisher [...]
Read MoreThe 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 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 MoreI promise that eventually I’ll quit referring to the Nitty Gritty post. But a subject was brought up in the comments that I thought should be explored further. The idea of selling our vehicle for a cheaper one. I can’t say that the thought has never crossed my mind. In fact, a case of “Buyers Remorse” arrived almost immediately upon purchase, but it never fully set in, instead it comes and goes. On one hand our van (2004 Honda) is by far the nicest vehicle that either me or my wife have ever owned. The leather seats are easy to [...]
Read MoreI talked before about my tipping point for financial change and my tipping point for financial success, but it seems that the US as a nation has finally hit its tipping point at $4.00 a gallon. To recap, a tipping point is “the level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.“[1] Historically, gas consumption patterns rarely changed despite price increases. It seems though that the general population has finally resigned themselves to the fact that high gas prices are here to stay. Things seem to be following the same pattern of the gas crisis in 1978-1980. The Wall Street [...]
Read MoreThe source was Amazon for the most part so the prices could be location independent. Some of the prices are for bulk and may be more expensive at your local grocery store. Discuss! Source : Oley Eye Cream Loctite Super Glue HP Black Printer Ink Lovely(Sarah Jessica Parker) Perfume Bertoli Olive Oil Red Bull Tide Detergent Water, Milk, and Gasoline are local South New Jersey prices.
Read More
