finance
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Debt is Slavery: A Review of Financial Freedom Strategies
One of my goals for the next two years is to write a book about personal finance. I want it to be a practical volume filled with great tips, while also exploring the personal side of money issues. T
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Budget Meal Planning: How to Eat Well on a Tight Budget (Real-Life Example)
Our discussion about how to eat for cheap generated a lot of great tips. Daiko explained how he once got by spending just $15/week on food. This is a great real-life example of how it’s possible to e
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DIY Home Maintenance: Save Money & Conquer Repairs
I hate plumbing. Whenever a faucet begins to leak or a drain clogs, my stomach sinks. I know it means hours of frustrating work. It’s not that plumbing is difficult — it’s just that I’m not well-vers
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Track & Transform Spending: Analyzing Comic Book Expenses with Quicken
Comic books have always been one of my money demons. Geeky, but true. I used to buy the actual comic magazines: Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men. As an adult, however, I graduated from spending just a buc
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Save Money at Upscale Restaurants: Smart Dining Strategies
Kris and I joined some friends last weekend for a 40th birthday celebration at Bluehour, a swanky Portland restaurant. While the other couples spent $150 to $250 for their meals, we escaped paying on
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Declutter Your Life & Protect the Planet: A Minimalist Approach
A few weeks ago I wrote about my realization that I have too much Stuff. For two decades, I had been a willing participant in our consumerist culture, buying books and magazines and video games and c
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Evaluating Recurring Monthly Expenses: What's Worth It?
I met some friends at a local restaurant Monday night. While chatting, we found ourselves bopping to the music playing on the radio. For more than hour, great song followed great song: U2, Eurythmics
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Simple Spending Plan: A Budgeting Approach for Beginners
I’ve never been able to keep a budget. They’re a great tool for many people, but for me a budget is a recipe for failure. It’s too fussy. I can’t stick to it. When I don’t stick to it, I feel guilty.
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The Automatic Millionaire Book Review: Simple Steps to Financial Freedom
David Bach is perhaps best known for coining the term the latte factor, a phrase that has almost become a joke in personal finance circles. That’s too bad, really, because Bach has some good ideas.
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Smart Savings: How to Effectively Use Coupons & Sales
My conversion to frugality began about a year ago, but it’s only been recently that I’ve become good at it. We’ve been saving money by being aggressive with a cash-only purchase plan. If we can’t af
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Winter Heating Savings: Practical Frugality for Cold Homes
Cold cold cold — I am cold. Remember George Bailey’s “drafty old barn” in It’s a Wonderful Life? Our place is like that. This 100-year-old farmhouse is cold all winter long. There are drafts at the
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Mortgage Freedom: My Journey to Becoming Debt-Free
A few weeks ago, J.D. and I were chatting when he asked me what it felt like to be debt-free. He’d read on my blog that I had no debt and was curious if I’d write about it for Get Rich Slowly. In par
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Financial Goal Setting: Achieving Your 2008 Objectives
For three years I’ve had a single goal directing my actions: I wanted to get out of debt. Now that my consumer debt is nearly gone, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering what to do next. I was worried t
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All Your Worth Book Review: A Comprehensive Guide to Lifetime Financial Planning
Three years ago, I decided to get out of debt. I hit the books, reading one personal finance title after another, searching for answers. Two books — Your Money or Your Life and The Total Money Makeo
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Debt Freedom: A 20-Year Journey and How to Break Free
Twenty years ago, I was a freshman in college. I was a poor kid from a poor family, but my roommates came from wealth. In order to fit in, I went out and picked up a department store credit card. I b
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Budget-Friendly Home Workouts: Achieve Fitness Without Breaking the Bank
Lately, I’ve been making rumblings about getting in shape again. I want to get fit slowly. The trick is figuring out how to do it. It took a lot of reading and a lot of trial and error to take contro
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Navigating Financial Differences in a Relationship: Advice & Solutions
In the Get Rich Slowly forums, DannyBoy has a question that I think many people face: “What can I do if my girlfriend isn’t serious about money?” He writes: I’m the sort of person who essentially loo
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Mastering Your Finances: Why Budgeting is Essential
The most important thing to do with your money is to give it a plan. A budget. A spending plan. A cash-flow plan. Call it what you will, but having a plan for how you spend money will set you free to
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Budget-Friendly Grocery Shopping for Busy Singles
Eating well is one of the small pleasures that I decided not to forego when I dug myself out of credit card debt. I’m a busy bachelor with an active social life and an absorbing job; I like food wit
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Effective DIY Ant Control: Natural Solutions to Eliminate Ants
I Hate Ants. At our old house, Kris and I were constantly at war with the little devils. Every time we suffered another invasion, every time they managed to find the pantry, every time they discover
finance
- The Real Cost of Raising a Child: A Comprehensive Guide
- 2019 401(k) Contribution Limits: Maximize Your Retirement Savings
- Lifestyle Creep: Identify & Prevent Your Spending Spiral
- Rent Assistance Programs for Single Mothers: Find Help Now
- Expense Tracking for Small Businesses: A 7-Step Guide
- Understanding Economic Moats: A Guide to Sustainable Competitive Advantage
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ICE Funding Increase: Potential Economic Impacts & What You Need to KnowA major funding move in Washington could have ripple effects that go far beyond immigration policy and into your everyday budget. The Senate has advanced a plan to pour roughly $70 billio...
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Productive Ways to Utilize Your Free Time During Challenging TimesThe way I see it, there’s only one silver lining in the coronavirus crisis we’re currently facing: We have a lot of extra time on our hands.While it’s in no one’s interest that...
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Kaizen: Understanding Continuous Improvement for BusinessKaizen is a Japanese word (改善) that means “improvement” or “to improve.” When applied to the world of business, kaizen refers to every action, operation, or rule ...
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Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) Vehicles: A Complete Guide for Smart BuyersKim and I have been talking a lot about cars during the past few months. She drives a 1996 Honda Accord with 226,000 miles on it. The car runs fine and has served her well, but shes begun to thin...