catd_mitchell / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Seems like every year we make resolutions only to break them, but could it be that in the end we are saving money by not sticking to them? Below I calculate the amount of money spent on meeting New Year’s resolutions and share tips to getting them done on a budget.
Comment to win this book!
Discovering secret credit cards, unpaid bills, and debt is a blow many couples cannot survive. In fact, money is the number one cause of breakups, says the married authors of “First Comes Love, Then Comes Money: A Couple’s Guide to Financial Communication.” Comment below to win my review copy.
Unlike most personal finance books, this one is not going to teach you to balance your budget or live debt free:
Why? Because without healthy financial communication, without a commitment to putting an end to financial infidelity, none of that stuff works. After more than thirty-five years of combined experience as financial advisers, we’ve learned that if you don’t know how to talk about money with your partner, if you don’t know how to keep financial infidelity from destroying your relationship, budgets and plans and payments won’t mean squat.
MyFico.com
Curious about what goes into your credit score? It’s been more than a year since I wrote about this, so it’s time to revisit this ever useful information.
There are five parts to your credit score. Payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%), and
Got money on the brain?
Credit: neon_neon/Flickr
Financial psychologist – that’s what Brad Klontz is. I chatted with him recently about why kids should fail financially, how our money problems stem from unconscious beliefs, and the money disorder test that can save us.
What is a financial psychologist? I’m trained as a clinical psychologist and in the last 10 years I’ve developed an expertise in personal finance. I created a treatment program for money disorders.
What is the most common money disorder? This will come as no surprise, but it’s overspending. We have a negative savings rate, credit card debt, and we’re modeling all these behaviors for our children.
So we’re teaching our kids bad habits? Yes. They watch what we do and model it. When kids see parents head down to the store, swipe plastic, and bring home a TV, what do they learn? One thing that I encourage parents to do is to break down the skills of money management. Even if you can afford to buy that TV, put a jar in the living room, put money in it. Talk to your kids about saving for it. 80% of college students have credit cards now. On average they have about $3,000 in revolving debt. Half of college students have four or more credit cards. (My emphasis.) We require kids to take a drivers ed class before they get behind the wheel, but there is no class to get a credit card.
What are three money lessons kids need that they are not learning in school?
Briana is a saver and blogs at 20andengaged.com
Briana is 20, works as an online marketer, and has her mind on money so completely it dictates her every move. We talked about stealing change, how debt happens to savers, and her plan to get on track. I edited and condensed our recent talk.
How the heck did you become so aware of saving money so young? I had a piggy bank when I was younger and was obsessed with getting it really heavy. There was always change lying around so I took the liberty of picking it up myself.
Having to pay for college kick started your quest to save? I was a peer counselor my senior year in high school. One requirement of the class was to apply for three scholarships a month. I applied for over 150 on my own.
You commented on BargainBabe.com that you had a financial plan. What is your plan? [Growing up] we didn’t have a luxurious lifestyle, but we never went without anything we needed. I knew that I needed an emergency buffer, especially because of what happened with my mom. After my mom got sick, I was out of work for awhile so I had use my savings to keep me afloat. I got into credit card debt. I didn’t have the money for my textbooks so I used my credit card. It got really frustrating.
Wait a minute. You’re a saver. How did you get into credit card debt?
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A screenshot of a comparison between Mint and CommonSense from FindTheBest.com
This post is sponsored by Cash Advances US providing fast payday cash advance online.
Do high-priced financial software programs manage your money better than free ones? A new site called FindTheBest.com says no. FindTheBest compiled reviews of 146 financial management programs and created a comparison that is useful and easy to digest.
A chart like the one above lists basic info about each program like its name, features, and how many stars it received. Click on a few programs that interest you and compare them in detail. The detailed comparison page has color coding to make the information easy to absorb. Each program’s star rating is an average of the reviews it received on CNET, CBS MoneyWatch.com, and PC Magazine.
FindTheBest is an aggregation site that also ranks topics as diverse as colleges, ski resorts, and dog breeds. My email exchange with Brandon Coakley, the site’s business development manager, is revealing: (more…)
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of Bobbisbargains.
wrestlingentropy/flickr
My son has officially become an adult. I know because he gets credit card applications almost every day. I’m amazed at what banks are offering a teen who does not have a job or any way to pay off the debt he might incur. Juxtapose this against the tremendous scrutiny that my credit report underwent recently when I applied to get a mortgage and you can see that something is amiss. Why is my penniless son being lured into debt while the banking industry is making great credit-scored working adults pay huge fees to get a fully collateralized mortgage? Sorry, I don’t have the answer to this question, but if anyone else does, be sure to enter a comment so that I find out the answer.
What I DO have the answer to, is how to save a lot of money by (more…)
This post is brought to you by Urban Base, Newcastle Estate Agents.
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of Bobbisbargains.
nicolas.boullosa/Flickr
Big News! I just bought a house. Did you know that buying a house has been noted as one of the most stressful experiences in life? Now that I have done it, I totally agree.
I am so very, very grateful to my fabulous Realtor, Rachel Baroth, without whom, this sale would not have happened. Until this purchase, I had no idea how important it was to choose a really great Realtor. I thought I could do it myself. After all, I have found and rented several houses and procured several loans with no difficulty.
So, how hard could it be to buy a house? Oh my dear! Buying a house has gotten so complicated, the rules of the game so changeable, and the amount of paperwork so overwhelming; I can’t imagine going not having a trusted and knowledgeable expert by my side. Finding the house you want to buy is, in fact, the easy part.
Therefore, I wanted to share the top five things to look for when choosing a Real Estate Agent: (more…)
I share five must read blog posts about saving money every Friday.
I’m not a payday lender. But I play one on TV. If you only read one post today, make it this one loaning money to a hard up friend from Surviving and Thriving.
Grocery coupon aggregator - Lozo.com, one of my favorite money-saving sites, has launched a new tool that lets you search and find coupons from Coupons.com, Redplum, and SmartSource from one page! They’re calling it a coupon bundler and you can click and print whichever coupons you want from all three sites without having to go to each individual site. Pretty nifty!
4 ways to sneak in vegetables - Mrs. Accountability shares four dishes where she routinely sneaks in vegetables that are about to expire. These also apply if you are trying to get your family to eat more greens!
Grocery checklists – The grocery planning and shopping site Ziplist just added grocery checklists, so you can create your own list of items you regularly buy or use one of their themed ones (like a Steeler’s Super Bowl Party or a Packer’s Super Bowl Party).
10 signs you are spending too much - Are you spending too much? Find out how many of the 10 signs of overspending are true for you. (The Digerati Life)
I got so caught up last week with the “I BRAKE FOR BARGAINS” bumper sticker giveaway, that I forgot to pick a winner of Natalie McNeals’ The Frugalista Files. If you missed my book review, Natalie chronicles her desperate attempt to escape debt while still living a fabulous life. She keeps herself accountable by listing her total debt at the beginning of each month. Learning Natalie’s secrets to paying down her $21,000 of debt by about $500 a month are fun to read and very entertaining.
The winner is announced below. Honorable mentions go to Marcia, who shows (more…)
Adam Pieniazek/Flickr
A postcard from ING Direct dangled $83 for opening a new “electric orange” checking account. To earn the $83, use a debit card tied to the account three times in the first 45 days, and get $50 on the fiftieth day. Have two paychecks of at least $250 deposited directly by March 31 and get another $33 on April 8. All this could be mine, or yours, with ING coupon code (more…)
Full disclosure: I have never met author Natalie McNeal but I consider her a frugal blog friend.
When I received Natalie McNeal’s The Frugalista Files: How One Woman Got Out of Debt Without Giving Up the Fabulous Life
Lucky me, because there are so many funny and true moments in this book that I can share them and you’ll know how much this book deserves your $8.56 (on Amazon.com, anyway). Incidentally, I read the entire 179-page book on a flight from Providence, RI to Phoenix with time to spare. The Frugalista Files is fun.
On changing her life: “Being a spending slut is ruining my life. (more…)
By online financial tools I mean things like online budgeting programs, websites devoted to reducing debt, and retirement or mortgage calculators. Or are you running a strictly paper-and-pencil operation? It occurred to me yesterday while working on a post about three ways to budget that some BargainBabe.com readers might not use the Internet to save money (aside from reading this blog, that is).
Identity Photogr@phy / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Coming up with resolutions for the new year was difficult. I easily added the No. 1 resolution to lose weight onto my list, but when it came time to think of my financial future, I was paralyzed. While I’ve always saved my pennies, this year is different. In the spring I’ll be graduating into a less than idea economy and assuming the adult reality of earning, managing, and spending money wisely. I would be lying if I said I was not anxious about my future.
My three financial goals, which may be similar to yours, are simple so I can stick to them.
3. Save more money – I’ve been putting aside 20 percent of all my earnings and will start putting away (more…)
The folks at Deals.com put together a nifty infographic that basically says it costs more to be obese than to be at a normal weight. The statistic that intrigued me the most was that your weight is tied to how much you earn. Bizarre!
