Debt Reduction 101

I’m a big fan of Katy Wolk-Stanley’s blog “The Non-Consumer Advocate.” I particularly enjoyed a post she had today about an acquaintance’s blog called “Small Measures” – basically a how-to guide for simple, everyday living.
Although I’m probably more materialistic than I care to admit – there was something really refreshing about this [...]

I hit the dollar menu at Wendy’s today and got a pleasant surprise. The fellow at the register asked me if I wanted to donate $1 to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and since I think adoption rocks, I said “sure.” Well, that $1 I spent for a good cause reaped me [...]

I got an invitation last night to an acquaintance’s 30th birthday party bash that’s coming up in October. The party is going to be held in a swank steakhouse in Minneapolis and the party will supposedly start at 8 p.m. and go until the wee hours of the dawn. (Incidentally, this party is [...]

I was taking a mental health break today at work when I saw this article from the New York Times entitled “Cuts Meet a Culture of Spending at Condé Nast.”
I love magazines – back when money wasn’t an option, I subscribed to several of them. Nowadays, I can barely read the ones that I have [...]

First and foremost – I am a carnivore. I do love a good steak and most Sunday evenings during my childhood were spent eating my mama’s perfect pork roast with mashed potatoes and gravy. So I do not have a problem with meat. Or farmers. In fact, I love ‘em.
But as [...]

With my November deadline of paying off my credit cards looming, I find myself thinking of the things that I’m going to be able to afford when I finally have that $500 back to myself. (My car payments will also be gone at about that time – but that’s a story for another post.) [...]

I’m at the cab company, going through old emails and catching up on my reading. This article from the New York Times caught my eye – with America’s economy still in the crapper, more people are turning towards clipping coupons – spurring a new renaissance of frugal shopping.
This was a pretty interesting article, talking [...]

I should probably preface this by saying “No, mom – I’m not pregnant – we’re not talking about THOSE hormones.”
Now that we’ve gotten that cleared up, here’s the gist of what I’m going to say today: I’m in a bad mood. I was in a bad mood yesterday and Tuesday was also rather [...]

I made my $200 payment this morning to my Chase card and … drumroll, please … my existing credit card balance is $1950. Oh man that feels good. I am on track to be done by November!

Beks at Blogging Away Debt had an interesting post the other day talking about stretching to new goals and how things have changed for her and her husband since they took on their debt free journey. Beks doesn’t miss credit card debt, but she does miss the yearly vacations that they charged on their [...]