Personal Finance Advice

When many people think about becoming budget-conscious, they cringe because they associate living on a budget with being cheap. They don’t want to be known as, “That cheap SOB.”What they don’t understand is that the two terms are very different. You can live on/within a budget without being cheap. Living on or within a budget [...]

While some people think it’s better to avoid making New Year’s Resolutions, it’s important to get specific as possible if you do decide to do make them. If you’re they type where New Year’s resolutions help motivate you to achieve those goals, here are some that you should consider relating to your finances: Save More [...]

It’s one of the worst feelings you can ever have. That moment when you see there is still a week left until you get you next paycheck and you have no money, little food and you have no idea how you are going to make it. Your mind starts racing trying to figure out where [...]

I hate budgeting. I simply don’t like taking the time out of my day to run through the numbers when I could be doing so many more interesting things. One of the reasons that I think that I am relatively frugal is that by being so, I haven’t needed to budget for years. I don’t [...]

When people start out on the path to better finances, many go overboard and slash their budgets to the bone. (Either that or they cut one tiny thing and claim success). They cut out every little extra expense and leave themselves with nothing but food, utilities, housing, and other essentials. It’s like going on a [...]

By Mitchell D Weiss Budgets are a necessity to keep personal finances in order, but they aren’t necessarily easy to keep.There are plenty of things that can quickly ruin a budget and ruin the best laid financial plans. Here are the top ten things that ruin budgets: Shopping Hungry or without a Plan of Attack [...]

Many people have large contractual or recurring monthly expenses in their budget. Cell phones, gym memberships, club memberships, cable/satellite TV, and data plans for tablets are just a few of the ongoing expenses you may face. These can really add up and you often end up paying even when no one is using the service [...]

This is a guest post by Ashley at Money Talks The road to wealth may not be a smooth ride, but the fact remains you are either moving towards wealth, or you are moving towards poverty. Everyone moves along this road in one direction or the other. The path to wealth isn’t overly difficult or [...]

Last week Netflix raised their rates, increasing the price of some plans by as much as sixty percent. Where before a plan with one DVD out at a time and unlimited streaming was $9.99 per month, the same service will now cost $15.98. Ouch. The outrage online was swift and furious. Customers were losing a [...]

Sometimes you have to quickly create some breathing space in your budget. Maybe you lose a job, take a pay cut, or have an emergency that eats up your available cash. Things like getting another/better job, starting a vegetable garden, or moving can help, but they take time. When you need to find extra money [...]

I came across the results of an interesting survey on vacations. The survey asked respondents in the U.S. and Eu ropean countries how much they wouldspend per person on vacation in 2010. The categories ranged from “Nothing and staying at home” all the way up to “More than $2,472″ per person. In the lowest spending [...]

We often talk about keeping up with the Joneses. When we accuse someone of keeping up with the Joneses, we usually mean that they are buying cars, clothes, or other tangible items because their friends and neighbors have those items. They want to fit in with their peer group, so they try to mimic their [...]

My friend is a complete idiot — which is a much worse insult than it may first appear since it’s being given by a guy who views drinking beer and watching TV as a worthy goal to strive for each and every day. I wish I could say it isn’t so, but I have always [...]

I was recently helping a friend with her family’s vacation planning. They desperately wanted to go to Disney World, but felt like they couldn’t afford it. “It’s just so much more expensive than other places,” she said. I asked her what they were going to do instead. “Well, we’ll probably go to Cedar Point, instead. [...]

Managing a household is a full time job and it requires a lot of skill, patience and vision to do it well. Those of you who manage your households know what I am talking about. Unless you are organized and focused, waste is almost inevitable. Keeping the house well stocked with necessaries, dealing with vendors [...]

Recently I’ve been restructuring my eating and exercising habits. I haven’t had any major health concerns or anything, but I’ve just come to the realization that I’m not getting any younger and my body just can’t take the level of abuse that I could heap on it when I was younger. This hasn’t been an [...]

This week’s suggestion is both a way to make money and save money. When you review books for magazines, websites, or newspapers, you are often given free copies of the books. Even if you aren’t paid monetarily, reviewing books can be a great way to fund your reading habit. However, if you are lucky enough [...]

Congratulations! You paid off that last debt and you’re officially debt free. After the celebration party ends, you’re likely to be confronted with one thought: Now what? You’ve just spent months or years focused on the goal of getting out of debt. Now that you’re there, what do you do next? It can be difficult [...]

When people set out to make a budget or adhere to a financial plan, they sometimes make things so complicated that they have no chance of success. They set up accounts at many institutions, they open ten credit cards to maximize the rewards, they make too many rules about what can and cannot be bought, [...]

In the process of making out my Christmas card list for the year, I was struck by how many of our close friends are also debt free. I’ve never given it much thought, but there it was. We didn’t plan it this way, it just sort of evolved over the years. Like any sort of [...]