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Surviving without Credit Cards

Getting rid of all of your credit cards is one of the strongest messages you get when you are trying to get out of debt. The reason is that credit cards allow us to spend more money that we should, essentially taking out a loan at a very high interest rate that compounds and compounds and can easily get out of control. In previous generations, it would take a lot for someone to consider going in to debt for even something as substantial to quality of living as a house. Once credit cards came along, people were willing to go … Continue reading →

The Two Ways to Pay Off Debt

When it comes to paying off debt, there are two ways to approach it. The basic rule for paying off debt is to apply extra payments to reduce the amount that you owe and to reduce the expenses that you are incurring in interest. The more principal that you pay, the less interest that you will owe. This is the real secret of paying off debt; keeping more money in your pocket. If you only have one bill or bit of debt, then the process is easy: simply pay as much as you can toward that debt. But, most of … Continue reading →

Getting Out of Debt: Messy Organization Cost Us

Purposefully trying to get out of debt is revealing some pretty interesting things. It is amazing how despite practicing frugal living, we’ve thrown money away from being poor organizers of it. Call it having too much to do or the control freak of the family (me) turning a blind eye to certain areas of our bills, but this month we’ve definitely been seeing how not paying close attention to some things has affected our budget. Case in point: we got a letter from our oil company saying that they were raising our oil rate, so our monthly bill for the … Continue reading →

Getting Out of Debt: A New Attitude

The idea of completely getting out of debt takes some getting used to. After all, most of us “need” to carry mortgages and car payments. If we want to go to college, we have to take out loans. Many of us struggle with credit card debt just to cover the necessities. As a family, we made a decision that we wouldn’t carry any debt that wasn’t necessary. Now, after Financial Peace University, we have learned that no debt is really necessary. That is quite an adjustment. I look around at all of the things that we would like to have, … Continue reading →

Getting Out of Debt: Extreme Couponing

My husband thinks I am obsessed with extreme couponing. I admit that I never actually saw the Extreme Couponing show. Nevertheless, I have been a crazy coupon lady, clipping grocery coupons and getting the best deals on groceries that I can find. I’ve always believed in coupons, but my dedication to using them had fallen off and become sporadic. I needed the focus of getting out of debt to really step up my game in order to reduce our grocery bill even more and to get out of debt. My goal is to actually come under the amount that we … Continue reading →

Getting Out of Debt: How Did We Do?

Our goal in 2011 is to get out of debt and start building wealth. We have been taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Freedom course and have been really motivated to be more purposeful with our money. If you have been following our adventure so far, you know about the ups and downs that we have been facing, from unexpected expenses to accounting groceries down to the penny. march was our first full month working with a zero-based budget, and I am happy to say that not only did we get through it but we actually spent less in some areas than … Continue reading →

Getting Out of Debt: The Zero Based Budget and the CSA

Follow us as we get out of debt and be more purposeful with our money! This week, we are struggling with nailing down the zero-based budget and running into a couple of unexpected snags. Dave Ramsey recommends keeping track of your money with a zero based monthly budget. This means that you track every bit of income and expenses for the month, down to the penny so that there is nothing left over. This doesn’t mean that you spend everything, just that all of your money has a home, whether it is to pay off the electric bill or to … Continue reading →

Getting Out of Debt: It Begins

My husband and I are furiously trying to get out of debt. We just started Dave Ramsey’s Financial Freedom course and have learned a lot about doing just this. Follow us on our journey as we try to follow the plan and meet our goals. If you are thinking of taking the course, I highly recommend it. Even though my husband and I are pretty well practiced at saving money, we have already learned so much more than we thought we knew. While some weeks speak to us more than others, each weekly lesson has something that we take from … Continue reading →

New and Free at the Library!

Sure you can get books from the library, but if you aren’t taking advantage of the other freebies that are available, you are missing out. Library offerings are changing with the times, so you might not realize all that there is to get, for free! Admission Passes I remember the first time I discovered that you can take out passes for free admission to local museums, zoos and more. I was living in a small New England town, in a small house on a small budget that allowed for very little entertainment. When I found out that I could go … Continue reading →

How to Save Money on Ebooks and Ereaders

The sale of ebooks has outshone the sale of traditional printed books. They are convenient and instant. Unfortunately, though you can’t just go to a used ebook sale and pick up armfuls of titles for just a few dollars as you might with paper books. Still, there are a number of ways to save on ebooks, including getting ebooks for free. Let us start with the ereader itself. There are a number of choices available right now. My suggestion is to do your research and try them out in the store. Once you have made your selection, try these strategies … Continue reading →