A recent post by JD at Get Rich Slowly and some of the comments of my last post got me thinking about what it means to be “poor”.
On Feb 11, JD linked to this list on Whatever, a blog by John Scalzi. When I was young, my family didn’t have a ton of money, but […]
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight - for my heath and my upcoming wedding. After several failed attempts to go it alone, I finally admitted to myself that I need help if I’m going to drop 60 pounds before my October nuptials.
Last fall I began researching my options: I considered the […]
For those of you out there with home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), review your statements carefully. The newest thing to hit my bank’s fraud department involves HELOCs and reloadable stored value gift cards.
Here’s how it works: the thief gets their potential victim’s HELOC loan number, typically by going through the target’s mail or trash. The thief […]
I’m a fatty.
According to Discovery Health’s BMI calculator, I am obese and need to lose 60 pounds. I have gained about 10-15 pounds a year since I met my partner in 2003 - so that sounds about right. The weight snuck up on me, just like my consumer debt. Every year I make a resolution […]
I recently consolidated over $17,000 of credit card debt at 5.99%. Some of my readers have expressed concern over the fact that the consolidating bank may not have my best interests in mind - they could pull shenanigans such as suddenly increasing my interest rate or charging an obscene balance transfer fee. How can I […]
On Fridays I will post links to some of my online favorite articles of the week. This week’s entries are a real mixed bag:
A few fellow bloggers out there are wrapping up 2007 in very good financical shape. After livng with debt for 20 years, JD at Get Rich Slowly is debt-free. I can’t imagine […]
I did it. I cut up my credit cards today.
Kind of.
I cut four credit cards today. I kept one - the one with the lowest interest rate - just in case. In case of what, I don’t know.
As I put that card back into my wallet, it hit me - I am a credit card […]
I am periodically asked to speak at seminars on personal cash and credit management. The most popular section of my presentation is always the piece on credit scores. The two questions I get most often are:
How do I get perfect credit?
What impacts my credit score and how do I improve it?
Before I begin, a few […]
I recently posted an article spelling out just how bad my debt situation is. Afterwards, I wondered: “why would a sensible person behave in such a way?!” I’ve been searching my soul for the answers and this is what I’ve come up with:
It’s the Parents
My inner Freud blames my parents. Growing up, my father was […]
The New Year is just around the corner and I have been doing a lot of thinking about my financial goals for next year. There is so much that I need to do that I’m having difficulty prioritizing. Here, in to particular order, are some of the goals I hope to achieve in 2008:
Stop using […]