Last week I shared with you that we’re starting to aggressively eliminate 100% of our debt. Admittedly by we, I mean I. My husband is not exactly a numbers guy, but he understands that by hanging onto our debt in favor of “living in the now” we’re costing ourselves much more money in the long run – about 3 times as much! We know how much debt we have- nearly $165,000 between the two houses.  Our first house is over {Read More}

I didn’t understand anything about debt until I went to college. My parents has just paid off their house and were completely debt free. I didn’t know that at the time, but I had noticed we were taking more expensive trips, eating out more etc.  I had thought my Dad had gotten a nice raise- when in fact due to downturns his company had been laying off people and while he hadn’t had even a cost of living raise in {Read More}

It’s time to buy a new car for your family. You go to the car dealership and after some haggling get the sticker price of $22,000 down to $20,000.  The payments fit well within the $350 budget you have. Except that after making payments for 6 years the great price you haggled for swells to over $24,000.  Not such a great bargain anymore. The real estate market is a buyer’s market so you take the plunge into home ownership.  A {Read More}

It’s so easy to spend a dollar.  A single dollar is such a miniscule part of the amount we earn that we don’t feel guilty spending it.  I’m not immune to spending a few extra dollars here or there and blowing it off as an inconsequential amount of money.  This bit of mathematics may help us all understand that every dollar does count, it’s actually worth $2 – $5! For the majority of us, every dollar we earn is taxed {Read More}