Long gone are the days when retailers weren’t allowed to put out any Christmas merchandise until Thanksgiving was over. I made a trip to Walmart a few days ago and noticed that they are, in fact, already well stocked with Holiday decorations.

When I attended college, I ended up with a very small student loan when I graduated. Thinking back I believe it was just under $3K.

The closer it gets to the holidays, the less time you have to save for additional expenses. At the same time, saving money for holiday extra’s isn’t always easy. This double whammy can easily take a huge toll on your budget in the few months leading to Christmas.

Many people are trying to save money these days. Of course, there are multitudes of ways you can do it if you are one of them.

Although summer isn’t quite over, many of my teacher friends are preparing for the next school year. In addition, store displays and email advertisements alike are targeting parents who’ll soon be shopping for school supplies.

Now that Mother’s Day has passed and school is nearly out, summer is around the corner. As much as I love summer, I must confess I don’t necessarily love the heat that comes with it. The other part of summertime I don’t like is having higher bills from trying to keep cool. If you have […]

Summer is fast approaching which means school lessons will soon be at an end. Kids will excitedly make their escapes from cramped classrooms for the last time until next fall. For the first few days they’ll likely be busy burning off excess pent up energy. Still, within a short time, some will inevitably mutter the […]

As I worked on my computer this morning, my husband and our good friends worked cattle. My husband taught their kids how to show their steers for the fair this summer. In turn, they helped us plant new windbreak trees on our farm later in the afternoon. Today’s give and take among friends got me […]

Just about everybody has a habit or two they would like to change. I confess that I have definitely developed a few over the years. Thankfully there are some I have successfully broken or changed. Unfortunately, like most other people, I have a few I am still working on. But the bad habits that deserve […]

Shopping for Christmas presents to give to friends and family is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. It ranks right up there with baking cookies and trimming the tree. I love to see the smiles they give me when the gift they opened is just the right one for them. But shopping for holiday […]

Time is supposed to be a constant, but I’m not sure I believe it. Fall seems to have arrived faster than ever this year. Not only that, but Halloween is just around the corner, and the other holidays will follow shortly thereafter. One thing I used to struggle with during the holidays is how to […]

When you’re working hard to cut expenses, save on your budget, and reduce debt, each extra dollar you can put toward your bills feels like a win. This is especially true if you have had bad spending habits in the past. As you pay debt, another thing you may find yourself constantly doing is looking […]

Autumn is my favorite time of year because there are a lot of really great things to enjoy about it. For example, temperatures begin to cool off a bit and there are lots of fall vegetables available to make yummy after-harvest dishes. The leaves start changing and so do the menus of some of my […]

I don’t know what the arrangement is for who pays the bills in your household, but in mine it’s my husband. My contribution is to work and bring in money to help pay the bills and reduce our debt. No matter who pays the bills in your home, though, there are lots of ways to […]

Problem solving and creative solutions are sometimes the very things that keep a budget in line. I believe that bartering is one way we humans found to problem solve and get creative centuries ago. For example, the fairytale of “Jack and the Beanstalk”, which originated in the year 1734, is a classic story that begins […]

When it comes to managing our finances, Iíve got one trick for keeping it simple: The percentage. Itís the baseline for virtually any financial decision Iím about to make.† The ìpercentageî can either be how much money Iím going to make, or it could be how much money I stand to lose. Either way, determining […]

This is a post from Pauline of InvestmentZen.com Summer is just a few months away, and as bikini diets are on the covers of so many magazines, I thought I’d cover little things you can do to get your financial fitness back on as well. The new energy brought by spring is a great time […]

This is a guest post by Jon Dulin from Money Smart Guides. There is a saying that goes around that seems to be more common among our households these days: There is more month at the end of the money. A survey of households revealed that about one in three aren’t able to save money each […]