My Fall Spending Relapse

Ok, so I have to admit that I’ve had a minor spending relapse over the past couple weeks.  I woke up bored on Labor Day, so I decided to go shopping with my sister.  We ended up making it an all day event with a break for lunch.  I think we hit up about four [...]

September 16, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Credit Cards, My Progress, New Spending Habits, Want vs. Need  No Comments

Spending Zero Dollars and Drinking at Bars

Last Thursday, my sister met up with some friends for drinks downtown.  It was supposed to be a low-key evening on a patio, but things quickly got out of hand.  For starters, she opened a tab at the bar and started ordering rounds for her friends.  She quickly lost track of how much she had [...]

September 10, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: A Night Out, Cheap Thrills, Lessons From My Family, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

I’m Officially Out of Debt

At last!  I just paid my credit card balance down and paid back the personal loan that I borrowed from a friend.  I started seriously attacking my debt back in June.  I managed to pay down $4,700 in debt within three months.  Needless to say, I’m a little giddy right now.
I thought that getting rid [...]

August 28, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: My Progress, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars, Want vs. Need  One Comment

Employee Discounts and Corporate Perks

When Kelly at Almost Frugal interviewed me a few weeks back, she asked me to describe one unusual way that I save money.  I told her that I take advantage of my employee discounts at work to save money.
The HR department where I work sends out “deals of the week” emails.  They have discount sporting [...]

August 17, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Cheap Thrills, Coupons, Discounts  One Comment

The Luxury of Laziness

One of my friends spends her entire Saturday morning shopping for groceries.  Each week, she scans the grocery ads that come in the mail, looking for deals.  Then she plans out which stores she will hit for these discounted items.  Grocery shopping takes her and her husband about 4 hours every weekend and they often [...]

August 12, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: DIY, Money News, My Progress, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

I’m Halfway Out of Debt

I started this blog a month ago with a mission: Get out of debt (roughly $4,700) in within 4 months and save up $10,000 within a year.  It’s been about 6 weeks now, and I’m halfway out of debt!  This puts me right on track to be completely out of debt by September, and then [...]

July 14, 2009  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Credit Cards, My Progress, New Spending Habits  No Comments

Money-Saving Advice

Ever since Simon & Garfunkel sang “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”, I have hated how-to lists.  I’m still waiting for the other 45 ways to leave your lover, Paul Simon.  How-to lists, especially those related to finances and saving money, are always obvious, generic, and completely useless.  Here’s an example that I ran across [...]

June 25, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Banking Accounts, Credit Cards, Money News, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

A Bailout For Your Credit Card?

One of my co-workers came to work the other day and she was very excited.  Thinking she was suffering from a brain injury (who gets excited about coming to work?) I asked what happened to her.  She explained that she got a call from one of her credit card companies- CitiCard- and they wanted to [...]

June 25, 2009  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Credit Cards, Money News  No Comments