Can’t get ahead? Maybe your money beliefs are to blame.
personal finance
Carnival time.
My work is in three PF carnivals this week. A big thank-you to the judges.
Yet another reason to order your credit report.
If there’s even a hint of impending layoffs at your workplace, get a copy of your credit report. That’s the advice of Gail Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
Why? Because potential employers may want a look at it. If there are any errors or delinquencies on your report, the time to deal with them is before you need to make a good impression.
Blog roundup: We’re getting gouged edition.
Textbook sellers want to gouge you. Banks keep finding ways to gouge you. Some states are investigating potential gouges, i.e., taxes on everything from shoe repair to golf to bowling. (Wonder where they stand on the repair of bowling shoes?)
Read on for a chance to learn, among other things, how to put your children on a budget. No more free rides, kiddies.
To budget or not to budget?
My monthly health insurance payment has risen by $40, starting now. The increase was anticipated, or at least announced. I’d managed to block the amount, though, so I was still surprised.
My bimonthly electric bill was $22 higher than the previous one, thanks to a Seattle City Light rate increase. An extra $11 per month won’t kill me. But it got my attention.
Summertime, and the readin’ is easy.
I’m in a couple of personal finance blog carnivals this week: “Malachi and mud” made the cut at the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted this week by Funny About Money. My piece on the potluck as frugal hack was chosen for the Carnival of Money Stories at Suburban Dollar. I didn’t cite the title because … Read more
Things you shouldn’t pay for.
J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy shared a frugal tip from a reader who needed $1 to get something notarized. The place accepted only cash and the reader had zero money, “not even change in my cupholders.” Paying a $3 ATM fee for a $1 errand was just too irritating to contemplate.
The solution: Hit the drugstore for an 89-cent soda and a $20 cashback.
This is how I get all my walking-around money. I don’t like waiting in bank lines. I like ATMs even less, because I’m paranoid about muggers or card skimmers.
Blog roundup: The stinkin’ hot edition.
It’s hot just about everywhere but here, apparently. At my nephew’s Little League game yesterday it was in the low 50s and so super-windy that I was actually cold.
Not to rub it in, or anything.
Everywhere else, it’s hot. Too hot to play sports. Too hot to watch sports. Too hot to lie by the pool (the sun’s out there, remember?).
4 ways to think about money.
Want to drop a bad habit or develop a good one? You need a plan. Or, rather, you need a list.
We Americans love our lists. We especially love short lists. Just check the headlines on magazines, features sites or blogs. You’ll almost certainly see ones like “Three easy steps to lose weight/stop smoking/become a millionaire.”
Having a list makes us feel we’re already halfway to achieving our goals. Lists make us feel confident and in charge: I’ve got it all figured out! Now I just have to implement it!
It’s never really that simple, of course. If three steps were all it took, we’d be surrounded by thin, rich people whose fingers were unstained.
Blogs you can dance to.
It’s been fun trotting around the blogosphere this week. Why keep it all to myself?
“Delayed gratification,” at Girl With the Red Balloon
“What’s your frugal Kryptonite?” at I Pick Up Pennies
“The words I hate to say the most” at Modern Tightwad
“Overcoming the wall” at Financial Samurai
“A critique of marriage, from a bride-to-be” at Tiger Beatdown