Do you spend too much or do you have a spending problem?
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Do you spend too much or do you have a spending problem?

I will confess that I have a problem… if it’s my own money, I’m a cheapskate, a tightwad.. whatever you’d like to call it. But if it’s someone else’s money? Usually I would have no problem spending it. So maybe I used to have that problem, and occasionally it will still rear it’s ugly head. How did I stop this particular problem? By asking myself: Do you spend too much? And it wasn’t just where it concerned my own money, but any money. I started to consider what I had in terms of cash and credit. Cash, for me, had to become real money and credit cards were borrowed money. It was a hard lesson to learn and one that I’ll cover in a future…

Getting and Staying Out of Debt

Getting and Staying Out of Debt

As a college student, I’ve unfortunately accumulated a bit in student loans. I’ve tried to keep them to a minimum, but sometimes I just needed the extra to help pay for books or to cover whatever wasn’t covered by grants and scholarship money. I’ve also tried to keep my other spending habits in check and actually don’t have a credit card that isn’t attached to a debit card/bank account. Those are just two ways that I’m trying to avoid getting into debt, but how else can someone go about getting and staying out of debt? It’s one thing to get out of it, and it’s another to stay out of it. But, with both you’re hopefully setting yourself up for financial success. Debt can help…

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start a Budget

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start a Budget

We have talked about 8 steps to creating a family budget, but is a budget really necessary?  Sure, having a budget in place may help you manage your money smartly, but at the same time; it just might not be for you. Sometimes creating a budget will be the easy part, but actually sticking to that budget might be the struggle. Here are a few questions to ask before you start a budget. Sometimes, even with the best of intention, and even after creating what seems like the ideal budget; it just doesn’t work out. This could be for any number of reasons and if you fall into this category- don’t think of yourself as failing. You tried and that certainly should count for something….

Starting a Family Piggy Bank

Starting a Family Piggy Bank

As a child, I remember having several piggy banks, but none was an actual pig. My mom also collected piggy banks, so I suppose my mild obsession with piggy banks may have come from her. As a family, we had one collective piggy bank and I’ve thought of starting a family piggy bank with Squeaker. All too often, when kids become adults, they forget about those savings lessons learned in their younger years. They spend every last cent out of each paycheck, and they end up without anything left over. Wouldn’t it be great if we could save up some money to have fun with as easily as we did in our youth? Actually, there’s no reason why we can’t. A family piggy bank works…