Another Money Blogger

I have a little jar that sits on my dresser. Inside it is my pocket change from the last several days.
It seems like such a simple idea, but it can be quite powerful if you keep up with it. Instead of dumping excess pocket change into a vending machine, I keep it in my pocket. [...]

Continue Reading The Power of the Pocket Change Jar

Yesterday, I indicated some of the specific mechanics that I adopted to turn my financial situation around, and I’m happy to say that my finances have never been better. The solution to the problem, though, is much greater than mere financial tools. Even though I was able to discover and apply tools to solve my [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: Lessons Learned

This past week I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Wide Open Wallet. My post on the beginning of my Personal Finance Mistakes was included. Many thanks to Ashley at Wide Open Wallet for hosting the Carnival this week.
Some Favorite Links from the past week:
The $1500 Frisbee, from Get Rich Slowly [...]

Continue Reading Weekend Link Roundup

Yesterday, I described my financial meltdown, when I reached a point where there was more money going out each month than coming in with no real hope for redemption without a change from within. Then, thanks to some inspiration, I made that change.
The first thing I did was I laid out every single expense I [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: The Turning Point

Yesterday, I detailed the impact of a baby on my downward financial spiral; suffice it to say, the finances were not good. Everything was set up for a collapse and I inched up to the precipice, largely oblivious of how close I was to the lip of Mount Doom.
The most fundamental problem was that I [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: The Breaking Point

Yesterday, I talked about the period in my life where my wife and I spent money like it was going out of style in order to obtain a “yuppie” lifestyle. Then, that magic moment happened: we took a home pregnancy test and discovered that a little one was on the way. I can remember that [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: And Now a Baby

Yesterday, we learned how love and marriage caused me to sink even deeper into a financial hole I was digging for myself. I had hopes that as a married couple we would begin to get our financial house in order, but it was not to be.
My first big mistake is that I bought wholeheartedly into [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: Spending it All

Yesterday, we learned about my immature behavior in handling a large steady income. I was starting to sink further into debt without really acquiring any assets, and I was building up a lifestyle based around extremely poor spending decisions. Yet, I was about to embark on a path that would make matters much worse.
I was [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: Marriage

Yesterday, we watched as I stumbled through college making a series of classic financial errors. Yet I finished (albeit in six years) with a pair of degrees, and I was able to find work utilizing both of them. I was suddenly making more money per year than my parents had made combined in any year, [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: First Real Income

Last time, we reviewed the mistakes I made during my earliest days of dealing with my own finances, and it was clear that I was already showing some grave errors in financial planning. After high school, however, I found my way into college, an environment where I would have an opportunity to learn many things, [...]

Continue Reading My Personal Finance Mistakes: The College Years