Monthly Archives: July 2012

Manufactured home Flickr Image from Afroswede

Teach Your Children Responsibility – Make Them Pay Rent

plan of action
Now obviously I'm referring to children who are old enough to work and pay rent!  My youngest son recently moved out, and when I wrote about it, one of my readers asked me if we had charged our son rent. My answer is yes.   I believe a young person, once they begin working a regular job, be it full time or part time, should contribute to the household expenses.   My son and I agreed that he would pay $200 each… Read the rest

What Credit Sesame Can Do For You for Free

credit cards
It's a good idea to keep an eye on your credit score as it can help you gauge your financial health.  I know, I know… Dave Ramsey says “All it tells you is whether you are good at borrowing money and paying it back. ”  I just can't completely agree.  Perhaps if you are independently wealthy like Dave Ramsey, then you don't need to care one bit about your credit score.  However, if you're like most of the rest of… Read the rest

Balance Transfers Are Easy When You Already Have an Existing Account

CC Reports
Usually when those blank checks come in the mail I just shred them without taking a second look.  But last week, yes, you guessed it, I took a second look. Bank of America wants to do a balance transfer for me, and they'll charge me 0% interest until April 2013 and will charge me 4% transaction fee.  I was thinking about going for it, and ran a few calculations.   We would save about $250 over the next 9 months if… Read the rest
P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

Review: Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

saving money
  The is one of my favorite tools for saving money.  If you have ever been curious how much you are paying to run your refrigerator, your washer, alarm clock, cell phone, computer or just anything that runs on 110 volts, this is the perfect tool to use. It is very simple to use, just plug into the wall, and then plug your appliance into the Kill A Watt. That's all you have to do.  Now wait for an hour… Read the rest