Mr. Debtbeater recently blogged about an “exciting month” wherein his debt reduction plan didn't go quite as he'd planned. I find myself in the same boat sometimes, so I was thinking this morning how I might go about encouraging more participation. Here are some thoughts I came up with: Ask my other half to post. It seems like the PF blogs I read (and I don't read all that many) are one person or if married, just the one spouse.… Read the rest

I ran across the 1040 Tax Calculator site when googling how many deductions to take on one's W4. I've always heard the more you take, the bigger your refund will be, but Mr. Debtbeater says his experience indicates taking more will result in a smaller refund. As he states, this is due mainly because of the child tax credit (and that he has six children). I have received a refund (child tax credit and earned income credit) from the IRS… Read the rest

I find myself intrigued by the personal finance blogs. I actually was feeling depressed by many of them, because the people seem to make so much money and they have retirement funds and 401Ks and a plan for the future that they are working toward. But then I found Mr. DebtBeater and I felt encouraged. He's actually going in the hole each month! I used to be SO good at keeping track of my/our money but my life got really… Read the rest