When Her and I first moved in together, we would get tons of mail. Credit card offers, store catalogs, and oh yeah, bills bills bills. We’d open up everything, shred the crap, and put the bills next to the computer so that we’d pay them the next time we sat down and worked on our ... Read more →
Recently on Slashdot, a reader asked this question: “I am a rising junior in college and decided to take out loans to cover all my costs so I could graduate with money in the bank. My tuition bill is minimal as I have a nearly full ride, but living is always expensive. With that said, ... Read more →
May 2006 June 2006 % Change TOTAL NET WORTH -$90,945.05 -$84,918.71 6.6% Assets Savings $5,824.10 $9,821.97 68.6% Cash* $550.00 $550.00 0.0% His SIMPLE IRA $3,695.59 $4,186.59 13.3% His Roth IRA $6,174.57 $5,981.17 -3.1% His HSA $454.41 $837.09 47.5% Her 401K $6,625.53 $7,189.46 8.5% Her Roth IRA $1,504.00 $1,546.25 2.8% Upromise $62.97 $8.85 -89.9% Automobile ... Read more →
The end is finally in sight! This weekend we created a credit card debt snowball repayment plan and discovered that we can pay off all our credit card debt (almost $16,000 currently) by the time we get married! Here’s how we are going to do it, using the snowball method. For the next three months, ... Read more →
Coca-Cola is going to roll out vending machines that accept credit and cards. Not just that, but a touch less way to pay for a Coke using a credit or debt card. Because, you know, that’s exactly what we need. An effortless way to spend money, or worse, go in debt for a refreshing, calorie-ridden, ... Read more →
It took a lot of badgering to get Her to buy my idea about starting a personal finance blog that deals with money and relationships. Her finally bought it, and on the first day of 2006, we wrote our first post. Ironically, the current majority of posts on this blog are written by Her. Back ... Read more →
Welcome to the 36th edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction! If this is your first time here, please follow the signs on the right directing you to a proper welcome page. This edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction is all going to be in form of haikus! For those that don’t remember, a ... Read more →
Tonight we added an extra $100 to my monthly student loan payment. The interest rate on my loan is relatively high and cannot be consolidated because it is a private loan. I knew that paying some of it off early would save me years of interest charges, but I had no idea how much until ... Read more →
In the BusinessWeek article that mentioned us a few weeks ago, the author incorrectly stated that we were $98,615.39 in debt, when in fact, -$98,615.39 was our net worth at that time. The actual amount of our debt at the time of the article was $154,020.99. Yes, I actually emailed BusinessWeek in order to have ... Read more →
Just when I thought I was getting ahead of the game when it came to saving some money, DirecTV sent us a notice stating that the price of their service increased by $5.00, effectively negating my earlier triumph of getting them to decrease service by $5.00. You win this time, DirecTV.
“Buy Me Something” is the hot pink text on a girl’s pink T-shirt featured in a local department store advertisement this week. How very American. Perhaps this is why we have a bit of a debt problem in this country?!?!
This month has been a hectic month for me as far as credit cards go. I transferred all of my 20.99% Citicard balance to a 0% MBNA card, good until April 2007. My next highest balance was at 17.99%, which is on another MBNA card. Unfortunately, I found out that I could not transfer the ... Read more →
Yesterday we got a desperate request within a comment on our blog. It was posted by a 46-year-old woman named Veni, who feels trapped by her spiraling cycle of increasing debt. She has watched Oprah’s Debt Diet on TV and wishes someone could help her get her finances under control. We were both struck by ... Read more →
So She and I spent our Friday night NOT gallivanting with our other friends in their 20′s at the trendiest bars in town, but instead watching the Oprah repeat after Nightline. At least I went to Happy Hour earlier in the night. I’ve never really watched Oprah, but I can tell you that JLP is ... Read more →
Lately we’ve been posting a lot about our prior mistakes and current hardships, and some readers have commented that our debt seems hopeless. I think this is worth some discussion. Money isn’t just a number on a statement; it’s also an emotional roller coaster. We’re on the right track, we’re reducing our debt, but there ... Read more →
I was cruising the Fool.com discussion boards today, and saw this post of the day about a family with over $125K in credit card and consumer debt, paid off in 7.5 years! They did it with a combination of the snowball method of paying off credit cards, personal finance discipline, and a lot of hope. ... Read more →
Since we recently got engaged, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the phone with my mom, discussing wedding plans. This conversation has opened the door for my mom to share her memories of being young and married. My parents married at 18, and my mom gave birth to her first child at 19, ... Read more →
My second credit card ever was a Citibank Platinum Mastercard, with a credit limit of $1,800. I was young and seduced by the fact that I was receiving a Platinum card. The card came just in time for Christmas, but more importantly, it came right after I maxed out my first credit card! This card ... Read more →
If you haven’t noticed, we are drowning in a crapload of debt. Between the two of us, we have eight credit cards (down from 20+ a year ago) and about $18K in credit card debt. Because we are also trying to save for a wedding, right now we’re only putting an extra $100/month towards the ... Read more →
January 2006 TOTAL NET WORTH -$98,615.39 Assets Joint Checking $285.49 Joint Savings $2,798.83 Petty Cash $300.00 His SIMPLE IRA $2,945.29 His Roth IRA $6,373.72 His HSA $816.34 Her 401K $5,122.00 Her Roth IRA $1,276.00 Upromise $52.94 Automobile $10,435.00 Household Items $25,000.00 TOTAL ASSETS $55,405.61 Liabilities Credit Cards $18,054.88 Student Loans $135,966.11 TOTAL LIABILITIES $154,020.99 ... Read more →
