$1000 emergency fund? 6 months expenses? 1 year salary? Throw them all out the window!

When I first started getting serious about having our financial house in order, the first piece of advice I got from all the experts was – have an emergency fund. OK, got it, I will work on that! Umm… but how much should I have? No idea. The advice I got ranged from $1000 baby emergency fund to [...]

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Targeted saving accounts : How we save for our dreams?

I have mentioned many times in the past that I am a fan of goals. Setting goals and working towards them has been the most successful way for me to achieve anything, my career, finances or weight loss. It allows me to easily track my progress and adjust my priorities. I think a lot of [...]

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Money = happiness, yes I really mean it!

You should quit your job, my friend told me over coffee. You are working way too much, you are not even spending time with your husband and it will spoil your health. How did you figure that out? I asked. I know how it feels to work 80+ hr weeks. I did it for 6 [...]

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10 great household products

Advertising sells.  No question about it.  Although we all know about Coke, they continue to advertise heavily because they want to catch the next generation when they are still young and impressionable.  A number of consumer goods are packaged and advertised as the next best thing, when in fact they contain nothing more than common [...]

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Employee or Entrepreneur : Is one better than the other?

Last week Get Rich Slowly had a post from a reader Tina about what she did with her lottery winnings. She made very responsible choices, unlike usual lottery winners. What sparked my interest most were the comments. As with any windfall discussion, there were some people who thought investing the windfall into a business would [...]

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Big dreams, small income : Financial planning for the middle class

I handle our financial planning. I always wanted to run it by a professional financial planner just to make sure we are on the right track. But it is… so…darn…hard. I’ve filled out the initial intake form at a few different places but have never received a call back. May be because they saw our [...]

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Loyalty cards : Providing rewards or threats?

“Frozen caramel, no whip for Suuuubbaa” – Manager of the Panera Bread I usually go to on Monday told the person who makes the drinks. The thing is I hadn’t ordered it yet, there were 5 people before me in line. I smiled and said “yes”. He gave me a quick one hand hug and [...]

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In pursuit of (paperless) happiness

I used to be a pack rat. I saved every single piece of mail, cancelled check, receipt, bill and policy. I was drowning in a paper avalanche.  Finally, it was time for me to move cross country and I spent 50% of my moving expenses on moving junk!!! I had been keeping so much stuff [...]

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I like it but I don’t know why…

Middle of the day, you are busy… suddenly you want pizza… Not just any pizza, a “zzz” pizza. Whoa! Where did that come from? It probably worked this way – It might have been a hot day, you might have been thinking about the amount you are sweating and how good it would have been [...]

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