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I feel pretty comfortable in saying that the majority of us would say, "No way" to the question. However, unless you are carefully checking your receipts when you make a credit card purchase, you may be doing just that. If you are using credit cards or have just one credit card that you have held in...

Retirement is so far away when you are busy working, raising a family, going on vacations, and spending time at home on numerous hobbies and projects. And when it seems so far away, why bother giving it a thought? However, if you are 50 or older, it is time to begin considering an exit strategy from...

One thing I've never been so good at is planning ahead for big purchases. I've been known to end up with a tax refund or some birthday money and decide I need to spend it straight away - and not on groceries, but on something big, and probably something I won't use very often, if at all. Over the last...

Unfortunately, life happens, and we don't always have advance notice when we must make a major purchase. Interestingly, this is one of the areas in which poor planning and too much credit got me into a LOT of trouble. In my credit card heyday, I had put all manner of saving at the bottom of my priority...

My wife and I have twice a week financial discussions; we're constantly looking for unnecessary things to cut from our spending, and looking for ways to do things cheaper has just become a way of life. Life is a continuous juggling act to match available funds to a need just at the right time, to ensure...

I've celebrated many milestones of my debt management plan , including each anniversary year, and being halfway done . Recognizing those accomplishments is one source of motivation that helps keep me and my wife moving forward. In March, we reached the point of having one year left of our plan. Reaching...

That question, to me, is like asking if we need oxygen in order to live. When I was deep in debt with no foreseeable end in sight, I carried stress with me night and day. I woke up in the morning feeling tired and overwhelmed with worry, and took that worry to bed with me every night. Fear of losing...

A few years back I was going to have "carpal tunnel" surgery on one of my hands and then on the other one. I was in line at the grocery store and a young lady at the register mentioned that she does all her bill paying online and how fast and easy it is. No stamps or checks and she save money on gas...

I laid on my back staring at the gym ceiling. I had been struggling with increasing my maximum bench press weight for several weeks. Twice a week I would do this exercise, and my last set would find a weight of 265 pounds waiting for me to do a single repetition. Up until today, each time I had failed...

When I was 5 I remember my mom picking me up from Kindergarten. We were pulling out of the parking spot and I was in the backseat of her Honda. I remember I was wearing a pair of Winnie the Pooh sneakers. It's saying something that I was in the back seat because this was before any kind of car safety...

I sat back in the chair at the dentist's office as it began reclining, and tried to relax as the hygienist started poking around in my mouth. As my teeth cleaning progressed, she asked me if I floss regularly. "I wish I could say I did," I said. "Me too," she responded. I went on to tell her that I don...

For those of you looking for some cheap fun, try a board game party. My husband and I get together once a month with a group of friends for a board game party. There are six couples and we take turns meeting at each other's homes. On board game night, the host couple decides which board game we will...

I have been credit card debt free for over five months now. In the beginning it was a bit overwhelming trying to figure out how to re-work my budget. Since I have simplified my budget though, things have been going great! I love being credit card debt free! Last month I was summoned to go to court at...

I know a lot about day-to-day finances. I am very good with monthly budgets (making them anyway!) and communication. The longer term skills are something I am hoping to learn about here at CareOne. I know there are many tools out there to help with financial planning. I have no clue what most of them...

If it's like mine, you're headed in the right direction but it could always go just a little bit better. I want to share with you an easy activity that I hope helps you as much as it is helping me stay on the right path. You'll have to stand in front of your bathroom mirror for this activity, so unplug...

For me, getting INTO debt was relatively easy. I spent impulsively, I spent beyond my means, and I spent without keeping track of how much I owed. Oh, and I better add . . . I did it all with plastic. There was a time when I was actually rather proud of my credit card collection. When it became difficult...

As one of the more high-strung people you'll ever meet, I can come up with a long list of things that stress me out in life. While finding the exact right shade of yellow in Excel continues to stress me out on a daily basis, money tops the list of stressors on most days. Every other Saturday I get a...

Falling back into debt is so easy! Things happen, especially if you're just living paycheck to paycheck. Things don't always work out the way you've planned. We were in such a situation! If any of you have medical problems like my wife does, you'll understand where I'm coming from. She needed medical...

My mom has been claiming poverty while spending like money grows on trees my whole life. I cannot tell you how many times I heard there was no money for groceries, yet we went out to dinner and to the movies. There were five of us girls, so going out came with quite a price tag. This led to confusion...

It was a typical Saturday morning. I was in the kitchen making pancakes for breakfast-plain for my wife, with cinnamon and chocolate chips for the kids. Vonnie and I had gone on a date the night before, and we wanted to get on the same page with our finances for the rest of the weekend. We were really...