When you invest in yourself, you are likely to see solid returns that continue to reward you over time. When you invest in yourself, you can not only improve your outlook on life, but you can even improve your earning power.

I kept hoping that the next salary increase would finally be the one which caused our income to outpace our spending, and allowed us to start paying off our debt.  But our lifestyle inflation along with growing credit card payments grew just as fast as our income.

Have you ever shopped at a bakery thrift store?  If not, you are missing a wonderful opportunity to get the same bread, rolls and sweets as you buy at the grocery store for dramatically reduced prices. 

Here are 11 creative ways to hustle some extra cash and clean house at the same time.

I am taking a look at my 2013 budget and seeing which months my budget worked out great, and which months I didn't meet my budget.  

Finally I turned around to see what she was doing.  On her lap were two calendars that she was writing information into.  It then occurred to me that we often have two very different ways to looking at a situation. 

There is no being thankful for your bike or hopeful that you will get a video game for Christmas. During those eight days these things are on our minds. What are we really thankful for? What do we really hope for? It naturally becomes part of conversations.

Why do our budgets get out of whack during the holiday season - despite our best efforts? Most of the time it's not buying gifts that throws everything off kilter; it's...everything else.

I couldn't help but thing about my get out of debt journey and the things my family and I have had to do to successfully make it this far in our debt consolidation plan. 

I know that I wanted my children, family, and friends to know how much they meant to me. Back then, that meant spending money I did not have on gifts for them that I could not afford. What a show of love right?

We're going to explore five creative ways to earn extra money online - regardless of your expertise.

She she wanted to watch the movie Elf with her friends, but she also wanted to include an activity, and asked for help coming up with ideas. We thought about it for a little while and came up with the perfect holiday activity.

With no credit cards, no savings, and our mountain of bills, if we pay for this we will not have money for a tree or stockings. We just won't. We do not have to like the facts to accept them. 

Now I can not only afford a trip like this, with the proper amount of planning of course...I can enjoy it knowing that I paid for the trip in advance!

Some people (like my wife) live to host such gatherings, and some are happy to step aside and let someone else do it.  But I think everyone can on some level agree that being the host is at least a little bit stressful. 

It has been a tough year for us financially. I have been worried about Christmas shopping for months. It has just been this huge cloud over my head. It has always been a challenge, but this year is the worst.

Think about who is on your list, and what they are likely to want. Keep an eye out for sales and good deals. The reality is that holiday season sales aren't always that great. With a little effort, the help of daily deal sites, and online promo codes, you can get similar prices throughout the year.

A few weeks later we received our monthly statement from that creditor, which we expected to be zero. We were wrong. Even though we paid the full amount before the due date, our new statement had a balance of thirty-six cents.

One of the cornerstones of saving money is understanding the time value of money-that is, the concept that $1 today is more valuable than $1 a year from now. 

If you don't have much money, but you want to give this holiday season, here are 3 gifts that keep on giving.

These discount programs can really be thought of as a new kind of coupon, and added with the grocery store coupons I'm already using can provide significant savings in our weekly budget.

For some people, such as sports enthusiasts or hobbyists, it's easier to answer. You've probably noticed that as you get older, activities that are fun for some people are no longer considered fun for you. Redefining fun is a vital part of frugality, too. You become more aware of the costs involved in your choices. Your community offers many free activities.

Now, I really WAS terrified of the mess I had gotten myself in to, and the glitz and glam of paying with credit had truly turned into a feeling of utter horror and despair. That fear and despair quelled my desire to ever use ANYTHING but cash for ANYTHING. 

I don't think that will happen if we treat this like a diet. We cannot be really good while on the program and then go back to our old spending ways afterwards. I want to learn from our past so we are not doomed to repeat it!

We had never lived within our means, and quite frankly didn't even know how to start getting our finances back into shape.  We needed someone to help guide us in the right direction.