From the category archives:

goals

On Momentum and Resolutions

by Jessica W on January 2, 2010

Never underestimate the power of a plan in combination with focused intensity.
All of my life I’ve struggled against my free-spirited nature and upbringing in an attempt to distill my attention into a truly disciplined lifestyle. I’ve won some and I’ve lost some.  My small business’ books are organized to the nines, but I’ve yet [...]

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Christmas is coming round the corner faster than an Amazon PRIME delivery.
And with that, comes the pressure to spend, spend, spend.
We are constantly bombarded with marketing messages, but never more so than during the holiday season.
So, you’ve got savings goals. How do you stick to them?
Here’s what I’ve been doing (successfully)
1. Print out a picture
I [...]

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I have all my cash savings at SmartyPig right now, and they just announced a 12% bonus at Macy’s (and other bonuses at Barnes and Noble, iTunes, etc). And I kinda like Macy’s. Quality stuff, and not too overpriced.
So, what the heck should I save for?

They have a ton of nice furniture stuff, but I [...]

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How To Stop Money From Ruling Your Life

by debt kid on November 9, 2009

I’ve been observing lately how friends and family interact with money, or the lack of money in their lives.
I know this may be obvious to everyone reading here, but I honestly never thought about the impact of money until the last few years. It really does impact nearly every area of our lives.
It impacts our [...]

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Why I REALLY Hate Zero-Based Budgeting

by Jessica W on October 5, 2009

Dear readers. You have permission to call me a coward.
In the past ten months, my husband and I have really made great bounds in taming the financial situation of this household. We re-tooled spending, we began budgeting (first time ever) and we’ve so far paid off $34,000 in debt. But we’ve got a ways to [...]

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Financial Peace University: The First Class

by Jessica W on September 18, 2009

I mentioned in my last post that the family is attending Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at a local church. Last Sunday was our first class.
My husband and I are attending, and dragging along our oldest daughter–who had to attend the first class on her eleventh birthday (we may be the cruelest parents yet [...]

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Start Them Young!

by Jessica W on August 24, 2009

I’m not sure how many readers here at DebtKid have children, but I have two.  In our family we joke that we didn’t have debt before we had kids. I actually believed this until a few days ago when I was clearing some old files and found our financial paperwork from when we were first [...]

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Smarty Pig: Savings Automated (and cute)

by Jessica W on August 6, 2009

As long as I can recall, I’ve had a savings account. My babysitting money or my birthday money went there and sat.
Later, it became my “Just in case a check bounces” fund.
Now it’s the “major auto repair, tow bill or gigantic medical bill” fund. The sad thing is, I’m not very [...]

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Virtual Financial Advisors – Good or Bad idea?

by creditcruncher on July 20, 2009

I was browsing new finance articles earlier this week and read about a few new web-based financial “advisor” websites that received high remarks.  I do not believe these websites were developed to replace financial advisors but to a) keep your current advisor honest and make sure they are giving you sound advice b) give you [...]

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The past few weeks I’ve had something happen that has not happened in years…
I’ve felt content.
Contentment is not usually a bad thing. In fact, it can be a very healthy emotion.
But not for me. I need to stay hungry, stay motivated.
Here’s what’s been working for me to stay motivated even when things are [...]

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