A guest post by Julie Barclay. Take a moment. Think about the past nine months and how the economic downturn has changed your life. What have you had to give up? What were the changes, the goodbyes and the endings? A year ago Holly and Craig Hunter were loving life. They both had jobs, a [...]

A guest post by Julie Barclay. Take a moment. Think about the past nine months and how the economic downturn has changed your life. What have you had to give up? What were the changes, the goodbyes and the endings? A year ago Holly and Craig Hunter were loving life. They both had jobs, a [...]

I don’t know about you, but medical bills have been hitting our house like no body’s business! I honestly can’t believe the rate they’re flocking in right now despite our relatively good health, and decent health insurance. An ear infection here, a broken tooth there, and routine prescriptions are a truly massive part of our [...]

I don’t know if you’ve seen the art exhibit about e-waste recently, but it’s shocking how many electronic gadgets we “consume” worldwide in the form of mobile phones, batteries, cameras, etc. Some of these have lived beyond their usefulness. I have on my desk, and old mobile phone/PDA and a digital camera that no longer [...]

First off, my profound apologies for falling behind on my 31 days of financial literacy. I have some posts in the works to finish out the month, but I’ve been battling an illness this week, so once I’m fully back on my feet, I’ll finish those and post them. Also, I’m contemplating a redesign for [...]

I know a lot of people who’ve tried to “borrow themselves out of debt” recently. It makes sense at first glance to pay off your credit cards at 10% with a home equity loan at 6 or 7 percent. Especially if you’re in really deep. And after all, you’ve got all that home equity just [...]

Are you spending less than you make? Are you sure? Better double-check, just in case. I’m getting ready for the Town Hall for Hope on Thursday and thinking about what are the true, simple and basic facts about personal finance. The bottom line really is that you must spend less than you make. The origins [...]

Let’s face it, much of the energy that is consumed and paid for in your house is likely for things you haven’t noticed. Phone charger left plugged in so you don’t have to climb behind the TV every day to plug it in, etc. Well, my Twitter friends tell me it’s Earth Week, and they [...]

We’ve now reached the point (just a few months in) where I’ve completely replaced my previous work-outside-the-home income with my mobile notary business and my freelance writing. By implementing the tips I’ve been outlining here–even post-layoff our family is coming out ahead of where we were six months ago financially, as well as in peace [...]

I haven’t tried this one yet, but I’m going to. I’m actually going to copy-and-paste the whole message here, because it’s from my grammy. Yes, I don’t care how old I am, she’s still always going to be my Grammy! (She’s also test-driving the home-made laundry detergent with me–so far I’m happy with it at [...]