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Never be Late Again: Strategies to Stay on Top of Your Bills
If you’ve ever paid a bill late, you know how devastating a few days can be to your credit score — and your bank account. Missing the payment deadline on any type of bill can cost a small fortune in late fees — and even if you’re usually prompt with your payments, one late credit card payment can cause your credit score to dip temporarily. Miss several credit card... -
5 Rules for Back-to-School Shopping
School’s almost in session again, and that means the inevitable back-to-school shopping trip. Pencils, notebooks, art supplies, clothing, lunch totes – it all starts to add up pretty fast. If you’re on a budget (and these days, who isn’t on a budget?), it’s a good idea to have a game plan before you hit the stores. Here are five ways to make sure you don’t blow your back-to-school... -
“I Don’t Make Enough to Save”
Four Ways We Talk Ourselves into Financial Disaster You make plenty of money – enough, at least, to allow you to pay bills, eat, get to work, and save for the future. You even made a budget once; a neat and attractive Excel spreadsheet that organized and allocated your monthly earnings, down to the penny. You even had spending money left over. Well, you should have, anyway. ... -
How’s Your Financial Health? Time For An End-of-Summer Money Checkup
August is the Perfect Month to Assess Your Finances So back in January, you decided that this would be the year you finally got your finances in order: you’d pay off all of your credit card debt (or at least you’d avoid acquiring any new debt). You’d build up an emergency fund. You’d put a thousand bucks into your retirement account. You’d write a budget and this year... -
Saving Money, One Call at a Time
Four Phone Calls That Can Save You Big Money If you’re looking for a new way to save money this summer (and really, who isn’t?), I’ve got some great news for you: You’ve already got access to a free, easy, and incredibly powerful tool that can help you slash your cable bill and score a better APR on your credit card. I know, it sounds too good... -
Why Credit Cards Lead to Overspending (and What You Can do About It)
As someone who deals with debt for a living, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people defend their credit card use. “I only use my credit card for emergencies,” they tell me. Or, “I just use it to get the airline miles/reward points/cash back.” And of course, one of my favorites: “It’s okay because I know how to use it responsibly.” Here’s the thing, though:... -
Bad Habits that Can Ruin Your Credit Score
Bad Habits that Can Ruin Your Credit Score Everyone wants a better credit score, but there’s more to the credit game than simply making your payments on time. Other factors – such as how you use credit, how often you use credit, and even what kind of credit you use can all affect your score. And if you don’t know exactly how your score is determined, you might... -
Savvy Money Moves For Any Income Level
Financial advice is rarely one-size-fits all: If you read financial blogs regularly, you’ve probably seen your share of tips that just don’t apply to your situation. To a family of four living on an income of $20,000 a year, the idea of starting an “emergency fund” with six months’ worth of living expenses probably sounds close to impossible. And if you’re a single person pulling in $65,000 a year,... -
Simple (& Painless) Strategies To Build Savings
Maybe you’re looking for a way to start your much-needed emergency fund – or perhaps you’re just trying to scrape together some extra cash for your summer vacation. Whatever the reason, you know that you want to start saving. But how? It’s easier than you think. In fact, there are lots of easy, and painless ways to make a little bit of change add up to a lot...