Budgeting

Affordable Alternatives to Traditional Cable TV

Cutting the Cord Thinking about saying goodbye to cable TV? You’re definitely not alone. According to one recent study, one in five households in the U.S. has cut the cord on traditional cable television, opting for lower-cost alternatives. If you’re looking for a way to cut your monthly expenses, I can’t think of a better place to start than cable TV. Think about it: You pay a hefty chunk...

Surprising Ways You Waste Money

You may consider yourself somewhat frugal: You don’t spend piles of cash on fancy vacations, new cars, or luxury items. You aren’t house poor. You don’t buy lottery tickets and you’ve curbed your Starbucks addiction. You try to eat at home most nights a week. But somehow, you still end up with less money than you’d like at the end of each month. What gives?  Chances are good that...

A to Z Guide of Staying Out of Debt

The key to staying out of debt is to keep a better handle on your finances through things like spending less, budgeting, and saving money. It takes work, but it’s not impossible. And you might be surprised by how many small things you can do to work toward a debt-free lifestyle. Just for fun, I thought I’d break things down alphabetically, so here’s your official A to Z guide...

Raising Finance Savvy Kids

Financial education is a lifelong undertaking – and, unfortunately, it’s one subject that isn’t taught in schools. If you want to help your kids grow up to be financially responsible adults, it’s really up to you to help them understand money, budgeting, and finances. Ideally slowly with the basics, and work your way up to more complex concepts. Need some suggestions? Read on to get some ideas for age-appropriate...

9 Smart Spending Strategies for Back-to-School Season

If you’re a parent, you’re likely eyeing the calendar with a mix of anticipation, relief, and dread. On one hand, the approach of the new school year means a return to your normal routine, and it means an end to finding new ways to keep the kids entertained and occupied day in and day out. But on the other hand, the back to school season is really darn expensive:...

Should You Apply for a Balance Transfer?

If you’re struggling to pay down high-interest credit card debt, a balance transfer can be a powerful tool. Balance transfers offer super-low (or even zero-percent) introductory interest rates, which means they help you pay your principal balance off more quickly. But that doesn’t mean that balance transfers are for everyone. Use this decision tree to figure out of a balance transfer is a good option for you. CLICK IMAGE...

7 Movies That Teach Valuable Money Lessons

Like most folks, I go to the movies to get away from my day-to-day life; to escape reality for an hour or so and think about something other than work, or bills, or dinner plans, or any of the other hundreds of mundane things most of us have to think about. But, as a financial guy, I can’t help viewing movies from a money perspective. I also can’t help...

20 Fantastic Summer Staycation Ideas

Summer is here. The sun is out. The kids are out of school, and you’ve got plenty of vacation time saved up at work. One thing you don’t have? Money. Or, more specifically, the kind of extra money you need to take a traditional family summer vacation – and you have no interest in using your credit cards to finance a trip you can’t afford. The good news? You...

DebtGuru’s Top 5 Frugal Household Products

Frugal living isn’t just about canceling cable or brown-bagging it to work (although those are great strategies if you’re trying to cut living expenses). Frugal living is also about shopping smarter and looking for ways to stretch your hard-earned dollars farther. One way to do that is to buy inexpensive household items that can be used for more than one task. To help you get started, I chose five...

7 Money Saving Tips That Can Backfire

Seems like everyone has an opinion about money – how you should spend it, how you should invest it, and how you should save it. But as someone who has made a career out of helping folks pay off debt and get their finances back on track, I can tell you that not all financial advice is created equally. In fact, a lot of commonly repeated money advice may...