Archive for August, 2007

Why Debit Cards Are Better Than Credit Cards

Rewards Cards

Yesterday a couple of credit card related articles showed up on Get Rich Slowly. One article was by JD himself and had a few people surprised, the other by a guest. Both articles have caused quite a bit of conversation in the comments.

A Few Minor Changes

While trying to provide you with articles and postings that you will enjoy reading and participating in, I’ve also been hard at work on the site itself. During some downtime today and over the past few weeks I’ve made the following changes I think you’ll like:

  • Modified the MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog widgets to show more faces. If you haven’t checked out these blog social networking sites, I would invite you to do so. I’ve met some great folks and found some great blogs.

Ask The Readers – What Software or Tools Do You Use to Manage Your Finances?

Ask The Readers

A friend of mine and I where having a discussion yesterday about what software/tools we use to manage and keep track of our finances. Based on a previous recommendation by me, he was using SimpleD Budget. I had used it for a while, but decided to go with a custom spreadsheet I developed instead.

I enjoy the flexibility and ease of entry I have using Excel. He was considering going to MS Money or Quicken, which I have also used in the past.

It did make me wonder, what does everyone else use? What software or tools do you use to manage your finances?

In The Beginning

SunriseThat which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. - 1 John 1:1-5

Garage/Yard Sale Update

We were up early on Saturday morning to begin getting things out of the garage and in the drive-way for our garage/yard sale (funny, I never really know what to call them, garage sale or yard sale). Our sale started at 7:00am. I opened the garage door at 6:30am to begin setting stuff out, and people were already waiting. I was selling items before I could even get them out of the garage!

We sold a number of the items we purchased at the auction we attended a few weeks ago. The love seat I purchased for $1 sold for $5, and we sold a number of the miscellaneous dishes and glass items be bought for a $1 for far more than $1.

Money Saving Monday Tip#5 – Use Digital Phone Service

Digital Phone Service

I am surprised by the number of people that still use standard phone service. Digital phone service has been around for about 5 years and in my opinion offers the best rates for residential and commercial phone service.

Digital phone service is phone service provided over your high-speed internet connection. When you sign-up with a digital phone service provider, you receive a special router that plugs into your DSL or cable modem. The router allows you to plug-in standard phones and use them just like you normally would. The router converts to analog voice signal to a digital signal and transfers it over the internet to your digital phone provider who then transfers it to the persons phone service you are talking to. The person you are talking to doesn’t require digital phone service to talk to you.

Finally #1 in Technorati!

Number 1 in Technorati

Finally, after weeks of trying, GLBL has been ranked #1 by Technorati. I knew I had been working hard on this blog, but to be number 1 in such a short time is just amazing. I’d like to thank the following people…

* beep beep beep beep *

The glblguy wakes up and looks around, it was only a dream, stupid alarm clock! Ok, so GLBL isn’t number 1 in Technorati but more like 200,000+ or something like that. It would seem Technorati has some sort of glitch that is showing all blogs as #1. Seems they also have a little problem with the description as well, it’s all scrambled.

The Friday Gathering for 8/3/2007

Well, another week of summer has quickly gone by, and another week closer to school starting back. This was also a week for some great articles from the personal finance blog community. Here’s some of my favorites:

Yard Sale Tomorrow and A Few Tips To Help Make Yours Successful!

Yard Sale!

We’ve decided to clean house, and I don’t mean dust and vacuum (although the glblgal did that too). As you may or may not know, we have 6 children, 5 boys and a girl. Our house while not small by any means has been getting a bit cramped lately with stuff. So earlier this week we decided to do a little shifting around and do a major clean-out of our stuff. Tricia’s book review of Debt is Slavery and in particular the following quote really lit the fire under me to really really clean house:

Ask the Readers – What Stupid Financial Mistakes Have You Made?

Ask the Readers

The popularity of my 7 Stupid Financial Mistakes I’ve Made article surprised me. Thinking on this some this morning on the way into the J.O.B., I thought it might be interesting for you, the readers, to share your “Stupid Financial Mistakes”.

So what are yours? What stupid things have you done in the past that you would like to help others avoid doing? I know I have a lot more than 7 personally!