Gather Little by Little

Photo by: mugley

The following is a guest post by Cindy from Oh My Aching Debts, where she blogs about surviving the tough times, getting out of debt, and saving money. If you like this post, consider subscribing to her RSS feed.

Having written a great deal on dealing with debt collectors and negotiating debt settlements, this story by Fox in Philadelphia caught my eye. “Debt Collector Says She Is Coming For You” is an interview with a six figure salary collection agent who loves her job and a look at what these calls do to the lives of the people who receive them.In the interview the woman gloats about insulting people to their wives, neighbors, employers as well as to themselves. She is good at what she does because she is good at intimidating people and scaring them. It works because people like you and I don’t know our rights.

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Photo by: titanium22

This week has actually been a fairly normal week for us for a change. One of the highlights of this week for me has been our Japanese maples blooming. We have 6 in our yard total, and they are absolutely beautiful this time of year, especially my prized red lace maple.

The house we’ve been looking at received an offer the day before the inspector was supposed to take a look at it. Fannie Mae counter offered and we’re waiting to here how that turns out (and for the counter offer amount!). I put the inspector on hold until we see how the offer turns out. I didn’t want to spend $400.00 for nothing.

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Photo by: Andrew Ciscel

I’m trying really hard to stop using cash. But it seems no matter how hard I try, I run into some situation that requires cash. Some weeks back, we decided to take a ride on the new light rail system our city recently built. I did all the research online on where the stations were located, how to get there, and even how much it would cost. On the price page, both the Visa and Mastercard logos were prominently featured. Great, I can just use my debit card.

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Photo by: rbrwr

Gather Little by Little will be hosting the 148th Carnival of Personal Finance next week. The carnival will be published on Monday, April 14th.

If you haven’t already done so, here’s your reminder to get those articles submitted and please, please, please read through and understand the submission rules before you submit.

This is the “mac-daddy” of carnivals in the personal finance world and it’s an extreme honor for Gather Little by Little to host it and I can’t wait to read all of your articles! What? Can’t wait until Monday? Head over to MoneyNing who hosted this weeks edition, #148!

Photo by: Antonio Bonanno

I’m an IT manager in the “real world” and as result, a pretty large portion of my time is spent interviewing potential candidates for both contract and full time IT positions. I interview for positions on my team and also assist other managers when they are interviewing. Lately, I’ve been interviewing far more than usual due to the high workload we currently have. I enjoy the interview process, as it provides me an opportunity to meet new people and expand my interpersonal and oral communication skills. I’m a bit of an introvert, so having to walk into a room and talk to a complete stranger is definitely out of my comfort zone, but interviewing has really helped.

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Photo by: fabbio

On Friday, I wrote about a foreclosed home we found on the internet and were going to visit over the weekend. The house is on 16.5 acres of land, is approximately 4,200 square foot including the basement, has 5 bedrooms, a huge external shop and a large shed behind the shop. The land is surrounded by horse and cattle farms and is bordered on the back side by a large creek. This house on the surface seems to be exactly what we’ve been looking for. The price is right, it has plenty of room, and our children would love the land. The land is beautiful, the house? Well it’s another story…

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Photo by: shaymus022

We’ve been buying bottled water now for more than 10 years. Call me spoiled if you will, but I just can’t stand the taste of tap water. We’ve tried the Brita pitcher, the Pur 3 faucet mount filters, and many others. None of them tasted as clean as bottled water.

We generally try to purchase our bottled water when it’s on sale, but it’s not nearly on sale as much as we would like it to be. We drink roughly 120 bottles of water a month. A 24-pack of Dannon water runs $3.99 – $4.99 depending on where we buy it. That’s 5 packs per month at the cost of $19.95 – 24.95 per month, or $239.40 – $299.40 per year.

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Photo by: pingnews.com

Ever find yourself wondering why things are happening in your life? Do things just not seem to make sense? Every said to yourself, or even out loud “God, what in the world are you doing?” or “God, why are you allowing this to happen?“

As I am sure you know, you aren’t alone. God’s plans for our lives are sometimes unclear, but as Aaron’s lyrics say “I am not skilled to understand, what God has willed what God has planned“. God’s plans are often beyond our comprehension; however He is our savior, and would never leave us or forsake us. Just listen and pray and God will lead you. “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.“

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Photo by: mugley

This is a guest post from Connie Prater, a senior writer at CreditCards.com. Connie considers herself a savvy consumer, a mom, a penny-pincher/tightwad and an above average Scrabble player.

Does he or she send you flowers at work? Wine and dine you at the best restaurants every weekend? Wear designer threads and always gets tickets to the hottest concerts?

Living the life of the rich and fabulous — à la Paris Hilton and the “baller” set — costs money. If your mate doesn’t have the income (or a trust fund) to support this spending, you should be suspicious. As David Jones, president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies, says, financial woes are often relationship killers.

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Photo by: trekkyandy

For a few years now, my wife and I have desired to move further out of the city and into the country. We’ve dreamed of finding a home big enough for our family of 8 on some land, say 3 – 5 acres. We desired to find something that was far enough away to be remote, but not so far away that we wouldn’t have reasonable access to nice schools, hospitals, shopping areas, etc.

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