Gather Little by Little

Spring is springing in my neck of the woods. I hope you see the light at the end of the winter tunnel where you live. Here are some articles that I recommend this week:

The second installment of my time saving articles was featured at the 246th Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.

An article about making money online, written by my boss was featured at the Carnival of Money Stories.

Dough Roller asked if renter’s insurance is worth the cost. My policy is eleven bucks a month. I think it is worth it.

Click to continue reading...

A while ago, I hosted a contest for “IN Cheap We Trust”. I thought of gathering some of those great frugal tips in one post so you can use them for 2010! I have selected my favorites among them:

#1 Eat less meat (from the market) (this is not only good for the size of your wallet but for the size of your belly too!):

Reduce by half the meat you normally eat and replace with vegetables.

Establish a once a week meatless meal.

#2 Shop with a calculator:

Click to continue reading...

This is kind of a traditional post for this time of year, you know, with new year’s resolutions and all. My philosophy is that most life changes work best when they are started at any point during the year. For spiritual, physical, relationship resolutions there is no better time than the present. One time I got a bad report from my doctor and as I walked to my car, I committed myself to a healthier lifestyle. And I made up my mind to start right after I had one last Spicy Chicken sandwich value meal from Wendy’s . . . that particular decision never stuck . . . When it comes to changes in financial goals, the start of a new calendar year provides a nice clean slate.

Click to continue reading...

Sometimes I felt a lot like a tightrope walker this year and not an especially good one . . .

I had a lot of ideas for this post, but I could not decide on just one, so I thought I would keep it simple. I always like to end the year by looking at the things for which I am thankful. Here is the financial part of that list:

Click to continue reading...

• I am thankful that our house finally sold. We came out approximately $14,000 in the red, but we avoided foreclosure, a short sale or anything else detrimental to our financial future . . . other than the debt itself.

Click to continue reading...

Here are some articles that I enjoyed this week. I hope you enjoy them as well.

I wrote about the Christian’s approach to the black market. Several readers weighed in with some really good thoughts.

Mrs. Micah celebrated a birthday – I think she might be younger than you think.

Mighty Bargain Hunter wrote about stockpiling food . . . are things really that bad?

If you are a first time home buyer who is considering purchasing a house, you need to read this post at Green Panda Treehouse. Home ownership can be a great thing, but make sure you know what you are doing.

Click to continue reading...

On September, 15^th 2008, the financial world almost collapsed upon one of the biggest failures in Wall Street history: The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Upon this major news, the stocks markets started one of the most important and surely the fastest drop of its long history. A year later, nothing much has been done about banking laws and protecting consumers from the rise of another economic bubble. While the US government hasn’t shown us what they have learned much so far (the debate was rapidly redirected towards the healthcare system), it doesn’t mean you can’t apply a few lessons from the Lehman Brothers’ failure to your own personal finances!

Click to continue reading...

Last week, Mike wrote about some ways to use a day-to-day credit card. Most Gather Little by Little readers might have been a little surprised by the topic and the point of view because glblguy has always been completely averse to credit cards – and for good reason.

Click to continue reading...

Mrs. Stew and I are the proud parents of three children ages six and under. We love our kids, but we still look forward to those times when it is just the two of us. Date night can get expensive, however. By the time you add up the cost of a babysitter, a movie, dinner and gas . . . well, I don’t want to think about it. Here are a few ideas that we use to keep the monetary cost of investment in our marriage low.

Click to continue reading...

It is a good idea to know your credit score – it is an even better idea to know what is in your credit report. I typically check mine once a year and I checked it last month and found an error. Not a huge one, but on the list of names/aliases, there was a name by which I have never been known – same initials, but completely different name. I am working to get the error changed. You need to check your report for errors – unauthorized credit pulls, incorrect late penalties or missed payments, or even lines of credit that you did not take out.

Click to continue reading...