Foreclosing or Walking Away from Your Home Has Consequences

Home owners that foreclosed, walked away or defaulted on a previous mortgage are finding it hard to get financing now that the housing market seems to be turning around.  They shouldn't be surprised.  Their activity stays on their financial records and often impacts FICO scores, which is the gauge lenders use to determine lend-ability.  That's why it's key to always live below your means and have emergency savings.

More - Mortgage Relief Program

Retail Shoppers Have Disappeared

The government shutdown impacted retail sales.  With the next scheduled crisis just after the holidays, current spending levels authorized through 01/15/2014 and the debt cushion extended through 02/07/2014, shoppers aren't likely to loosen the purse strings this holiday season. 

More - "Do you want to save 10% on your purchase today?"  "No."

Saving & Investing

Start early and be consistent.

NFL May Stop Blacking Out Games

Because it's punitive and unprofitable.

Save Money This Holiday Season

If you have a credit card with unused miles, most will let you spend them in their "shopping mall".  This is good advice if you have miles and need to cut back on your spending this holiday season.  Use credit you've already earned and don't use cash or your credit cards.

More and More Retires Using Credit Cards to Pay Medical Expenses

This won't end well.     

Considerations When Applying for a Store Credit Card

In general, the rewards for signing up for retail store credit cards aren't worth it.  If you're considering one, ask yourself these questions.

Lower Gas Prices Mean More $$ in Your Wallet

Gas prices have been down for most of the year.  If you have a budget, you should be seeing savings on the line-item for gas.  Put this extra money towards your credit cards and pay them down sooner.

Managing Debt After Someone Dies

Here are ten tips for managing debt after someone dies.   

Money Mistakes to Avoid in Your 20s

Unfortunately, some people are still making these mistakes in the 40s and 50s. 

Cut Your Cable Cord and Still See NFL Football

Apparently this technology has been around for a while, but we're not the savviest techies.  We're not sure how legal this is.  Watch free NFL Football at your own risk. 

More - Cutting the Cable Cord

Managing Your Personal Finances During Ceiling Negotiations

We can all be proactive and mitigate our risks of being impacted by the debt ceiling crisis.  Pay off credit cards, have emergency savings, have a budget and be money conscious.

Credit Card Usage Down Again

Consumers continue their third straight month of declining credit card usage.  This is a positive trend.

Back-To-School and Retail Sales Likely Down for September

This may indicate good sales this holiday season.  If there are, how about buying only what's on sale and cutting back this year?  Use your extra money to pay off credit card or other debt or just appreciate not having buyer's remorse in January. 

Reasons to Avoid Cash Advances

4 reasons to avoid cash advances on your credit card. 

The Fine Print of Credit and Debit Cards

MarketWatch shares details many overlook when they receive a credit or debit card.  These can all be avoid, of course, by using cash.  Cash is King.

5 Things Wealthy People Do

Find out what the successful people do and do that.

Credit Over Debit

Are there times when using a credit card is preferable to using a debit card?  Why, yes, at least five.

Dinner Party for Less Than $100

Last weekend we hosted a dinner for three for $99.64.  We had a steak dinner, dessert and wine.  We still have leftovers.  How did we manage this?

·         We made everything from scratch or close to scratch

·         We were Money Conscious when grocery shopping

·         We bought three bottles of not-so-expensive wine and a box of wine (not your grandmother’s Franzia)

For an appetizer we got a wedge of brie for $3.70, a medley of olives and other pickled vegetables from the olive bar for $2.94 and organic, whole wheat bread for $2.99.  We already had ginger-peach marmalade and water crackers for the brie and olive oil and vinegar for the bread.

We got a cheap bottle of Vino Verde (I can’t remember the name - It wasn’t great) for $7.99 that we drank while cooking and waiting for our guest.  For dinner we bought a bottle of Zin 91 for $13.99, a bottle of Piping Shrike Shiraz for $16.99 and a Black Box merlot for $24.99 to drink after we finished the other wines.  Your taste buds can’t tell after three bottles, can they?  Plus, we now have leftover wine that’s perfect for weeknights or our next dinner.  Our guest brought a bottle of Barco de Piedra Tempranillo for $15.99.  This didn’t add to our personal costs, so I’m not including it.  It was yummy, though. 

For dinner we grilled a New York Strip steak.  We chose a New York Strip because they’re leaner, but not too lean.  We bought 1.02 pounds at $10.99 per pound, totaling $11.21.  A serving of meat should be between a quarter to a third of a pound.  We know!  Most people will scoff at such a small serving.  Not only are we living on a budget, we’re also controlling our caloric intake.  A third of a pound was more than enough for all.  We seasoned the steak with a dry rub and set it on the counter for a couple of hours to get to room temperature before grilling it.  This prevents toughness.  Our side dishes included broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper.  The broccoli was $1.99 per pound.  We bought two pounds exactly, totaling $3.98.  We bought a bag of red, yellow and purple potatoes for $2.99, a white onion for $0.59, and three bulbs of garlic for $1.00.  With these ingredients, we made a sautéed medley of potato quarters.  We only used one bulb of garlic.  We had enough broccoli and sautéed potatoes for everyone and still have leftovers.  We’ll finish these this week.  This will prevent us from wasting food and eliminate cooking.

For dessert we bought a bag of store-brand ginger snap cookies for $2.29 and a pint of Hagen Dazs vanilla bean ice cream for $3.99 (on sale for a dollar off).  We used these ingredients to make ginger snap ice cream cookies.  While cooking, we discovered a bar of dark chocolate that we got as a gift.  Just before serving our ice cream cookies, we melted the chocolate down and dipped half of each cookie into the chocolate.  Each person had three cookies.  Being an ice cream lover, I finished the pint last night.  The bag of cookies is almost gone three days later.

Our guest visited for over four hours.  It was a relaxing evening with a lot of talking and laughing.  We would’ve easily spent $300 at a restaurant for as much food (and wine) as we had.  The wine would’ve cost over $100 alone.  Not only was our food delicious, it was healthier than what most restaurants serve.  We used salt, but not a lot.  We used olive oil in place of butter.  Lastly, we controlled our portions. 

The best part was that we didn’t have buyer’s remorse the following day and half of our dinner was already made for the next night. 

Consider hosting a dinner at home instead of going out and over-spending.  If you don’t want to take on all of the work or you want to split the costs more evenly, have your guest(s) bring food.    

Business Travelers Are Dining on the Cheap

The most popular restaurants for business travelers are Starbucks, McDonald's, Subway and Panera, in that order.  Supposedly this is cause these restaurants are quick and easy, but we think it has more to do with tighter corporate budgets.  A few years ago, I was traveling on business to a different state and my boss asked me to bring my own food.  Ha!