I’m on Mommy Community!

Marie Ynami at Mommy Community interviewed me recently about my new ebook Living Debt Free.  We talked about a lot of the tips in the ebook, including:

• The first step you need to take to get out of debt
• The fastest way to pay off debt
• What to do if you can’t afford to pay off your debt
• And more…

To listen, please visit Marie’s Mommy Community site by clicking here.

And the winner is…

The winner of the "$15 for your BEST grocery money saving tips" contest is Aurelia of Real Life Coaching. 

Here is Aurelia’s tip:

"This is what I do weekly.

I run through the coupon books that come with Sundays paper and clip
coupons. Then, I take a look at the sales papers and jot down what I
see on sale that my family enjoys. Based on whats on sale, I then hand
write my meal plan. This is great because my meal plan is based on sale
items (YAY). I then head to the store and purchase just what I need
that on my meal plan and I am done.

Last Day for $15 Grocery Money Saving Tip Contest

Today is the last day to enter the ‘$15 for your best grocery money saving tip’ contest.  If you have a great tip on how to save money on groceries, please share!  The winner will receive $15 in their PayPal account!

Don’t forget to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner.  Thanks for all the great tips submitted already! 

Weekly grocery ads – cool tool

I was following up on a money saving tip from Aurelia (see my ‘$15 for your best grocery money saving tips’ contest), and I ran across a really cool feature…

One of the grocery stores I shop at is Price Chopper.  You can find the weekly ad at their website.  That’s not so unusual, many stores allow you to view the weekly ad online.

But what was unusual was the ability to check items listed in the weekly ad and add them to a printable shopping list!  The shopping list is sorted by department, and has the description and price of the item.

Keeping track of business expenses paid out of personal funds

If you’re like me, you don’t always have your business checkbook or
business credit card with you when you’re buying items for the business.

So you end up using your personal checking account or personal
credit cards to buy office supplies, postage, or other business
expenses. 

Unfortunately, it’s easy to forget about these
business expenses when you’re calculating your profit/loss or preparing
your tax return, which can cost you money at tax time.

To keep track of business expenses paid from personal funds, I’ve
created a simple worksheet which I attach to a 9×13 envelope. 

$15 for your BEST grocery money saving tips!

Don’t forget to submit your best grocery money saving tip for a chance to win $15! 

See Contest Details for more information.  Contest ends Friday 9/21.

Simple Ways to Help You Cut Your Monthly Expenses in Half

Marie at Mommy Community wrote a great article about ‘Simple Ways to Help You Cut Your Monthly Expenses in Half’.  She had so many good tips, I just had to share…

Simple Ways to Help You Cut Your Monthly Expenses in Half
by Marie @ Mommy Community

It’s probably the same in most families … at least once a month, you
sit down and figure out your monthly expenses. Looking through the
bills, you are probably wondering … “How the heck are we able to spend
this much?! What are we spending our money on?” Well, if you pay
attention to your monthly expenses, most likely, you will be able to
see where you can actually cut down on. Read on …

More Frugal Tips…

Thanks to everyone who has contributed their best grocery money saving tips. 

If you’d like more frugal tips – not just on groceries – check out the Festival of Frugality at No Credit Needed.

Some of my favorite tips include:

The Happy Rock is thinking about money in terms of pre-tax instead of after-tax.

Being Frugal lists several resources for frugal cooking.

Edith Yeung has a system for maintaining your bank account.

Money Quote – Money Attitudes

When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart.  ~John Wesley

I got a chuckle out of this quote.  But I also realized how true this is for many people.

As a financial planner, I see people at all levels of income and assets.  It always surprises me when the people who make the most money seem to have the least amount of assets.  Why is this?

Building Good Credit with Secured Credit Cards

I’ve gotten several emails lately from people who need to build credit, either because they are young and don’t have any credit history, or they have had a bankruptcy or bad credit in the past.

One of the best ways to build or rebuild your credit is with secured credit cards.

What is a secured credit card?

A secured credit card is where you give a bank a security deposit – $500 for example – and receive a credit card with a $500 limit on it.  You use the secured credit card the same way you would any other credit card and make regular monthly payments to pay off any money that you spend using the card.

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