It takes my neighbor hours to pay all her bills while being debt free keeps me from that onerous chore, saving me valuable time. The same neighbor taught me about another time saving aspect of being debt free. This neighbor requested her free credit report from AnnualCreditReport. I had mentioned it to her some time [...]

When talk of saving money comes up, it usually leads to talk of the “good old days” when things were simpler and less expensive. Many people reminisce about the days when a stamp was ten cents, a loaf of bread was twenty-five cents, and a gallon of gas was fifty cents. Oh, the good old [...]

I went to visit a neighbor the other day and arrived as she was just beginning to pay her bills. It looked like quite a project, with all the papers spread and stacked on the kitchen table so I asked if I should come back later. She said no and invited me in to chat [...]

Several financial experts (most notably Dave Ramsey) preach that, if you want to become and remain debt free, you must not use credit cards. Ever. Their reasoning is that, a) it is too easy to get into the debt trap when using cards and, b) that you spend more money (around 25% more) when you [...]

We all remember fondly the games we played when we were children. There is a simple game that kept me entertained when I was young. It was called Barrel of Monkeys. My Barrel of Monkeys came in a bright yellow plastic barrel with twelve monkeys inside. The monkeys’ arms were sort of S curved and [...]

Last week, Sadie wrote about how debt free living means not being a slave to a FICO score. In the article, she pointed out that FICO has become such an integral part of our lives that even the debt free can’t ignore the score completely, which is annoying, at best. But I’ve been giving it [...]

One of the benefits of a life without debt is (some) freedom from the gods at FICO. Because I don’t do debt, my FICO score is not as important to me as it is to some and that takes a lot of worry out of my life. I see many people freaking out about their [...]

Though there have been reports that credit card rewards programs are being scaled back and there don’t seem to be as many great signup bonuses these days, there is one signup bonus that is being heavily advertised that you may want to check out.
Discover is offering a $100 Cashback Bonus when you make $500 [...]

When I was in the 6th grade, Mrs. Nygren (my teacher, may she rest in peace) used to admonish the class that no one should ever buy anything on credit except for a house. She was adamant. If we could not pay with cash, we should not buy what we wanted to buy. [...]

By Maggie Ellis, guest writer
I know many people who are followers of Dave Ramsey’s financial advice. Since the economy has tanked, it seems like I’m seeing even more people joining the Dave bandwagon, looking for a way out of the financial messes that they have gotten themselves into. His “Total Money Makeover” and the associated [...]