It’s Called Currency

When I first set out with this blog, I had thought I’d write a post a week. Then I found out about the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) challenge to write a post a day for a month. It seemed like a good idea, and a good test of whether or not I’d be up to the challenge of writing on a consistent basis.

So, here I am, 30 days later with 30 new posts in this blog. It was far easier to create an entry each day than I had thought it would be. I can’t promise I’ll still post every day, but I will try. If you’ve got questions, feel free to post a comment to any post or to use my contact form to send your question to me directly.

Tags: blogging by Julie Ann Dunn
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Which is the better deal: one item for $2.50, two for $5, or four for $10? Truth is, they are all the same price. Unfortunately, most people assume that the multiple item pricing equals savings. This is a trick that stores use to convince you to buy more, and if you’re watching your pennies, this is one trick you need to know how to avoid. [Read more →]

Tags: education, spending less by Julie Ann Dunn
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I’ll bet that you regularly carry around more than a dollar in change in your pockets or purse, rarely pulling it out to make a purchase. Most people simply rack up coins, drop them in any convenient place, and forget that they actually have value as money. Do you have coins on your dresser, your desk, on the floor of various rooms in your home? Are they cluttering up the console and door handle of your car? Are you surrounded by money? Then why don’t you seem to have any when you need it? [Read more →]

Tags: saving by Julie Ann Dunn
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You’ve heard all about the ever-important credit score, right? You’ve got to have a good one if you’re looking to buy a house or get a car loan with a reasonable interest rate—or even get approved for the loan in the first place. A recent development is that a bad credit score can even keep you from getting good insurance rates or some jobs. But what, really, is your credit score? How do they come up with that number and what’s actually a “good” number to have? [Read more →]

Tags: credit, credit reports, education by Julie Ann Dunn
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It’s Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and in homes throughout the country, families and friends will gather to feast on turkey and ham and all the glorious “fixin’s” that are traditionally served on this day. They will enjoy food and companionship in groups small and large, some quietly, others in chaos. And many will take the time to reflect on what they are thankful for.

What are you thankful for? Not just in terms of money and stuff, but in your life? [Read more →]

Tags: current events, giving, Thursday Task by Julie Ann Dunn
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The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday because, for many stores, this is this day that they finally go “into the black” in terms of their income for the year. But this year, Black Friday may not be a reality for retailers who are so far “in the red” that they will continue to take losses as they cut prices in order to get you to shop.

Due to the current economic environment, you may find that the big Black Friday doorbusters and deep discounts of past years just aren’t there this year. [Read more →]

Tags: current events, online shopping, spending less by Julie Ann Dunn
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The current economy has created new questions for those who have traditionally purchased gift cards as part of their holiday gifts. In past years, I’ve given gift cards to my teenage niece so she can enjoy shopping for herself at her favorite store, not to mention the many cards I’ve received over the years for my favorite bookstore. Those little bits of plastic are nearly as much of a time-honored holiday tradition as cookies for Santa in many a family.

But with the number of stores that have declared bankruptcy in recent weeks, buying store-branded gift cards may have new risks. [Read more →]

Tags: current events, education by Julie Ann Dunn
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If your employer traditionally pays Christmas bonuses, you may still receive one this year, depending on what the company has had to cut in order to keep up with the current economy. If you do get that extra money, what are you going to do with it? Will you do the same thing you always have? Will you spend it on Christmas gifts or the post-Christmas sales? Will you splurge on a big ticket item? Will you use it to pay on your debts?

Most people view bonuses as “free money” and they race to spend them. [Read more →]

Tags: giving, priorities, saving by Julie Ann Dunn
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How do you teach your children about money? It’s an especially tough question when what you learned as a child left you totally unprepared for life in the adult world. And it leads to many more questions… At what point do you tackle which questions? What bad habits do you have from your own childhood that you want to make sure they don’t learn? What’s the right way to go about this? [Read more →]

Tags: education, marketing, priorities, saving by Julie Ann Dunn
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When I first started trying to figure out how to create a budget, I was lost. I didn’t know how much I spent each month on pretty much anything, nor did I have any idea how much I shouldspend. The whole idea of trying to figure that out intimidated me to the extreme. As a matter of fact, I had several false starts with my budget. I’d put one together at the beginning of the month, figure out that I wasn’t meeting it at the end of the month, and decide it was hopeless and convince myself that I really didn’t need a budget anyway. I think I did this several times over the course of a couple of years. At that time, money wasn’t tight and I could afford to be reckless. Or so I thought.

Had I taken the time to learn—really learn—how to effectively budget in those days, I might not have ended up more than $30,000 in debt when my first husband and I split up. [Read more →]

Tags: budgeting, cashflow management, education, priorities, saving by Julie Ann Dunn
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