It’s Called Currency

This can be a tough question. After all, most people just “pay the bills” and get on with it. But what about those times when money is tight or you’ve got an especially large bill that’s going to affect your monthly finances more than usual? Does food rank above entertainment in your spending plan? Does transportation come before recreation? Do shelter and utility payments get made before you pay on any credit cards? Are you properly prioritizing your spending, or is your money spent in whatever category is yelling today?

At the top of your list, as your highest priority, should be your rent or mortgage payment, followed by the various utilities that keep your shelter comfortable, and then food. [Read more →]

Tags: budgeting, cashflow management, priorities by Julie Ann Dunn
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The cost of communication can be remarkably high these days. Many US households have both landline and wireless phones, often duplicating services and the charges for them. It’s time to take a long hard look at what you’re paying for, decide if you really need it, and determine who is the best provider for what you need. [Read more →]

Tags: marketing, spending less by Julie Ann Dunn
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I’d probably have to say that the first book I read—really read—on money was Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey. At that point, I’d already been through a first marriage and divorce that had left me with over $30,000 in debt to pay off. I was in my second marriage, all the previous debt had been paid off, and my new husband and I were trying to make sure we were on the road to sound money management. We’d both stumbled along until then, gleaning what we could from family and friends, trying desperately to learn from other people’s mistakes as well as our own so we wouldn’t be repeating them. [Read more →]

Tags: books, cashflow management, education by Julie Ann Dunn
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You probably think of budgets as straight jackets for your money, that putting down on paper (or into a computer spreadsheet) just where your money is going to go each month is too confining, too restrictive.  But like water, money needs to flow. If you don’t clearly define where it will go, whether it’s a holding tank for a future need, or directly into the current of your daily spending, your money will just slip through the cracks, dripping out of your life.

One simple concept that made budgeting much less confining for me is the “blow money” category. [Read more →]

Tags: budgeting, cashflow management by Julie Ann Dunn
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Have you ever thought about the fee they take with that cash withdrawal in terms of the percentage of the transaction? Most people don’t. Folks pay $2 or $3 and think nothing of it. But if you’re getting $10 out of the ATM and you pay a $3 fee for it, you just paid 30% for getting YOUR OWN MONEY. And unless you’re lucky enough to bank where they will reimburse you those fees, you’ll never get that money back. [Read more →]

Tags: cashflow management, saving, spending less by Julie Ann Dunn
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I’ve heard before that you should photocopy everything in your wallet as a “backup” technique should it be stolen. Of course, there are privacy issues with photocopies made on copiers that have hard drives, and legal constraints on whether or not you can create color copies at 100% of certain types of ID. Here’s what I recommend: [Read more →]

Tags: credit reports, identity theft, priorities, Thursday Task by Julie Ann Dunn
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So, is the price of membership at Sam’s Club or BJ’s or Costco worth it? Do you really save enough to warrant spending that $40-50? The truth is, it depends on you.

• Are you someone who comparison shops and knows the actual difference between the club price and the supermarket or electronics store price?

[Read more →]

Tags: budgeting, spending less by Julie Ann Dunn
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It’s Election Day in the USA and I want to take a minute to talk to those folks who are thinking of skipping the vote because they don’t believe that change will come. I promise you, no matter who gets elected as President, things will change. The Prez is chief among 545 people who run this country, and while his job is very important and very visible, the other 544 actually make a lot of decisions that the President can’t ignore. And all of them have to pay attention to what the country feels. One way to show them what you feel is to vote. [Read more →]

Tags: current events by Julie Ann Dunn
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The mantra of the “green” folk (those who are focused on a sustainable world) is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. I’ve seen and heard these three words for more than 20 years. And in various ways, I’ve made them a part of my life. The concept here is to first reduce, then reuse, then recycle. This helps to break the cycle whereby we produce lots of disposable goods that are ultimately destined for the landfill. So let’s look at this three-word philosophy word by word. [Read more →]

Tags: priorities, saving, spending less by Julie Ann Dunn
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Back in 2006, the mega-retailer Wal-Mart abolished their layaway program, prompting many to claim the death knell had rung for that type of buy-on-time purchase. Two years later, layaway is looking pretty good, especially to K-Mart which has a new ad campaign promoting their program. Don’t look to Wal-Mart to jump back on this bandwagon; they won’t.

Why would retailers kill layaway? [Read more →]

Tags: credit, spending less by Julie Ann Dunn
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