Money

I can’t pay full-price for anything. It’s some type of genetic mutation that definitely came from my mom’s side of the family. My grandma was a yard-sale warrior and would buy things for a nickel on the dollar. My mom hasn’t bought a non-sale item since 1976. We’re freaks. I like finding deals. I’m not much for yard sales because I can’t stand sifting through piles of garbage to find a rare gem, but I’ll gladly sift through the interwebs to find a good deal (yes, I see the irony). Here’s my precursor to what I won’t do to save a buck: Sign up for a ton of services where I get a penny back for every thousand dollars I spend. I know that works for some people, but it’s just not worth my time. Buy crap I don’t need. This defeats the purpose of saving money buying things online. If I wasn’t going to buy something in the first place, I’m not going to buy it just because it’s on sale. You didn’t save any money if you bought something you didn’t need. So if you were hoping for a post with pictures of me holding a coupon purse with an online shopping cart full of 300 packages of toilet paper and 10 cases of Heinz ketchup, I’m sorry to disappoint you. < p style=”text-align: center;”> With those disclaimers out of the way, here’s where I turn and how I work when it comes to finding a good deal. ...

Budgeting is like a magic trick: everyone is impressed when they see it done but few have the guts to try it for themselves. Prepare for the tricks of budgeting to be demystified as we pull back the curtain to enable you to make your own cash-flow plan with ease. There are a lot of tasks here, but they all fall under three main steps (via The Prestige)–the Pledge, the Turn, and the Prestige. The Pledge **Committing to changing your financial reality. ...

I love budgeting. Three words you don’t normally hear from a 23-year-old guy. If you make it all the way through this monster post, I’m fairly certainly budgeting will start growing on you too. My wife Niki and I took the 13-week Financial Peace University course by Dave Ramsey and decided to put a budget into action when we got married. We’ve been following it faithfully for the last 7 months, and it’s been unbelievably freeing. ...

If you haven’t seen, I’m hocking my birthday so that people in developing nations can have clean water, and I need your help in building a well. If money is tight, I can totally relate. I thought I’d share some ways you can bootstrap it and save some cash to bring the most basic need to some of the most needy people on the planet [and then donate here]. Here are 22 ways you can save money over the next 58 days and give to this incredible cause. ...