Each month, I write an accountability post that tracks my income and expenses. I’ve been doing this for 10 and a half years and I think this tracking is possibly the main habit I’ve developed that helps keep things on track – especially when things are tight. I thought today, I’d share the companies I…
Saving is something all working adults should look to do. After all, a padded out savings account goes a long way to addressing money emergencies that can strike at any time. And there’s a lot you can do to stash money away every month. For example, a big part of a savings plan is allowing…
Let’s face it, life can get pretty expensive! We have to spend money each and every day to put food on the table and keep the lights on, and we need to save up for bigger life events we’ve always wanted to be part of. Indeed, things like paying off debt are always on your…
When I first started blogging, I wrote a Money Manifesto, with a pile of goals/ways I wanted to live. And then… I kind of forgot about it. So I’ve been going back and reviewing how life has gone regarding each of these points over the last 9 years. Today I’m looking at goal #3 –…
You know who I think would approve of the savings snowball? Scrooge McDuck He’s definitely who I’m picturing as I write this. Lately, sometimes I struggle a little bit to know what to write about because I’ve been pretty hardcore on this personal finance journey for the last 8 years, with an additional 4 years…
A few weeks ago, we talked about how to pick a checking account. Today, let’s look into how to pick a savings account. First of all, why would you want a savings account if you already have a perfectly good checking account? I think there are two main benefits to having a savings account. The…
So earlier this week, I was looking at my bank account and realized that soon, I will need to figure out which bucket I plan on tapping by the end of next month, if I can’t upright my currently sinking money ship. And what I mean by bucket is bank account. One of my freelancing…
Last Friday, I got my last paycheck for the foreseeable future (though, fingers crossed, I am one of like eight million candidates for another academic position at another school at the moment). I know I’m incredibly lucky. I have literally been overwhelmed at how lucky I am that this spring was my first semester ever…
Your saving habits might not be working out for you – why? Simply because they’re not the ones you should be aiming for! Sometimes all you need to do is think about things a little more thoroughly, and make some simple changes here and there to ensure you’ve got more cash in your savings account…
With a variable income like mine, trying to figure out how to get ahead and where the money should go at any given time is pretty challenging. On the one hand, I’d argue that almost anything you manage to save and invest is a solid start – so if you’re just getting started, do whatever…
I’ll admit, Health Savings Accounts (HSA), seemed kind of overwhelming to me for a long time. I sort of got the gist but avoided opening one. If I could turn back time, I would prioritize an HSA over a retirement account if I was super cash strapped, because it’s really a magical account. For health…
Yesterday I was Assistant Stage Managing an event and I had to go tape out some directional arrows on the floor and tape down a “keep clear” path through a dressing room that people were also using as a crossover. I think I had to use roughly .001% of my brain to do that. However,…
I am thinking about buying a house. I also want to actually have the funds to complete this accounting degree. And there is a new managing company at Big Apple Circus that is making everyone kind of miserable and I can see the writing on the wall that either I’m going to stay and be…
If your financial stress level is feeling a little high and saving seems impossible, check out these tips to start creeping a little closer to financial success. Start Small Clipping coupons or spending a ton of time to knock $5 off a grocery bill might not seem worth it, but if you have $0 saved…
Hopefully, the majority of people reading this will be safely able to say that they have some form of savings. Maybe you had some wealthy grandparents who really liked you and included you in their will, perhaps you just saved up a lot of money, or you just won the lottery, who knows. Regardless of…
I’ve been on a savings kick here this year. I’ve worried about my emergency savings, made goals that rely on some longer term savings, set new types of savings goals. However you want to slice it, saving has been on my mind. Here’s a round up of posts that to help you focus on your…
If you live the freelance, working in the arts lifestyle, here is a protip for you: You need a nest egg. Today at work I was chatting with our brilliant and financially savvy choreographer and we realized we both take the same approach to our freelance lifestyles. First, you need your magic money safety…
If you want to make big changes in life, you need to overhaul your whole philosophy towards something. This is a big part of why we see so many comparisons between personal finance and fitness (such as how it’s like running…). However, there are times in life when you just need to fit into that…
Psychologists say that when really bad things are happening, you usually go through a five-step process to deal with it: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Building up an emergency fund is freaking hard. It’s often something people start working on pretty early as they climb their personal finance mountain. It’s one of the first…
Ok guys, this is my biggest savings fund tip of them all. When you get money, get rid of it. Especially when it’s more difficult to get the money. I don’t mean go buy some fishing gear or six pairs of Tieks that look adorable but will destroy your feet. I mean hide it away…
When you’re paying off debt, you often hear of two methods: debt snowballs and debt avalanches. They both get you where you’re trying to go in the end, but psychologically, they’re very different. Debt snowballs are where you list your debts in order of the amount owed. You pay them off from smallest to largest,…
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about spider webs, which, I totally get, is pretty weird. It started because I was sure there was some scene in the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings where the hobbits crash through a forest and fall through a ton of spider webs and then get stuck in one.…
Updates 7/19/17: Dobot will also start charging $1.99/month as of July 31, 2017. When digit moved from a free to paid service, it made me pretty sad. I feel like it was a fantastic tool for folks just starting to save. Even for me, it made saving easier. It adapted to my variable freelance income…
If you have lived in one place for an extended period of time, you may be ready for a change in scenery. However, moving far away from where you currently live can be a bit scary and time-consuming. The guide that follows provides you with a few tips to use to make relocating to a…
Update: 4/18/17: In light of digit’s move to start charging $2.99/month for their services, you may want to check out my post What Are Some Other Ways to Save besides digit? A year ago, I wrote an update on how useful I found digit after one year of using it. I’ve also compared it to Acorns and…