I just finished paying all the bills for February and I actually have money left over. I'm telling you from experience, if you don't have a budget, get one and stick to it. You will be amazed at how well it works. If you are not sure how to do a budget, do a search for "budget" and you will come up with a number of free resources. If that does not work for you and you want to pay for help with your budget, consider Mvelopes. Mvelopes is an online, easy to use budgeting tool to help you get ... (more)

I couldn't wait to post this weeks saving money post. I made a few smart moves this week that saved me a little more extra money. This week, I saved money by:Mypoints Redemption. I redeemed a chunk of the points I'd saved up to get a couple of gift cards for a few things I needed to purchase. I'd wanted to replace my dining room light fixture since I purchased my home but I did not want to shell out the money for the new fixture. I redeemed enough points to get a gift card to Home Depot. I ... (more)

I received a letter in the mail from the USPS the other day with a flyer on avoiding Identity Theft. Usually mailers I get from the post office go straight to the trash (once I make sure it is not something that is important). Identity theft is one of my biggest financial fears and I want to be sure I'm taking the right steps to avoid being a victim. Identity theft can quickly erase the good credit history you've worked so hard to build. Identity theft can cost you your hard earned money and your precious time. Deter Identity Theft ... (more)

Looks like there's about to be another drain on your wallet. Two of the biggest auto insurers are looking to raise premiums in about 20 states. The premium increase comes about after two years of price reductions. The insurers are looking to increase costs due to rising repair costs and rising medical costs resulting from injuries from automobile accidents. How can you minimize the impact to your wallet?Shop around. Shopping for insurance is about as exciting as going to the dentist. Unfortunately, just like having healthy teeth and gums, shopping for the best rate is necessary for having a ... (more)

It's funny how some people choose to remember you. I ran into one of my old coworkers today and we had the customary "catching up" discussion. One of his first questions after the usual "how've things been?" was to ask me if I was still buying all the latest electronic gadgets? He then went on to ask my if I'd bought a new car lately?I informed him of the new me and how I was no longer buying everything in sight and was actually saving money. After the conversation, I started to think if that was how people viewed me. ... (more)

I've been looking for a better way to remember when my monthly bills are due. I don't like having anything automatically deducted from my checking account and would rather keep track of when the bills are due and then pay via billpay or pay directly at the billers website. I carry a calendar to remember various appointments or meetings and I also use it to keep track of bill due dates. Using this method has a couple of drawbacks. Due to lack of space, I am not able write down notes about the bill like the amount due, account ... (more)

This week was relatively quiet on the money spending front. I am still way under budget even though I did make a few unplanned purchases. So far, my zero based budget is working out well.This week, I saved money by:No More Dry Cleaning. As I mentioned in my Modern Day Bartering article, I have offered to help my friend with her finances in exchange for her ironing services. Doing my own taxes. I did my own taxes using TaxCut. I considered using an accountant due to the complexity of owning a rental property. TaxCut asks all the questions, I ... (more)

If you've been following all the talk about the economic stimulus package, you probably know that President Bush signed into law a multi-billion dollar stimulus package on February 13th. If you have not calculated how much stimulus you can expect, Kiplingers has a quick and easy calculator on their website. Click here to use the calculator to find out how much you can expect to receive. Please come back and share the estimated amount of your rebate and how you plan to use it.There are a number of personal finance blogs I read on a daily basis and here are ... (more)

If you are one of the few people left in the country that doesn't have an ING Orange Savings account, I still have referrals left. By opening a savings account with at least $250, you can get a $25 referral bonus (I will get $10 - Thanks in advance). Tricia @ Blogging Away Debt was kind enough to take a couple of my referrals to help me out. If you would like a referral, you can contact me here; or you can go over to Blogging Away Debt. ... (more)

If you live in Georgia, you may be paying up to an additional $1 for a pack of cigarettes. Currently, state lawmakers are looking at raising the tax on cigarettes by as much as $1 to provide additional revenue for the State. The additional revenue from the tax increase would go to fund healthcare programs in Georgia.Georgia ranks 43rd in the nation with a sales tax of 37 cents on tobacco. The last increase in the tax on tobacco was back in 2003.I, for one, hope they do increase the tax. Unfortunately, I have a nicotine habit that I ... (more)

Wikipedia describes bartering as a type of trade that does not use any medium of exchange (money), in which goods or services are exchanged for other goods and services. Bartering dates back to times before there monetary currency. I was discussing with one of my friends and coworkers about how much I hated to iron my pants. No matter how I do it, I can never get them right. I can never get the creases like I want them and they are usually still wrinkled in some spots. Instead of trying to iron my pants, I would take ... (more)

I currently have the Citibank Cash Returns credit card that I am using for any purchase where I am able to use a credit card. The reason for this? The card offers a 5% cash back rebate on all charges for the first 3 months of card membership. I have another month and a half before the cash back rebate returns to the measly 1% cash rebate. Once the bonus cash back period is over, I am considering switching to another cash back credit card to use as my primary credit card. I currently have 3 other cards that offer ... (more)

I just finished paying my bills for the first half of the month and I may have my first positive month of 2008; if the market cooperates. Right now, my networth has increased about 2.5% month to date. Most of the gain can be contributed to a couple of things. Managed Spending. I pulled in the reins a little this month on my spending. I've been saving a bunch of money by not eating out everyday at lunch. Another Bonus. I had my performance review a couple of weeks ago and I was given a small cash bonus in addition ... (more)

It's a beautiful Sunday here in Atlanta. I'm hanging out on my deck, reading a book and enjoying the sunshine. Hopefully, you are having a great day wherever you are.Here are some great posts I've enjoyed this week and want to share with you if you haven't seen them already.From the M-Network:What women wish men knew about money @ beingfrugal.net.Roth vs Traditional IRA @ Cash Money Life.Credit Card Companies - They really are out to get you @ Gather Little by Little. They are trying to get me back into credit card debt. Read about it here. I can tell ... (more)

I managed to save some money this week but not nearly as much as I had hoped. Hopefully, you guys have some great money saving stories for me. This week, I saved money by: Taking my lunch to work. My goal is to take my lunch to work at least 4x a week and only eat out once a week. Of course, if my boss is taking me to lunch, that doesn't count. This week, I only brought my lunch three days and I went out to lunch two days. I did manage to save money by drinking water ... (more)

When I went outside to get something out of my car this morning, I casually scanned my neighborhood as I usually do and what did I see? Another house just went on the market. I don't understand why people who don't really need to sell are trying to sell a home in this cluttered, slow-moving market. In addition to that, my subdivision is still pretty new (less than 2.5 years old) and they are still building homes. The new homes they are building are priced a little bit higher than what the original owners paid but they are offering over ... (more)

I've read a couple of articles lately from a couple of different bloggers regarding how they use their checking and savings accounts to manage monthly cash flow. I've been meaning to examine the way I currently manage my monthly cash flow. With the recent drop in interest rates, it's even more important for me to maximize the interest I earn on my idle cash. My current checking account is with Bank of America due to the numerous ATM locations and the the ability to deposit checks at the ATM without using an envelope or deposit slip. I also ... (more)

I knew it would happen sooner or later. Every since I paid off the remainder of my credit card debt, my credit card companies have not heard from me. Of course, what I mean by saying they haven't heard from me is that I have not used their credit card. There are only two cards that I use on a regular basis and that is only for the rewards. I no longer carry a balance and I pay off the balance in full each month.Today, I got two offers from two different credit card companies offering me easy money because ... (more)

I participated in three great carnivals today and I encourage you to visit them all. There are so many great articles, I am still trying to get through them all. Carnival of Real Estate #76 hosted by Searchlight Crusade. I submitted my article: The Real Cost of Homeownership. Here's Your Team for the SuperBowl of Personal Finance #138 hosted by Paid Twice. I submitted my article: Suggestions for Your Tax Refund - Final Part 4. Carnival of Debt Reduction #125 - SuperBowl XLII Edition hosted by BrokeGradStudent. I submitted my article: Considering Paying Off the Car Loan and it made ... (more)

With the help of an extra paycheck in January, I managed to reach my goal of saving $1500 in my Rental Property savings account. Since I'd fully funded that account, I had planned to use the money I had been contributing to this account to help reach my goal of $5000 in my Freedom Savings account. Apparently fate had other plans..... When I picked up my rent check from my tenant yesterday, she ... (more)

After a lot of consideration and what-if scenarios, I've finally decided what I will do with my car loan. Thank you for all your comments and suggestions on how I should handle the loan. I've decided I would be comfortable with having $10,000 in savings. If I paid off the car loan now, that would leave me around $7,000.I want to be sure that this loan is gone by the end of the year. In order to accomplish this, here is how I will handle the car loan. I will continue to pay an additional $200-$250 each month ... (more)

I'm not doing my usual saving money post this week. I didn't make any purchases besides the usual but I didn't have any remarkable savings this week. I know alot of you are waiting for the SuperBowl today so I will share posts I've enjoyed from around the blogosphere. The biggest highlight of the week is a big group post on Home Finance: Mortgages & the Real Cost of Ownership. For anyone looking at purchasing a home, you will definitely want to check it out. This project was organized by Rocket Finance and he has a great roundup on his ... (more)

Don't forget to subscribe to SingleGuyMoney because I would not want you to miss a minute of what's going on here at SingleGuyMoney. You can subscribe via email or in your favorite feed reader so you can be updated every time a new post comes out. Don't have a favorite reader? Try Google Reader.I promise your email address will not be sold or given away to the spam monsters.Thank you so much for visiting the site and leaving your comments. Please be sure to continue! ... (more)

Lynnae at beingfrugal.net was picked on to share the progress of her 2008 financial goals. Since she got picked on, she decided to pass the love on to me. Luv ya Lynnae!How have I done with my 2008 financial goals? If you need a refresher of the list of my goals, click here.Pay an additional $200 towards the principal of my car loan in order to decrease the balance to below $20,000. I was partially sucessful on this one. I'd $200 allocated in the budget but had to move $50 to another category. I was able to pay an additional ... (more)

Assets:Rental Property - $137,000.00Primary Residence - $196,000.00Car - $19,500.00Retirement - $39,530.69Cash (checking and savings) - $35,494.08Brokerage - $3,231.97Total Assets: $440,756.74 - decrease of (5,001.65) or - 1.12%Liabilities:Rental Property Mortgage - $149,606.60Primary Home Mortgage - $182,773.00Car Loan - $24,276.83Student Loan - $22,500.00Credit Cards - $98.75Total Liabilities: 379,255.18 decrease of ($693.97) or -.18%Net Worth: $61,501.56, decrease from prior month -13.41%Monthly Recap:Credit card debt is from purchases made in January and will be paid in full next month.My investment accounts, like everyone else's, took a major dive in January.I was able to send $1500 to my freedom accounts due to an extra ... (more)