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Month: April 2007

My revolutioniary idea to improve Bank savings accounts

My revolutioniary idea to improve Bank savings accounts

This may already exist, but I don’t think so as I have never seen it. My idea is to allow banks to let you “tag” money in checking or savings account for a certain purpose. Currently if you want to distinguish money for a certain purpose, say Christmas spending money you go and open an entirely different savings account to do so. This results in another statement being mailed to you and more work and expense for the bank to keep track of this new account.

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Carnival of Personal Finance #95 Recap

Carnival of Personal Finance #95 Recap

This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is being held over at AccumulatingMoney. Each host usually puts their personal touch on the carnival and this week is no different. AccumulatingMoney actually put all the articles in a grid which is sortable by column (if you are using IE). It’s even AJAXY so no post backs 🙂 The geek in me love’s this touch and then you don’t have to worry as much about people complaining about where their article got placed in the carnival. My article on Save for tomorrow – but don’t forget to live today is included in the article

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Cash Plus Rewards – The gig is up no more 5% back on all purchases at Wal-Mart

Cash Plus Rewards – The gig is up no more 5% back on all purchases at Wal-Mart

Late last week I received a letter for both of my Chase Cash Plus Rewards credit cards stating that I would no longer be earning 5% back for my purchases made at superstores, warehouse clubs, and discount stores. This really sucks because my family and I do almost all of our shopping at Wal-Mart and it was just amazing how fast we racked up the rewards. Nearly all our Christmas shopping, home supplies, etc getting 5% back was a big deal.

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Frugal lawncare – Part II Overseeding

Frugal lawncare – Part II Overseeding

In Part I I talked about organic fertilizers that can often be found much cheaper than the chemical versions. In Part II I am going to talk about over seeding.

Overseeding is probably the #1 thing you can do to a lawn to make it look great. Overseeding is simply planting grass seed over the top of your existing lawn. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but in this article I am going to go with what I did to my lawn last spring as I had just incredible results. My lawn went from bare patches, lots of weeds, and dead areas to people asking me if I had my yard sodded.

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Save for tomorrow – but don’t forget to live today

Save for tomorrow – but don’t forget to live today

I recently received an email from one of my readers (Doug) and I thought I would share it with you as it really hit home with me and I think it might with many of my readers. Doug was kind enough to give me a few compliments, which made my day, but in the end it was I who really learned something. It’s a little long, but please read it in it’s entirety as it is probably one of the best pieces of writing you will see on this site.

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My Financial Journey Best of March 2007

My Financial Journey Best of March 2007

March was another good month for My Financial Journey.  Here are some of my favorite posts from the previous month.

March 5
How to go about frugal landscaping – Part II
March 9
I just don’t get it – what is the big deal about gas prices?
March 13Million Dollar Kids – Give me a break
March 17
Frugal cure for a sore throat (92 comments and 4800+ diggs)
March 21
What not to do with your tax return
March 23
When lightening strikes
March 29
My Financial Journey’s pimp ride version 2

Vehicle Cost per year – My Ford Escort

Vehicle Cost per year – My Ford Escort

I recently sold my original pimp ride so I figured it would be good to break down the costs of the vehicle.

Purchased
1990 Ford Escort
Purchase Date: 10/2004
Mileage: 90,000
Cost $1000
Sales Tax $50
Repairs: $463 (tie-rods, timing belt)
Maintenance (oil-changes) – $100 (5)
Insurance Costs: $575 ($115 every 6 months)
Total Expenses= $2288

Sold
Sold: 04/2007
Mileage 129,000
Money Received – ($125)

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